The airport in Hefei is quite different than what we are used to - no shops, etc. While we were waiting for our flight the lady beside us offered an orange to Kaleb. We had already found that he loves oranges at our breakfast buffets. Then a lady behind us got into a conversation with him. She asked him where his momma was. He got a big smile on his face and pointed to me and gave me a huge hug. Then she asked him where his baba was and he smiled and patted David. Pretty sweet. We pretty much shock half the population wherever we go :)
We wondered how he would do flying for his first time. He gripped the arm rests on both sides. But that was about it. After all, he's dealt with much scarier stuff, what's the big deal about flying anyway. He fell asleep during the flight, and only got a bit cranky when we sat him up to tighten his seat belt during turbulence. On the bus to the airport we were the last ones on and had to stand holding on to little things hanging from the ceiling. When they started up we both lurched toward the back. An older lady immediately got up and offered her seat to David and Kaleb. David said they asked him something which he thought meant father and he smiled and said yes - then they all
laughed. So he's not sure what he did to cause all the laughter.
Our flight was delayed to Guangzhou so we ended up getting to our hotel about 11:30 last night and to bed after midnight. This morning we went to the medical exams and to get a picture of Kaleb for his Visa. With shoes, layers, coat and hat, Kaleb weighed in at 27 lbs. and is 35 inches tall. The doctor was very nice and stated that his heart murmur is gone - so that confirmed what we have already been told. His fever is back to 102 today and he still occasionally has a cough.
The China Hotel in Guangzhou is really nice. For the most part, I'd say he seems much more comfortable with us here. But he doesn't like it if we separate from him for awhile. David walked ahead of us out of one building which distressed him. Then I needed to leave for awhile late this afternoon and he wanted to go too. Then I remembered that giving children your watch, or something else helps them believe you'll come back for that item. I guess it may have helped some, or David's distractions did.
A lot of the other families have had sick kids too. One of the babies in our group is really pudgy. I guess the Chinese people have been pretty 'gaga' about fat babies. They took a really long time at the picture area today because they couldn't see both the baby's ears because of her fat cheeks. I'm not sure why they needed both ears in the picture, but they ended up putting something behind her ears to make them stick out. That will be quite the story for her to live down someday :) Hope you are all well.
Two things I find fascinating - Kaleb's interest in food - wonder how much he normally got in the orphanage and that you two stand out so much in the crowds - did you take your sparkly scarf of what Ann? Did you ever get to see Kaleb's orphanage? What do you think is causing his high temperature? Glad you are all getting more comfortable with each other. David might do best to just smile and not move his head.
ReplyDeleteHi! We saw Kristine at the local Target today! Christopher was SO excited! :) Especially when she said that you were coming home "exactly 1 week from today".
ReplyDeleteHearing how Kaleb lights up when he calls you momma and daddy/baba just warms my heart to the core! I can only imagine what he is thinking, but it seems that he understands the significance quite well and is very proud!
As for the ears, passport photos MUST show both ears LOL - I guess even on babies! That is quite a funny story! And, I imagine that you and David stand out not only with your "caucasian" looks but with your height as well!
Echoing Jayne's question - will you get to see, even in pictures, Kaleb's homeplace before he came to you?
Continuing prayers for feverless, healthy boy!
Love,
Gina <><
This is from Kathleen - I got the "response" below from Mom this morning and am assuming it's to posts here, but it doesn't really answer all of the questions...in any case, more information for you. ;)
ReplyDelete"I guess some information we must have simply skyped with the girls,and it got left off our blog.
The first day that we got Kaleb, we had a list of questions for the orphanage. It turns out that he lived in a foster family almost the
entire time! Which was wonderful to hear. You can tell they spent time with him. They also gave us an album full of pictures (about 15-20)
that have pictures of his foster mom, foster brothers, and maybe a foster sister. I'm not sure if they were biological kids of the foster
mom, or if she had more kids she was fostering. We also have pictures of a field of something and a background of some buildings. So great
information. We also have the foster mom's name and an email to send pictures. We gave her the album of pictures of our family, that we had
planned to mail to the orphanage along with a note. Hopefully this will be helpful if they ever try to reconnect."