Today, we decided to jump into life as a family of three. After being holed up in our room all day yesterday following registration, we were more than ready to get some (not so fresh) air, and enjoy the day. We ran into the two other adoptive families at breakfast in the hotel this morning– one of them being the folks I had contacted prior to China, and the other family being a kind young couple from Holland who we met during placement. (It’s amazing how much of a bonding experience it can be when you watch someone meet their long-awaited child for the first time! The four of us sat nervously around in the waiting room on placement day practically jumping out of our seats every time the door opened.)

Although our guide was understandably concerned about taking Alexander out for the day given his feeding needs, we decided that we might as well just go for it.  He was incredible during our first family roadtrip to Pingyao, a UNESCO world heritage site. I’ll let you check Wikipedia for the details, but the basics is that the architecture dates back more than 2,500 years and is still occupied by residents. The two of us switched off hauling Alexander in our carrier, and he did great.

View from the temple top– a scary, scary climb when you’ve got a kid strapped to your chest

Checking out the lobby of a local Pingyao hotel

Original architecture

Original wall of Pingyao

We aren’t conspicuous at all!

Beautiful old alleyways

Standing in front of the original bank of China. Yes, for all of China!

Another first we had today was our first “on the fly” changing experience. Believe it or not, in Pingyao, the bathrooms (public and private) aren’t exactly suited for diaper changing. Moreover, in Chinese culture, young children generally don’t wear diapers. The youngest often walk around without pants at all, and children of crawling/walking age wear split pants– yes, they’re exactly what they sound like. We wondered when we met Alexander whether he would arrive with split pants, but the welfare institute put him in diapers for the journey to us. Anyhow… we ended up changing Alexander in the middle of Pingyao on the side of a street with a bit of an audience (two Westerners with a Chinese child with a cleft in diapers… what!?!?!) Let’s just say it was memorable! Luckily, we had our little man almost completely covered up (poor hot thing), so all the local tourists cooed over our son instead of lecturing us in Mandarin in proper child-dressing etiquette.

One thing I was hoping to do was attempt a bit of haggling while shopping. After being given the green light with our guide that it was suitable in the shops we were near, I was successful in knocking down the price of a few items. Alexander was the perfect assistant by beginning to whine during negotiations– anything to get those people out of the store! Thanks, son!

The Kelly men after a long day

El Tigre after a long day in the carrier

All in all, today was a great first family outing. We’re taking every tiny victory- especially when they end with our son smiling!

Showers and manicures