Baths & The Red Couch July 7th

We did have a big victory with the bath. I told you before how terrified of the bath he is. Last night I put him in the bath, clothes and all without any water and we played bubbles. He sure loved them. Then this morning I ran his bath and put him in (with water, without clothes). He started to freak out as usual, but I pulled out the bubbles. We blew bubbles until he was happy and smashing them in the water. Then I gave him some toys and let him play while I blew dry my hair. He did great! Little by little we’re getting there.

This morning was so fun. He sat on my lap and we looked at all the pictures from our trip together that are on the laptop. We played the “Je-ge shr shei? (Who’s that?)” game. I’d ask him, then he’d point “Shr Ba-ba (Daddy)” or “Shr Ma-ma” , “Je-Je (big sister)”, “Ge-Ge (older brother) or my very favorite, “Si-yuan”. He’s been pretty quiet up to this point so it melted my heart to hear him talk in his sweet little Chinese baby-talk.

Today we took the famous red couch picture. There is a tradition in the China-adoption community that all the babies in a group that travel together take a picture on the red couch together. In this picture you can see all of the children who were adopted from the BAAS families. They were all adopted through the special needs program. There is Ling Ling on the left. She was burned when she kicked over a thermos of hot water. The next is Jasmine-Qing Qing, she has a bilateral cleft palate. She was expressing her distress at being separated from Mom, because she usually has such a radiant smile. Seth-Siyuan is next with his sober as usual expression. Next to him is Joanna. Her family thought she was 10, and that's what the official record shows, but when they picked her up the orphanage said they thought she was only 7 or 8. She was abandoned 6 years ago, so they're not quite sure of her age. Next to her is Gina. She is from the North Eastern part of China (near Korea). She is 11. Her Mom died when she was 2, and her father died a couple of years ago, and that's when she was taken to the orphanage. They think she is Manchurian (Manchu), because she does not look like the Han Chinese. Next to her is Ju-ni. She has hepatitis B. All the families except us are from the Bay Area. It's been fun to get to know everyone.

Here are the kids with their families. I wish Derek and the kids were here for the photos.

We went to the Bonsai Park and TeaHouse this afternoon, but Seth was in the front pack unhappily glued to me so I didn't get any pictures. The good news, is that today was our Consulate Appointment. Our guide took all of our paperwork in, and everything is a go. Tomorrow we'll go for the swearing in. Wahoo!