Boys, Toys and Lots of Noise!

We don't even remember falling asleep last night. We all slept so hard. But everyone got up ready to roll. The legendary White Swan breakfast buffet was on the agenda.

The hotel is lovely and we were treated to a sense of luxury at each turn. The atrium of the hotel has a koi lagoon and bridges. There is a waterfall flowing into the lagoon from three flights up. There are adoptive families everywhere here! The breakfast buffet is in a dining room that looks out over the river. There is an omelette man, a juice station, cereal station, fruit station and then a buffet with warm food. This has everything from eggs, congee, noodles, bacon, sausages, beans, tater tots, dumplings, etc. Ty doesn't eat like we would expect. He hasn't touched rice since we met him. I don't know if this is because he had to eat rice for so long or what. He says he will eat it - but hasn't. Breakfast for him is eggs, sausages, a lot of fruit (some I don't recognize!), juice and bread. I am existing on bacon, watermelon, juice, tater tots and have added eggs in since we've been here. I don't have a huge appetite...I think I miss home a lot and just have a lot on my mind. But breakfast is usually tasty to me.


After breakfast we were walking towards the lobby and someone approached and asked if I was Honour. It was Bonnie and Brian with their Isaac. The boys took to each other and before long we spotted Kelly with her Mark and then Marianne and all her boys! By the time we were done - there was a lot of action going on in the lobby of the White Swan hotel. It was exciting to see the boys having a good time and when Dan and Carla arrived with their beautiful daughter it was like the cherry on top!

We met Connie for our visa photos and medical exams at 10:00. We stepped out and received a warm welcome compliments of the humidity of Shamien Island! We wound our way through the streets that I had read so much about over the last year. I saw the park with the statues of the children. I saw Lucy's and dreamed of iced tea! After a few short yet drippy blocks, we arrived to shuffle the kids through the Visa photo chair. Ty looked very handsome on his photo!

Then we walked up the block a bit for the medical. We walked into a bustling environment full of beautiful children all being adopted into loving families. It was an exciting place! There were three areas to visit. We went to the ENT person and had Ty checked out. The medical person had a mask on and one of the old fashioned mirror things on her head. But under the mask, she would smile at the children. We passed this portion and moved on to vision, height, weight and BP. All good and I was touched that the staff were so kind and gentle to these chilren.



Things went downhill when we visited the actual doctor. She was very business-like and asked Ty about his surgery in 2004. She had him take off his shirt and looked at his chest. She had him bend, walk and lay down on the exam table and sit up. She had him lay on his tummy and get up. He was a trooper - and then they wanted to see the scars in his groin area. He had no problem showing them - but we were all surprised when we looked at one scar and saw stitches grown over and still in there from 2004!

This scared Ty very badly because I think he thought everything was normal. The doctor wanted to remove the stitches and had another doctor come look at it. Poor little guy. You could see a deep, deep fear creeping across his face. We asked the doctors to wait - thinking the stitches have been in there for 4 years...what is a few more days. Let us get to the States where we can care for him properly! As the doctors looked and discussed - Ty hit almost emotional paralysis. Silent tears slid down a stony face as he reached for his Daddy. He went into a place very deep inside - a sad, sad place. He kept whispering "afraid " in Chinese. We walked him out of there and back to the hotel.



We looked up how to say "forever" in Chinese and told him we loved him forever. We got a flicker of relief in the eyes. We walked to a park filled with children and he sort of came out of things. He went on the monkey bars with Dad's help and Marianne's sons were wonderful to play with him on the seesaw. We left the park and walked back through the statue park. Ty went up to the girl statues and wanted to find one his sister's height, which we did. He hugged on a statue of a little girl. As we walked away, Tony pointed out the statues's clubbed feet and I then knew why he had hugged her.

We went to Lucy's for lunch and met Bonnie and Brian and Isaac. Carol joined us for a bit of a break. It was pleasant and we let Ty order an ice cream sundae for lunch and a smoothie. Aren't we wonderful parents? He slurped down the ice cream and our boy began to come back to us. He began to play around and when Marianne and her boys arrived - he was joking around and playing again.



I met our guide in a hotel room with the other CHI Moms to do the consulate paperwork. It would have helped to have Ty's passport, so our paperwork was somewhat incomplete. But I shelled out the last of the designated adoption fees and that was a relief to be done with that. Tony and I were both tired of toting all the cash around. Three hours later we finished the paperwork and visiting and I went to find my boys and my friend and her boys!


Where else would boys be on a nice afternoon? The pool....that looks like a lagoon with a waterfall! It is very nice and Ty was having a great time. Kelly was attached to his Mom's finger...but through the magic of stacky cup manipulation, he all the sudden had his hands full of cups and no finger! And then Kelly really had fun. Carol and Ty got into a splashing fight and Kelly joined in. It was a very nice and relaxing afternoon.

We decided to go out for dinner - and I wish we hadn't. But what is a family to do?! We tried a kind of fancy looking place - but Ty was wiped out and tired and the emotions came creeping back in. He was very pouty and somewhat angry looking...so I took him outside. I sat him on my lap and I asked if he was sad. And he did admit he was sad. I told him that adoption was hard and that I was sorry it was scary. I asked him if her was mad at me and Tony and he said No - but just sad. I told him it was ok to be sad, it was ok to cry. He wouldn't cry - but did sit on my lap for awhile and I hugged him.

We walked back into the restaurant and he found something on the menu he would eat. Talk about comfort food. The waitress delivered a huge serving of bread to him - it looked like a block of french toast with some warm, honey dipping butter on the side. He gobbled that up and really wanted to go. The rest of the food had not come out and I made a command decision to take Ty back to the hotel. He had enough going on. On the walk back, he realized that I had not eaten and was wanting to take me back for my food. I told him it was ok and that we would go back to the hotel and watch some TV.

We heard music playing over the sound system outside of the hotel and we both started laughing. Back at the hotel in the province, they played the same soundtrack over and over in the hotel restaurant. We heard "Scarborough Fair", "Country Roads" and "Auld Lang Syne" over and over and over. We would greet our friends in the restaurant with "Happy New Year!" Well - walking back to the hotel, Ty and I heard "Scarborough Fair" and on the "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Tyme" part - he sang "Parsley, sage, rosemary and TY!" At the top of his lungs. We laughed and laughed and I can't tell you how good that felt.

The rest of the night was quiet and we all climbed into bed. Ty fell asleep wanting to hold my hand and that was a first. He quickly slumbered and after a few minutes unsuccessfuly attempting an internet connection - we crashed. It was an emotional day. I keep telling myself that Ty letting out these emotions is a good thing. That he is beginning to trust us. I hope this is true.