Have you all had your fill of adorable Alexander photos yet? I should hope not! I’m going to take a brief break from the cuteness, however, to list some of the most.. let’s say… “unusual” things about our travels thus far. So in no particular order…..

Ketchup, coming right up!–  When in Taiyuan, we ordered pizza one night for room service (go ahead and make your sweeping judgements, folks! The Kellys were in China and ordered pizza.) However, the room service menu included such delicacies as “spiced donkey meat.” No joke. Brian sorta wanted to order it just so we could say, “Hey, this tastes like a*&.” But no, no donkey was ordered. What DID show up with just about every order of “western food” was a bowl of ketchup. You know, for dipping.. or something. Pizza, ketchup. Sandwich, ketchup. It was comical by the end of our stay in Taiyuan, but it did make me think that Dad Kelly would feel right at home here!

Soda, beer, same prices here!–  This we figured out pretty quickly, and it has been a most welcoming surprise. Back home, order a soda, and it will cost you maybe $2. Order a beer, and it’s $5+ (except for you lucky folks in Portland!) Here, soda and beer prices are pretty much the same. We purchased a few local Pearl River brewery beers for our room, and each 600ml bottle was 6 RMB– roughly $1. Soda prices are about the same, ranging from $0.50-$1.00. Similarly, when we were in Pingyao, Brian purchased a large bottle of water from a street vendor. It was cold, and it cost 2 RMB– almost $0.35! Crazy!

Check the prices!— I was a little surprised when we checked into our hotel in Beijing to see all the little niceties included in our room– hotel slippers (replaced each day), bathrobes, toothbrushes, combs, you name it! However, the coffee pot came with a little sign “10 RMB.” Similarly, a very pretty tea set was next to several canisters of tea, each clearly labeled with appropriate pricing. There was free tea in a different part of our room– just no coffee. We learned ahead of time to bring Via packets, and we’ve been happily caffeinated the whole trip. The same thing for water– it’s standard to get two free bottles of water in your room each day, but there’s usually a bevy of others all with price tags. I’m including a photo of my most recent hotel add-on (which we still haven’t caved on yet)– the Victory teddy bear. This little guy is placed dangerously on the bed every day with his little price tag– I jokingly tell Alexander to avert his eyes! That bear is NOT coming home with us!

The Victory Hotel bear of guilt– we’re not buying you!

Emergency smoke masks– these have been in each hotel room and continue to freak me out.

Hats with Ears, and other fashions— Wow, Chinese fashion is something else. I can’t believe the number of stilettos and really high platform shoes. Today, Brian pointed out an adult woman wearing a straw hat, complete with cat ears. Women’s fashion is definitely wilder than men’s, but in all cases, the English phrases we’ve seen on t-shirts have been pretty funny. Last night, I saw a gentleman wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a large star of David and the words “Kung Fu Panda.” I’m still not sure what that’s supposed to mean…

Chinese Grandmas– This almost deserves its own entire post, but I’ll at least give you a teaser here. We were warned numerous times about the “League of Chinese Grandmas.”  These women, all well-intentioned, are the surpreme arbiters of children’s attire and have a sixth sense for when exposed baby leg is in a 20 meter proximity. Walk anywhere with your child, and out of no where, gaggles of grandmas will suddenly pounce on you and begin to inspect your choices for your child’s clothing, exposed skin, and general ability to parent (kidding about the last one!) When we were in Taiyuan, we got several “drive-bys” where elderly women were clearly staring, inspecting, and judging. In most cases, my feeble attempt to pull my sweating son’s pants further down his legs and hiking up his socks in the ladies’ presence earned a nod,and we were on our way. At Jinci Temple, one elderly woman began her review from far away, and gradually got closer, finally noticing the huge sun hat we had completely pulled over our sleeping son’s head. She actually gave me a thumb’s up and a big smile– parenting gold for the adoption world!  That, of course was negated 5 minutes later when another grandma grabbed at Alexander’s exposed 1 inch of calf and began instructing Brian (in Mandarin or Jin?) about why we were ruining our child’s chance for future success by allowing skin to show. I say this all tongue-in-cheek though, as overall we’ve received many more smiles than lectures from the League. Still, I’ll be happy when we’re back in the USA, and a stranger grabbing your child’s leg is reason for prosecution, not pedagogy.

Because you’ve patiently read through this entire post, I’ll close with this morning’s adorable Alexander photo– he and Brian are posing before we attended our first Mass in Cantonese– no air conditioning in the church, more than 90 degrees outside, and an incredibly long homily. If Alexander could survive that, he can do anything!

The Kelly men before Mass this morning.

Just a quick post from Taiyuan before we take our first flight together to Guangzhou….

He promptly attempted to eat this confidential message after transmission.

I’m typing this entry with a well-deserved birthday beer in my hand after a very, very trying day. Overall, my 32nd birthday was incredible– having a new son and being in a beautiful land and all.  However, today is the day when parenting got real– and when all the adoption training came in handy– these people know what they’re saying! (little shout out to our social worker!)

Today, the main goal was to acquire our son’s Chinese passport and finalized Chinese adoption papers– success thanks to our representative Bill. As far as the Chinese government is concerned, we’ve got custody of this little guy from here on out. Now, our next hurdle is to present all of this material to the American consulate in Guangzhou in order for them to issue our man his immigration papers–which will take most of next week.

Because we had some extra time on our hands, our guide drove us to Jinci Temple, a beautiful old temple and grounds. A few photos follow below…

Warning- if we invite you over to meet Alexander, you might also be subjected to our home movies!

At Jinci Temple

This tree is more than 3200 years old– making it the third oldest tree in China.

Picturesque Jinci

Before mechanical clocks, towns used drum and bell towers along with water clocks. Most towns had both a drum tower and a bell tower–which announced the opening and closing of the city gates.

Architecture and artwork dating back to the Song dynasty

We spent the afternoon back in our room relaxing. After Brian and Bill left to get a few supplies, Alexander and I managed to get some quality bonding time. Although he’s doing incredibly well, he’s still terrified of new people, and even when Brian or I leave the room for an extended time, he’s somewhat frightened of us by the time we return. I guess you could call it a mixed blessing, but by the time the men returned from their short errand trip, Alexander had decided that I was his caregiver, and that Brian was clearly the devil. We were prepared over and over again by our agency and other adoptive families that this would occur. In the long term, this is a very good thing, because it shows that he’s beginning to form attachments and trust. In the short time, it can be really stressful for both the parent who can’t leave their child’s eyesight (lest they melt down) or for the parent who can’t do anything to make them happy either. One adoptive family told us by the time they reached Guangzhou, the father/husband couldn’t even push the stroller because the kid would flip out. While Alexander isn’t that bad, it’s very clear through his yowling that I’m the lady of the day.

We’ve been pushing through the afternoon and evening despite our little man’s protests, and thanks to our training, are still trying to instill that dad isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Brian strapped the little man in the carrier and did a lot of carry-time along with the evening feedings and diaperings all the while enduring a boatload of crocodile tears and whining.

Brian working his charm on two very small cold shoulders.

Now, our little dragon is finally asleep– thank goodness! We’ve figured out a routine that seems to work (knock on wood), but we’ll see how long it lasts. For any of you adoptive parents reading this (you know who you are!), you’re well aware of how difficult handling sleeping can be with children used to institutionalized care. My heart breaks seeing just how terrified he is that we won’t be there in the morning and how traumatized he is when he wakes up in the night. This, by far, is the toughest undertaking we’ve ever had– but it’s also the most rewarding.

I’ll end this post on a lighthearted note– I was surprised by the staff at our hotel with a lovely birthday cake delivered to our room. Alexander was pitching a fit on the bed while I prepared his bottle (we have to do it out of his eyesight– as soon as he sees it, he goes NUTS. This kid clearly wasn’t being fed enough…) when our doorbell rang with the cake. I felt totally frazzled with kid yowling, bottle in the sink, and someone at the door.

Birthday greetings from the Shanxi Grand Hotel

For several years now, all I’ve ever wished for on my birthday is for the gift of motherhood. I thought to myself as I was juggling a kid in one arm and trying to converse poorly in Mandarin with the room attendant– “Hey, I finally got my wish!”

This morning, we completed all of our registration and interviews for Alexander’s adoption into our family through the Shanxi provincial government in downtown Taiyuan. It’s a little comical that we’re here, because although he was found in Shanxi province, he was transferred to a foster home in Beijing and was there up until early yesterday morning. His caregiver and nurse both traveled from Beijing (where we just came from!) to Taiyuan to assist with the placement.

Because Alexander has a pretty severe cleft, eating is a major challenge for him. Up until about a month ago, the foster home used a naso-gastric tube for his feedings, but they were successful in transitioning him to a bottle before placement. Yesterday was a challenge, to say the least, in learning how to feed him and understanding our little man. Thanks to our agency representative and the Beijing nurse, we were all sitting around in our hotel room while we watched Alexander demonstrate how he likes to eat. Through trial and error, this morning, we came to the conclusion that he uses his pacifier as a tool to close his cleft lip in order to swallow. What initially seemed like a really stubborn boy who kept putting his pacifier in while we were trying to feed him was actually him trying to swallow after each sip. Once we learned his technique, we were in business. The foster home, nurses, and doctor all said that he was a fussy eater– but we’ve found out that he just has a very specific method. By the time we got back to Civil Affairs this morning, we had our routine down, and all the officials and staff seemed really relieved that we are starting to unravel the logic of this tiny boy.

Registration and interviews were uneventful. I fed Alexander (he needs to eat every 3 hours) while answering pretty hefty questions asked by the government official — why do you want to be this boy’s parent? Do you understand what you’re doing? Our answers were sufficient, and soon we were signing papers and sealing with our fingerprints. Little Alexander had to provide a footprint– which he was NOT thrilled about.

Now, we’re free to relax until our trip tomorrow to Pingyao.  Unfortunately, Taiyuan isn’t the most tourist-friendly city, and the environmental conditions are very unpleasant. I’m sure you’ve read about pollution levels in Beijing, and Taiyuan makes Beijing look fantastic.  Shanxi is known as the country’s supplier of coal– and Taiyuan’s appearance looks like Pittsburgh circa 1920. Yesterday after a big rain storm, on our way to meet Alexander, the sky was blue– everyone was standing around and pointing up; apparently they get about 2 weeks of blue sky a year!  Today, sadly it was back to a cloudy grey– with the smog making most buildings hard to see from our hotel room window.  We ventured out yesterday but realized pretty quickly that there’s very little way to tell what buildings are restaurants, which are pharmacies, and which are office buildings. The only buildings we can decipher are governmental ones, because they are massive and usually well-guarded.  We see room service and talking quietly while our little man naps in our future!

Brian showing Alexander a family album

It wasn’t quite as much paperwork as a mortgage, but we understood it even less.

Alexander makes his mark, with his foot.

Our family with two officials from the Social Welfare Institute

The kid zonked once we got back in the car.

I present to you, Alexander Thomas Kelly!

He enjoyed the car ride back to the hotel.

He liked his time in the baby carrier.

But you know what he doesn’t like? Eating and sleeping. Hates those. We’re figuring things out, but it’s certainly no easier than we expected. I foresee a long night and some difficult days, but we’re doing our best to welcome him into our family. Please keep all three of us in your prayers.