Saturday Fun without Sun

As I sit and write, Liam is finally asleep. Today was an exhausting day for him, which brought many smiles and yet many tears. We had our morning ritual of eating at the hotel breakfast buffet, where Liam and Andrew tried to out-eat each other. Andrew is in heaven with the variety of foods offered and the fact that the waitresses think he's cute and are constantly coming over to serve him coffee or pick up any crumb that happens to fall near his plate. Liam is the voracious, yet dainty eater, who loves to eat all kinds of fruit, eggs, and banana bread. We will sit for over an hour, eating, playing and eating some more. The spread is really impressive, with a plethora of European, Asian and American breakfast type foods.

We had to get the required medical exam this morning, only after the visa photos were taken. For a little guy who has learned to ham it up for the camera in a mere 4 hours, he panicked and wanted nothing to do with the poor folks trying to get his picture today. It was rather loud and confusing in this small office and there were too many people in such a tiny space but Liam just wanted nothing to do with anyone but the three of us. This was a first.

We moved on to the medical clinic a few doors down where he was fine, despite the crowds and sterile environment...fine until the nurse tried to lay him down on the scale and he howled and cried real tears and just grabbed my neck and buried his head in the crook of my neck. The nurse was really sweet and tried another way of weighing (him standing) to no avail so after we got him calmed down and no more tears, she held him and checked her weight and then gave him back to me while she weighed herself without him. This was done much like our suitcases before coming over, without the tears. His ear is looking better but is still yucky and very surprisingly, the doctor said she can't see where he had a cleft palate! Maybe it was just his lip? Obviously we will get him checked out right away at home but we thought that was very interesting as we were told on his original medical reports he had a bilateral cleft lip/palate. It actually looks like maybe he had a unilateral cleft lip. Anyway, whether something was lost in translation or not doesn't matter. He is healthy, happy and OURS! By the way, he now weighs 10.5 kilos (23.1 lbs) and is 85cm tall.

We stopped at a cute although overpriced store (of course we would come to China and find that...) and bought Liam a new swimsuit. The one I brought from home just fell off him. I also got a new cap and goggles for me (I left them at home accidentally) and figured we were set for the pool in the afternoon. Set but not idyllic as apparently Liam only likes swimming with Andrew. He was fine with me until I went underwater and came back up. He began screaming "my-my", which apparently means, "no more!" and grabbed harder onto Andrew. I asked if I had mascara running or something odd and Andrew assured me I was fine...except Liam didn't think so. Apparently I turn into the creature from the Pearl River after being immersed and he wanted NOTHING to do with me until I was out and ready to dry him off. Kind of funny that I was tickled pink last night imagining our daily swimming dates back home. Oh well.

Today for lunch we joined our guide, Connie, who is a local. She is a dear and patient woman and we enjoy being with her. Connie, Tracey (and her daughters Abby and Ericka) and the Thompson four went to a local restaurant near the hotel. We were nervous when we first walked in as they had every kind of fish/water creature in buckets in the foyer. First to catch my eye? Sandworms. They were huge! There were the normal crustaceans and then there were the Fear Factor types: seaslugs, silk worms, 'young fish' (?), water beetles, things that were truly indescribable. We had to parade past the catches, through a maze and into our own room in the back. Connie ordered tea for us and Wade thought that might be the time to let her know "We really love eating rice and vegetables, not so much meat". Yes, he'll be going to confession but I think he thought he was saving us from the local Cantonese fair that we got to oogle on the way in. When Connie recommended we start with the very famous squab, I thought I should just chalk this lunch up to a Tums chaser and not think about it. The pigeons came out deep fried as if they fell off our roof into a vat of oil. Pretty gross although we all ate some (being polite, of course) and it really wasn't bad. It tasted similar to Peking Duck, another misnomer "specialty." The appetizer was jellyfish (very spicy and rubbery) and the rest of the meal was actually quite tasty! Listening to my dear husband, she ordered a lot of vegetables and then some sweet and sour chicken for the kids. Dessert was interesting~rolls that were deep fried and served with a side of sweetened condensed milk to dip into. Kind of like the fried Twinkies at the fair, I guess. All in all, I forgot to take my Tums when we returned and I am still here to write about it so it was a nice and interesting experience.

Well, that is it for now. I want to call the kids before Patrick heads to his football game. The pics to follow are my sweet boys and mean sea-ogre mommy at the pool, Liam and his chopsticks (no joke, he really uses them! WOW!) and just goofing around today. mct