Hot, Sweaty and Tired!

All I can say about today is "I'm glad it's over!" . We had a very difficult day with Evan. There were some bright spots in the day but overall I think Chris and I are exhausted. We are continuing to struggle with Evan and "the Gimmies". Today, however, the big eyes and puppy dog looks have turned into full blown temper tantrums with screaming, crying and kicking. I knew this could (would???) happen but I guess things were going so well we "forgot" about this part of the transition. I really think Evan was spoiled at his foster family and his guide is telling us the same thing. He really thinks he should have everything he wants and have it NOW.

We went to a beautiful park inside the city today called "People's Park" and we were so excited about leisurely strolling through, enjoying the beautiful water view and playing at the "playground". Well, it turns out People's Park is more of an amusement park and has lots of rides like bumper cars, ferris wheel, carnival games, TOYS to win, etc...So, the 4 of us are walking along, enjoying the day so far (not knowing the amusement park was up ahead) and finding it very hot (around 31 degrees and humid). Evan wanted me (and only me) to carry him around today and I know that's very good for bonding but really, not so good when I'm sweating like a pig and his arms and legs are sticking to me.

But, I did carry him as much as I could. We were having a really nice time...then we hit the toy area. OH. MY. GOSH. We had a major meltdown...and not only was it a meltdown, we drew a large crowd of interested Chinese people wanting to watch these "white people" with their new Chinese son. I'm sure they were all thinking Evan hated us and didn't want to be with us. I almost had to chase Evan at one point (and for those of you who know me, I do not chase kids - they listen the first time or there's a consequence) because he was holding onto a toy and we kept saying "no" but he was running away with it!!! Anyway...I finally picked him up and handed the toy back to the sales lady (who I'm sure was thinking..."buy it for him, it's only 10 yuan!). Well, he kicked and screamed and cried and I was sweating - it was pouring down my face and down my back and I wanted to cry myself! There were tons of people watching this little escapade so I just kept on walking trying to say soothing words to him as he kicked me. THIS is where the language barrier is horrible! I couldn't explain anything to him, I couldn't reason with him, I couldn't do anything but try and distract him (which didn't work). FInally, I think he got tired and hot too and we sat down where there were fish in the water. Chris bought some fish food and the 4 of us fed the fish. Evan started to calm down and enjoyed the fish feeding.

For the rest of the day, it didn't take much to set him off...walking by KFC and saying "no" - that set him off, walking by walmart and saying "No" as he pulled my arms to the escalator set him off, not getting the food right at supper time set him off, Caleb taking a turn on the gameboy set him off...okay you are all getting my drift.

So, we are afraid to leave the hotel room in case it starts again! Well, not really but sort of :-)

So, those of you waiting to adopt older children who are reading the blog....the language barrier is much more difficult than I mentioned in yesterday's post. The simple things are fine but it's the battle of wills that are very challening and exhausting.

But, not to be completely discouraged, we did have some bright spots today! We went swimming (we couldn't stand another second in the heat!) and we all had fun. You know how the heat can make you irritable any way (well it certainly does me)? Just swimming and getting cooled off helped us regroup and prepare for the next onslaught on tantrums. After supper Chris took Caleb to a great arcade down the street and I stayed in the hotel with Evan. It was the best time we've had together. This is the first time Evan has been just with me so we colored together and did a sticker book (Thank you for those gifts, Secret Pal - he loved them!!!). We listened to some Chinese kid's music and just had some great bonding time. We looked at books together and played on the bed. When Chris and Caleb finally came back, everything was calm and they all went to bed. Now I'm the only one up, updating the blog. I like this time of night because it's quiet and I can go over the day and really think about what happened and what is was like.

So, tomorrow we are heading back to Beijing. It'll be nice to get back there as there is lots for us to do. Nannning is great but there aren't a lot of tours or things like that for us. We are finding 8-10 hours together in the hotel room to be a bit unbearable :-) There's not much to do around the hotel - just the mall (and we all know what happens there with Evan!!) and a few eating places. Hopefully the plane ride will go smoothly...we've prepared movies, coloring and other activities to make sure it goes as well as possible.

Caleb is still having a great time and is doing so well with Evan. He was especially thrilled to get to the Arcade..he's been asking for several days now so he finally got to go. We tried to go see "Kung Fu Panda" at the theatre but it was in Chinese so we decided not to. Too bad, that could have killed at least 2 hours!

By the way...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who emailed or left comments about the hole in Evan's palate. I kept looking at it all day today to try and get used to it. It's not as "gross" anymore...I even touched it! He is really not bothered by it all so I'm just taking my cues from him. You guys are all so awesome!!!

Enjoy today's pictures....

Evan and Dad at People's Park

Caleb doing "water drawing" at the Park. We've seen a lot people doing this and one man wanted to show Caleb how to do it. It was a lot of fun...we all took turns but Caleb drew the crowd.

Mom and Evan at People's Park

This is at People's Park....it really was a nice park!

Feeding the fish...this was really cool...there were tons of fish and they were all fighting to get the food so they were jumping out of the water and splashing us. Really great.

Caleb enjoying the pool...the pool is partly outside so this is a view of the front of the hotel taken at the pool

Evan swimming

Our Evan