Second Day with Tong Tong


Today Zheng Tong officially and legally became our son, as his adoption was completed. We applied for his passport and also received his adoption decree. His passport will be ready sometime on Friday, and then we will be able to head to Guangzhou to meet his brother.

Overall, Tong is doing very well given all of the major changes in his life over the past couple of days. He did experience some heavier grieving and some meltdowns today, particularly during transitions in and out of our van, in and out of changes of clothes, and in and out of the busier (and more overwhelming) government offices. He has really taken to Mike, and likes to be carried around by him a lot. Sometimes he will try to imitate Dylan's crying to get Mike to pick him up. We are encouraging him to use the word “up” to ask to be held, as we want him to know that he doesn't have to pretend cry or whine to be picked up. He seems to respond well to this, but let's just say that Mike is getting his exercise. :)

Despite the grieving and how difficult this all must be for him (he asked our guide why we all speak a foreign language), he has been doing well and is smiling about 60-70 percent of the time.

Mike has an application on his phone (Talking Tom), where an animated cat listens to you and then repeats everything you say. Well, Tong thought this was the funniest thing EVER, and it really was a lifesaver during some of the more overwhelming periods of the day. When he seemed to be on overload, he even talked to us and to the guide and answered some of our questions through the cat.

After taking care of the legal adoption and passport stuff, we came back to the hotel and decided we wanted the rest of the day to be nice and low key. Mike walked to the Starbucks across the street and got some sandwiches, which we ate in our room. We blew up a beach ball and the kids played some catch. We then watched some Pleasant Goat and Big Wolf and then put on some Phineas and Ferb music and did silly dancing. When Tong saw my silly dancing, he laughed so hard he almost fell over. Tong has rhythm and is a good dancer! :) After dancing, he went over to our suitcase and proceeded to try on all of my (and Mike's) outfits and check himself out in the mirror. When he put on my clothes, he put his hands on his hips and tried to walk like me I suppose. :) When he put on Mike's clothes, he made eyeglasses fingers to by looping his fingers around his eyes to complete the look.

For dinner, we ordered room service (pizza) which was actually really, really good. It had olives with smoked ham or bacon and sausage. Tong LOVED this and kept saying Xie Xie (thank you) Mama and Baba. This boy likes food!

A little while later, we decided to walk around the hotel. We checked out the pool, and then came back upstairs to get swimsuits on. When we got back to the pool, we realized there was one issue. The pool did not have a shallow end. It was deep the whole way across. None of our kids can swim (except for Emily, but not well enough for a really deep pool). So the kids dangled their feet in and we splashed each other. Tong enjoyed kicking his feet in the water.

Then we came back and got ready for bed. Tong put on his DS to let it play a song. He then started doing a fun interpretive dance, balancing the beachball on his head, then on his hand while balancing on one foot, then on his back. He is really so cute and his smile can light up a room. At the end of his dance, we had him take a bow and then we cheered for him. :)




Here some things that we have gotten to know about Tong:

He loves food. And he loves to share food.

He loves sweet things- candy, ice cream, etc.

He loves the bathtub.

He loves to brush his teeth.

He is incredibly smart and tries to copy everything we say (and does a darned good job).

He is very outgoing and funny. When he first met Missy (our guide), he basically gave her a full interview (How long have you worked in this job? Where did you go to school? Did you ever get in trouble with your teacher?) He seemed to be satisfied with all of her answers. :)

He loves to sing and dance.

He loves to draw.

He loves cartoons, especially Pleasant Goat and Big Wolf.

He loves bubbles.

Well he is excited about something, he squeals and/or jumps up and down. If he doesn't like something as much, or if it is “just ok”, he will just say “ok” with a less than enthusiastic shrug.

Emily and Dylan are doing wonderfully with this trip. Emily has always been a great traveler, but we didn't know what to expect with Dylan, as it is a major break from his routine. Well, he likes China! And he loves the view from our room. He toddles over to the window and just stares at everything outside. He had lost one shoe at the airport, so he was without shoes for the first day. When we went to Walmart, we got him a new pair, not realizing they were squeaky shoes. Well, he LOVES them and dances and stomps around at hyperspeed to make the shoes squeak. It is really cute.

As for Emily, she has been and continues to be an amazing kid and an awesome big sister. She has been so loving and so patient with Tong, and so good with sharing her toys, etc. This is a big change for her too, and she has been so great with all of it. We keep telling her that we are so proud of her, and we truly are.

As for Abby, well......this has been a rough trip for her. She doesn't do well with routine changes and this is a major break from her routine. Unfortunately, she has had quite a few meltdowns since being here, and has thrown herself on the floor of every airport, every plane and every government office that we have entered. She does not do well when separated from Emily, as she is very attached to her sister, so we knew that we could not bring Emily to China and not Abby. She would be miserable. But the change in routine has made her miserable too, I'm afraid. :( Thank goodness for Missy! It really helps to have another set of hands, and Abby has taken to her.

Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 7 am to take a two and a half hour train to Qingdao to visit Tong's orphanage. We will drive around the city and see some places that have personal significance for him.