"I'm not so happy with this little brother"

It took nearly 24 hours before we heard it but we have now officially heard it from Lan. "I'm not so happy with this little brother". This brother can be so annoying and thinks that anything neat Lan has needs to be his. He is quite possessive about his toys and if he thinks you have taken something that belongs to you, you are going to HEAR and SEE the results..and they aren't pretty my friends!

Now, he is a PERFECT little guy for where he is at. Does that mean easy? Uh, no, no, dear friends. Let me just try to detail our day yesterday on Adoption Day. But first before I forget, I missed some points from Monday that are worth remembering.

1. He came to us with beautiful pink nail polish on his fingers.
2. He straddled the garbage can and peed quite well there thank you very much. He will now use the toilet and we are making progress but thank heavens we brought those pull ups. We are already trying to ration them to make sure we have enough for the airplane ride home.
3. Dad took the wrong meds for his feet and instead took the sleeping pills so he was OUT for the count and Mama had to do the dinner buffet by myself with Lan and Ammon. What a work out! I didn't get to eat as I had to chase my son who would see something he wanted to eat and go stand in front of the person's table staring at their food. Ah, I dare say some Chinese business men did not find him as adorable as I do.

Yesterday we all got out of bed at about 5:30 am but we had been awake long before that. Ammon is a wiggler as is Lan and that makes for little room in the bed for Mama and Baba. I had to finish bagging the presents and getting the donations ready for the SWI. Every thing I tried to put out of a bag, Ammon wanted to take back out. I had worked up a sweat before 7 am!

I was smart enough to dress him again in the shirt from last night's buffet as he loves to feed himself but is not quite adept at that yet. He loves to experiment and touch his food and that is important in his development and as he is introduced to a new food. I think he will be scientist! He loves to experiment.

We got in the van and he was thrilled. While he does NOT like confined spaces he sure loves the car. We got out at Civil Affairs again where we had met him yesterday and he was very unhappy about going back there. And it just got worse. I think we would probably rank for one of the worst experiences trying to get a picture taken for the Adoption Registration. He did NOT want to sit there and have a picture taken and it escalated into kicking and head butting. PHEW! Finally he had one calmer moment when he had to take a breath and quit shrieking so his eyes opened and they snapped the picture. I have a forced smile pasted on my face, Ammon looks like he's been through the 3rd world war and dad looks completely in shock. Its a great first family photo, yes siree.

We finally got him to take a nap. I know he is exhausted and while he was asleep Lan and I slipped across the street....okay, crossing a street in China is never as calm as slipping across the street, its more like manuvering a mine field, but we did get across the street to the shops and bought some blocks and stringing beads. That was fun to play until Ammon wanted Lan's necklace and an all out fight ensued. Did I mention he is very determined? LOL!!

He also allowed us to get him in the bath. I dropped his stacking cups ( a must for any traveling family!) into the water and he was mesmerized enough to finally let us get him IN the tub with water in it. He washed himself and knew the routine so somewhere he's done this but likely not in a bathtub.

His scar on his scrotum from his surgery for his undecended testicle is very large. The stitch marks are at least a half inch wide but he isn't bothered by it at all.

We got to dinner and Lan promptly fell asleep not to be enticed by any amount of watermelon or milk to wake up. I knew she would wake up at night hungry. And she did. Thus I am typing at 6 am while they have been sequestered in the bath because as soon as Ammon sees the computer he wants to play with it. Distractions, distractions are what we are always looking for ways to keep him away from what he shouldn't have.

So, if anyone has tried to email me and get an answer, it hasn't happened yet. This gregarious boy with the impish grin has me running to keep up. And he likes dad but he can't let Mama out of his sight or he gets very worried. He has lost 2 Mama's already (his birth Mama who raised him for 15 months and now his foster Mama.) I don't think he is wanting to lose another one.

We did get the pictures to post today and you'll see us at Civil Affairs meeting him, all the layers of clothes he was wearing laid out on the bed after we undressed him and on our first outing.

We are doing great but boy, do we have our hands full. I'm sure glad we have 6 other children at home. We are going to need ALL of them to help me in keeping my eye on him. Good thing he is so danged cute.

Its almost time now to all our kids at home using our SKYPE phone. That is something slick I'll tell you. We are doing well. Sending all our love.

Stefani