Friday, July 28, 2006

July 28--Sleep Update

Friday, July 28, 2006 by Dawn B
O.k., so many of you have asked about how Althea's sleeping is coming. Here's the scoop.
Nighttime is much, much better. In fact, she has been mostly sleeping through the night the last few days. At this point, the parents are the bigger problem, just making sure she is heading for bed early enough. She still fights going to sleep, but not for long at all, at night.
Now during the day, that's a whole 'nother story. We are aiming at just one nap-time, but we often slip and call it "scream time." A good nap day sees her actually asleep for more than 30 minutes.
The odd thing is--she is tired at that time. Really tired. Twice now she has drifted off during lunch (an irresistable photo opp for mom, I'm afraid). When this has happened, we cannot get her to wake up and continue eating. She will stir and open her eyes, but then drift right back off.
Twice now we have taken off her bib, undone her seatbelt, lifted her out of the chair, changed her diaper (including Desitin), carried her through the house and upstairs--all without her waking up. But right before we actually place her in the crib--her eyes pop open and she starts to cry. It's a little spooky.
Still, I'd rather have the battle over the day nap. As a matter of fact, I'm going to head for bed right now.
Night all, peace to you,
Dawn

1 Comment(s)

July 26--Althea's first trip to Barnes & Noble

Friday, July 28, 2006 by Dawn B
Just to confirm once again that Althea is really our daughter--the girl loves books!
Anyone who has ever been kind enough to help us with a move knows what bibliophiles we are, so this is very good news.
The tricky part is that she also loves tearing paper--not the best combination. This means for now she is limited to board books. We have some, but we could tell she was yearning for more (parents just know these things). So we took a trip to one of our favorite places--the huge Barnes & Nobel bookstore. Result: one very excited little girl. It got a bit tricky that she couldn't touch the gazillion beautiful and interesting looking books, but it helped that we let her hold her new board books. She was especially excited about The Rainbow Fish, probably due to the shiny scales. Althea is seriously into glittery things.
You will also notice a ribbon in her hair--the first time she has allowed anything to remain on her head. Charmed the socks off the nice folks in the Social Security office a few minutes before. Can't show you pictures from there--no photos allowed!!
After picking out our books, Althea and I cozied up in a corner to read them while Baba did more browsing. A mighty good time was had by all.

0 Comment(s)

Monday, July 24, 2006

July 21--Althea visits SDA

Monday, July 24, 2006 by Dawn B
For a while now, Andrew and I have been taking martial arts classes at a local gym called Self Defense America (or SDA). It's been terrific fun, regular exercise, and we've gotten to know some really great people. We had taken a bit of a hiatus from class with the China trip and subsequent recovery, but we're now getting back into "form" (really lame inside joke). Anyway, we thought it would be fun for Althea to see a bit of what we do, so we brought her in for a belt promotion test.
We dressed her in the atrociously cute TaeKwonDo uniform Master KC & Miss Cassandra gave us as a shower present. At first she was taking it all in very seriously. This is her intense concentration look.
You will also notice her hair is definitely getting fuller and longer, especially noticeable around the back. Oddly enough, it even seems to have a little bit of wave to it. Go figure.

After a few minutes, she really began enjoying things--especially watching the kids run through their techniques. I did take her outside while the motivational speaker was doing his thing. I think he was actually pretty good, but Althea decided she should be the motivational speaker for the evening. She tends to have the same reaction to the sermon in church. She really is our daughter.
When the test was over, Althea got to crawl, cruise and roll around on the gym mat--which she loved! Sorry no pics of this--I was too busy crawling around with her. She thought it was a hoot to see her Baba doing a backwards roll. Anyway, towards the end, she was feeling quite at home. Too bad she can't start in the Little Dragons class for a few years yet.
Saying goodbye, she made what any martial artist or kung-fu movie fan will recognize as the sign for peace:
Peace to all of you--our friends and family,
Dawn

2 Comment(s)

July 20--Supersize me!

Monday, July 24, 2006 by Dawn B
I suppose it was inevitable--our first trip to "Mickey D's." Althea is an American after all (we now have her United States Passport to prove with with ease to all and sundry). Soon she will even have that frightenly indispensable thing we are all allegedly supposed to keep secret that is about as secret as your eye color--a Social Security number.
Anyway, here is the cutie pie and her Baba outside of "Mac & Don's Supper Club."

That worried look on her face must be because of the driver's ed car, 'cause she loved the food at McDonald's. She ate like eatin' was about to be outlawed! She took down a substantive amount of Mama's chicken selects, many fries, a good bit from Baba's quarter with cheese, AND a good portion of a yogurt parfait.
"They put in a secret ingredient that makes you crave it fortnightly!" (Bonus points to anyone with the movie reference.) Here she is chowing down with Mama:

Yes, yes, I wipe off the table with an antibacterial wipe before she eats from it--stop your fussing. This kid is from China! She laughs at our puny American germs!
Our sudden plan to induct her into another crucial piece of Americana was a serendipitous meeting with Peggy Holte from church and her three grandkids. We were all at the park watching the children's theatre program and they invited us to join them at lunch. Ella, Evan and Ian are all really fun--Althea enjoyed their antics. She usually does enjoy people--especially kids and silly adults like her parents. Here is a picture of us with Ella and Evan.


I appear to be somewhat crazed--put it down to the above mentioned secret additive.

0 Comment(s)

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

July 17--Althea goes to church!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006 by Dawn B
We thought it was high time we got our little girl to church. (I'm afraid she shows every tendency of having a serious case of original sin. Oh well, at least her parents know how to treat the condition effectively, or, at least, where effective treatment can be found.)
Anyway, we're glad to say her first trip to church went very well. She enjoyed the music--both choruses AND hymns, I'll have you know. That's my girl! She likes dancing around to the music. She was a bit squirmy, but still pretty good for a seeker.
She made it through the first part of the sermon, then she spotted another little girl in church and started up a new acquaintance! "Ah!" she said, "Ah, ah, ah!"
Translation: "How do you do? My name's Althea. And yours? That's a fine little girly dress you have on. Oh, this old thing, my mama throws it on me when she doesn't care what I look like. What do you think of the service so far? I really like the drums! I wish they'd crank up the volume though!"
Needless to say, Andrew had to exit with her for a bit while our guest preacher finished up (thanks again, Paul!).
The pics are from her meeting church folks after the service. The first is a meeting with "Mama Karen" as we call her.
The second is Althea and mama playing "Tickle Spider," a game of ancient origins in my family.
--Here is Althea getting acquainted with Krista--one of the finest young babysitters I know. May their relationship prosper.
--
--
--
--
--
--
--Finally she got a bit tired of the whole "people meeting" thing.
--
--
--But she had done so well, that we celebrated by going out to eat! Woo hoo! Here is our girl enjoying her favorite appetizer--Cheerios!
--

0 Comment(s)

July 15--Althea hits the Hyvee

Tuesday, July 18, 2006 by Dawn B
We needed a few groceries, so we decided to see how our girl would do in the grocery store.
We're glad to say--she was really great. She enjoyed all the interesting things and people to look at. (Have we mentioned her tendency to STARE at people? She looks deep into your eyes, deep into your soul, and calculates how likely it is that you will hand her some watermelon. We'll have to work on the staring thing later.)
--
Anyway, I couldn't resist sharing a few fun photos.
--
As we were checking out, Althea spotted a garlic focaccia bread. Our girl loves garlic bread!
--
She was very excited to see and smell it, but not too keen on waiting until after we had paid for it.
--
Notice the patient resignation in the third photo. Delayed gratification--always one of life's hardest lessons.
--
--
Feel free to subtitle the pictures yourself. My take on the last two are:
(1) "So Baba, what happens to the garlic bread now?"
(2) "We take it home and eat it? Hooray! Hooray!"
--
--
--
--

0 Comment(s)

Thursday, July 13, 2006

July 13--Around the neighborhood

Thursday, July 13, 2006 by Andrew Burnett
Although nights remain difficult--could we be working on more teeth already?--we've been having some great daytime adventures with the help of Althea's favorite baby accoutrement: the stroller!
Going with the stroller started as something of a desperation move, based on Daddy's need to stagger outside with Althea each morning at 8:00 a.m., exposing her to sunlight in an attempt to reset her circadian thingummy. (Please don't ask if this is working... I have to believe it is.) It turns out Althea loves strolling around the neighborhood and especially the park, where she will even let Daddy take a few minutes to sip his "formula" out of a travel mug and read the Journal.
Bliss.
While hanging out at the park, we've taken in a story time children's theater performance, started enjoying the baby swings, and even dabbled in the wading pool. [Now there's a happy verb being put to its original use!] Althea loves splashing, of course, but her favorite activity is poolwalking, taking advantage of buoyancy to toddle a lot further than she can on dry land at this point. The pool is also an opportunity to show off her cute swimsuits!
You can also see that Althea is enjoying Mommy time a lot more and not so dependent on being in Daddy's arms, except when meeting new people. (Maybe she just enjoys a higher vantage point.) It adds a lot of flexibility to our day, although now we've had some fussy moments when Mommy is off on an errand. But as Hagar the Horrible says, it's nice to be missed, even by a rock...
Every day we get to see a little more of Althea's personality. One of the new highlights is an extra dork laugh added to the original musical "ha ha ha" that would remind Generation Xers of Horschack or more recent folks of an unspecified Napoleon Dynamite character.
Thanks for all your love, prayers, and support--and thanks especially to the folks who have been bringing us home-cooked meals. You are so appreciated!

0 Comment(s)

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

July 11--Report on Operation "Nightsy-Daysy"

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 by Dawn B
Report from Special Agent Althea (a.k.a. Commando Cutie) to HQ:
As instructed, I have been monitoring the recent activities of the nefarious "Sandman." And just as you thought, sir, he is trying to turn night into day and day into night!
I have kept a careful log and somehow he is managing to make it dark in the daytime and very light at night. (Some sort of mass hypnotic suggestion, perhaps?)
All efforts are made to make me sleep during this alleged "night" and act as though this "day" time were the main time for playing and eating. Ridiculous! I am sad to report that my Baba and Mommy are apparently part of the plot as well. At first I feared they were full double agents, but their sympathy leads me to believe they are merely the Sandman's dupes.
I have had to use every technique you taught me in training camp, sir. Basic fussiness helps me quite a bit, but I have often had to resort to prolonged wailing. (And to think I wondered why you insisted on those daily wailing calistenics!) From about 1 am to 4 am every night, I never sleep except for about two minute cat-naps. I purposely take these in the most uncomfortable position I can find to prevent deeper sleep from occurring. My mommy surrounds me with cushy blankets and soft toys, but I always try to select a good book to jam into my abdomen before dropping off for my two minutes of surrender.
Some other observations: although my parents pretend to just be reading to me, I have noticed mysterious changes occur when "night" falls. (1) their reading becomes far less exciting. No silly voices or tickling. Sometimes they just silently turn pages. (2) the lights in my nursery periodically seem to dim. I don't know if this is just my imagination, but it seems to occur when one of their hands ducks out of sight. Some sort of remote control device, no doubt. I will endeavor to obtain it and secure it somewhere, but they frequently undress me for what can only be full body searches. (3) My formula seems a bit warm and tends to have a sleepy effect. Could they be slipping me a Mickey? or perhaps a Minnie?
At one point I even resorted to disguise in an attempt to overhear more of their schemes. I used my patented watermelon disguise. But my obsessive hat removal tendencies thwarted that plan. Sorry sir.
Although "day" is the right time to sleep, I still fuss a little even before my naps, just to keep in shape. Of course, I save the real resistance tactics for night time, I mean, "night" time. (Almost slipped there.)
The food here is good. They have finally figured out that American baby food is disgusting, and returned me to the normal food I have loved for months. I down lots and lots of noodles--good for helping me wiggle a lot, especially during diaper changes. I have also consumed a lot of watermelon in hopes of making my disguise more effective next time. "Be the melon. Be the melon. Be the melon."

I close my report with a favorite quotation:
"Do not go gentle into that good night . . .
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
--Dylan Thomas

Raging on in my never-ending battle with the Sandman,
Althea

2 Comment(s)

Saturday, July 08, 2006

July 8--at home, but seriously tired

Saturday, July 08, 2006 by Dawn B
Hello dear ones,
Sorry we haven't been in much communication yet. Frankly, we've kind of been in survival mode. This picture is one of the more tranquil sunny moments. Happily, there are many of these. Our girl loves to play and laugh and sing. She loves investigating everything, but especially how things sound when she puts them in her mouth and makes noises!
Unfortunately, it is also not easy for a 10-month-old to turn her days into nights and vice versa. We have had a rough couple of nights, with many prolonged screaming times. Last night was unusually bad and we wondered why until we saw two little blood spots on her pillow this morning and . . . (experienced parents have already guessed) tooth number four has come! Is this girl serious about eating or what?
Between lack of sleep and the fact that both of us are still recovering from Althea's cold--those Chinese get wicked sore throats--we haven't been quite ourselves. We are not going to try to go to church in the morning--just a bit too much at this point. But we hope to be starting to surface and call people and such in the next few days.
Thank you so much for your love and prayers. I better go help Andrew, she's started crying again.
Love,
Dawn

3 Comment(s)

Friday, July 07, 2006

July 6--the longest day EVER

Friday, July 07, 2006 by Dawn B

Ok, we aren't going to have a lot of photos from this day, 'cause frankly, things got ugly. At the start of our trip we were very cute and chipper (see right). This is Andrew and Althea at the start of our first flight from Guangzhou to Tokyo. That one was only a bit over 4 hours. Althea was a trooper--played some, ate some and mostly slept. Seemed like it would be a pleasant trip. Andrew's legs were pretty sore, but the next plane, for the long leg, would have a lot more room.
But ah . . . the next plane, the plane from Tokyo to Minneapolis. The sooner we forget that little nightmare the better. Apparently we were flying very close to Jupiter--the air on the plane got SO dry. After awhile our throats were parched and voices were hoarse. Andrew got a terrible case of altitude sickness (not the case on the Minneapolis to Tokyo flight there, so go figure), he could hardly move. Althea, understandably enough, was getting very crabby, as were the many, many other young children and babies on the plane. Not pleasant. After our second screaming diaper change in about a 20 minute span, we realized we had missed the midnight snack. Not a big deal to us, but when Althea saw the fellow down the row enjoying his carrot cake. AHHHH!! You have never heard such screams. I again did my gymnastics routine to emerge into the aisle and ask the stewardess for one of the snacks. The volume of Althea's screams can be imagined when I tell you the stewardess eagerly handed me about five of them. I returned with only one, which changed Althea's screams instantly into giggles of delight. This girl loves her food.
Somehow we made it through that flight. It was pretty awful. Another young child nearby was apparently having night terrors at one point.
Then we got to Minneapolis--and got in the "immigrants" line with our little immigrant. It was an interesting experience. It took a LONG time. Again, we were not allowed to take pictures, but when they stamped her visa paperwork, our little girl officially became a US citizen!
Later in the airport, we met up with our friend Julie, also from Sioux Falls, who was there adopting Lily. So here's a picture of two happy little new Americans! (Lily's got a kind of wrapper 'tude going on.)

Althea was great for the last little flight to Sioux Falls--slept the whole time, as did her mommy who was holding her. (Though not her daddy, as he was watching to make sure mommy didn't drop her in her sleep.) That was about the only sleep I got on the trip; Andrew got even less.
We are beyond tired. We have entered a new zone of tired way beyond anything we have ever known. But we are home--home with our little one. She seems pretty happy about it.
I don't know how much I'll be able to write in the days ahead, but I'll try to give you an update soon.
Much love and many thanks to all of you for your love and prayers!
Dawn

3 Comment(s)

July 5--a day we mostly can't show you

Friday, July 07, 2006 by Dawn B



Well, today was a big day for us. It began with Mommy feeling pretty bad, so she skipped the morning group outing. Andrew and Althea went to the Chen Family Academy with a small group of parents, led by our good friend Wayne. The pictures are (1) a fellow enjoying his breakfast with some philosophers and (2) Wayne with the school's "door guardian." The school was set up to educate members of the Chen clan from all over the region. They boarded there and prepared to take the civil service exams. Next, you'll see Andrew trying to reach the door knocker. Cute little guy, isn't he?

After waking up mommy to have a tasty lunch (see nice picture), and a nice nap of course, we went to the US Consulate to apply for Althea's visa. We weren't allowed to bring cameras, so you'll have to use your imagination. We arrived there with the entire group of about 35 families. We went up and up and up and up many escalators to a fairly serious inspection check point where you had to have your US passport and get searched. Then we went into a big room to wait. Then they called us up one by one to verify both parents' U.S. Passports and our baby's Chinese passport. Whew!
Then we all had to stand up and raise our right hands for the oath. (Althea had a teething biscuit in hers, but she held it up!) We swore or affirmed ( I later learned from Andrew that as Christians we "affirmed.") that everything we had said or written during the adoption process was true. And then they handed out the visas. And there was much rejoicing! Yeah! This means we go home tomorrow!

0 Comment(s)

July 4--a fun day, even without fireworks

Friday, July 07, 2006 by Dawn B

Even though we were in the land of fireworks, sad to say, we didn't get to see any on July 4th. Still, it was a very fun day. No governmental appointments, just hanging out together.
First we managed to take a special side trip to the Wong Fei Hung Museum in the nearby town of Foshan. For those of you not heavily into Kung Fu movies, Wong Fei Hung is sort of like China's Robin Hood. He was a doctor who helped the poor for free, but he also fought to protect China from foreigners who were introducing opium to the people. Here is our family at the museum.

It was a beautiful, very peaceful place. We went there at a time when there weren't so many visitors. It was just us and Wayne, our tour guide. Wayne was very knowledgeable and also very fond of Althea (big points in his favor). Here's a picture of Andrew and Althea and Wayne with the statue of Wong Fei Hung.


After some napping and playing in our room, it was time to go to the big barbecue. All the Holt families had a big 4th of July outdoor barbecue by the river. There were about 35 families in all, adopting kids from three provinces. Our group had only eight families.
Actually, right before the barbecue it was picture time. Althea and the rest of the babies in our group were posed on a big red couch for a shot of all of them. Things started out kind of tense as you can see to the left. All the babies are pretty goodnatured and many of them are frequently smiley sorts. Althea is the youngest of the group. Most are between 12 and 14 months old. But they are all quite grabby! So the whole group shot thing deteriorated pretty quickly, as you can see:



Still, they are a sweet bunch of babies and we've enjoyed getting to watch their personalities open up and get to know the other parents in our group.

Once that ordeal was done, it was picnic time. We were right out by the river and the food was great, including french fries and real ketchup (oh how I missed ketchup!). Here are some pictures of the fun:



0 Comment(s)

Monday, July 03, 2006

July 3--An Important Step!

Monday, July 03, 2006 by Laurel

Today was an exciting day for Althea and daddy. For the first time, she was willing to sit in a high chair at breakfast and dinner without throwing a fit! This is very good news for daddy--a.k.a. the human high chair. Slightly calmer day today. Got some errands down--laundry and that sort of thing. Althea continues to open up, but very slowly. She laughs and plays mostly in the safety of our hotel room.
Please pray:
(1) that Althea will continue to grow in her trust of us.
(2) that I will get over the cold--my ears are mostly blocked--bad news for flying.
(3) that all the other appointments and such will go smoothly.

Thank you so much for all your love and prayers!
Dawn

3 Comment(s)

July 2--A Very Busy Day

Monday, July 03, 2006 by Laurel
We went with our group to the pearl and jade market--two huge places just full of various vendors--and not a price tag to be seen. You ask and haggle. Sorry no pictures--I was rather doped up on cold medicine by this time and forgot to take any. Then we met my sister-in-law Elizabeth's friend Ruth who took us to "the real Guangzhou." We got to see a lot of little shops in funky warren-like structures. Ruth helped us haggle with the vendors. It was much more fun! Althea really took to Ruth. Ruth took us to a tea shop where a wonderful woman made us many different kinds of tea served in tiny little cups and won over Althea with some tasty crackers. Yum! We got back in time for a nap for the little one before dinner with our group.

Then we all took a boat ride down the Pearl River. It was beautiful! Althea really seemed to love being out in the open. She particularly liked all the buildings as they lit up at night around the river. Here's a shot of her and daddy on the boat top.

0 Comment(s)

July 1st--Difficult Lessons in Parenting

Monday, July 03, 2006 by Laurel
Today we had to take our little darling to the clinic for her "baby visa"check-up. Althea was NOT a happy camper as seen here. But it was over fairly quickly once it got going. Another room full of screaming babies--can you imagine working there all day? Then we went back to the hotel and played and played and played. Here's Althea and her daddy looking out over the city of Guangzhou from our room. It is so fun that our little one is opening up and laughing and letting us play with her. She is so funny! And we played and played until suddenly we realized it was almost time to meet for dinner and (gasp!) no nap had occurred. We quickly learned why this is a very bad idea. She had a major melt down at dinner and then fought sleep like her mortal enemy when we were trying to put her down later. She also woke up with screams in the middle of the night--which was both awful and puzzling as we couldn't find anything wrong. Then we discovered it--her two teeth have been joined by a third. Ouch!

0 Comment(s)

June 30th--Althea Flyn' High!

Monday, July 03, 2006 by Laurel
Hi dear ones, I apologize that it's taken me so long to write. Chalk up the delay to (1) new parents learning about the crucial role of naps, (2) a busy schedule when we initially got to Guangzhou, (3) "internet cafes" with only one working computer and then the drive for sending you pictures didn't work!!! and, last but not least, (4) although Althea is getting over her cold, I have fallen for it rather hard. Well, here's how June 30th went--it was mostly about getting to Guangzhou. We learned what an interesting challenge it is to pack with a baby, especially a baby who insists on being glued to "baba's" hip when"baba" is your primary packer. Anyway, we finally got things into luggage and struggled out to the airport, concerned about Althea's first airplane ride. Turns out we didn't need to worry. She was perky and excited--checking everything out around the seat, looking at the people around us and playing with her toys. Shortly after take-off, she fell fast asleep and stayed that way until WE woke her up at the gate. I don't suppose she can manage that for the flight home. Once we got to Guangzhou, she was the happiest we have seen her yet. Here she is laughing like crazy with daddy. Then she slept all through the night. Hooray!

0 Comment(s)