Jetlag

Lest you think our transition across 13 time zones proceeded without a hitch, I must report extreme sleep dysfunction. The boys went down smoothly but owen woke around 11, just as we were settling in. He said he wasn't sleepy and there commenced a protracted struggle to get him to at least lay down and attempt sleep. Around midnight or so, owen's appeals to get up woke alex, who was happily sitting in his crib until I tried to leave. One diaper change later, I got him down but owen still wouldn't sleep. Worried he'd wake alex, I moved his mattress into the office and gave him the iPod touch to play with until he got sleepy. No dice. He was scared of the new room. Long struggle, culminating in moving his mattress into our room. Still many protests, at which point we were reduced to threats and bribery. Finally asleep around 1:30. Alex up crying at 3, hungry. I hopped out of bed and had absolutely no idea where I was. Looked out a window and saw the fraternity house that's on the other side of some trees, but my brain refused to accept it. I was convinced we were still in china, staying in some bizarre suite. Ellen fed him a bottle and I put him back in his crib, which he accepted without complaint. Great, except now I can't sleep. Curse you, time zones!

Home!

Hey, the Blogger login page is in English again! I always felt a little uneasy clicking on the buttons in Chinese. Such a relief to be back in the U.S. 26 hours of travel yesterday. The boys did very well on the trip, especially considering that they had only about 3-4 hours of sleep. We had some complications at the very beginning with Northwest finding Alex's infant seat assignment. Luckily, we had printed out our return itinerary, so when the Northwest officials entered his magic confirmation number, we were on our way. Well, except for the THREE security checks before being able to board our plane (including one on the jetway, where we lost the bottle of water we just purchased after the first security checkpoint. Note to terrorists: put your explosives in the baby formula). Trip to Tokyo went very well. The boys had a good time on the flight drawing with crayons. Owen is getting to be an expert speller.

Grabbed a quick McDonalds lunch in Tokyo (where they speak excellent English but do not give out change except in Japanese yen) and then hopped on the big plane. Trip started pretty well but the boys took a long time to fall asleep. Alex especially was not interested in sleeping, so we took many laps of the coach class, where we were treated to over-the-shoulder views of about 20 different video players as well as the in-flight movie (Mama Mia, which was a bit surreal without the sound. I watched large segments of several in-flight movies without the sound and became very attentive to body language. This must be what aphasia is like.). The sun came up very early and when they dropped off our vegetarian breakfasts, we decided to get up. I think that was about 3 or 4am Beijing time. We were able to make several bottles for Alex on the flight (using hot water, as Chinese infants tend to take their bottles hot) and we consumed copious amounts of Honey NutOs (the closest we found to Cheerios). Several recharges of the iPod touch later (thank you, Kensington rechargeable battery!), we touched down in Minneapolis, where we passed through customs and Alex officially became a U.S. citizen. Congratulations, Alex! They have a nice play area in the Minneapolis airport, so Owen and Dad hung around there while Mom and Alex got a quick nap. Half an hour delay, but then off on the final leg of our journey. Alex became maniacally hyper on the flight, singing, dancing, swaying, and attempting to wander up and down the very narrow aisle. I think as we were getting off the plane there was a moment in the jetway where Alex was on his back, Owen was begging to be carried, and all of our carry-on luggage was scattered on the floor, but we quickly pulled ourselves together, turned on Owen's flashing Christmas tree pin, and headed out to meet Grandma and Grandpa Altermatt, who loaded us into a minivan and drove us home. We got some oatmeal for Owen and Alex, PB&J for Mom and Dad, and then put everybody to bed. Alex was very upset about being put in his crib in yet another new place, especially because our bed was not right next to his this time. But he eventually settled down and fell asleep. Owen climbed into his air mattress bed and was out in about 20 seconds.

We celebrated Christmas this morning and the boys had a marvelous time opening packages and playing with toys. This must seem so strange for Alex. If he were keeping a blog, I wonder if he'd report that in America, you wake up each morning, eat pancakes, and then open presents all day. Owen was especially fond of his bug-vacuum. He immediately recruited Grandpa to accompany him to the basement in search of bugs to suck up. Alex's favorite is a wind-up cat that does flips. He also really enjoys the sturdy cardboard box from Aunt Emily and Uncle Tom, which he uses as a seat and standing pedestal.





Well, that's the end of our great adventure to China. While we were on the trip, we told ourselves it would be a success so long as we returned with the four of us and at least one stacking cup. Mission accomplished.

Last day in China!

I really enjoyed the exotic nature of our trip for the first week or so - trying to talk to people in Mandarin, seeing Chinese writing everywhere, and being novelties ourselves. Now I just really want to get back home. Luckily, our last day is very pleasant - high of 77 degrees today.

Yesterday, we went to the U.S. consulate and waited in a room with about 20 other families for Alex's visa so he could enter the country. Gave ourselves a big round of applause - that was our last diplomatic hurdle! Oh, and I learned Alex's official adoption date: 12/16/2008.

Down the road from our hotel is a restaurant called Lucy's that caters to American tastes, and we've been trying to pour more calories into Owen there. Lots of people of all ages playing a hacky-sack game just outside this patio.
Guangzhou, especially Shamian Island, which is where our hotel is located, is a beautiful place. You can see a lot of colonial influence in the architecture:

We've also been spending a lot of time in the play room. Can't wait to get Alex and Owen home to their own toys.

Here's the view out of our hotel at night. Beautiful, and we don't even have the good side (the river side). Last night was Christmas Eve, and the locals treat it like a great opportunity for a party. The street outside our hotel and the first several floors were flooded with people wearing flashing headgear or Santa hats. Last night, there was a big Met Life blimp drifting above the skyscrapers.

Here's the view out of our hotel during the day.

Had a very small Christmas celebration ourselves this morning. We picked up a book of Disney's Mulan for Owen, all in Chinese, as well as a squeaky panda for Alex. Tomorrow at 6am we meet our guide in the hotel lobby and depart for the airport. Hopefully our journey will go smoothly. So far, Alex has been a great traveler.

Physical Exam Day

That title sounds ominous, but it actually went fairly smoothly. This morning at 9am we assembled in the lobby and marched a few blocks to a medical building for all the kids to receive physical exams. Alex was very calm throughout the whole ordeal and we immediately sought refuge in the local Starbucks for a hot chocolate and muffin, which Alex messily devoured almost single-handedly. The White Swan hotel has a wonderful play room on the first floor, with thick carpet and lots of toys. Here's a picture of Dad and Owen playing with balls while Alex toddles about:



Last night for dinner, the group went to a Thai restauarant called the Cow and Bridge. Wonderful, but crazy hot. Here's a photo of us on the way home in a little park between us and the restaurant. Very pedestrian friendly.

Below is a picture of the famous White Swan red couch, where lots of Chinese adoptees have their pictures taken before being whisked away to the U.S. Alex looks so dapper in his silk outfit!

Owen's finicky eating habits and thinness have made pizza a regular staple:
Bath night and for the first time, Alex loved it! Laughed and laughed!
Time's up at the business center. More later...

In sunny Guangzhou

On Friday afternoon, I ventured out for a solo mission to mail the beautiful framed embroidery gift from Alex's orphanage. I got a cab there and went into the a building labeled "China Post," but it turned out to be a bank. A woman in the lobby helpfully walked me a block down the street into another building also labeled China Post, but this one actually looked like a post office. I got out my handy dandy Mandarin dictionary and carefully rehearsed how to say I wanted to mail a package to America, but this just got me a 'please wait' gesture while an english speaker was called in. I got the package off for about $50 but when I climbed into a cab and handed the driver my address, he angrily gestured in a circle, spoke a lot of Mandarin, and then pointed across the street. I couldn't tell if he was telling me he'd have to drive really far to get me back to the hotel, or if he thought I needed some fresh air.

Yesterday was all day traveling. Very exhausting, but Alex was deliriously happy at the end, giggling like crazy and bouncing his face into Ellen. Guangzhou is beautiful. Sunny, 75 degrees or so, and green. Got a nice buffet breakfast and an American lunch and tonight we take Alex's visa picture. Time's up at the business center, so all for now!

Just five days ago

Okay, I should begin by admitting that the title of the last post was not correct and in fact asks if I speak English, which at times I begin to doubt. My meager Mandarin has come in handy on a few occasions, but most of the time the reaction I get is narrowed eyes and furrowed brows as the noise I produce fails to trigger any language receptors in the recipient's brain.

Yesterday, we took a 2-hour bus ride to Luohe, the city of Alex's orphanage. Alex was very giggly the whole way there. It was a good trip and Alex took it all in stride, but it was very sad to see where he was just 5 days ago. Five days. His documents say he was left at the gate to the Luohe Social Welfare Institute, and as our van rode through the gate it gave me a strange feeling to look down and see where that was. The institute itself is surrounded by a high gate and has a fairly nicely maintained lawn around it. On one side of it is a retirement home (such a great idea combining retirement home and orphanage!) and on the other side is the orphanage. There's also a special building for children who are deaf, but I'm not sure if that's a school, boarding school, or also an orphanage. We were greeted by the orphanage director and given tea, then presented with a beautiful embroidered, framed wall hanging. We made a donation to the orphanage and were then taken on a tour. Inside Alex's wing were two rooms, one for sleeping and one for spending the rest of their time. The furnishings were very spare, just a few rocking horses and a ball or two. In China, children don't wear diapers and instead wear "split-pants" that are open in the back. As a result, there was some kid poop on the floor that was just being cleaned up as we came in. The kids didn't look very happy and were pretty stunned to see a group of Americans standing there holding Alex, who had just been living among them 5 days ago. We developed the film that was in the disposable camera we mailed to the orphanage and the picture below is of Alex in his crib from that roll.



After the tour, we were given a large, delicious meal in a very cold room. Alex fell asleep on the way home. We got pizza for dinner and Alex seemed to like it a lot.

There's a cute ginger bread house gift shop in the lobby of our hotel and we stopped before breakfast to snap a quick family photo:

All is well here. We decided to skip the museum trip today in favor of taking it easy and making a foray to the local McDonalds. Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou.

Wo hui shuo Ying wen ma? (Do you speak English?)

Today we didn't have any official duties, so we started off the morning by learning what it's like to get two young children ready to be seen in public. I think that took about 3 hours, but I may have blacked out for awhile. We all slept through the night last night, which was WONDERFUL and the world seemed a little brighter today. Owen is getting used to Alex but still having a lot of sibling jealousy, which may be part of his general recalcitrance regarding eating. He has no trouble with fruit, pancakes, bread, and french fries, but anything else might as well be made out of brick for all the trouble it takes us to cram it into him. We brought a lot of instant breakfasts with us and are commencing to use it to give him some extra calories. Alex's eating slowed down a bit today, too. Maybe he's getting confident we will feed him regularly? This morning at breakfast he was hungry but showed no interest in using his hand to feed himself; he was satisfied only if Ellen fed him by hand. Hmmm...a ploy to get some constant one-on-one?


After breakfast, we ventured out to a local city park where we saw several people doing Tai Chi and listened to several groups playing traditional Chinese music and singing, apparently just for their satisfaction and a general contribution to the atmosphere. We attracted a lot of attention at the park and used the red necklace badges our guides provided to inform people that we were not in fact running away with a Chinese baby we happened across. Everyone is especially interested in Owen. People do double-takes when they see him, and nudge each other and point. He's not much for the celebrity status, though, and tends to try to bury himself in us when people get close. We paid 8 Yuan for a carnival ride of small helicopters that went round and round and up and down. That attracted a big crowd, too. We left the park and played human Frogger to get across the street. The rule here is that you get out of the way of anything motorized. Walked down to the photo shop and had a good time communicating about getting film developed from the camera we mailed to Alex in the orphanage. They were determined to communicate and good-natured, and we eventually worked out that it would cost 66 Yuan (about $10) to develop it, and it would be ready tomorrow at 3pm. Left there and got a bit turned around finding the laundry place, so we ducked into a travel agency and asked directions. They were very pleasant and pointed us in the right direction. When we arrived for laundry, a brief flurry of communication ensued, all of it way over my head. I paused a long while and said "Guo yi huir, ma?" (later?), to which they replied "Guo yi huir, gui yi huir." Ah, sweet success!

Hmm...it seems that the changes I've tried to make to this post for the past 10 minutes have been lost, so I'll just wrap up the rest of the day: Got back to the hotel with the laundry, Ellen and Alex stayed at the hotel while Alex napped and Owen and I ventured out with our big group to the Lotus Center (Chinese version of Wal Mart). Store seemed to me to be about 60% snack food, 20% noodles, and 20% gift boxes of liquor. Got diapers, drawing paper for Owen, oatmeal (had a long one-sided conversation with a sales associate about that), and yogurt. Back to the hotel, ordered sichuan noodles for Ellen and me and ham & cheese for Owen. Alex had rice cereal and formula, which he wolfed down. Owen is drawing like crazy and getting very good at writing. Alex played very sweetly by himself with his stacking cups, making adorable little noises and occasionally coming over to snatch a french fry or get us to hold one of the stacking cups for a moment until he grabbed it back and giggled.

Tomorrow we drive with another family to Luohe to see Alex's orphanage. Worried that Alex won't handle it well, but don't want to miss the opportunity to see a place that was so important to Alex at the beginning of his life.

It's Official

Today we completed the final paperwork making Alex a permanent part of our family! There was an enormous caravan of families walking through the streets of Zhengzhou going and returning from the Notary's office. We attracted a lot of attention, and groups of people actually stopped to watch us walk by. We dropped off some laundry at a local laundry place (somehow "Chinese laundry" just doesn't sound quite right - what else would it be?) and thought at first that our guides were engaged in a serious dispute with the proprietors, but later they said they were just clarifying payment arrangements. We're having some trouble accommodating our vegetarian tastes and Owen's finicky appetite, but we're gorging at the buffet breakfast and making up the rest with room service. Alex is fabulous and will eat just about anything so long as it's soft. He is becoming very attached to all of us. When he sees Ellen he breaks into a big smile and runs (well, perhaps "toddles" is more accurate) after her, calling "Ma ma!" And he knows Owen as "Ge ge" (big brother, pronounced Guh-guh) and is constantly amused by Owen's zany madcap antics. Dad he may be calling Da-da, although in Mandarin that means "Big big", so I'm not so sure. He laughs easily and often and is quite content to walk around outside with us. Thank goodness for that infant carrier. Owen is getting used to being a big brother with some mixed success - trouble with sharing, especially when Alex toddles into the middle of an episode of Owen and Dad playing Transformers. But he gets a big charge out of Alex saying Ge ge and has learned to play some of Alex's games, of which Alex's favorite seems to be "Let me give you this object, hey what do you think you're doing that's mine".

Culture shock shopping trip

After Alex woke up from his nap, we all took a taxi downtown to pick up some formula and other goodies. After narrowly avoiding being flattened by a cavalcade of mopeds, we wandered a bit looking for the grocery store we'd been promised. Our first several attempts to find either it or a person who spoke English had us discouraged, but just as we were about to admit defeat, we spotted an enormous structure which, unlike everything else in downtown Zhengzhou, actually had some English printed on it, including the word "youth". We headed in and after pointing at Alex's stocking-clad feet, were directed to the 5th floor. We bought a child carrier, shoes, and received a great deal of staring and curiosity. Not a lot of Westerners around here, especially children. Everyone was very nice and patient, but we have this far encountered no one outside the hotel who speaks English. Got the boys a snack at McDonalds (welcome to American parenting, Alex!) and picked up some bananas and formula from the basement grocery store. Caught a taxi back to the hotel and swore never to leave it again. Throughout the whole thing, the boys were troopers. Alex giggled a lot and merrily tossed his stacking cups at strangers, and Owen rode on Dad's shoulders and fielded stares with a chipper "Nihao!". Owen has made friends with a just-adopted little girl a couple doors down named Maia and the boys chased each other up and down the hallway with some technical assistance from Mom and Dad. Alex put up a 1-minute bedtime protest and then fell asleep clutching a plastic water bottle. We'll do some laundry in the sink tonight and then hopefully turn in early.

Now we are four

This morning at 9 am we walked down to the registration center and met Alex for the first time. He is wonderful. He smiled right away and laughed when we played with him, was happy to walk around with us, and had big fistfulls of noodles when we went to lunch. Then we put him in his crib with some keys and in 5 minutes he was asleep. Is this the perfect kid or what? Owen is being a great big brother, getting toys for Alex and doing gymnastics and generally running around making Alex giggle. We learned that Alex was in a family care program, where a couple stays at the orphanage and acts as parents toward many children, taking them on trips, etc. They brought a wonderful photo album of many happy times with Alex and lots of his baby pictures, plus they brought the camera we sent in his first care package. We learned that he can eat table food just fine but does have a bottle of formula first thing in the morning, and that he takes a nap from 1 to 2pm and then sleeps at night from 8:30 to 6:30. He has a slight cough that we're keeping a close eye on but is in good spirits and seems to be adjusting just fine. At lunch when Ellen went to get some more food, it sounded to me like he was saying "Ma ma" and looking around.

In Zhengzhou

Took a one-hour flight from Beijing to Zhengzhou today. Very nice city; seems newer and a bit nicer than Beijing. Also a nice hotel, which is good because we'll be staying several days. Room service for dinner and watched some very amusing Chinese variety and game shows. Tomorrow at 9am we walk down the street to the adoption registration office, where we'll meet Alex. We'll sign a guardianship document and then walk down the street for a photograph, then back to the hotel to get to know our new son!

The Great Wall

Climbed the Great Wall yesterday. Piece of cake - not sure what those Mongolians were so worried about. Finally got some sleep last night, except for poor Ellen, who is getting by with coffee and adrenaline. Last night we saw a troupe of Chinese acrobats. Today we fly to Zhengzhou and tomorrow we get Alex!

Inside the Forbidden City!

Yesterday we went to Tianemen Square and the Forbidden City. It was quite chilly but worth it. Afterward we had lunch at the Wu Ha Ha restaurant and then got a taxi back to our hotel so Owen could take a little nap. Still not caught up on sleep but getting closer. Today we'll be seeing the Great Wall!

We made it!

We arrived in Beijing at 11:30 last night, 26 hours or so after leaving home. Owen did amazingly well. The only major issue this far is that we're terribly sleep depived. Owen slept about 4 hours on the plane and 4 hours last night. Like many of our travelmates, he woke up at 3:30am and couldn't get back to sleep. Bill and I have managed about 3 hours of sleep each since we departed. We're hoping tonight is a better night. We toured the Forbidden City this morning and will travel to the Great Wall tomorrow. We fly to Zhengzhou on Sunday and will have Alex on Monday. I'm typing this on an Ipod Touch, hence the short message. We'll search for a business center and a calling. Card later today.

We're off!

We take off from Louisville tomorrow morning! From there, we're headed to Detroit, Tokyo, and, finally, Beijing. Owen (and his mom and dad) are getting excited! We'll do our best to post from China.

Headed to China!

We have official travel dates! We'll be headed to Beijing on December 10th, we'll meet Alex in Zhengzhou on December 15th, we'll spend Christmas day as a family of four in Guangzhou, and we'll be headed home on December 26th. Lots to do before we get on a plane in one week!!

Travel Dates

We received a call from our adoption agency today notifying us that our travel approval is unlikely to arrive before Friday of this week or Monday of next week. They still hope we can depart on 12/10 or 12/11 and return to the U.S. on Christmas day. We won't know for sure until next Wednesday or so. Keeping fingers tightly crossed ....

Update on Alexander

We received an update on Alex! Most importantly, he received at least one of our care packages and can say mama :) He's walking, eating solids (congee and noodles), and is said to "smile easily". We can't wait to see a smile! On his 15 month birthday, he weighed 19.5 pounds (fully clothed?) and was 30 inches long. We'd better bring a few more 12 month clothes .... It's hard to know how much to trust these developmental reports, but it was nice to get an update never-the-less. We received some photos of Alex as well. The red mark under his eye is a case of eczema that is being treated with antibiotics. Poor baby! Our travel dates are not yet set. We're hoping to go in the next 2.5 to 5.5 weeks and our agency seems to be suggesting that the first part of December is likely. We're ready!

Introducing Alexander

On August 12, 2008, we received a call from our adoption agency with news that we have another son! Xu Han Bo, soon to be Alexander Han-Bo Altermatt, is 12 months old and is currently living at the Luohe Social Welfare Institute in the Henan province of China. We think he is adorable and can't wait to travel to get him!

Introducing Owen

Owen is our energetic, entertaining, almost 4-year-old.


He certainly keeps us laughing. Here's a video of Owen from April 2008. He was playing on the porch with his train set, when all of a sudden ...

Owen and Alexander's Blog

Now that we're the parents of two young boys, we've decided to develop a blog to document their adventures. Much more on Owen and Alexander to come ...