Ben had another great night, and slept well!  We are very aware when he wakes up by the change in his breathing and the noise of him sitting up, but he will wait quietly in his crib until we walk over to him, and then he lifts his arms for us to pick him up.  It’s so sweet and endearing, but also makes us sad as we wonder how long he might have sat in his crib to be lifted and loved to this point.  We noticed right away that he had a poopy diaper (which we were told can take 4 days or longer with adopted babies), so that was an encouraging way to start the day!  We dressed and packed up early, since we were meeting our group right after breakfast for a sightseeing tour of the Terracotta Soldiers Site and Museum.

First of all, (Julie writing today) I have to take a girlie moment to comment on how adorable this kiddo looks in absolutely everything we put on him…it seriously feels like dressing a little china doll!  We went down to breakfast and starting loading Ben’s plate up with an assortment of things he enjoyed yesterday as well as some new culinary adventures.  We thought he might enjoy some Cheerio-type cereal, so we put a handful on his tray while we were gathering things from the buffet.  We quickly learned that this was not a good idea as we watched him pack every single cheerio into his mouth in record time until it was so full that he couldn’t even close it!  As we started unpacking his little mouth of cheerios, we made a mental note to only feed him one bite at a time until he learns that the food will not disappear from his tray until he is finished and there will be more than enough, bless his heart!  And of course, we left for the day with Ben clutching his (slightly smaller) piece of comfort toast.

After breakfast, we loaded up the van and headed over to the Terracotta Museum/factory, which was essentially a government site that all adopted families are taken to and encouraged to buy things that are marked up about 4 times their value.  But it’s also the only site where we could buy genuine terracotta statues, so we purchased one to give to Ben at a later birthday.  I’m afraid the rest of the family will have to settle for more reasonably priced souvenirs 😉  While we were there, one of the salesladies was particularly interested in Ben and kept coming over to talk to him.  The first time, we had just gotten out of the van, she reached to hold him, and Ben willingly went to her (as he does to most any Chinese person).  Chinese people love babies so much and we know that she only meant well, but it made it very confusing for Ben as he was passed back, and I made sure to put him in the front pack right away to keep any other well-meaning ladies from trying to hold this precious little boy while we’re trying to teach him who his Mama and Papa are. I walked through the rest of the store at a distance and just cuddled and spoke love over him, praying that he would quickly understand who we are to him and what it means to have a Mama and Papa who will always be there to love and care for him.

 

We moved on to the excavation point of the Terracotta Soldiers, which was incredibly interesting and a remarkable site. Essentially, the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, had built a secret army to take with him to the after-life after his dynasty. For 40 years, over 70,000 workers crafted an army of more than 8,000 soldiers, horses, and chariots, each statue produced with uniquely detailed features. The slaves who worked on it were all buried alive and there was no record of it until a farmer accidentally discovered it in 1974.  Chinese historians believe that later dynasties may have been  performed extensive damage to the site as power changed hands. They are still working on putting the soldiers back together, each with remarkable handiwork.

Though it was an impressive tourist site, it was also a long outing with lots of walking and not much opportunity for the kids to get down or play.  I carried Ben through the whole tour and then felt him getting squirmy and uncomfortable, right around his naptime.  As he proceeded to get increasingly upset, we decided to take a break at the second pit of soldiers and just tend to Ben.  Don took a turn walking with him and cradling him like a baby, and then we sat and gave him a bottle until he eventually calmed and fell asleep in Don’s arms.  The walk back was long, but Don was determined to carry him as long as he could, not wanting to wake him.

We made it back to the market area and needed to get some lunch.  It was a very westernized spot with a Starbuck’s, McDonalds, and Subway, and the group decided on McDonalds, since Jen’s son had never had a Happy Meal, having grown up primarily  in Saudi Arabia. Though not our first choice of lunch spots, we joined the group and enjoyed letting Ben have some time to walk around.  And it turns out, this kiddo is obsessed with French fries!  Similar to the cheerios, we had to be careful to give him one at a time, but he polished off more French fries than most grown men!  He then started to go after my burger, and I let him have as much as he wanted. We all laughed as he packed his cheeks full of every American kids’ most favorite food and found it encouraging that perhaps the switch to more American cuisine won’t be such a slow process after all =)

Next, we made the obligatory stop at Starbuck’s, and Ben was in rare form.  He walked all around trying to talk to every person in the restaurant, and our guide Sherry had to ask several people in Chinese to please not pick him up (though I’m telling you, it’s so hard not to when he looks at you with those engaging brown eyes!).  But he was happy as can be, and after some yummy coffee, a diaper change, and the purchase of a mug from Ben’s province, we headed back to the van.  The ride home was probably some of the most precious interactive times we’ve had with Ben.  He discovered the silliness of the Papa!  Don has slowly been trying to engage Ben in silly play (his forte), and would pretend to take a bite of Ben’s food or make silly faces, and Ben always watched closely.  While we were taking a photo in the van, Ben took the initiative and made an open silly face at Don, starting a chain reaction that ended in our very first smile and laugh!  A huge victory to not only get that sweet smile but to catch it on camera!

Thanks to his couple cat naps, this kiddo had ZERO interest in napping when we got hack to the room.  It’s the first time he’s cried when we’ve put him into his crib, and as he reached out to us, there was no question that naptime was over!  Since he really showed no signs of being tired, we took the opportunity to sit and play with him on the floor and enjoy some precious bonding time.  We can’t get over how smart and engaging Ben is!  He loves to sort and then meticulously puts each individual toy in a Ziploc bag…I’m pretty sure this has something to do with order and ownership.  He will occasionally try to hide a toy that he likes especially well, but he has learned quickly that we will not keep his toys from him, so he has started playing little games of cat and mouse with us or puts his hands out (like, “where did it go?”)…and then giggles.  The sound of his laugh absolutely melts our hearts, and I’m quite certain that I would give him anything he wants just to hear it. We also introduced him to Baby Einstein while Don was getting some work done, and like most little ones, he was transfixed watching all of the scenes, toys, and colors.  What I didn’t think about before was that in addition to helping to build language, it will also likely be a huge help in showing Ben what children, adults, animals, food, and landscapes from other cultures look like.  Also in this sweet time, we heard the first echoes of “Papa” and “Mama” as he repeated after us and would say it clear as day while accepting whatever we were offering.

We decided to go to dinner just the three of us in the hotel lobby, and by the time we were seated, Ben was in a whole new element.  He was fully engaged and larger than life!  Unfortunately, we both forgot our cameras, but this actually gave us the opportunity to focus solely on the moment, rather than trying to capture it.  We played with cars as he giggled until he started throwing them across the table and laughing. Don and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows and a smile as we watched his walls crumbling and this feisty little 2-year old personality emerging.  It was the first time we had to tell him “no,” but he took it well and didn’t fuss.  At least today 😉  We got him a container of sugars/sweeteners and watched him take each one out and then carefully put each one back in.  If we tried to help him, he would hold our hands away as he completed his masterpiece.  His behavior was so similar to that of our other kids at this age, that we couldn’t help but find his independent and slightly naughty streak encouraging.  Ben ate well (pretty much everything we offered him from our Cantonese noodle and chicken curry dishes).  We are working on signs with him to help him communicate, and we were amazed at how quickly he has picked them up!  By the end of dinner, he was already signing “Food” (pointing to his mouth when he was hungry and “more” (putting his little fingers together) when he wanted us to give him another bite.  We were so sad we didn’t have our cameras to capture these moments, but we will be sure to get some tomorrow!

We headed up to the room for bath time and brushing teeth, which he hated just as much as the first day, but as soon as he was wrapped in a towel, he was content and obviously sleepy from a very full day.  We gave him his bottle and then lay him into bed, where he whimpered for just a couple minutes before falling asleep.  The amazing part here was that there was a difference in this whimper…it wasn’t one of fear or confusion, it was one of protest…he just wanted to be with us.  What an incredible day of huge victories and precious milestones!