Guangzhou

Hello everyone, Sorry that we haven't posted anything for a few days. We've received some concerned emails from some of our friends and family, so thank you for your support. Overall, things have been going really well. Kai is feeling more and more comfortable with us each day. In fact it's been a few days since he exhibited any sadness for his foster family. We're really surprised that after living with 1 family for 5 years, he seems to be just fine being away from them. His behavior has improved dramatically since the first day. That first night, I googled 'adopting older children international' and I got some good hits. His initial behavior, which I thought may be some serious ADHD/mental issues was a mixture of stress and his way of coping with this new situation. I needed to be reminded that everything is new to him. The people, the places, the food, the language. Everything in his world has changed, literally overnight. When we're in the room he really is a good boy, but when we get around the other families with their kids, he gets over stimulated and will tend to use poor judgement. Kai is very social and doesn't have much regard for the personal space of others. I don't know if that is a cultural thing with the Uighar kids, but his hitting and spitting has been reduced. He knows that both are wrong and now, the spitting is mostly just the sound of spitting when he gets frustrated (Although he is looking directly at us when he makes this sound). This usually happens because of the language barrier. I've picked up a few key mandarin phrases that has really helped a lot:
Dong ee sha - One moment/hold on... This comes in handy when he wants something and just can't seem to wait. At first he would go crazy with all the food at the breakfast buffet and would try to put the food in his mouth using the tongs. When we pulled the tongs away and told him 'No' or 'hold on', he would think that we were saying 'no, you can't have this'. He would go into a mini tantrum. He understands 'Dong ee sha' and it's definitely comes in handy while in public places.
Zo la - Let's go.
Bu Shi - No.
Hau La - Ok.
Noon yo - Pee
Wu Lasa - Poop
Ee ga - 1.

The above make up about 90% of the words I use to communicate with Kai.
Kai really is a ham too. He has a lot of facial expressions and really is cute. When he sticks out is lower lip and whines he looks like a little monkey. Another phrase I use a lot with him is 'da bau bau'. Da (big). Bau bau (baby). He always wants to be carried everywhere and I'm not sure if that is because his foster mom carried him or if he's just trying to push his limits with us. When he doesn't get carried, yes, he whines and makes spitting sounds/gestures. At that point, we just walk away, and now, rather than run away from us, he always follows. When I turn a corner and hide, he comes running and will be looking for me. When I reappear from behind a potted plant, ooooh he gets pissed off. So, he definitely is bonding with us. In Uighar, Mom is mama, Dad is dada. But Kai calls me (Brooks) mama. And he calls Cindy mama too. Then he will call me baba. But all the time he refers to me as mama. Cindy and I are trying to figure out why this is and the theory we came up with is that because he seems to have bonded more quickly with me, I may appear to be the primary caregiver so thus he calls me 'mama'. This is just a theory though.

We left Urumqi on Friday 11/11 and our original flight was cancelled, so the flight we ended up with had a connection in Chengdu. We had to recheck our baggage, but it went very smoothly. Kai was a real trooper and he loved being on an airplane, I believe this was his second time. The first was when he flew to us in Urumqi. On the flight, he did spit in Cindy's face, but was reminded very quickly (and physically) that it is not OK to do that. Since then the intervals between each spitting incident seems to lengthen.

We ate a lot of Muslim food while in Urumqi, which was mostly rice or wheat noodles. Kai grew up on these noodles with meat and spices and to this day does not like to eat rice. His favorite 'go to' food is instant noodles. First it was with hot water, but now he just likes to eat them dry or with a little cold water. Just enough to dilute the delicious sodium enhanced flavor packet. He will consume 2 instant noodle bowls a day- For lunch and dinner. Breakfast for Kai is usually about 8 breakfast links/sausages and some orange juice.

We've been in Guangzhou for several days now and the weather has been perfect. High 70's, low 80's. Very much like Hawaii. When we're not doing paperwork, we spend our free time at the outdoor pool. Kai loves the water and fortunately, we found some water wings for him so now I don't need to pack him around in the pool.  Although we are not staying at the famed White Swan hotel, the China Hotel is still very nice. Decent location and nice amenities.

Kai is very affectionate. He loves to lie on us when we watch TV. He also gives us kisses pretty regulary,

We took Kai to a mini amusement park near the hotel. He loves the rides. It was great fun with no lines and about .50 cents per ride. We just kept thinking how much fun the girls would be having if they were here. We have been able to Skype with them several times and they look happy. Mom and Alicia are doing a great job with them. I am sure they are ready to go home and relax. Alicia's baby is due in February and she has to get her house ready for the baby. Lyrah Sue looks like she loves the attention that Zozo is giving her. Alicia keeps reminding Zoe to be careful with the poor girl. Zoe loves the babies. She has asked Alicia to give her Hayden after she is born. LOL.

Tomorrow is our last full day in China. We hope to just hang out and pack everything up. On Friday we have approximately a four hour layover in Beijing then on to Seattle.  We are ready to head back to the states and start the next part of our journey. The girls are in  for a big adjustment with Kai and he is going to have to figure out our routine and language. We still have no idea if we will put him in Kindergarten this year or just put him in preschool. We will have to see how things go once we arrive home.

We will try and post some photos .