As promised, I figured I’d post a few pictures from yesterday’s day of travel from Taiyuan to Guangzhou.

Waving goodbye to his home province of Shanxi

Relaxing on the airplane. This kid loves to travel (so far…)

He passed out before we landed. We had to wake him up to get off the plane. Our guide Bill is next to me laughing.

Van ride to Guangzhou

Now, we’re relaxing a bit in the room after lunch and some exploration of Shamian Island– which is sort of “adoption island” in Guangzhou. It’s a beautiful day, sunny with clouds and is well shaded by big trees– such a relief after Taiyuan, a dusty and gray place.  Shamian Island is very popular with the locals and with fashion magazines– I can’t tell you how many photo shoots we passed during our walk.

We had Alexander’s medical appointment earlier this morning, which went surprisingly well. Bill, our guide, has been assisting families for over 17 years now, and so he knows how to get there before the crowds. We were in and out– having seen three medical personnel in less than an hour.  By the time we were on our way out the door, the clinic was jammed was families–way to go, Bill! No surprising diagnosis for our little man– cleft lip/palate and significant malnutrition. We’re working on the second one as much as possible.  For those of you interested in where our guy is developmentally– he’s solidly in 6 month clothing. As some of you noted, he’s able to sit up by himself, but we have to bring him to a sitting position. He is dying to scoot and crawl, but his legs are too weak, so he just sorta sits and howls. The clinic doctor recommended working on leg exercises, so we’re already giving him a workout. He can vocalize, but because of his cleft, it mostly sounds like “La.” One “la”– he doesn’t hate you. Two “la’s”– Hey, look at me. Continuous “la’s”– Why can’t you parents understand me? I’m clearly trying to communicate something important here!

Brian just commented on how spacious our room is here in Guangzhou– compared to Taiyuan, where the pollution made it almost unbearable to be outside, our much larger room in a tropical city makes it almost feel like paradise– with a headstrong little kid, but still.

Tonight, we’re planning on expanding Alexander’s traveling experience with an evening cruise on the Pearl River. He likes the land and sky, so we’ll have to see what he thinks about the sea.

And for all you St Joan of Arc folks following along, we were able to locate a church “Our Lady of Lourdes” on the French side of the island. Say an extra prayer that Alexander’s first Mass is a good one!