Thursday

Headed out to our Consulate Appt. today before 8 a.m. and were the last people in our group to finish. The joys of being at the end of the alphabet.  :) At least that's my guess. Since we are I-600 and the rest of the Great Wall families at I-800, we have a bit different process and had an additional interview tagged on at the end. Just basic stuff, how things were going, how long have we been in the process, were we happy with our agency, if we had any questions. It seemed strange to have a separate interview for such inconsequential (in my opinion) questions. Kaleb bonded with another little girl in our group (the other Anne from MO's little girl) over sharing cereal on the bus this morning. Then he was excited to see her a bit later at the buffet breakfast and wanted to get out of my arms and run to her stroller to say hi. It was very cute.

At the consulate they had a children's play area. They had a little playhouse, and baby 'jumper' disk-like thing like they have in the church nursery, and a little tykes workbench. He loved the playhouse and watched bigger kids playing in it to start with. When he found the workbench, he had fun trying out the tablesaw. Then he wanted some water. David correctly guessed that he wanted to use it to pour in the little bowl like areas, so he wouldn't let him have it. When Kaleb realized he wasn't going to get the water to play with, he took a drink of it. Then he proceeded to spit the water into the bowl thing. David started laughing - he knows how to get what he wants one way or another.

Our time here seems to revolve around food and outings. We're going to need some serious exercise when we get back home. Some of our biggest laughs as a family have come while watching Kaleb's pants fall off as he walks. Poor little guy - I cinch them up with a belt as tight as I can without being uncomfortable, and tuck his shirts in to give him more bulk. But inevitably he needs to walk or run with one hand holding his pants up. We may look for some suspenders later. In the hotel room he seems to be able to entertain himself for long periods pouring water from cup to bowl to other container, and then to stir up paper, napkins, whatever he finds.  He's also getting better at crawling up on things to access whatever he wants. So things are getting put higher and higher around here.

We also went on the subway with our guide this afternoon instead of to the museum since no one else showed up for that. We went to find a grocery store and found some crayons and paper, some candy and crackers. No coloring books, but it's possible we went to the wrong store. It was pretty complicated with changing subway lines, etc. and David was distracted with Kaleb. So I doubt we'll try it again on our own. We may go again tomorrow morning with the guide though to the other store.

Well, off to supper for us! We'll probably get to write again tomorrow. Have a great day!

P.S.  We seem to be short of pictures of David with Kaleb. So this should help out.   :)
1.  Kaleb and Jack
2.  David & Kaleb racing Jack
3.  David & Kaleb Lychee Bay Park