27 pounds or 127 pounds?!

Hello:

No more need for a membership to the gym...Joey is all the workout I can take! He continues to blossom more each day. He is running around most of the time except when he's forced into the Hip Hammock! Adoption Anne has given us many suggestions on attachment and bonding, but we've had to modify them just a tad! His little 27-pound body feels like we're lifting cement by the end of the day! Anne doesn't want us using a stroller, but instead said to hold his hand when he walks on his own (for attachment) or always be carrying him (facing us). Well, this is where we've adjusted her plan. We've rented a stroller and the one who is not pushing is holding his hand while we stroll! Joey actually wants to hold our hands (good sign), but I'm sure we're quite a spectacle! It doesn't bother us, we're just happy he's happy.

Aside from not having a nap today, Joey is doing really well. He's smiling and laughing and very busy! The simplest toys just make him giggle. He loves to take all of his toys from the play area and put them on the bed...then put them all back on the floor...you get the idea. And he loves to read (he's very smart you know!). He loves to make comments while we're reading to him, but of course we have no idea what he is saying, so we just nod and smile. He pretty much runs the show, but we're trying to change that!!! (He spit his rice at me today, so he's grounded once we get home.) Every single food that he has tried, he has loved. Thus the 27 pounds.

Tom has already caught on that Joey is something of a "chick magnet" in China. Tom strapped the Hip Hammock on while we were at a nearby mall (9 floors) and shuffled around like a proud Papa. (Several times he reminded me so much of his Dad, Norm. Same walk/shuffle, same smile as he bragged about his boy!) As he strolled around the mall, several of the women would come up and ask about Joey...mainly comment about his cheeks & thighs and the fact that we were lucky to have a boy.

We were happy to find out that the orphanage actually used the disposable camera that we had sent in Joey's care package! The literature that we had received said that the Dongguan Orphanage usually didn't accommodate this request. We sent one anyway. We just got the photos developed tonight and it was fun to see him. Kind of sad too. The orphanage looks very clean, but very sterile. None of the little ones are smiling. Anyway, that's all behind him now. (Made me question whether I can tour that orphanage in a week as part of an optional tour.)

Once again, we feel we are the luckiest parents in the group. We just laugh out loud at some of the things he does and feel so fortunate that he has the disposition that he has.

Tom has just dictated the following message from the bed: "We have learned two important things today 1) a Chinese McDonald's hamburger tastes like an American McDonald's hamburger and 2) we're very quickly learning the value of getting Joey on a schedule. (It's only 7PM on a Saturday night and we're going to bed...'cause Joey just did!)

That's all from Guangzhou. We'll chat again later...

MB (+ Tom)