Getting to know Graeme

View from our hotel.
Me, Tamara and Lorena, all new Moms once again.

Just taking a walk before dinner.

At dinner last night, giving Daddy five.

Last night, Graeme after his bath....too cute!

The signs were so uniquely written.

As we were running through the park, we see "Speed Down and Go Slow".

This was a fascinating sculpture, see description below...

Lily, Dad and Graeme breaking all the rules and running in the park!

Lily was so fast!

Here come Daddy and Graeme

Today was all about bonding with Graeme for me. I must admit that I had an emotional morning. He has bonded so well to Wes but was consistently pulling away from me. It has been so hard to stand back and have Wes do all of the caregiving while continuing my role as the "Sherpa Woman, the one who carries the stuff". I had a new found determination today.

We went to the park and spent time as a family. It was a little different than what we expected especially the "don't run on the meadow" rule. I mean who doesn't play in the grass at a park. This was not that kind of park. It was beautiful and we enjoyed the scenery and being outside. Graeme got to run with his Ba Ba and Jie Jie a little. Tomorrow, we are going to the zoo and that should be a fun day. The signs at the park were hilarious and we had to have some pictures. The one that made me stop and think was the one that stated "Happiness is in having many children" while a sign close by gave the suggestions on how to be a good citizen of Hefei and stated "Do change the improper customs and perform family planning". It just makes you think and we have heard many times how people would love to have more than one child.

We encountered a group of young male students in their 20's while at the park. They were very curious about our family and asked about both Lily and Graeme. They told us as we have heard so many times before that the children are so lucky. We just kept telling them that we were the lucky ones. Oh how blessed we really are to have both Lily and Graeme!

We enjoyed dinner tonight with our travel mates. We all had Pizza in the restaurant downstairs. Tamara and Andy are adopting Wyatt who is 5 and Lorena and her husband, Jim (he is at home with the other children while she travels with her oldest daughter Kelsey) are adopting Aurora who is 12. All of the children have done amazingly well and we are all so grateful. It really is a small world because Tamara and Andy also live in Kentucky. Lorena is from Michigan and actually grew up in the small town right next to the small town that Wes grew up in. They also graduated from high school in the same year. Such a small world!

All day, I made sure that I touched Graeme a lot more in playful ways. I picked him up and spun him around at the park. We also made sure that I was the one who fed him his meals. He did not like this at first and would even take the bite out of his mouth and hand it to Wes to feed him. Wes was wonderful and just encouraged him to eat the bite again on his own. After a while the game stopped and he ate for me. The big event of the day was when after dinner, Wes and Andy went to the store. I was alone with Lily and Graeme and we were not quite sure how he would do. He did great at first and just played. I was feeling so confident that I gave him and Lily a bath. It was during bath time that he realized that Wes was gone. He cried for a few minutes as I finished his bath and dressed him. He kept pointing to the door and vocalizing but he allowed me to hold and comfort him. We were playing and he was all smiles when his Ba Ba returned. The amazing thing was that he did not jump up and run (you heard me, he did not ditch me the second he saw his Dad!) He continued to sit in my lap and play for about 5 more minutes and then wiggled to get up. I think it was a big success and we will do the same at some point tomorrow so that he continues to bond with me. I better end this and get to bed as he is still awake and playing and we all need our rest for the zoo. Thanks for all the encouraging words as they really help and I look forward to reading the comments and emails each day!!!!