The Life of Cael

Surgery Results

2009-01-19T23:06:00.001-08:00

Hey,

Just wanted to let you all know that the surgery went well, as far as we know. It was a long day. Our urologist had an eight hour surgery today so Cael's surgery was to be scheduled late in the day, time TBD. However, since we were going to Loma Linda Children's Hospital and not our usual outpatient surgery facility, we had to be there by 11:00am this morning for our PATS appointment, the appointment where we briefly go over the procedure with the nurse and anesthesiologist and Cael's vitals are taken. Then we were sent back out into the loud and dirty lobby to wait, and wait, and wait... They finally called Cael back into the pre-op. room (or whatever you call it) around 3:00pm, and Cael finally went back for surgery around 6:30pm. The surgery was not to take too long for all they had to do was put the catheter in through the lower abdomen, just above the pubic bone, into the bladder. The procedure takes about 15 minutes. He was wheeled out of surgey around 7:40pm, and we were called back into the recovery room at around 7:55pm. We finally left for home at around 9:15/20pm. Needless to say, it was a long day, but he did great; we all did great.

Yet, I will say that he was super hungry. Of course, the first words out of his mouth to us after the surgery were, "I'm hungry." By this point in time, it had been 25 hours since he had last eaten or drank anything. He did have a meltdown around 5:50pm. He was so hungry he started crying, and that kid is a screamer. Once he gets going, it is very difficult to calm him down. Somehow we managed to calm him down, but it took us a good ten minutes or more.

At around 4:15pm, Dale left the hospital to get he and I sandwiches to eat, for we were also very hungry. We thought that by the time that he would get back, Cael would be heading back into surgery, so we would then go eat. We did not want to eat in front of Cael. However, Dale got back around 4:35pm, and Cael had still not gone back. (The reason that we thought that he would be going back to surgery soon was because the nurse and resident told us that it wasn't going to be too much longer; this was at 3:45.) We waited for awhile, but then I told Dale to go ahead and eat his sandwich because I did not want the sandwiches to sit out too long, you all know how I am. So Dale went out into the lobby to eat. When he was done eating, Dale came back into the room and it was my turn to go it. I was just about to leave to eat in the lobby when the OR nurse comes back and says that they will be taking him soon. But what is soon, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, more? So I decided to not leave because I did not want to miss them wheeling Cael back. Therefore, I asked Cael if I could eat my sandwich in front of him (by this time, my sandwich had been sitting out for quite some time and it needed to be eaten, otherwise it was going to get tossed), and Cael said sure. It was hilarious! All I can say is that when I pulled that sandwich out, and ate it very discreetly, Cael's eyes bulged; they were as big as saucers, and he just stared like a vulture at my sandwich, mouth watering. It was hilarious! I felt bad for the poor kid that he couldn't eat, but the look on his face was classic. I am sure that you are all thinking that I am so cruel because I laugh at my kid when he is down and out, and that's not necessarily true. Again, my heart went out to him, and I felt so bad that he had to wait so long and couldn't eat for so long, but if you were to see his face when he saw my sandwich, you would have laughed too; all I can say is classic.

Anyhow, as far as we know, things went well. We will see how Cael does during the next few days of having the catheter in. By the time that we got home, it was 10:15ish pm, so Cael went straight to bed, so let's hope that all goes well from here on out, and that he is pain free.

Thanks for your prayers and good wishes through all of this. Talk to you later.

Love,
B

2009-01-19T01:03:00.000-08:00

Some pictures from Christmas.

Updates regarding Cael, Jan. 2009

2009-01-19T00:53:00.000-08:00

Hey All,

We hope that you all are doing well and that you all had a wonderful holiday season. We just wanted to send out a quick update regarding Cael and recent events that have occurred regarding his surgeries and various procedures.

First of all, prepare yourself, this is going to be a long blog, for we have not blogged in a while, and a lot has occurred, so you might want to make some popcorn, grab a blanket, sit back, and relax.

Before I get into Cael’s medical issues, I just wanted to say that Cael greatly enjoyed Christmas and all of the wonderful presents that he received. So, thank you to all for making his Christmas special. He kept asking why he was getting so many presents. We told him because a lot of people love him. He would then ask, “Why do they love me?” We would respond, “Because they do. They are family and friends, and they have been waiting for you to come into our family for a long time, and are so excited to have you as part of our family” (or something like that). It was sweet and cute. He enjoyed himself, and he took his time opening up each gift. Let me just say that our Christmas, the opening gifts part, literally took all day. Actually, our Christmas began on Christmas Eve when we opened gifts from Dale’s family, because that is when they do their gift opening, and it took us about five hours to open gifts, and there is only three of us. Then, the gift opening continued on Christmas day, along with Santa gifts, when we opened gifts from my family, which truthfully took all day. Cael takes his sweet time when he opens a gift. He does not tear through it, and he likes to examine every part of the gift (and wrap) when he opens a gift. He wants to play with each toy for a while when he opens it. His way of unwrapping gifts is great, because he truly does appreciate each gift as he opens it, but I will say, it takes a long time, and even he wore himself out. We had to stop for a while and nap before we continued opening gifts because late afternoon was already upon us and we were still opening gifts. Good thing we didn’t have to go anywhere or go to anyone’s house that day; we would never have made it. Anyhow, we had a very nice time together, just the three of us, on Christmas day.

Furthermore, a big thanks goes out to my sister and brother for getting Dale "Rock Band" for the Wii. Let me just say that Dale and I have had so much fun jamming on that thing. Dale's on guitar and I am on drums. I am not a gamer and hate video games, but I have to admit, "Rock Band" is a lot of fun. One, it has some great music, and two, it's something that we all can do as a family. We put Cael on vocals because he can't quite do the other instruments yet, and we just jam away. Rock on my friends, rock on... (Yes, I am a dork.) :)

After Christmas, my mom and John, her husband, came to visit us. We had a lot of fun with them. Then, a couple of days after they left, my dad and Bettina, his girlfriend, came to visit us, along with our friends, Colleen and Mike Bender, and their kids, Nate, Noah, and Neysa. We all had a great time together. Thank you to all of you for coming to see us and for spending time with us. We greatly appreciated that time spent with you, and Cael loved seeing you all.

Now on to medical matters, for there is a reason why many have you have not heard from us for a while. We have been dealing with a lot of medical issues and feel as if we are constantly at the doctor’s. As for Cael stories, more cute Cael stories will come at a later time. If I can remember the cute things that Cael has said, I would love to share with you some of the conversations that Cael and I have had and the cute things that he has said. Anyhow, back to the medical issues.

As many of you know, Cael had his first stage hypospadias repair on November 4th. If you do not know what hypospadias is, here is a link that you can click on to learn more about hypospadias: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hypospadias/DS00884. In Cael's case, his hypospadias is/was quite severe, which is why the reconstruction of his private area is/was divided into two stages. The second surgery for the reconstruction of his private area should occur sometime in May or June. We have to wait 6-8 months from the date of the first surgery to allow for the genital region and the newly built urethra to heal.

As for the first surgery, the surgery went very well, and he recovered quite quickly (recovery time = 4-6 weeks). We keep him home from school for four weeks in order to monitor his play and physical movements. However, beginning the weekend of December 12th, which was at the end of the 6th week, Cael began to exhibit signs of difficulty when urinating. It was very difficult for him to urinate and he had to push very hard to get urine to come out. By the 18th of December, the urine was only coming out in tiny drops, so we called the doctor. On the 19th, we saw our pediatric urologist, and he tried to put a catheter back in to help open up Cael's urethra because the new urethra was closing off due to the build up of scar tissue from the first surgery. However, the urethra was so closed off, the doctor couldn't get a catheter in. Therefore, on the 23rd of December, we went back in to the outpatient surgery facility, and the doctor put Cael under anesthesia again in order to painlessly put in a new catheter in hopes that the catheter would open up Cael's urethra, thereby allowing Cael to pee again. It was a bummer that this had to happen right before Christmas, but actually having the catheter in really didn't bother Cael much, we just had to limit his activity. The catheter was to remain in for two weeks; we were scheduled to get the catheter out on Jan. 7th. All was fine with the catheter until the very end.

On the morning of Jan. 6th, Cael woke up screaming at 5:00am that his pee-pee hurt (meaning his penis) and that he wanted to go to the hospital. He had yet to cry from any sort of pain or discomfort regarding the catheter, so we knew that something was up. We got up and drove into the doctor's office (it's an hour drive) hoping that they could get us in first thing. We saw the nurse practitioner, and she took a urine sample before taking out the catheter. We were guessing that the catheter caused a bladder infection because the color and smell of his urine had changed two days prior, and this would explain the cause of his pain. Once the catheter was out, the kid was all good. He was up, running around, and ready to play the minute we got home, which was great because we had family and friends in town.

On Jan. 8th, we found out that Cael did indeed have a bladder infection. On the 9th, which was a Friday, the nurse practitioner called in a prescription of Cipro to our local Walgreens. When we went to pick up the prescription, the pharmacy didn't have what she had prescribed, and the pharmacist told us that they don't recommend giving Cipro to children under the age of 18, and that they cannot give us a prescription for Cipro because they are not allowed by the FDA to give Cipro to children under the age of 16. By this time, our urologist's office was closed for the weekend, so we couldn't call the nurse practitioner to discuss other options or to talk to her about not getting the prescription. Now, Cael was not necessarily showing signs of having an infection anymore, but the big issue was that Cael was having surgery first thing Monday morning, Jan. 12th, to remove the steel plate that was put in place to hold his left femur together when he snapped his left femur last March, so he couldn't have any kind of infection or have a fever going into surgery. I talked with the pharmacist on Saturday, and asked him how much the nurse practioner had prescribed because I had Cipro at home, and I could just cut my pills into smaller pieces and give them to Cael because we had to get an antibiotic into him. Anyhow, the pharmacist didn't like it, but I told him that I was well aware of the Cipro issue and that we were completely comfortable giving Cael Cipro, for Cipro was the only kind of oral antibiotic that he could take for the infection that he had. So, Cael had three doses of Cipro (via my pills at home) prior to his surgery this past Monday.

On Monday, Cael did not have a temperature or anything, and he had yet to really demonstrate any signs of having a bladder infection, so we went ahead with the leg surgery. The surgery went very well, Cael did fine, and his leg is healing great. He did experience a lot of pain, but once we got him on a regular schedule of pain meds, he was fine. Cael also had a temperature later in the day on Monday, but that can also be normal when still coming out of the anesthesia. However, when he awoke on Tuesday, Jan. 13th, Cael's temp was 101.9. We gave him Motrin, and he had been on Motrin every six hours since we got home from the hospital the day prior, but his temperature wouldn't go down. On Tuesday, his temperature remained right around the 102.3 mark. We called the orthopedic doctor to talk to him about the fever. They said that if he still had a fever on Thursday to bring him in. However, that night, at 2:00am, Cael woke up and was having difficulty sleeping. He was on fire. I took his temp and it was 103.1. I couldn't give him more Motrin, because I had just given him Motrin at 1:30am, so I packed him in ice, and laid down to sleep in his room so that I could keep an eye on him.

That next morning, Wednesday, Jan. 14th, his fever was 102.something when he awoke, and we called our pediatrician to see if we could get an appointment for that day. We did get in to see the pediatrician, and the doctor took another urine sample and a throat culture, but it would still be a day or two before we would get the results back. The doctor also wanted some blood drawn to see what Cael's white blood cell count was. By the time that we got home later that afternoon, Cael's temperature was 103.8. Again, I packed him down with ice. Now, mind you, Cael had been taking Motrin repeatedly every six hours since his surgery on Monday, and we couldn't put him in the tub to help cool his body down because of the wound from the leg surgery. Anyhow, the doctor's nurse called us at 7:30pm later that night and asked if we could get the the Palm Springs urgent care before 8:00pm, closing time. We said that we could, so we left right away for urgent care because Cael needed an antibiotic shot. The doctor did not yet have the urine or throat results back yet, but Cael's white blood cell count was really high. So away we went, and we got there with two minutes to spare. The Palm Springs office did not have any information for us other than Dr. Wright had called them and told them to administer a specific shot to Cael. The shot was a strong antibiotic administered in the tushie, and let me just say that the kid screamed and screamed (he normally doesn't cry very much for shots), and once Cael gets going on the crying and screaming, he has a very hard time calming himself down. So, let's just say it was a joy. However, I have to admit, Dale and I did have fun with the whole scenario. The whole scenario was very reminiscent of a scene from the movie Evolution, a scene and movie that we both love, so yes, we are cruel, but we did have fun at poor Cael's expense, fun just in our verbal banter to each other quoting the film, not in the sense of seeing our son in pain, for that, our hearts went out to him.

The fever was less on Thursday morning, but it was still there. Cael went to class with me that morning, then the doctor called that afternoon and asked us to come back in for another shot, by that time, Cael's temp was back up around 102.4. The doctor had gotton the results of Cael's urine sample, and he did have a bladder infection, the same infection that he had the week prior (it never went away because he wasn't on the antibiotic long enough and then had the leg surgery), and this particular infection is hospital-born, which means that Cael got this infection from the catheter and/or the outpatient facility on Dec. 23rd. The antibiotics used to kill this particular kind of infection are either receiving a strong antibiotic shot for ten days or taking a strong dose of Cipro, the only oral antibiotic that can be taken for this type of infection, for ten days. Dr. Wright said that taking Cipro would be fine, as did our pediatric urologist, but again, we had problems with the pharmacy and we could not get the prescription filled, again, by this time, the doctor's office had closed, so we had to wait until Friday morning to discuss the medicine issue with our doctor, for Walgreens also told us that they could not order the specific amount of Cipro that the doctor wanted. Again, we were in the dark, and the high temps continued, even with the continual use of Motrin.

Now, changing direction for a moment, a direction that is related to the above, and returning to the catheter story, Cael still was not peeing quite right after the catheter was removed. And, over the course of this past week, surgery and fever included, Cael again has been having difficulty urinating, and in all practicality, he can't urinate, which also contributes to the bladder infection, because he can't pee the icky urine out. So, we saw the urologist on Friday, and the doctor again tried to put a catheter back in, but couldn't get it in. Therefore, tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 19th, almost two weeks after getting the catheter out and a week after his leg surgery, Cael is going back in for surgery. The doctor is going to put a catheter straight into his bladder through his abdomen, bypassing the genital area. In talking to the doctor, we feel that this is our next best option, for even if we put a catheter back in to Cael's urethra, when the catheter is taken out, the urethra will likely close off again. Also, the doctor cannot do any further corrective surgery on the new urethra because the new urethra is still healing, not enough time has passed yet. So, poor Cael is going to have a catheter protruding from his lower abdomen, draining into a diaper, for probably the next five months. He will have the catheter in until it's time for his second reconstructive surgery regarding the hypospadias, where at that time, the doctor can correct any damage that occurred to his urethra on the inside because the doctor is going to be building the second part of the urethra in order to extend the urethral opeing to the tip of the penis.

Also, both doctors were able to get a prescription of Cipro for us, but we had problems with insurance at one pharmacy and the other pharmacy is ordering it in for us, so, we still do not have an actual prescription of Cipro for Cael, but I have been cutting my Cipro pills into fifths and giving him the recommended dose. I am thankful to say that Cael’s fever broke yesterday, yesterday being Saturday, and he seems to be on the mend in relation to the infection.

Anyhow, given that Cael is going to be back in diapers for some time now, we unenrolled him from school on Friday after our appointment with the urologist, because he can't attend school in diapers. He’s only been in school a total of 4 ½ weeks this entire school year, because he is always out for medical reasons. This also means that I am unenrolling myself from school for this quarter and possibly next quarter because of the surgery tomorrow, the recovery time, to care for him at home, and because of the time that I will need off regarding his other upcoming surgeries. So, a lot of changes have occurred within the past week, more specifically, within the past few days. So, we will see how everything will go.

Cael is a trooper though, and he understands all of the procedures that have to be done and why they have to be done. He’s a good kid when it comes to medical things, probably because he has been at a doctor’s office at least once a week since October. I know that he will get through all of this fine, as will we; he’s an adaptable kid. Additionally, all of the major medical procedures should be completed by July of this year, so next school year will hopefully be a completely different year.

Now, you may feel like all of this medical stuff is a lot, and it is. It’s a lot for any kid, but we were aware of all the medical things that he would probably have to have done when we accepted his referral. However, the one thing that no one could have predicted is the closing off of his urethra and his inability to pee. The urologist said that this is an extreme case, that he has only had a few cases like this in all his many years of practice, and that it has been 4-5 years since he has had a case like Cael’s. So, needless to say, our kid is quite special J.

Anyhow, thanks for bearing with me through this long and drawn out story. It’s a running joke amongst my professors and me at school that I cannot write a short, brief paper. I always exceed the assigned paper length by many pages, and I stress the many J.

We will keep you posted as to how Cael’s surgery tomorrow goes, as well as keep you updated regarding his other upcoming surgeries.

We hope that you all are doing well, and even though it may seem as if we have fallen off the face of this earth because we are bad at keeping in touch, we are always thinking of you all and you all are always in our hearts.

Love,
B

P.S. If you did not receive a Christmas card from us, please forgive me. I completely lost track of whom I sent Christmas cards to and who I did not. I only made it through half of my address book when I ran out of stamps. By the time I got more stamps, I had forgotten where I had left off. I did mark the spot, but I also sent cards from the first batch to a few people past that marked point in my address book, but I couldn’t remember to whom I had already sent cards. I also do not have updated addresses for certain people too. Therefore, please forgive me if you did not receive a card, and please forgive me if I sent you a card twice. This past Christmas was not my most organized; I still haven’t even gotten our Christmas gifts out to people yet. Sad, I know, but I will get there…

Early October

2008-10-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

Howdy Everyone, It's been too long since we have blogged so....

Cael started preschool, and loves it. He loves his 'homework' He can work on it for long periods of time.

Cael was sick for us for the first 2 times this past month :(

Cael went to Minnesota with Ma-ma for two weeks to meet everyone there and made a side trip to Chicago too.

He has a change of hearts with sports: Loves BASEBALL now, golf second. To date Cael has 25 homeruns off of us (22 off Ba-ba and 3 off Ma-ma). His 3 off of Ma-ma were to left field which is the longest homeruns he can hit from our yard. Today he hit 3 in a row off of Ba-ba. By the way: Ba-ba throws overhand to him. He is also starting to be able to catch the ball when we throw it him.

The photos above are (L to R clockwise): Cael getting his first Halloween card tonight from the Lemis Family, Cael's first day of school, Cael and Ba-Ba at school on day 1, Cael next to his growth chart with his Halloween card, Zoe and her new Wubba toy, a Praying Mantis on our front patio (that night there were like 10 out there, this was the biggest), Cael in the tub with his 'Bubble Beard'

Hoe all of you are well, more stories later....

And the saga continues :)...

2008-08-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

Where to begin? Where to begin? We are just having so much fun with Cael. He is such a cute child and says the darndest things. One thing that we find quite funny, is how much he mimics us and copies our behaviors - it totally cracks us up. Now, I can't say that others will find these behaviors funny, but we laugh at our quirks all of the time, and when the kid repeats what we say and our actions, we just can't help but laugh. For instance, last week, my hamstrings were really tight. Truthfully, they hurt really bad. It was tough to walk, so I kept stretching them out and would say, "Oh, my hamstrings. My legs are so tight..." Well, the next morning when I went into Cael's room to get him up, what were the first words out of his mouth? None other than, "Oh, my legs are so tight" (he can't say hamstrings), and then he stretched his legs out in front of him and stretched his legs by touching his toes. What's a parent to do, but snicker?

Dale and I were also having bad back weeks, meaning our backs were really hurting us. We both have not been to the chiropractor in ages and need to go. So, there were days that we pulled our back stretcher thing out and laid down on it to stretch our backs. Again, it was so cute to watch Cael grab his back and say, "Oh, my back," and then he would lay on the stretcher thing and stretch out his back.

Also, since our backs are very sensitive, there are times when Cael hangs on us that we tell him to get off because it hurts our neck or back. So, we tell him, politely, to please get off because he is hurting mama's or baba's back. Well, this morning, he crawled on top of our bed, he likes to play a hiding game by hidiing under the dog blanket (the quilt that was intended to be decorative, but has not come to be the blanket used to protect the rest of the bedding from dog hair) where we pretend that we don't know that he is there and we start to sit down on top of him, I am sure you all know the game that I am talking about. Anyhow, I leaned up against him while he was hiding (he was propped up by a pillow), and he told me, in his stern tone, "Maaamaa, myy baacckk." I stressed the letters in the spelling of his quote because when he talks in his stern voice, he draws out his sounds. Anyhow, what he meants was, "Mama, don't lean on me. It hurts my back." I wonder where he learned that one :).

We also love how he will use his broken leg at times when it is convenient for him. For instance, the child has no problem using his leg and no problem playing rough with his leg. Yet, there are times when he gets tired and is done playing rough, so if you try to continue to play rough with him, and I am not talking about wrestling around, but just playing around, I can't even give you specifics, he will look at you and say, again in his stern voice, "Maaamaa/baabaa, brokkenn leegg." It's cute.

The other thing that cracks us up is that our kids loves to take medicine. He is currently on an antibiotic for a bladder infection, but he has no problem swallowing pills. He loves it actually. So far, this kid has loved all of the medicine that we have given him: Benedryl, Dramamine, Claritin, Kid's Pepto Bismol, and antibiotics in capsule form. Even if we forget to give him his medicine, he reminds us. He does not forget. Considering that I have a sensitive stomach and am constantly popping Pepto, there are times when he will say, "Tummy icky. Medicine." Meaning that his tummy is icky and he needs his tummy medicine, because this is what mama says when she takes her medicine. However, the kid is really good about not taking medicine when he doesn't need it and really good about understanding that he does not take adult medicine and is not allowed to touch adult medicine. He can only have kid medicine when mama or baba give it to him.

Cael has also had another big doctor week. We had a doctor's appointment on Monday, and the doctor wanted to get some bloodwork done in order to see how things are functioning internally. I will admit, I was scared about taking a four-year old to get blood drawn. I was waiting in LabCorp for some tests to be done prior to leaving for China, and there was a four-year old there having blood work done. My heart just went out to this kid. It's one of those situations where your heart goes out to the child but it's funny at the same time too. Anyhow, both parents were there helping their son, but this poor child was just screaming at the top of his lungs. He was hysterical and kept saying to his parents, "Why are you doing this to me? How could you do this to me? And so on." His phrases cracked me up, but his pain made me sad. So, I was expecting something of the same regarding Cael and he getting his blood drawn. However, the kid was tremendous. The technician drew five vials of blood, and two more the following day (they evidently didn't take enough the first day), and Cael never cracked a peep either time. He was so brave. He never cried, screamed, or shed a tear. He was silent as a mouse, probably because he was in shock and couldn't breathe :), but he didn't cry. Therefore, for being such a good boy, he got to pick something out of mama's super secret bag both days, and he did not fail to remind me of that when we got home. He was fabulous!

Now onto today, again, the kid was such a trooper. Dale had to leave today to do some work and to meet with another teacher in his masters program to do a project for tomorrow. So, it was just Cael and I at home today. However, I had something very important that I had to do for Dale, and it had to be done today. It was something that I had to focus on completely and could not afford mistakes from outside distractions. The project took me five and a half hours, three and a half hours of this was filling out an important online document, which required a lot of work and a lot of attention. I tried doing it with Cael by my side playing, but that wasn't happening. So, I eventually put him in his room to play by himself. In order to help Cael learn how to play by himself and learn to entertain himself, we put him in his room for 45 minutes a couple times a week and have him play by himself. We set the timer, and when he is done, as a reward for being so good and for playing by himself, he gets a reward, such as a small piece of candy. Well, I told him today that it was time for him to play by himself for awhile because mama needed some private time because she needed to focus. He was fine with it, but said something regarding setting the timer. I said that I wasn't going to set the timer, but that I would come get him when I was done. Now, please do not think that I completely neglected my child, because I did not. We have a video monitor, so I set the monitor up next to me and I kept my eye on him the whole time to make sure that he is not doing anything dangerous. Anyhow, the kid was great. He played with play-doh for three and a half hours. Yes, it took me three and a half hours to fill out this online document thing. Anyhow, when I was just about done, I hear this voice from Cael's room saying, "Mama, BEEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEEP!" Meaning, he was done. Since I didn't set the timer, and he is used to a beeper going off letting him know that his time is up, he was making that beeping sound informing me that he was done and his time was now up. I heard him and acknowledged him, and told him that I was almost done and it would be just a couple minutes more. He then starting singing the clean-up song, again trying to tell me that he was done. It was cute, and I loved his methods of telling me that he was done. It was very funny. Yet, overall, the kid did great, and he played safely the whole time.

Oh another story... For some reason, Cael did throw a small fit in the bathroom this morning. When we first got him, he liked to do the potty thing all on his own. Then, as he became more attached, and because we like to make sure that he is well-wiped, we would help him go potty. However, we are now transitioning the potty thing back onto him, because if he goes to school in the fall, he will have to do it himself. He is perfectly capable of going to the bathroom himself, flushing the toilet, putting his clothes back on, and washing his hands, but on some days he likes to ham it up that he can't and that he needs our help. We don't play along; he still has to do it himself. Anyhow this morning, he was hamming it up that he needed help, and he didn't. So, he started to do that play crying, a horrible thing that we taught him by play crying with him sometimes (we should never have started). He play cries and cracks a smile at the same time, that is how you know that he is play crying, but I wasn't giving into it. So, then he got mad and started screaming at me. Well, to make a long story short, he got in trouble for screaming and shouting at me, and he still had to go potty on his own, because I definitely was not going to give into helping him while he was in the midst of throwing a fit. So, he stood by the toilet crying. I told him that I loved him, but that his screaming is not okay, and that he had to flush the toilet, put his clothes back on (he always takes off his underpants and shorts when going), wash his hands, and then he could come out. Well, he stayed in there for a while and screamed. I just ignored it, and eventually he stopped, flushed the toilet, put his clothes on, washed his hands, and came out. Now, here is my favorite part. When he came out, he walked over to the time-out corner and put himself in a time-out. I never even mentioned the word time-out when he got in trouble for screaming. I just verbally told him that screaming is not okay and that crying, screaming, and throwing a fit is not going to get you what you want. So, when he walked over to the time-out corner, I asked him, "Cael, what are you doing?" He motioned to me that he was going to sit in the corner. I was puzzled at first, and then it dawned on me, so I asked, "Cael, are you putting yourself in a time-out?" He grunted yes, and then said, "Buzzer." Meaning, "Mama please go set the buzzer so I know when my time-out is over." I told him that he didn't have to sit in a time-out that I just did not like or appreciate his screaming, but he insisted that he sit in his time-out, so I said okay, if this is what you want. Thus, I set the timer for one-minute, and he stayed there until the buzzer beeped. He is an amazing child, and he has done this before. He knows when he misbehaves, and will on occasion, sit himself in a time-out; it's kind of funny, but as a parent, I have to support his decision :).

So, there are a few more stories for you. I hope you enjoyed them. Oh, by the way, he is becoming a stud at baseball, golf, and soccer.

Well, I hope you all are doing well. Take care.

Love,
B

A few more quick stories

2008-08-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

Hey folks.

Here are a few more cute Cael stories:

The other night we were playing baseball. And yes, "Ma-ma" is still in on the baseball. Ma-ma can bat, but Ba-ba cannot. So, the other night when we were playing baseball and Cael was at bat, I was helping him with his stance (Ba-ba is the pitcher). Cael kept crowding the plate and turning his body to face Dale, so I kept helping him move his body back from the plate and placed his feet about shoulder width apart, facing the side of his body towards Dale. He eventually started to get it. Anyhow, when it was my turn to bat, Cael came over to me and said, "No ma-ma, like this..." Then he moved my feet into the "proper" stance and said, "There you go." It was cute.

Cael also started to pitch the ball to me while I was batting, and he gave me the impossible task of hitting the ball into the bucket that sat on the grass next to his feet. Now the diameter of this bucket is maybe 5-inches, so the probability of me actually hitting the ball into the bucket was zero. Yet, I tried and failed every time. Cael kept getting mad at me and would say to me, with a stern glance, "Ma-ma, in the bucket" - meaning hit the ball into the bucket. It never happened, but I tried none-the-less.

Additionally, this morning, we all got up and did yoga together, Ma-am, Ba-ba, and Cael. Cael was hit or miss on the yoga. He did the warm-up and cool-down/relaxation exercises, but he skipped out on the dynamic flow portion. However, he sat on the sofa and watched the DVD and us as we performed the stances. I cannot remember what position it was that we were doing, but Cael got up off of the sofa and said, "No Ba-ba, like this...," and he moved Dale's body into the position as to how Cael thought Dale should be. Then, as with me and the baseball stance, Cael said to Dale, "There you go...." He's so encouraging. His little "there you go" is just too cute.

Lastly, returning to the All-star baseball game that we went to with our friend Bob, held at the Palm Springs Power Stadium, on our way into the stadium, Cael was complaining that his water was icky because the ice had melted, and said that he wanted a cold water. Unfortunately, when we returned home from China, Cael was introduced to ice, and now he has to constantly have ice in his water. We are trying to teach him that sometimes ice isn't always available and that he will just have to learn to drink his water as is if that is all that is available to him. Anyhow, on our way in to the baseball game, as he was complaining about not having cold water, we told him that we were sorry, but he had to drink his water because that is all that we had. He said no, he wanted cold water. We told him no because we did not have any money to buy anything, so he would just have to learn to drink what he has. He then said, "Hai Jian Xi money. Hai Jian Xi buy cold water all of us" - meaning that Cael has money (he had his wallet full of pennies with him), and that he would buy cold water for all of us. Again, it was cute. He is quite generous. Of course, he doesn't quite understand the concept of money. He just sees that he has a lot of pennies, so he thinks he has a lot. He doesn't understand the value of money.

Anyhow, during the game, Bob, our friend, turned to me and gave me money to go buy him some food and a drink, and if we wanted anything, to help ourselves. So, I got up to leave, but Cael stopped me. He probably said something like, "Wait Ma-ma." Then, Cael opened up his wallet and gave me three pennies, and again said, "There you go." His gesture meant that he was giving me money to go buy cold water for all of us. It was very sweet. He really is a darling child.

Well, that is all for now. I know that we all have cute stories about our kids or others that we know, but it's fun for us right now because Cael's English language development as really come along very well and rapidly, and we are having so much fun talking with him. As all kids do, he just says the cutest things and cracks us up with his actions. You should have seen him doing yoga. Even before we started the DVD, he was already doing various yoga moves - it was a hoot. Our favorite is that he calls yoga, "logo."

Talk to you all later. -B

Guest Blog: A Grandmothers turn to write about a very special grandson!

2008-08-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

A Grandmothers turn to write about a very special grandson!

I have wanted to write this blog since mid May. John and I had the very fortunate experience of going with Betsy and Dale to get Cael. It was a journey of a life time and I thought I would write that experience, then the kids came to visit in Florida and I thought I would write about that experience but as I sit here on the plane back to China for the 2nd time since May and have the time to really think about what I want to say I have decided to write about the thrill of becoming a grandparent to a very very special child. I have waited, as many people do, for the experience of becoming a grandmother. In the beginning when one envisions becoming a grandparent they think of holding a tiny baby for the first time. When it become obvious that for Betsy and Dale this was not going to be how they become first time parents I embarked with them on the journey of adoption. Still in the beginning I thought it would be a baby, not maybe so tiny but still a baby. When Betsy called me in February of 2007 and expressed her and Dale’s desire to adopt a child with special needs I wanted her to understand all of the reasons why they were coming to this decision. When in March she called back and said they had definitely made up their minds and felt that this small person on the adoption web site was calling their name I knew they had wrestled with all of the what ifs and had made a well thought out decision. So that being said fast forward to May 2008 and the arrival of Cael Jian Xi. As John and I walked into the registry office and caught a glimpse of a little guy sitting behind the curtains that I knew to be “our Cael” our world changed.

What I did not understand on that day, understand more today and will continue to learn over this child’s life time is that this child is a person with an extraordinary spirit. As we get to know him better that inner light continues to shine through and both John and I marvel at this wonderful individual that has arrived in our midst. As we would all like to think it is our family, the parents, the grandparents, aunts and uncles, experiences etc. that shape a child but the basis for this child’s being was already created when he came into our lives. It is the age old question of genetics, upbringing, environment; I don’t know but Cael has the most loving and caring inner character of any child I have ever known. He has been blessed with 2 parents who also have these characteristics and the three of them will in the future develop and demonstrate their own uniqueness as a family but for now we get to experience this child without our family’s influence. Where did his loving character come from, his concern for others, his ability to share, his braveness to embrace a new life, his ability to take delight in what we all take for granted? To be able to say that I am grandmother to a child like this is a great honor.

I am sorry that we live 3000 plus miles away from him because to miss each day of his life is too miss his radiant smile, the glimmer in his eyes (both good and devilish) and the love of his hugs: the wonders of a grandchild. But we do live this far way and it will be our mission to become a part of his life in any way that we can so we can bridge the distance.

In relating several of our experiences with Cael it will help to describe his exceptional personality. Now I know many of you grandparents will already understand what I mean when I say we are mesmerized by our grandson but you will have to indulge me because it is still new to us and I do not think it will ever get old no matter how many grandchildren we have.
The story of the “nake” (or as we would say snake) or Cael’s care for all living things.
On July 5th we had a dinner party at house, all of us where there (Meg, Will, MaMa, BaBa, Cael, Lao Lao, Grandpa, Aunt Ann, Uncle Giorgi and our next door neighbors). We had all been outside on the lanai sitting around the outdoor kitchen as we cooked and had dinner. The doors to the house were wide open so we could enjoy the indoor/outdoor living that Florida is known for. Now I say that because what we have come to find out that there are a few limitations in this open air living. Betsy casually walks out and asks John who put the fake snake in the kitchen on the floor. Well since none of us had done that John jumps up to go investigate, Betsy still thinks it is a joke until Dale nudges the tail of the snake and it starts to slither under the refrigerator. Blood curdling screams emit from Betsy and we all come running. After 30 minutes of all of us gathered around in the kitchen and trying to figure out how to get the interloper out of the house the “nake” appears on the side of the refrigerator and John is able to catch him with the kitchen tongs. As John runs out the front door with the snake coiled up his arm Cael and I are close behind and Cael’s concern is that nothing bad happen to the “nake”. He had no fear of him (as long as he did not have to get too close) but only concern for the snakes well being. As John released him into the wild of the vacant lot next door to us Cael asked me if he had a MaMa and a BaBa, I said yes and that the snake was on his way home. Cael was pacified with this explanation because there was a MaMa and a BaBa for this creature. A quick by line on this episode, last week (2 weeks after the event) I was unloading our guest bedroom closet for the handyman to install our new shelves when I found the skin of our resident snake, he had shed it in the closet and it turned out to be 3 foot 7 inches long from a black snake. YIKES!!

The Top Drawer Story or the patience of a small child!
Before I tell this story I have to set the stage. Grandpa has embraced his grandson from the very first day he saw him. After our return from China and knowing they were coming to visit, we started to fill up the 2 empty drawers in the guest bedroom with “little boy” things (John has lots of experience in this since he has two sons). Now I bought a bathing suit, some bath items, and a couple of beach toys thinking I had it all covered. Well not so from the male perspective and during my June trip to China Grandpa amused himself in the toy departments of multiple stores, and when I returned, the 2 drawers where full to the brim with Nerf balls, water guns, Lincoln logs, cars, water bombs, and balloons, to mention only a few. Each day that Cael came to the house he got a new toy from the drawers, and since we know that he is one of the brightest kids around, he got the picture of the treasure trove in the drawers. On their next to the last night with us in Ft. Myers Beach (the kids all stayed at the condo), our little guy wanted to come home with Grandpa and Lao Lao. We were thrilled and off we went, although there was a little concern at the condo, Will worried they would be taking a night time run out to the house to rescue a crying child. As we put him to bed it was time for a story and we had a Kung Fu Panda stuffed toy and story book in the drawer, and that was the present for the night, but eagle eye that Cael is, he spied the Nerf basket ball and net in the drawer and wanted it. Grandpa said that was for in the morning and the drawer was closed. Now we expected a few tears and as Grandpa and I laid down next to him (me remembering how many nights I had to lay down with kids to get them to go to sleep, Cael’s mother being one of them) we were told in no uncertain terms to go to our own bed by Cael who said “he no cry” pointing to his eyes. In complete amazement we left only to return in a few minutes to check on a little person with a finger in his mouth laying contently in the middle of a big bed surrounded with pillows, the second check on him in another few minutes found him sound asleep: miracle of miracles a child that can go to bed without tears and without begging for the toys in the drawer. Now as Paul Harvey would say the rest of the story.
We awoke in the morning to a bright eyed little boy at the foot of our bed smiling and saying Lao Lao come. I jump up and with his little hand in mine I am dragged in to the guest bedroom with Grandpa right behind us. The top drawer is half opened but not enough to get the nerf ball out, the pillows which I had piled on the chair next to the chest where a great support but not quite good enough to allow him to get the drawer open completely. Grandpa and I stood there in amazement that he had gotten up and tried to open the drawer which is quite large and when standing on the floor did not work he used his ingenious mind and crawled up on the chair and then when that did not work we were the last resort to get that nerf ball out. But the more meaningful lesson that we learned from him was his patience to wait all night for a toy he wanted, never ask again for it and then to be self sufficient because he knew it was morning and time for the toy. We are in awe of a child that a few months ago had so few toys and how he could so patiently wait for his next surprise.

Since I am a very visual person I think one of the best ways for me to convey our wonderment in Cael is through some of the pictures we have of him. So please enjoy the “Grandparents” view of their grandson.

“A Day at the Beach” “Grandpa got me clubs!”

Breakfast with Grandpa!

Getting ready for the showdown! Gotcha Grandpa!!

Pure Joy! Not sure who pooped out first?

Our special Cael!! How lucky we are!!!!

Another Betsy Update Regarding the Life of Cael

2008-07-30T13:06:00.001-07:00

Okay, before I begin with Cael stories, I thought I would share my and Dale’s morning with you. So, we decided it’s time for us to get back in shape, again. Yes, we have our moments of regular exercise, intermittent with long periods of laziness. Anyhow, we both enjoy doing yoga, so we got up this morning and did our Namaste Yoga, which we love. It’s so relaxing and really helps stretch our aging bodies, and yes, I say aging because you should hear us getting out of bed in the morning – all moans and groans from our aching bodies. Yes, we have hit that mid-30 period, and our bodies do reflect the age. No, we are not completely immobile yet, but we do have the back thing going. We joke that we are going to be those old people always complaining about their backs and hips. It’s funny, in the mind, we do not feel old, and in comparison to the longevity of life, we are not old but still spring chickens. However, the aches and pains of age are setting in, and our backs and hips are extremely tight and sore, but the yoga helps a lot.

Anyhow, the reason I am telling you this story is because we also decided to start doing our Tai Chi DVD. We have both the short form and the long form. We decided to start with the short form. The DVD itself is two-hours long, way too long for us; we are all about the 20-minute videos. Therefore, instead of doing the full DVD series, which includes an introduction about Tai Chi, two warm-ups (10-minutes each), a step-by-step instructional part (30-minutes), another short form instructional part doing the full series of moves (60-minutes), and then an 8-minute viewing of the instructor doing a Tai Chi, we decided to start with the warm-up and then go from there. Well, we did both 10-minute warm-ups, and all I am going to say is that we were completely spent after just doing the warm-ups. We were sweating, our legs were aching, and we were done. It was funny. We kept laughing because just the warm-ups were kicking our butts. We felt great after doing it, but we couldn’t believe how much of a work-out we got just from the warm-up instruction. The warm-up instruction teaches you the basic moves, and you have to hold the poses for long periods of time. Anyhow, by the time we were done doing the warm-ups, we decided that we should just take the DVD bit-by-bit, a little at a time. It was a great work-out, and one that we will continue, but we couldn’t believe how much we sweated and hurt just after doing the warm-ups. You had to be here to experience it, but it was pretty funny.

Okay, now onto Cael…

Let’s see, as you all know, we went to Florida to see my family. Cael had a great time. He loved swimming! He wanted to swim everyday. The first time he went in the pool at my aunt’s, he was hesitant, but by the end of our trip, he was jumping in on his own, swimming under water, and swimming to us, doggy paddle of course. He also had fun playing at the beach and spending time with family. However, the most amazing thing to me was how gentle and respectful Cael was towards my grandmother. He wasn’t scared of her at all. He would wait for her to catch up to us when we were walking; she walks with a walker. He would help her from her chair to the dining room table. He would give her kisses, and was just overall very respectful and caring towards her. We had to wonder if his respectful treatment towards her was a result of his culture, since the Chinese greatly respect their elders, or if it was just in his nature (or a combination of both). Anyhow, we had a wonderful time, and I was glad to be able to share the beauty of Florida with Cael.

When we got back from Florida, Cael went to his first birthday party on June 19th. Neighbors of ours have a son who turned two. Cael had fun at the party. He especially loved singing “Happy Birthday,” but I would have to say that his favorite thing was the slip-n-slide. He loved the slip-n-slide.

After the birthday party, Cael went to his first baseball game. We went to see the Palm Springs Power (a summer college competitive league) play. He had a good time. Could I say that he understood what was going on out on the field? No, but he enjoyed himself, and he was able to get a few soft baseballs that the stadium workers through up into the stands. The game itself was okay, but overall, it was fun. We went with our friends, the Schneiders, which was fun, and going to the game was like going to a high school game, so the game feels more personal, in a way. We went back again last Saturday to watch the All-Star game, and that was fun. Cael understood the game much better and really enjoyed himself. Needless to say, ever since the first game, Cael is now hooked on baseball, much to Dale’s dismay, and Cael isn’t too bad. He can hit the ball with a bat when we pitch the ball to him, and his arm isn’t too bad either. He still enjoys golf, but now our evenings are spent playing baseball and golf.

Cael also went to Vacation Bible School at our church last week. It was interesting to watch him interact with other kids. As all kids, he had his good moments and his bad. For the most part, with supervision and instruction, he does all right, but if ignored and if he gets paired with the those children who can be a behavioral issue, he can also start to act up and become a challenge. So, we just have to make sure that we talk to him a lot about what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior when in a classroom setting, as well as for any time.

Lastly, we have had some really good discussions lately about him being adopted. He knows that he is from China and that we adopted him. Anytime he hears the word “China,” he says, “Hai Jian Xi China” – meaning that he is from China. For those of you who don’t know, or don’t remember, Hai Jian Xi is his Chinese name. He knows that his name is now Cael, but he still refers to himself as Hai Jian Xi, and why wouldn’t he, it’s been his name for 4 ½ years. Anyhow, when talking about China, he says, “Hai Jian Xi China. Baba China. Mama no China,” which means that Cael is from China, Baba (Dale) is from China, and Mama (me) is not from China. Obviously, I am not in the inner circle of trust J. It’s quite funny. The other day, Cael and Dale were playing catch, but I couldn’t play with them, according to Cael. Then Dale came in to lay down for a bit, and of course, Cael wanted to lay down too, next to Baba. Cael told me that I couldn’t lay down with them, but that I could go outside and play catch by myself. Dale and I just laughed, internally of course. I will say that he is a kid who knows what he wants and likes and does not have a problem voicing it J.

However, we are making progress. Mama is now working her way into the inner circle little-by-little. The other night, Cael was drawing with bath crayons while in the bathtub, and he drew three Chinas – one for him, one for Baba, and one for Mama. So, for a moment, Mama was in; Mama was from China too, but only for a moment J. Then, the other night we were playing baseball out on the golf course, and Mama could bat but Baba couldn’t, which is a first. So, slowly but surely, I am working my into the inner circle J. Of course, you all know that I just mean this in good fun. My son and I get along very well together, and it’s been fun to watch his personality blossom, especially since his English is progressing very well.

In addition, last week, Cael and I were watching the movie, The Fox and the Hound, and we were talking about how the mama fox had to leave the baby fox in a safe place where it would get found because a hunter was after the mama fox, and the mama fox didn’t want the baby fox to get hurt. So, the mama fox had to leave the baby fox behind as she ventured forth and got shot. Of course, I am crying because the mama fox got killed, but my crying spurred a great conversation about adoption and how mamas sometimes have to leave their babies so their babies can be safe and find a home where they will be safe and loved. Therefore, when we were talking about how the owl and two other birds were helping find the baby fox a new home, Cael said, “He no home, but I have a home.”
I said, “Yes, you do. Your home is here with us, mama and baba.”
He then replied, “I have a home. Mama, Baba, Hai Jian Xi home,” meaning that mama, baba, and Cael, together, make a home. It was sweet.

We have had many other conversations like this, and the other night when we were out walking, Cael was saying that he was happy. Basically, in Cael language, he was saying that he is happy because he has a home and that he loves baba and mama. It was a good conversation, and one that just warms your heart when you hear it.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I hate writing sometimes, but when I do, I always seem to write a book. So, I hope you enjoyed my lengthy blog. Thank you all for being a part of our lives and for being a part of this journey.

Take care,
Betsy

July 25th- Meeting the Doctor

2008-07-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

Friday the 25th brought Cael his first US doctor visit. When we got in to the doctor Cael did well for the initial questions, the weigh in, height check, the ear test, and then we got to the eye test. We walked out to the hallway to the eye chart and Cael got the first symbol: the Boat. Then the rest he did not recognize or have the vocabulary for the symbols. Oh well, we know he can see well because he points things out that I cannot see in our house.
We talked to the Dr. about the immunizations and it is recommended for adopted children that you restart all the shots. So we mentioned that. The Dr. said, "Sure, we can start some today" and he left the room. While he was gone we prepped Cael for the upcoming shots. We talked about looking at Ma-ma and Ba-ba in the eyes and not the shot, the little 'owie' versus the 'big owie' if he moves during the shot, we would count while they give the shot, and so on.
So in comes the nurse with a tray of 8 shots! Count them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 needles on a tray (and the TB one, and a syringe of Tylenol). Ba-ba and Ma-ma about passed out! I asked, "Your giving him all of those today?" the nurse said, "Yes, 2 in each leg, 2 in each arm." Cael started to squirm a bit. Ma-ma mentioned the steel plate in Caels left leg (broken leg in March), and the nurses goes, "I am running out of places to give them." At this time the Dr. walks in and says, "why don't we give just 4 today and the rest in 30 days" and Ba-ba was like "YES! (in his head). They took 4 off the tray and Ba-ba said to Cael, "See they were just trying to make you nervous :-)"
Shot 1 right arm: all good
Shot 2 right arm: all good
Shot 3 left arm: a few tears
Shot 4 left arms: the water works started
Shot 5 right wrist TB test: we all had to restrain him while he wailed away
All done! Cael was AWESOME!!! He cried for a bit and stopped when he got his sucker in the lobby and his 4 stickers for each shot.

I am sure Cael is looking forward to our next visit in 30 days, when he will get the other 4 more painful ones!

The Missed Blog- Slaying the Snake

2008-07-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

Back before the 4th...
Slaying the Snake:
We had a dinner party at Lao-Lao's with their next door neighbors. At the end of the evening Betsy waked into the kitchen and said, "John, is that a real snake?" while looking at a curled up snake on the floor by the oven. John replied, "Why don't you touch it and find out." So Dale took a golf tee out of his pocket and touched his tail... no response... so he touched the snake higher on its body... to which the snake started slithering towards Betsy. Betsy then screamed and ran in place for about 5 seconds and then ran out of the house with that same sceam still going. The rest of the party guests came in to find no snake, who took that moment to go under the fridge.
The rest of the guests were not believing our story until Giorgi validated it for us.
The task at hand: get the snake out of the house, but first get it out of the fridge.
Grandpa got the honor of taking the grills off the front and back of the fridge. No Snake! Meanwhile Betsy took out the camera to film the story and the rest of the dinner party came in from outside to see the action unfold. But, No Snake, so the fridge was pushed back to its place and we decided to go back outside to give the snake its place.
At this time Cael wanted to look under the fridge to see the "snake" so he grabbed Ba-ba to look. After a bit the snake apeared. So John grabbed the tongs, Giorgi grabbed the fridge, Betsy grabbed the camera, Meg the Door and the rest of us the front row seats for the action.
The fridge was moved, John grabbed it with the tongs like a seasoned pro and headed to set the snake free outside. Mission completed! No snake in the house, and as Cael tells the story, "Snake, ma-ma, ba-ba, sleeping" meaning te snake went back home to sleep with mom and dad :-)
None of the video footage turned up anything :-( sorry AFV :-)

July 8 the Empty Nest

2008-07-08T19:16:00.001-07:00

Tonight Cael went for a sleepover at Lao-lao and Grnadpas house. WOW! Lao-Lao had mentioned that she would like to have Cael sleep over one night and it was either tonight or tomorrow because we are up to Orlando for the Disney portion of the trip. As they were getting ready to leave Cael pointed to himself then to Lao-Lao and said "House."

We are sitting around watching movies from Betsy's youth that were converted from film to DVD. It is fun.

We have not heard the phone ring yet asking for us to come get Cael :-)

We have had tons of rain the past few day. Huge storms that have been fun to watch roll in, dump, and leave.

Things are good down here and we are having a great vacation. Once that was much needed.

July 1 - Aquaman is Born! "See you Later"

2008-07-02T06:03:00.001-07:00

At Ann's house we introduced Cael to the pool.

We bought this life jacket thingy that you can train someone to swim by removing the flotation thingies one by one over time. Once we had that on we grabbed the cameras and it was time to teach Cael the joys of the deep blue sea.

Ba-ba had to get in the pool first and it was cold! That was not a stopping point for Cael since I think he is part polar bear. Cael tends to like colder baths than most mortals. Ok, back to swimming. Cael got right in and grabbed my arms and he was in the pool. No Fear!

We worked him up to going under on the first day and he loved every minute of it. Wow.

Day 2: we drive to Lao-lao and Grandpas house and the fun in the Pool continued.

It brought more jumping into the pool and getting dunked. Cael laughs and enjoys all the time he can get in the water.

Day 3: 3 hours in the pool. the third day brought in more of the same with more confidence. Today he gathered us all into the hot tub with all the toys from the pool. The hot tub has a little waterfall into the pool. After a bit some of the toys started to fall into the pool. Cael noticed this and went to the waterfall and said "see you later" an jumped into the pool by him self. Instantly we were off to get him with tons of laughs. That just

shows his adjustment to water is complete. On a parenting note: Yes, we have told him he cannot go into the pool without his special suit (which makes him float 100%), he cannot go in without an adult present, we lather him up in suntan lotion, and the OOL had no P in it, so we need to get out to potty. Later he and Grandpa had a sea battle with the squishy ball thingies. Cael ha a cannon for a right arm and his left arm is pretty deadly too, just ask Grandpa. Grandpa got in many a good hit on Cael and sunk him in his battleship once. As the swim time came to an end Ba-Ba tried Cael with the underwater swim like "Scuba Steve" (a toy Cael scored from Grandpa and Lao-lao). I showed Cael how to hold his breath like when we dunk him, I counted to three, and we went into the deep. After the first one Cael gave me the 'one more' sign and we did it again, and again, and one more time! He loves the water.

We also walked on the shores of the Gulf Mexico today and he stayed dry for just a little while. He got his shorts wet and then had Ba-Ba match him. He then got his shirt half way wet and had ba-ba match him. He then went neck high and guess what? Had ba-ba match him.

He really enjoyed throwing the shells back in the Gulf as well.

Guess what we are going to do today? SWIM!!! More Later....

Bonus Blog: We are big time in China :-)

2008-07-01T07:14:00.001-07:00

The newspaper article from our visit to China and Cael's Orphanage.

If you read Chinese enjoy if not, enjoy the photo (we are in the process of getting it translated to English).

June 27-30 -Meeting Gammy "Lord, bless us for this little boy, and What's his name? (John)" and "Does he ever Sleep?"

2008-07-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

Well I finally am back at the keyboard after a long absence. We are in Ft. Myers, Florida right now after being in Orlando the past few days.

The flight out from Palm Springs to Orlando (via Phoenix) was uneventful and Cael got the window seat on both flights. He loves to stare out the window and tell us about what is out there. He will also ask "what is that?" and point a lot. We did not give him any medicines to help him be calm on the flight and he was awesome for the entire series of flights. Yeah!

We got to Orlando on Friday night and stayed at Auntie Ann, Uncle Giorgi, Cousin Anne-Marie, missing was Morgan who was just brought up to FSU to start his freshman quarter of college (summer, early start).

On Sat we went to got meet Betsy's Grandma Gammy for the first time with Cael. We got to Gammy's home that she lives in, a place for people with memory loss, and Gammy was sitting in the lobby waiting for us. We walked up to introduce ourselves to Gammy and her face lit up like nothing I have seen before. She said, "THERE'S the BOY!" "I love him" and "He is so beautiful." It was worth the trip right there. We then asked Gammy to give us a tour of her home and her room and Cael walked slowly down the hall making Ba-Ba pause as we got to far ahead of Gammy. It was cute, Cael is very thoughtful that way towards others.

Later that night we had dinner at Anns house with Gammy. Cael has gotten into prayer lately. He will start the prayer for dinner and when he is done you would think it is time to eat, but with Cael all present at the table have to give their own blessing as Cael points to you. We said our prayers on cue and then Cael got to Gammy. We told Gammy that she needed to say a blessing for dinner. Gammy started with, "Lord, bless this little boy and whats his name? [John-Grandpa]." She then went on like the great aunt in Christmas Vacation and eventually Lao-Lao said "Amen" and we ate and laughed and had a great dinner.

Later that evening we told Cael that Ma-Ma's Lao-Lao (Gammy) needed to go home to sleep and he helped her get ready to go and helped her out the door to the car. He then keep telling us, "Ma-ma Lao-Lao go sleep." He now calls her Gammy.

The next evening during dinner Gammy asked, "Does he ever Sleep?" The whole table laughed after that question.

Cael was an awesome Great-Grandchild for Gammy.

The first photo on the blog was taken by Cael on his digital camera, and the second one here, 'four generations' was taken on his camera by Auntie Ann.

Ann, Giorgi, Anne-Marie, and Morgan gave Cael a bunch of Curious George items and Cael loves the 'Monkey' stuff. Here is Cael with his new Monkey robe that he adores:

Stay tuned, more coming soon from Florida...

June 22nd - Betsy's First Blog

2008-06-22T23:57:00.000-07:00

All right folks, it’s finally my turn to blog. I have been anti-blog up until this point in time, but in order to not appear as an absentee parent, I thought I would contribute my voice to this whole story.

First of all, can I just tell you that I love this kid? (Yes, I do refer to my child as “the kid;” it is a term of endearment.) The other day, the first word out of Cael’s mouth when he awoke was not “good-morning” or “ma-ma” but “coffee,” “coffeela” as he likes to call it. Yes, my kid loves to have his coffee every morning. Before you all freak out about me giving my child coffee, no, he does not drink real coffee. His coffee is steamed milk with vanilla flavoring. He loves drinking his coffee with mama and baba. Even during mid-day, he may ask for coffee. Yes, a kid after my own heart!

Secondly, my child is also not a morning person – whoo-hoo!. Now, before you all moan with jealousy over the time that I am about to tell regarding when he finally awakes in the morning, remember that it is summer and this will have to change once the school year starts (bummer). However, as of now, my child does not awake until somewhere between 9:30am and 11:00am, and 9:30am is on the early side. I would say that 10:00am is a fair estimate for his average time – yes! For, as many of you know, I also am not a morning person and have always dreaded having to get up early once we had a child, so this time frame is perfect for me. Can we all just say that he was born to be my child (and Dale’s of course too J)? Now, some of you may be shaking her head and thinking that I am really going to be in for it when we have to get up early or when he starts getting up earlier, but I would like you all to know that while in China, I went to bed at a normal adult hour and I was the first to awake in the morning. I would even go walking in the morning and be back before he awoke or was just getting up. Yes, I even impressed myself with that one. I too questioned how I was going to handle an early riser child, but thank God I do not have to deal with that one yet, because since we have been back, Betsy is back to her Vampire hours (as Dale calls it, meaning I am up late). It’s the only time that have to myself – no kid, no husband, no dogs, no cat… I am sure you can understand.

That being said, let me just tell you that Cael has adapted beautifully to being home with us. As many of you know, have read, or heard through the grapevine, Cael was a turd while in China. He had his cute moments, but he tested the waters a lot while in China, he hated being disciplined, and he didn’t really care for me. If I even touched the kid, he would throw a tantrum. All hell would break loose if he were pried away from Dale. So, let’s just say that we looked forward to coming back home to the privacy of our own home where our kid could scream, cry, hit, kick, and tantrum it up as much as he wanted without on-looking eyes. Therefore, upon our return home, I was expecting the same behaviors that we witnessed while in China. However, other than throwing two tantrums within the first two days that we were home, we have not had any more tantrums. He actually has been really good. Does he still have his non-listening moments? Of course, what child or adult doesn’t? But, we have found ways to nip those moments in the butt quickly. Honestly, he’s a really good kid (I know that all parents say that about their kids). He’s a very quick learner. I love when he repeats what we say using the gestures that we use when we talk to him along with his Chinese and the few English words that he knows. His English vocabulary is increasing, but even without speaking the same language, we have been able to communicate with each other quite well. We can generally understand each other.

We did have a few issues with sleeping when we got home from China though. While in China, he slept in a roll-away bed positioned by our bed. Hence, we were concerned about how he was going to do with sleeping in his own room away from us when we got home. For the first few nights at home, I slept in his room in a sleeping bag on the floor. Then, we moved onto just getting him to sleep, leaving the room once he was asleep, and coming into his room to rub his head and soothe him back to sleep when he would awake screaming in the night, which it would only take a few minutes to get him back to sleep. However, after about a week, we began to struggle with getting him to go to sleep or getting him to go back to sleep when he would wake up in the night. He would go to sleep with us there, but the moment we got up to leave, he would wake up and freak out. This went on for about three days. Then, we are hit the point where we were spending an hour at bedtime just trying to get him to fall asleep and two hours during the night trying to soothe him back to sleep. We said that we couldn’t keep be doing this. We can’t spend this much time getting him to go to sleep at bedtime and getting him back to sleep during the night. So, eventually, we set the limit that we read for 10 minutes, then rub the head/back/legs/whatever for a few minutes, then time for bed – time for mama and baba to leave. Of course, he would then throw a fit and scream, cry, and howl when we left, but we had to leave. The first night, we would go in after an hour of screaming and crying, rub his head, and he would roll right back over and go to sleep. We did that for two nights, then we would not go in his room but sit in the hallway so he could see us, and he would then eventually go to sleep. Then, we removed ourselves completely and let him work it out on his own. We told him that we loved him, that he was safe, and that we are right here, but that we will be in the family room watching T.V. We told him that he can do it, meaning he can fall asleep on his own, and yes, he howled and screamed those first few nights of us completely removing ourselves, but eventually, the howling, screaming, and crying shortened in its duration until finally, one night, it stopped. So, we are going on one week now where he has fallen asleep on his own without any screaming and crying, and he would sleep through the night until mid- to late- morning – phew! It took us two weeks to get to this point, but we did it! We pray every night that it will continue J. Sleep is so good, because I am not the most patient parent when awoken at 3:00am to a frantically screaming child and it takes at least two-hours to get that child back to sleep. I am a better parent when I get a decent night’s sleep, as I am sure we all are, but the cards aren’t always dealt that way. On those days, I just make Dale go in – no, just kidding. Dale is such a deep sleeper that there were times that he never even heard Cael cry – wouldn’t that be nice? No, Dale is a great dad.

Also, the other day, we took Cael to his first movie in the movie theather – Kung Fu Panda. He enjoyed the movie and did great sitting in the theater. Everyone asks us what he thinks of all the new things that he has now been exposed too, examples: Target, eating out, the movie theater, the grocery store, and other American things, but truthfully, none of this stuff has phased him. He doesn’t react with any kind of emotion; it’s like these things are just normal for him.

Well, I guess that is enough for now. Thank you for continuing to follow us on this journey, “The Exciting Life of Cael Cookman….“ Talk to you again soon.

--Betsy

June 10- the 2 week recap

2008-06-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

It has almost been two weeks back in the states, WOW!

The recap since Meg and Will have left:

While Meg and Will were here we hit the Palm Springs Air Museum and Cael had a heyday in there. If you have not heard, Cael loves flying. I fact the first day we were home when Cael wkeup the first words out of this mouth was "Fei-gi" or airplane. Apparently he has gotten used to the jet-set lifestyle we lived while in China. :-)

We brought Cael to his first American Male haicut expereince. He did well throughout the haircut, but he was not a fan of the clippers. I had to hold him and as the lady got towards his ear, he would lean away from the clippers. It was funny. When she got towards his neck he would lean forward.

We gave the golf club set to Cael one evening and headed down to the old golf course. Lets just say Cael loves the game already. He took the little club and started whacking the foam ball all over the place. He would hit right and left handed. The next night was my golf banquet and he was more then stoked when Craig (pro that helps out my team) handed him a sleeve of Taylor Made Red's. He carried them all over the place and still does. We had to say, "You have to leave them at the house." Since then he has hit the ball a few more times. Today we dropped by the First Tee of Coachella Valley to inquire about it. The First Tee starts at the age of three and meets on Sat mornings, and it is one hundred dollars a year! We can go every weekend if we want. Now that is cool and affordable.

We went to the Jacobs house for an evening with Finding Nemo, pizza, and to introduce Cael to the Jacobs. Cael did well and even ate some pizza! The next day at church Cael saw Gracie and remembered her. He also remembered Jori because he was promised a sucker when she saw him at church.

We went to church together on Sunday for the first time in the states. Granted we were late, but he did well for the little time we where there. He then met tons of folks that were so excited to finally meet Cael. Cael pulled the ol'shy guy routine on everyone.

Today at work he helped us serve cake to the teachers getting their certificates for completion of the Weingart Laptop Grant. He then helped me carry the entire extra sheet cake back to the staff fridge. Before the meeting he wow'ed us with his yo-yo skills.

We have traded Cael back and forth as he has joined both of us at work. He sure can play a mean game of Minesweeper when the boss is not looking. He also loves to visit my co-workers offices.

We were given a webcam from Lao-Lao- and Grandpa, so I have learned how to use Skype to video conference. Cael loves to kiss the screen when he talks to them. We also got a tour of their house thaks to the fact that Skype works with wireless internet. Now that is cool.

I better sign off for now, I have to get some work done for my masters program finals on Thursday.

Coming soon a post from Betsy :-)

June 3- Guest Blog- Meg Cook (Betsy's Sister)

2008-06-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone
Will and I journeyed out to the Desert Hot Springs home of Betsy, Dale, and now Cael (along with Pia, Bryna, Odin, and Zoe) this past weekend to meet our nephew. He truly is an amazing child that understands more than you can believe. He immediately took to both of us, without any hesitation or nervousness (maybe it is b./c all 3 of us look freakishly alike…hmm, do Betsy and I look like a boy or does Will look like a girl…something to ponder over a drink sometime). The first day (the second day home for the Cookman’s) was filled with getting to know Cael. We brought him some bubbles to play with, which he enjoyed tremendously. I think he went to bed and woke up talking about the bubbles. In fact, when I woke him up Monday morning for us to leave, the first thing he said to me was “bubbles” (which is pronounced more like “boubles” or something along those lines). We experienced his now infamous temper tantrums on Friday a few times. One time, I had the pleasure of taking him to his room for a time out when he continued to throw books across the room. I am not sure how it ranked on Dale’s Beijing blast scale, but I tell you it felt like a good 8 or so as I sat with him trying to calm him down. But the weekend only got better form there and his mood and behavior improved greatly each day.

He is truly an enjoyable child that is full of wonder and amazement. His ability to understand what you are saying is incredible and he is able to communicate back through hand gestures or simple facial expressions (such as when the grapefruit was too tart for him or the salsa, which he insisted on tasting, sent him into a hot flash). Everything has to be even in his world…everyone has to have the same number of pieces of chalk to draw with (ok he used his to kill the ants on the sidewalk, but he started to get it), everyone has to have the same number of forks and knives, and everyone has to drink together. Sunday night we went to a favorite restaurant of ours that has a live Peruvian band that plays the most beautiful music. Cael and I danced and danced until he needed to get a drink of water (which he indicates by putting his hands up to his mouth like he is drinking a water bottle). So we stopped for him to have a drink and then he looked at me, pointed at my nice cold Miller Lite bottle and insisted that I drink as well….oh, I think his mother may have been having a fit right then (although inside) as her child directed me to drink some alcohol! Just teasing Betsy! We had such a good time dancing and he loved the music.

Will is on his way of turning Cael into a Cubs fan…sorry Dale!

In the end, we enjoyed our time with him and cannot wait to see him in a few weeks in Florida. I am sure he will have changed a ton by then again.

Betsy and Dale, God bless you for opening your hearts to this special boy. You are blessed to have him, as he is to have 2 wonderful parents like you!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend!

Love you all

Meg

May 30- Guest Blog Day Cousin Lindsey

2008-05-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Guest Blog: Cousin Lindsey (watched our house and annimals while we were gone)

What an adventure this little 4 1/2 year old has been on travelling thousands of miles from all that he has ever known, understood and grown up with. But he did it, making the trek with/to a family that has so much love to offer that he hardly knows what to do with =)

Though I was only around this energetic ball of mystery for 2 days I definitely received a dose of 'Cael personality'! Several instances that come to mind:

As Lao-lao called the next morning after getting home from the airport, Cael was so excited to share with her the days events. He grabbed the phone from Betsy and walked around the house chatting away in Chinese pointing to all of the dogs and telling his Lao-lao about them. It was great! He had some really important stuff to say, unfortunately we couldn't follow.

As Betsy was trying to find something he would half way eat he decided to go in defiant mode. As he was sitting in his high chair he gracefully stands straight up (against Betsy and my's promting) dramatically raises both of his arms (like crossing the finish line in victory) and starts wiggling his hips back and forth! I laughed and laughed. However I was told this is his I'm not listening to you stance. So I eventually held my breath =)

Dale and Cael were playing soccer (Cael kicking the ball back and forth to Dale). With several of the last kicks he would stop the ball, take a deep breath as if to focus then do like a tai-chi/jackie chan type move with his arms and 'POW' the ball. Apparently this gave the ball extra power and he was thrilled!

But I think the coolest moment was when Betsy and Dale had to run into the house to grab something and I was with Cael as he was riding high and mighty in his 'Kings Throne' in the back seat. He had his snacks in one hand, toys in the other, his Top Gun shades on and was just smiling. So I asked him Cael is this your home? 'Yes', as he shook his head with confidence. And who are those two people? 'My mama and ba-ba', beaming from ear to ear. At last Cael had found a place to belong. Not only a shelter to find protection, a solid future and really cool toys but at last a loving and caring family that would be with him through thick and thin, through his failures and victories, to read him stories at night when he was scared, hold his hand on outings, carry him when he is tired, and hug him through lifes difficulties. We all desire that type of love, yet most of us hardly appreciate it when we have it. But Cael soaks up every moment as a new addition to the Cookman family.

Welcome Home Cael may you know you are loved in so many ways!
Love Cousin Lindsey

ps Addie loves her new outfit! She has a mexican outfit, African and now Chinese =) ppps- If you have a story about Cael and would like to be a guest blogger, email me at dale.engman@dsusd.us with your post and I will get it up here :-) If you send a picture, feel free to send it along.

May 29th WE MADE IT HOME

2008-05-29T02:35:00.000-07:00

We made it home tonight at about midnight from LA. The flights were uneventful all things considered, and we got upgraded from Hawaii to LAX to economy Plus (5 extra inches baby). That meant the person sitting in front of Cael could not get his chair kicked :) Thank God for Economy Plus for free.

Cousin Lindsey picked us up from the airport and we all headed home with Cael taking a ride in his seat of honor (car seat) with no fussing. She has graciously watched our house for the past eon and taken care of our little zoo here. We are most happy with her and really appreciate all she has done to help us out. She removed any stress of leaving our animals at home or at a doggie daycare. Plus she gave us our own email updates on all of the animals with their personalities. THANK YOU BIG TIME LINDSEY :-)

Homecoming Events:
Cael was greeted by signs, balloons, some cards, and a gift or two.
Cael was introduced to his siblings (Pia, Odin, Zoe, and Bryna). He is a bit freaked out by Pia and Bryna because they are huge or bigger than him. The cat is the most liked so far.
He saw his new room and was not that excited, until we tried to put him to bed.
He played with the Balloons from Uncle Brian, Aunt Katie, and Cousin Anna.
He opened Lindsey's lucky Charms car and held that for a bit.
He offered Lindsey seeds.
He saw our gift to Lindsey (Pearls, in a Pearl bag) and offered her a ton of seeds to fill the pearl bag. Long story, but he got a Pearl bracelet from the pearl and jade market in Guangzhou and he wore it for 3-5 days solid around his wrist. Instead of jewelry in it he filled the bag with sunflower seeds and would eat them when he wanted a snack.
All went well until we took off his shoes, and took away the bag of seeds for bedtime. He let out a Cat 4 Honolulu Howl, or a Code 3 Beijing Blast for about 10-15 minutes. This time though he was crying Ma-ma for it after a while. That is if you speak Beijing Blast or Honolulu Howl, which luckily Ba-ba does. When Ma-ma came back into the room, he stopped almost instantly and he was better like that. Wow!
We got him dressed for bed and Ma-Ma is in there reading Chinese children stories to him and I did not want to go back in to get him excited once again.

Welcome home Cael.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Up Next:
Adjusting to life in Desert Hot Springs.
-Try to bring him by work tomorrow to show the crew, and sign him up for my insurance.
-Go to class tomorrow night and hope I survive the class without a phone call to come home.
-Spend some time with Cousin Lindsey before she heads back home on Friday.
-Get ready for Aunt Meg and Uncle Will to visit this weekend.

So stay tuned for more blogs on the life of Cael and the Cookman's. I hope to keep the blog updated but I will probably blog at least 1-2 times a week with pictures. So contiue to enjoy our journy with us if you wish. If you want I can set you up to get this emailed to you just let me know and I can add you to that auto send option. I think you can suscribe to the blog as well. Heck maybe I can sell some ad space on the side and pay for this little guys college from it.

Thank you all for joining us on this wonderful journey.
Dale, Betsy, and Cael

May 27th -Stuck in Hawaii, The Honolulu Howl, Welcome to the USA

2008-05-28T00:51:00.000-07:00

It really sucks to be stuck here in Hawaii. We were to fly our at 1am today, but we worked the "woes us we just adopted this Chinese boy [he was having the Honolulu Howl going on when we landed] can we fly out at a different time?" so we leave tomorrow at 1pm, but we get in at midnight at PSP.

I was planning on calling this just the Honolulu Howl because when we landed and needed to leave the plane Cael was just waking up from a many hour nap. Let's just say he is not the most perky of a guy when just woken. I think his is disorientated with his surroundings and he freaks out. The problem is that nothing can comfort or sooth him (ie. the parents). So we grabbed him and took the Honolulu Howler out of the plane and to the bus line to go through customs. Luckily we were in the last bus with just the crew and we had a lady talk to him and it soothed him enough to get him into customs, and immigrations. Upon getting into immigrations we said, "Hey Cael will become a US citizen in Honolulu Hawaii instead of LA! How about that?" Moments later the Howler let out his patented Howl (Just one octave lower than the Beijing Blast). So we were off to find a peaceful place that sheltered us the least from the "Stare". I was waiting until I left China to comment on the "Stare." The stare was given to Betsy and I for have to be a normal looking Chinese boy first of all. Second of all it was given in mass quantities at the Guangzhou and Beijing airports. Third of all it usually brought the police, military, and other women over to see what the problem was or to attempt to sooth Cael. Needless to say it is nice to be back in the good ol'USA where most folks look for a second and then probably say something to their significant other like, "Those poor folks" "I am so glad I do not have kids" or "You used to be just like that Johnny." After we found our hiding spot something funny happened, Cael ran away from us down this silver line on the ground. He ran, with me following, all the way to the end and stopped at the couch and he had a smile (he was playing). He then 'raced' me back to Ma-ma, and the Honolulu Howler was no more in the airport. He did this a few more times with Mom and Dad.

So Cael became a US citizen at something like 8 am Hawaii Time (11 LA time). The process was simple and the agent was awesome, leading both of us saying, "We were glad to go through customs and immigrations here instead of LA."

We Landed at 6:05am and were out of the airport at 9:30am. We had our first stretch limo ride as a family to the Waikiki Beach Marriott, given that all others from the plane had been processed and bussed before us. United put us up for the night here and we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner cards for the dinner joint here. The breakfast was good for me but Betsy hit a home run with pancakes or a waffle with coconut syrup! MMMM.... Guess what Ba-ba is getting tomorrow? Cael was in hog heaven because there was a Koi pond next to our table with HUGE ones in it. Cleaning up the dining area were tons of Pigeons, another favorite of Caels.

After Breakfast we all showered and decided to go to the beach. We put on our closest beach gear and headed the 200-300 yards through the hotel/mall area to the beach. Cael hit the sand and had a smile instantly. The problem was he was walking away from the ocean at first. We righted the ship and then he was sold on the whole sand and water thing. He loved to take the sand and throw it into the ocean, but we needed to show him that he cannot do that because we had many a neat miss with people and he got us a few times. We buried our feet and then he threw sand 'one last time.' so it was time to go. Ba-ba and Cael hit about a 3+ hours and Betsy watched this A and E show marathon about an outbreak.

We got cleaned up for dinner and hit the 3rd floor outdoor dining area. It is funny but Hawaii has been the coldest place on our trip so we were dressed in warmer clothes that most people :-) Dinner was fun, in fact the best dinner I think we have had (except the first night). Cael was hypnotized by the sounds of a guitar playing singer and the cool weather I think. He even did some dancing (It reminded us of the show at the orphanage). It was a great setting and Cael ate most of his food and all was a success, compared to a few dinners lately.

After loosening up the ol'belt we headed out to the beach walkway for a quiet stroll. We told Cael he could walk if he held Ba-ba's hand. So he did. Once he grabbed mine I said, "Can you hold Ma-ma's too?" and he did. I think that was the first time he has walked with both of us at the same time.

We are now back at the hotel and the A and E marathon is right back where we left off before our dinner so I am about to sign off to get some much needed TV time (Cael is sleeping by the way).

The Hawaiian people say, "No rain, no rainbow" and today I feel our family got a big rainbow today. I could think of worse places to get stuck in for a day.

Our hearts and many prayers go out to the family that probably lost a member today.

May 27th Flight 862

2008-05-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Flight 862 had to have an emergency landing in Honolulu. Hawaii.
We are all safe but one lady passed away on the plane we think.
We now get one more day of vacation in Hawaii.
More later.
Just letting you all know we are safe and will not be home until tomorrow.
Dale, Betsy, and Cael

May 26- The last night in China

2008-05-26T04:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight is our last evening in China and we will spend most of it packing and trying to keep Cael from getting us kicked out of the hotel :-) Tonight at Dinner with some more of Lao-lao's work Friends the ugly side of Cael popped up so we decided to leave dinner a bit early, before it really started for the adults. Cael has been fussy the past two days, but nothing like the "Beijing Blast"

Cael has had a tremendous 2 weeks, he has gone from an orphanage, to a new place Guangzhou for a week plus, then to Beijing for 2 days, to Hong Kong for 3 nights, tomorrow to LA, and finally our home of Desert Hot Springs. He has two parents that do not speak Chinese, and he does not speak English. We can communicate but there are times we cannot do it good enough.

We can understand that he does not really have a schedule and he has done tons of tourist type things. When we are back to the states he will finally get on a schedule and we think that will help tons (many parents heads are nodding now).

Today we started the day later than yesterday and we just squeaked in a breakfast. We brought him to a Chinese doctor to check him out before we left so if he was sick we could tend to his needs, plus we thought he might have gotten some poison ivy on his arm a few days back. We just wanted to rule out anything before boarding a plane and having any issues at immigrations. When the checkup was over Grandpa gave Cael his first remote control car, a tiny yellow Lotus. Cael was instantly felt better with this car in his hands. The hotel we are in has a mall attached to it so it is really nice that we do not have to drive anywhere to get stuff. It is also quiet and no one hassles us about anything. Cael used the mall to zoom the car around all over the place.

After that Lao-lao got us a taxi driver (Pierre) that she uses in Hong Kong to take us to see some sites. We visited the Bird market where Cael was totally into the birds. We have noticed that he likes birds so Lao-Lao figured this would be a great site for him and it was. The bird market is a few blocks of just birds. There are tons of vendors just like the Guangzhou medicine market, and the pearl and jade market from a prior blog ( I hope I talked about it). Next up was a trip to Aberdeen harbor area for a boat ride among the house boats. This was an interesting ride. I hope to get some pictures in soon.

Well Dinner (room service) just arrived, so stay tuned....
Please pray for safe journeys for all of us tomorrow.
Please pray for Cael to be very good for the entire ordeal of an international flight, customs, immigrations, and more strange things to come.

May 25- "Kicking it in Hong Kong"

2008-05-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

Today gave us a much needed sleep in day, because there were not planned tours, no vans to meet, no planes to catch, plus the breakfast goes until 10:30am, whew.....

Funny on a sleep in day how one gets up earlier than planned? Betsy went down to the workout room for a trip down treadmill lane, and Dale and Cael joined in. Betsy worked out and I figured that I could take Cael back out to the pool area and hang out with him before trotting over to breakfast, but Cael wanted nothing to do with that and wanted to be near Ma-ma in the workout room, so back in we went. One photo today has Cael on the treadmill hitting about 0.7km/hr :-) Betsy made me delete the photo of her in the gym (-: I tried :-)

So we hit the breakfast table at 9:45 am and ate like kings today. This hotel has it all, and good stuff too. I do not think anyone could leave hungry. We left at about 10:45 I think.

After that we planned to get ready and go for a stroll to the harbor to look at boats and to take a ferry to the other side of the harbor.

We hit the streets at about noon I think and we headed out of the hotel past the convention center, and to the 'boardwalk'. Before we went down we had someone from housekeeping tell Cael what our plan was for the day and that he needed to be in the stroller or walk, but not hang out on Ba-ba's arms. Cael shook his head in agreement. Having someone to be able to tell him what the plan is in Chinese sure helps the days along. When we talk to him he nods his head and we think he is understanding, but using both languages for now is nice.

Ok we made it about 100 yards before Cael decided he wanted to walk :-) IN the pictures you will see some of today's highlights: the Bruce Lee Statue, Jackie Chan's hand prints in their 'Walk of Stars", an old and new boat with the skyline in the background, and above in the first picture Lao-lao getting into the comic book scene (John did one too :-).

We made it to the Space center or museum and decided to go in because Cael was looking very hot and tired. The AC and a juice perked him up, but Betsy and I decided to return to the hotel to rest for two hours before going out for dinner with some of Kathy's (Lao-lao's) work friends from over the years.

Upon getting back to the hotel we were concerned about his temp and his look and figured Cael might be getting sick so Ma-Ma (a walking Walgreen's) busted out the forehead thermometer and got his temp which was over a 100, we were glad we did not continue on to the ferry and the other side of the harbor. Ba-ba kicked up the AC and the room got cold (not like in Beijing which does not allow their rooms to go below 26F). An hour later we re-took his temp with the electronic mouth one and he was at 99.1 or something. So it was just the heat and humidity that got to him. Sarcastic note: it's a good thing we are living in the desert. Cael during this time said the Chinese word for flying on a plane (some thing like Fe-gey), then pointed to my watch, and then did the hand motion that looked like his hand was an airplane taking off. It was cute, but now our kid is addicted to flying places and staying in hotels.

Dinner had us at an outdoor place with some of Kathy's work friends from the years. Milly showed up first and gave Cael two gifts: Ultra-Man figure (a comic book character here I think, picture of Cael holding him above), and his first watch (matching Ultra Man). Cael was stoked to get both, but the watch was and instant hit, given the flight story earlier. Samuel and Kelly showed up next and gave Cael a box with a Jade Lion necklace (really for later) that is rally beautiful. They said he would probably get a lot of toys being the first of Kathy's grandchildren so they wanted to get something different. Cael said thank you and shay-shay to each, but did not really know what the necklace was. There is a picture of all of them above.

One last story and I am off to bed: During dinner Cael noticed the birds (sparrows) coming down and getting scraps of food so he threw some at them. Both Betsy and I both scolded him for throwing stuff on the ground, but he pointed at the birds. Ah and oops :-) So Ba-ba and Cael grabbed some chips from the nacho platter and went to go throw food to the birds while we waited for dinner (it still takes a looooonnnngggg time here too). You will see the picture above of Cael throwing something.

If you are still reading this I finally got a picture of Betsy alone in this. She has been taking most of the pictures because I have been the one with Cael (as mentioned before in a prior post). So enjoy the picture of Betsy looking into or across the harbor.

Stay Tuned because we have another Hong Kong Day tomorrow.... and then we head back to the good old USA on Tuesday :-)

I hope all of you are well.

May 24- The return to the Airport

2008-05-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

As I sit in our hotel room on the 16th floor looking across the harbor to downtown Hong Kong, I get to reflect on my day as Betsy is reading Chinese stories to Cael to get him to fall asleep next door in our little apartment style hotel room. This will be the first night he is in another room, which will be great practice for when we get back to the states later this week.

Today was an early/long day, wake up at 6, check out at 8am, van ride to airport, flight at 11, land in Guangzhou, get picked up in van and ride 1 1/2 hours back to Novelty for dinner at 5pm, then we top the day off with another 1 hour plus van ride to Hong Kong at 6pm, with a stop at Immigrations leaving China and entering Hong Kong (Yup they still maintain the boarder, weird).

So all night long I prayed for Cael to not scream at the top of his lungs when we hit the airport, and prayer works folks! That and someone explaining to him what was going to happen twice, feeding him a little children's Benadaryl (sp), and topping that off with the ol'childrens Dramamine for motion sickness (not all at once of course).

For the long day we had Cael was awesome,never once did he break down and pitch what I am going to call a 'Beijing Blast.' But Cael impressed myself and others today and the worst time of the day was bedtime and I would attribute it to the fact he was sitting all day long like the rest of us, but there was no screaming like the first trip to the airport.

Two stories from today:

1. When we got back to Novelty (Da Ling Shan Town, I believe) Cael got to meet all the people that Lao-Lao (Kathy) works with. They spoke to Cael in Chinese and English and he was awesome the almost 2 hours we spent there. We got a second tour, this time with Cael, or the product line or display rooms with Cael walking on his own with a calculator that he snagged off a desk when we got there. As he was walking unattended the dad in me said, "Well I wonder how much this is going to cost me once he starts breaking things here." To my amazement Cael went up to many items (many breakable ones too) and came within an inch and pressed the calculator like it was a remote control. He walked all around the place doing that. It was cute.

2. Upon checking in to the in Hong Kong, Harbor Plaza Metropolis Hotel, we hopped on the elevator up to the 16th floor, entered our room with all five of us and Cael went running around the room. Moments later either Grandpa or Lao-Lao showed him the view of the city from one of our windows (Caels is better than the one I have now, but I am not complaining), Cael runs into this room and grabs my arm to show me the view. He then does that with all of us. It was Cute. So while the Bell hops were on route to the grandparents room down the hall Cael joined them, which is one of the first times he has left my side (except at Novelty earlier) in days. Moments later he comes running back to our room and grabs us to go show us the view from their room. They are on the other side and have a good view of the pool which is to die for. Ma-Ma said, "Lets go walk around down there." So we did.

The pool is on the 9th floor I think, and has a hot tub on the right side by where you enter, the entry has water falling from the sky like rain so you can get wet walking into the outside pool area, the pool is elevated and to enter you walk up three steps with water falling down it from little fountains at the top with lights in them. I hope that sets the tone a bit.

We took off all our shoes, and Lao-Lao and Ma-Ma took Cael up to the little fountains so he could walk through them (the third time he was left my side since entering and leaving Beijing). Cael got totally into them. As far as we know he has never swam, but we know he digs hos bath time, so this was a ton of fun. There is more detail I could plug in, but I am getting tired and I want to get a few photos from yesterday up for you all.

More from Hong Kong tomorrow.... Stay tuned. :-)

May 23 - "The Great Wall"

2008-05-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

Today was the trip to the Great Wall. We met Angela (who would not be joining us today) and Winston (our guides) in the lobby and were introduced to Angel and Dorthy, a mom and daughter here to pick up a girl on Monday. We all hopped into the van and we were off for an 1 1/2 hour van ride. We chatted in the van and the ride seamed to take a long time. I think for two reasons: 1. I was tired and wanted to sleep and 2. Cael was not and wanted to play.
So we get to the great wall and Winston said, "There are many vendors, do not look them in the eye and do not buy from them. They are dishonest." Hmmm... this is interesting I thought.
Out of the van I go with Cael in my arms, who by the way has not left my arms much since arriving in Beijing. We were told by the AGCI that this can happen where an adopted child will attach to one parent, and I guess he has chosen me. In less than 10 seconds I hear, "Cold water? Zing Tao (beer)?" "You want shirt for boy?" and so on.
The walk from the van to the little gondolas we were going to take must have been like a quater mile but on a very steep upgrade and every square inch on the right and left had vendors pitching their stuff. From one ear I hear, "Come back my shop, I make you good deal, #76" and the other ear I hear, "Come back, I remember you." Which made me think, I am not going to enjoy coming back through this part at the end of the day.
We hop on the gondola and up we go about 800 feet in elevation or a few minutes ride and we are at the Great Wall, after a 300 meter walk or so.

All I can say is, YOU HAVE TO COME SEE IT FOR YOURSELF SOME DAY! wow it is something. To think that 300,000 people worked on it for about 25 years, and it is over 4000 miles long is just mind boggling to me.

We walked about 400-600 meters of it with Cael, who by the way is getting pretty heavy. He walked a bit on the wall which I think was neat. Betsy manned the camera and got some great photos for what was a hazy day.

Next up a stop to a Closinne(sp) factory to see how it is made. Before walking into this place I was already done for the day after carring the big guy around the Wall, and our three stops yesterday. But I took one for the team because the driver turned off the van which meant no A/C and it was hot out. This was quite interesting to see how these Closinne thingies are made. DOn't know what it is? Neither did I, but it is like Porcelien, but with a copper inside. It was neat, but I was ready to be at the hotel, take a shower, and a long nap. And we still had the Chinese Acrobatic show, and then dinner to go on our game plan.

After the shopping trip at the factory, we voted in favor of skipping the acrobatic show and resting for a few hours before dinner. We did that because we fly out tomorrow and so do Angel and Dorthy.

Dinner found us at the same place as the first night here, but with another family that had 5 present, coming to adopt another and 2 at home. They had 2 biological children and 3 adopted (2 present). They were great to talk to over dinner, but Cael was not cooperating so Betsy and I headed back to the hotel which was next door.

If you ever come to China let me set you up with Angela and Winstion and they will show you Beijing.

I am tired, more later from Hong Kong....We have finished our Beijing portion of the trip.

Tune in Tomorrow to see what stories await you.
Dale, Betsy, and Cael

May 21 "The Trip"

2008-05-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

[We are in Bejing now and are on some pretty intense tours. Today we saw the Temple of Heaven, Tianemin Square, and the Forbidden City, we also have eaten ate at 3 authentic Chinese restaurants, and got a ride in a Rigshaw (sp) since yesterday at 5pm]

From Lao-Lao (she said it great), plus it gets me out of one blog entry. I got photos up (thanks to Kathy for sendign us these). I will work on todays blog later. Thanks Dale

Here are some new pictures. All of the ones of Cael in the navy sweater are on our last day in Guangzhou and the others where taken the day before on Grandparents day or better known as first time babysitting! We are now in Beijing, the trip was eventful to say the least. Travel with Cael in huge airports is disturbing and we had tears through each of the airports that raised the eyebrows of everyone there [He screamed at the top of his lungs, and they must be huge, for about 45 minutes in one, and about 30 minutes in the other, then again when we got to the hotel for another 15 minutes, it was a very tramatic day for the little fellow]. As Dale says he felt like he was kidnapping the only boy child in China. But it is much better now that we are situated in a hotel in Beijing. We will see what tomorrow brings [A good day with just one little meltdown right before dinner, nothing Pavarotti would be proud of]. Our little guy still continues to charm and amaze us. The situation today had to be so confusing to him, he knew change was on the way and yet none of us could communicate with him. The sharing continues and it has to be just as he says or it is upsetting to him. He has a set way of doing things (does this remind you of his MaMa or what). You will notice the blue bag hanging on his arm. That is the latest in a series of the most favorite object of the day. He got it free from one of his admirers in the pearl market (all of the women love him) and he has had it on his wrist for going on the 3rd day. It is conveniently filled with sunflower seeds that he eats all day long. He knows how to crack and peel them and share them with all of us. This is one of the food sources we could take a pass on but you can't when he says, BaBa, MaMa, LaoLao or DenPa (we never understood his Chinese for grandfather so this is an abridgment of Grandpa in his language).

The wonder of this child and the whole experience continues on. Each day we meet a new side of Cael, some joyful and some not but we love him more and more.

love,
Mom and/or Kathy

May 19th - 3 minutes of silence

2008-05-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

Todays entry (though a day off) will be brief but meaningful.

At 2:28pm all of China stopped and gave 3 minutes of silence to the victims of the earthqake (which was upgraded to an 8.0 yesterday). Everything in the entire country stopped and gave silence. Flags were lowered to half mast and all public events are cancled for 3 days.
At 2:28pm we were in our hotel room with Lao-lao and Grandpa and we watched and listened as all the cars were to honk their horns, the boats were to blow their whistles, and the air sirens were sounded for the three minutes. It was very moving.

It was even more moving today when I saw the news coverage, which is the only thing on tv, because all other stations are off the air until Thursday in honor of the no public activities. The coverage showed airports, roads, boats, shoping centers, etc... and all people were stopped standing, bowing their heads in honor of all the victims. Absolutly amazing, and it moved me to tears yesterday and today.

I do not know what kind of coverage it recieved back in the states, but I was honored to be one of a billion plus standing at that time.

May 20- "We come here all the time"

2008-05-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

I will start backwards tonight.
Tomorrow: we take our first flight as a family up to Bejing for a few days of tourist activities. Please pray for safe travels for us and all the other 8 families (and I guess 20 or so more that got their visas today too) who are all bound for the US via many different flights out of China.

Lao-lao and Grandpa returned yesterday and tonight we returned to La Dolce Vita for our last visit tonight (the 3rd with all of us the 4th overall). This place has been opened for about 3+ weeks now and is an Italian eatery that is straight out of Italy (with a La Dolce Vita theme). The food is awesome, resonably priced, decent service (just order the kids food with your Apps), and the deserts are to die for.
Anyway, Cael has a tendancy to speak in Chinese since he is Chinese, so we have gotten into the habit of asking the people he speaks to, what is it that he is saying? Tonight he told one of the servers something and they told us, "He says: 'We Come here all the time!'"we all fell over laughing. After that we visited the Ice Cream store at the White Swan Deli and got our traditional ice cream cone. It has been rainy the past 2-3 days and tonight we all had our umbrellas out and Cael decided he wanted to walk with us over to the White Swan. He and I walked hand in hand all the way over there. He gets along pretty well given he broke his Femur (left) on March 27th (He now has a steel plate with count 'em 6 screws in it). Tonight Cael chose a blue one, and ended up trading up for grandpas straight vanila that Cael has ordered the other visits there.

Earlier today we finally finished ALL our papwerwork over here! WE ARE OFFICIAL TO CHINA, and the USA granted us our VISA today!! When we land at LAX on the return flight is when Cael will become officially a US Citizen (given that we can get through immigration :-) Cael was awesome on the ride over to the US counsulate and awesome during the ceremony. The ceremony was not that horrible, you all stand before someone to make sure you match the photo on the visa app, then once all the families have been checked out, some dude (I forget his title, but something important for the US and the process) swears us in with an oath, we say "I do." thats it shows over, go forth from here :-) Cliff Clavin fact: the US Embassy processes about 5,500 adoptions in this the only office in China for adoptions here a year, about 15 a day. During peak adoption years it was up to 8,000 adoption visas a year, or about 22 a day. WOW!

At 1:40 it was time for pictures on the famous 'red couch' in the White Swan hotel. So all 8 AGCI families headed over there for the famous photo. So on the way over I am thinking of Christmas Story and the line to see Santa Claus, but upon arrival to the 4th floor, I was greeted to not 1 but count them 6 red couches in the area we went to. Rumor has it there are 24 red couches in the stinking hotel. So which one is the famous one? The one we got our photo on :-) So we all did our best to try to get all 8 kids on the couch and take a gazillion photos, but I think the highest number we got on the couch was 5. Cael decided to be moody bay at the precise time of the group photo so you might see one of us walking in the background of a couch photo in other families photos :-) We got him calmed down for some sweet shots with just the families, and with one other boy.

Before the visa apt we had to drop off the last of our clothes to get laundered. TIP: if you come here, bring 1/3rd of the clothes you need (maybe 7 days) and then get them laundered here. Each store and hotel offers the service so work the barganing magic. In place of all those clothes, bring napkins, they don't use them here, they use klenex. So in that process we had to buy some last minute things so off to Susan's Place we went (Home of Dong) to work the laundry and buying magic. Long story short we left with a DVD (thanks to the grandparents) of the Monkey King, a historic book that was made into a tv/movie series. I guess this is legendary stuff over here, meanign everyone knows it, and sure enough Cael new the main character and some of the story lines. We threw it in the DVD player while we were hanging out for the visa apt and it is very interesting. We can pop a bag of corn and watch it with you all when we see you, just ask us to bring it.

The morning found us sleeping in and daddy eating breakfast alone while Ma-ma and Cael bonded, and Betsy made him look good for todays ceremony for the visa. Ba-ba fashion note: Ba-ba has about the same fashion sense as Adam Sandler in Big Daddy, thank God for Betsy's sense of fashion. Cael was looking sharp today.

May 18- Church

2008-05-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

We planned to go to the Chrsitian Church on the island today at 11 am so we had a lazy sleep in morning.
Disclaimer: Before the blog goes on to much longer I must inform you that I have many typos and misspellings in them. I am afraid to check the spelling for fear of losign the page. As for the typos I can do a better job of re-reading the blog before I post.

Breakfast found us sitting in a new location at Cael's request. All 8 AGCI families are in our hotel now (all checked out of the White Swan) so the breakfast is bumping all morning long. Since we slept in many families were already done so it was pretty low key down there by the time we hit the floor. Cael ate a bunch of food, but it still ever seems to be enough and we would be heading off to church after a change of clothes and a toothbrushing.

We went down to the church and we bumped into Dong, from Susan's Place. He is a really nice dude and he pointed us in the right direction. The island is filled with stores: Ben's place, Terry's Place, and the list goes on for any name you can just think of that is American. I hope one will change their name if and when we adopt from China again to a non-American name like Zao's place. Betsy and I are a fan of what we now call Dong's Place, so check it out behind the Christian Church any day of the week. Tell him Dale or Betsy sent you and he will remember, he remembers everyone.

There were tons of people flocking in the direction of the church and upon arrival we were deciding to go in or stay outside, because they have speakers for the outside. Dong told Cael in Chinese that he needs to be quiet and only listen because we were going into church and Cael gave a nod (another service provide by Dong free of charge :-). So we parked the stroller outside and headed in. We were hoping to sit in the back and by the grace of God two women got up as we walked in and we got the last two seats in the back of a FILLED church. I being a math guy counted the people in a pew and then counted the rows turned on the calcuator in the head and figured out that there was over 400 people in the room because all the seats were taken and there were people standing on the sides, and there were chairs all over the back. The service was in English and Chinese so a song was sung in one Chinese and then came "Here I am" in English, another Chinese song and then "Here I am to Worship" back in English. During the worship many thoughts went through my head like: boy I hope Cael does not have a mood swing today, Lord help Cael be calm, man there are a ton of people here, wow in a country that Christianity is not the dominant religion there are a ton of people here, I was moved and honered to be in church with everyone. I was also happy to have our family together in church on the first Sunday we have been a family. I was told on the way in by Dong that many people are attending churches everywhere to pray for the earthquake victims, which pulled at my heart strings.

Cael made it 50 minutes before we decided he would start to be a distraction to others so we headed outside which was awesome! We walked around the complex and saw 2 overflow rooms filled with people and the outside had a handful of people outside listening. WOW!!!

We did not want to leave because I wanted to give a donation to the earthquake relief offering that was going to take place so we walked some more around the building. This building is like a Californina school where the hallways woudl be outside. We passed people getting ready for a wedding and heard the sound of kids and I thought "Sunday School." Sure enough Cael's ears perked and so did his attention and we found ourselves outside the room watching the kids in there with the teachers. A lady asked us if Cael wanted to come in and join in and we said Cael can answer just ask him. So she did in Chinese and Mr. Shy shook his head "no" she offered us the little kid chairs andwe plopped down on them with Cael on my lap and we watched. The service ended because parents started showing up to get their kids, so it was off to lunch after that.

I am just amazed at the attendance at this church!

Lunch was semi-eventful as Betsy had plans to go to the Pearl/Jade markets with some other ladies so the lasting question was, "I have to go, can you handle it?" of course I said "I got this, no problem" and Betsy was off to the hotel to get ready. Lunch in China, well this island is all I can speak of is not like America. The take your order, they bring out each item when it was done and set it on the table, usually in front of Cael, and then thats it you eat. They never come back to see if you are ok, need another drink, something was not delivered like a bottled water, etc..., in fact they never come back period. I always have to signal for the check and that takes a long time. Having a 4 year old any parent can and should be happy with fast service, for those 'just in case' moments like, "No problem, I got this." Our food came as Betsy left so I was here with Cael. A french fry or two in he said, "Ma-ma?" and I thought, "dang, I said no problem and here it comes 1 minute in." No problem I will just tell him and he will get it, oh he does not understand English yet, what did I learn in my CLAD classes that would help (that's for all you CA teachers :-). OK I will use my brain, I signal for the check now so I will be all good just in case I need to go. The manager comes over and I say "bill/check please" with that international sign for the check (you all know it :-) and he looks at all the food and gives me the, but your not done yet. At this time Cael squirmed loose of my grip and was off to another table to see their adopted child so the manager got the point. I go get Cael and settle up with the bill and enjoy the food without the need to wait at the end. Cael started to get squirmmy later on and I decided I was full :-).
Back to the hotel.
Betsy decided not to go to the market so it was all three of us at home for a little "Bob the Builder" bonding time in Chinese with Chinese subtitles thanks to Lao-Lao who we will see again tomorrow. Cael was in heaven while we watched a few episodes.
We ordered take-out and ate it in the hotel and later in the evening and finished disc 1 and it was bath time, reading time, and bed time.
All in all a low key bonding day that went well. More later.....

May 17- the Honeymoon is Over

2008-05-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

Howdy again folks,
Todaysentry will make all you parents that have made it past the 4 years old stage laugh (I hope). Well, the honeymoon is over, we now have a full fledged 4 year old that is testign the waters with us :-) He is the cutest thing one moment and then can swing the other way moments later. For example yesterday morning he woke up, about 7am, and we say "good morning" to Cael and he replies, "Good Morning" back as he is rubbing his eyes. Sweet and cute. During the morning ritual of potty, getting the jammies off and the clothes for the day on, washing off his face he ran to a toy half way through and said something in Chinese (dang, it really stinks to not understand this) and mood swing #1 was on for the day :-) Not so sweet.
Breakfast has been great the past few days. I bring him down while Betsy is still getting ready, and point to things I know Cael has enjoyed before. He nods yes or no. Most days it is the same, but I enjoy the pointing and agreement before putting it on his plate, because it will go to waste if he was not in agreement.
Stop 1 (8:50am):After breakfast today all 8 families from AGCI were headed with Jane and Emma for our Visa photo and Medical Checkup. The stroller brigade started at the Old Victory Hotel and proceded to the Visa photo place a few blocks down. We got to this tiny hole in the wal right before another stroller brigade from another orginazation. The photos took forever to get done because many children were photo shy and they were using a digital camera. It looked like the photographer was playing 'Duck Hunt' and following the children around with the camera waiting for the opportune time to strike instead of taking many photos and deleting the others since they were digital. Oh well. Mr. Caels turn came up he sat down and with one click he was done. He likes his photo to be taken. Oh, somehow the other group got in and out before us? Weird.
Stop 2: the Medical Checkup, or 'rubber stamp' The brigade went down the block again and was in the medical building. So the first come first served was on again. There were 3 rooms to visit: the weigh in, the hearing, and the checkup. The actual time in theses rooms was quick, but with about 16 families it took a long time. Cael was 13kg, 96 cm tall, could hear and see, and got an ok from the doctor after a long ordeal about his leg and his special need and how to write it up in Chinese. Over at 11:25am.
Stop 3 (11:30 am) 'The Paperwork": we spent a ton of time crossing the 't's and dotting the 'i's, well Betsy and others did. If I was to do this again I would have had the families go up to their rooms with their kids and retun with just the parent that handles the paperwork. Tip: go to room first and then retun with just one parent so the child (in ourcase Cael) can rest, eat, potty, chill out, etc... Cael had his second Ma-ma meltdown during this process. I brought him to the room but he freaked when ma-ma was not there, so back down I went. A few other families were there and they played and had a good time, but today was Caels day to not get along. Mood swing #2, 3, 4, 5...infinity I think.
Finished after 2pm, no nap, no lunch, no potty stops, no breaks, no snacks (for Ba-ba, Cael had peanuts) wich is a bad combo for any 4 year old, and Ba-ba.
Ba-Ba now understands alone time for adults. Which came for me at almost 3pm when he went to Lucy's for lunch. Betsy stayed back to put Cael down for a much needed nap.

Today is our first church service so I best be getting us ready, Cael and I need food, Ma-ma is out walking, her alone time :-) All is good and we love this bundle of energy.
More Later... Pictures I swear are coming, we have Gigabytes of them.

May 16- A Day at the Zoo

2008-05-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

We woke up for a busy day at the Xiangiang Safari Park Zoo. The trip over with the Clarks was nice. We had a chance to catch up with how their experience has been. Upon getting to the zoo it was like Disney World or Bush Grdens in Florida, but a zoo. We got there right as they were opening and once we went through the gates their was music and a red carpet. On each side of the carpet were people dressed in animal costumes and they were holding babies of the animal they were dressed in. So we got to pet a baby white tiger, a baby white wallabee, look at a a maccaw, and see a baby orangatan. The zoo was huge, beautiful, and green. The animals were very active and it was a quiet slow day for the tourists, which Ba-ba digs.

The zoo was a fun time and we have a few hundred photos and many minutes of me walking around with the camera on when I thought it was off. Betsy is laughing the entrie viewing of it tonight in the hotel. Once I figure out how to use this camera better, I will stop doing that, I hope. Don't worry folks because Cael can take pictures on his own. We had an extra disposable one given back from the orphanage so we gave that to Cael this morning and he was Ansel Adams with it. TIP to futue adoptee parents: bring all the cords so you can rewatch the videos in the evening with your child, Cael goes nuts when he sees himself, us, and the grandparents. Its worth it. TIP 2: learn how to use your cameras before you fly a gazillion miles away from home, don't plan to read the manuals on the ride over like this bonehead thought he would do.

Cael had his first discipline action by us today, he hit Olivia when he wanted to do something and she would not let him, we tried to get him to say sorry and he would not. Betsy took him over by the giant turtles and gave him a time out. Needless to say he was in meltdown mode for a while. Later he came around and we got some ice cream, since it was a bazillion degrees and super humid.

It was a day of firsts for Cael: his first tantrum, his first time touching many animals, his first time seeing a giraffe (which he was scared to death of), his first time feeding a giraffe (mine, and Betsy's too), his first time concquering a fear of an animal giraffes, his first time seeing an elephant, and the first time he saw 2 elephants do the 'wild thang' (mine and Betsy's too), his first time getting a gift from a zoo, his first time loading film into a camera, hit first time shooting photos, and I am sure there were many more firsts.

The gift he chose from the zoo store at the end was a bag of plastic dinasaurs, which were the only cretures not at this zoo. After a hard nap on the ride home we got back to our hotel room, he was buck naked and in the tub, turning the water on himself, in 10 seconds flat ready to play with the new dinosaurs. It was too funny. So today was a 2 bath day with dinosaurs.

Another funny story: So we spoil our boy within reason, lets just get that on the table now. We made it all of what, like 5 days before buying him his first sword after being the parents that said, "no weapons will cross this threshold of our door." But hey, "when in China...." He was making anything a sword already, so we decided to get a fun wooden one for him to play with. Betsy was getting a few gifts finalized at a store and Dale had become his ultra ego "Moody Boy" so I went to the little park (on Betsy's advice) with Cael and gave him his new sword. At first he was like, "whats this?" but moments later he was a samuri warrior hacking away at bushes. I decided that was not the best way to have my boy be treating bushes so I had him work on the hedges with sprouts sticking up in the air. Cael loved gardening. A few moments later a little boy came by Cael and he stopped and made eyes with Cael. Cael raised the sword in the air and gave him this, "Yo, back off son I got a sword!" look. The boy walked about 20 feet away turned back and gave the classic Bruce Lee hand motion, "bring it on!" Cael ran away from me like Jackie Chan with the sword raised in the air. As a father, I am thinking a few things: Shoot I really wished I brought my video camera, boy I really hope Cael does not hit this kid with a wooden sword, dang this is just like a Kung-Fu movie, and lastly I better get over there before someone gets hurt. So in this momentary lapse of my brain I watch Cael swing the sword around a few times and then at this boy. I see the boy do some body movment and then kick the sword away. At this time I have said something like, "Cael No!" or Stop!" and the other boy just turns around and wanders off. It was awesome to see a real life kung-fu showdown between my boy and a complete stranger and know they were playing around, another first for the day. Minutes later I was informed by Cael that he needed to 'take care of business' so it was off to the toilet in the hotel M level (closest one). TIP to future adoptee parents: learn that word from their caretakers becuase it will be a life saver, we have been fortunate so far. All was for not once we got to the toilet becaus the water was blue and he was scared, so stage fright set in. I brought him to another stall and it was blueish green and he still had stage fright to complete his business so the show was over and I am thinking now, boy I hope that boy is back out there so Cael can play with him :-)

It was a great day.

Tommorrow brings in the Medical Checkup for all the families and probably more "firsts" so stay tuned.... more later....

May 15th- "Pushing the buttons"

2008-05-15T07:06:00.000-07:00

Anyone that has had a four year old would apprecieate this entry :-) (also, I am picture-less on the blog because of the Internet uploade speed, I am hoping to have some time to get some in tomorrows, Sat, and Sun).
Mr. Cael is now comfortable with ma-ma and ba-ba. Today he grew an attitude durign breakfast. He did not wnat to eat much, he wanted something and then didn't. Thank goodness for the instant coffee maker here because I can get that stuff into me quick and I am good to go. :-) After breakfast we had a busy day with Lao-Lao and Y'eh Y'eh (grandpa, I hope I am spelling that correct) to go see three things: the Temple (museum), the Park with the statues of the 5 goats (rams), and top the morning off with a trip to a Tomb with thehelp of a driver. We have had the same driver here in Guangzhou and he has been awesome. Then the grandparents were off until Monday for some business in another city.
Stop 1: The Temple: Can you say awesome artwork? Come visit this please, and get the audio tour its worth the 10 RNB (+100 RNB deposit). I did not get to experience it too much because I was carrying Cael and he had the earpiece and it was in Chinese so I was left to just look. Upon entry all four of the adults scattered like cockroaches when the lights go on, so Cael and I were seperated from the party. I did not notice, but Cael sure did. This was the first time he had seperation axiety from a group, or ma-ma. I spent most of the time trying to find Betsy and is wa not working so I headed to the front of the place and hunt with Cael. On the way Cael was acting scared, because I am sure he was, and a lady noticed him and came over and gave Cael some McDonalds, which he recoginized immedieadly, and he was happy again. So our first trip to Mickey D's came in a super old Chinese Temple next to some really old ancient artwork by some powerful emperor :-) How about that?
Stop 2: The park with the 5 goats: Or if Cael was typing this, "The park with the 5 really scary goats". I (in the voice of CAel), was carried up the stairs because of my leg and was introduced to this giagantic statue of not 1 but count them 5 scary goats so I freaked out. Luckily for me there happended to be a vendor nearby so with a point of a hand I diverted ba-ba to that so I was not to be scared anymore. Ma-ma and Y'eh Y'eh proceded to ignore me and photograph the 5 scary goats while Lao-Lao hooked me up with my first ice-cream cone since I have been adopted. Lated Lao-Lao scored more bonus points for getting me this rubber ball with a string thingy that lights up. Meanwhile (Ba-ba interjects, man I really hope he thinks like this) dad looked at his watch and realized that this was jsut a 20 minute stop and the driver woudl be ready to leave, so back down a gazillion stairs with melting ice cream cone in hand I went. In dads arms of course. Mental note: come back to this park when my leg is working because it is sweet.
Stop 3: The Tomb of some really old dude. Sorry for my bad memory, but this guy was teh emperor of this area about 2000+ years ago. We were dropped off and the driver said something to the guard and was off. Remember, we are in China and we are at our 4 year old's mercy for translations :-) This guy said in English, "Your driver said you have about 1 hour so I will show you the important stuff, so follow me." And he did. It was awesome to get a personal tour. My lasting comments from him were: "People in this area (current time) eat anything on the ground that moves, except a car. Anything in the water that moves, except a boat. And they eat anythign in the air, except an airplane." And, "The emperor in this tomb died, we think, from one of three things: 1. drinking too much wine. 2. women. 3. the medicine he was on (herbs)."
Back home by 1pm. Transfered all the photos we took between all of us, grabbed lunch and said farewell to the grandparents until Monday.
On that note, more later..... got to catch some z's we are off to the zoo tomorrow.

May 14- "The Return"

2008-05-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today we went back to Cael's orphanage. The trip was about an hour with getting lost a few times. I am very happpy for Google Maps, MapQuest, and the like in America, because the roads here are not as easy to follow. On the way down we had Jane and the driver explain to Cael that we were going back so he could show us where he grew up and that we woudl not be leaving him there, and he understood.
We got to the orphanage and met the director outside. As for the media, I did nto see TV crews or anything of that matter. We asked if we could take pictures and we were told we could take photos of just the outside and no people at all. We agreed to that. Minutes later we wre inside the orphanage. The first floor must have been a different part of it, because we went up a flight of stairs and that is where the 'main lobby' was. We went into the directors office where we met a few other ladies, who I assumed were caretakers. The director said we could go on the tour and then interview with the media, but she had togo or do something so the three ladies woudl be taking us on the tour. Backstepping a bit, outside Cael instantlly got excited to see the director and squirrmed out of Bety's hug and ran over to her. From our phone conversation we were recommened to not let Cael go back to the caretakers, but he totally understood the director when she asked him, Who is your ma-ma? who is your ba-ba? and were are you rgoing to live? He pointed us out and told the director America :-) It was cute. So we held him just up the stairs to the office.
The tour started with Cael jetting out to the infant and toddler wing first. He has been carrying this little Spiderman backpac all over filled with little things he aquires. In there he has a bag of Wal-Borne sucky thingies that he thinks are candies. He grabbed that out and started handing 2-3 to each caretaker who he all knew (which was all). We moved through the wing with Cael at the healm stopping at each caretaker and talking to them and giving them the candies.
We were off to the upstairs where Cael spent his last days with the older kids. I carried him upstairs and upon getting to the top of the stairs, he broke lose and ran into a room filled with the big kids watching tv. He went right to the center of the room and starting giving his 'friends' the candies. He paused and gave his caretakers th routine 2-3 candies, and then gave the others in the room the rest of the candies, he specifically pulled out 2 of his trucks out of his 'backpack' and gave them to 2 of the older boys which was special. It was so special to see him do that. Moments later they turned off the tv and the other kids performed a 'show' for Cael and his guests (us, Kathy, John, Jane, and the 3 ladies from the orphanage). If we coudl have filmed this it woudl have been the most special moment from the trip. Cael stood by our side and watched the kids do a kind of a 'fashion show' for us. They pretended to walk down a catwalk and at the end they blew kisses to us. Then they all sang a song for us. Afterwards the caretakers pulled out fake flowers and handed them to the performers it was AWESOME!!!! We said our goodbyes and Cael hopped in my arms and we went back downstairs back to the directors office.
One of the ladies that came on the tour with us was the 'media.' She then asked us questions with help of Jane. The interview took about 20 minutes and there was no tv or photo crew. The lady apologized to us for that, but mentioned that with the recent earthquake all tv and photo crews are up there covering that. We told her that was totally ok and that if she wanted we would email her photos of us. She agreed to that and said she could email us the story when it is finished. Her newspaper was the Southern Metropolis Daily, which Jane said was a big one down here.
In closing, Cael was the most loved, most cared for child in this orphanage along with all the others that get the same care. The amount of care he recieved before us was awesome and we are thankful to all the caretakers and the director from the Nan-haiSWI District Orphanage in Foshan City. His return was wonderful. Cael did awesome, and so did his ma-ma, ba-ba, lao-lao, and grand-pa.

May 13- we are safe from the Earthquake

2008-05-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note that we are all safe here in Guangzhou (Cookmans, and Clark's). We felt nothing during the earthquake because it occoured at "gotcha" time, so the Earth could have be tilted off its axis and I would have not noticed. We are glad all are safe but are praying for all that are lost. This is a tragic earthquake.

We both went to the same place (adoption agency) today to complete the next part of the adoption the notary and the interview about our homestudy. We both passed.

The orphanage director was there today and he noticed her right away, she hung out with us fo ra bit and talekd to Cael. Tomorrow we will viist the orphanage with all of us. Before today I was going to stay back with Cael after the seperation anxiety that happened. The director said that tomorrow's visit will have the local Foshan news media will be there to interview and film us to promote the US adoptions as beign a positive thing. Cael also had told the orphanage that he would be goign to America, but 'promised' to come back to visit. So all of us will go tomorrow, which is really cool.

Kathy sent out a nice email with tons of photos so thank you.

Tonight we will do some shopping and take Jane to dinner. More later... got to go get lunch the family is calling. :-)

May 12: Gotcha Cael :-)

2008-05-12T02:30:00.001-07:00

We got Cael Jian Xi Cookman today.

Here is 1 of a gazillion photos, but I can only post so many, not to mention video too.

The gotcha day went smooth, he knew his 'ma-ma' and 'ba-ba' were here to get him. We were in the adoption center for about an hour. When it came time to seperate fromt he caretakers he had some troubles, but then again who would not. The elevator ride and car ride were not as happy as the photo, but on arrival at the hotel he fit right in.

He is the cutest, sweetest little guy. Kathy said, "The soul of the child picks his parents" and Cael is just like us both, it is too funny. He can color, he can share, he can do many things already. It is amazing. More later, we need to bond..... Happy Mothers Day Betsy and to all the other Moms out there reading this :-)

May 11- WE MADE IT

2008-05-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

We got to Guangzhou today. It took about 2 hours from the city we were in last night by car. It is a beautiful city and hotel we are staying in (Victory Hotel). We walked around and did some shopping today. We met another family that is adopting from All Gods Children today and we will both get our new children tomorrow at 2:30pm. We are excited and stressed at the same time. We met with Jane who is our contact here and she gave us our schedule for the time while we are in China. We have many things to do and it is exciting and a bit overwhelming at the same time. Tonight we ate dinner at the White Swan which is right on the river, which is a really nice hotel too.
We will do our best to keep the blog site updated, but at times I cannot access the Internet. I also cannot access my dsusd mail so email me at my juno (dengman@juno.com).
Wishing you all could be here,
Dale and Betsy

May 9: travel update

2008-05-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

We made it to Hong Kong with no problems. The flight was nice and quiet and for a 14:33 hour flight it did not feel like it. Four movies (which I watched none, and 2 hours of Discovery Education programiming which I watched), tons of sleep, four trips to the bathroom, and almost one book read, "A Downhill Lie" by Carl Hiaasen and we were in Hong Kong. Betsy slept a ton and played with our computer translator thingy.
We made it out of the airport with no problems. We met up with Betsy's Mom Kathy and her husband John after going through immigrations. Kathy works with companies in China all the time so we were meet with a driver that brought us to Da Ling Shan Town where she consults with a company called Novelty, tonight we get to spend the night in the employees dorms (which are really nice). Kathy told us that we are staying in the Big Bosses room.
Tomorrow we are off to Guangzhou to start our process to finally meet Cael on "Gotcha Day" Monday the 12th.

Thanks,
Dale

May 9th:Travel Day

2008-05-08T18:29:00.001-07:00

Here we go (aka Indiana Jones style):
7am->Palm Springs to Los Angles, CA
12:30->Los Angles to Hong Kong, whew......

Once we get there:

More later....

May 8th: Packing Day

2008-05-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

It is the night before the long trek or 'Labor' as I call it. I am in my Masters class (because I can only miss 2 or I am dropped from the class:-(). Betsy is at home frantically packing up all the things we will need for our journies.
I am having a hard time focusing on this class, but I am sure anyone can understand that :-)
I am a wave of emmotions from stressed, to excited, to happy, and the more I look at the other families I am totally excited to get to China to finally meet Cael Jian Xi.

May 4-Getting Ready

2008-05-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

As the departure day quickly arrives, we are busy trying to get all those last minute items and errands taken care of. One of these tasks was to create our blog site to be used while we are over in China, so here it is :-)

Please check back often and feel free to make a post.