A beginning

Our first couple of days in China this time were a whirlwind of touring.  The kids think the Forbidden City is huge & hot (they’re not wrong).  K enjoyed climbing the Great Wall; B would just as soon never see another stair.  They both enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet breakfasts (K for the fruit, B for the dumplings–jiaozi & baozi & xiaomai & red-bean-paste-filled mantou. In fact, both of my kids like red bean paste.  I guess I’m the only one in the family who doesn’t.)

Today we added child number three (or number one, depending on how you want to count it) to our family.  Officially the paperwork goes live for the Chinese side of things tomorrow, and for the US side of things in a week and a half.

J has grown, but not quite as much as I feared.  He’s still shorter than I am–for the moment.  He seems uncomfortable around us, and likes to spend as much time as possible talking to his friends in the orphanage, but he signed the paperwork without any kind of hesitation.  He’s withdrawn and nervous, but not quite so much as the last time he was with us.  Still, it looks like it’s going to take a while for us all to get used to each other.  I hope we manage to have a few good times in the week ahead of us–that might help everybody relax a bit.