Peace

Ah, today was peaceful: no tours, no schedule, no nothin' but hanging about with the kids. I know life will continue to change and we're not in for peace from now on, but I'm just grateful for one day of it!

Either (a) they were more calm or (b) we were and it rubbed off on them (it's hard to tell which, kind of like the chicken and the egg thing) but things were good. Ren was less 'hitty' (I hesitate to say 'violent' because it seems like an overstatement) and had less tantrums today and Claire was not as grouchy and bossy as she has been. Thanks for all the advice and suggestions on my previous post. It's helpful to know we're not the only ones who have been through this! We have been doing timeouts with both kids (both nearby us, within view) but today there were less thankfully. I laughed when I read Dawn's comment about how hard it was to give her daughter repeated time-outs after her brother came along because we're in the same boat: Claire has rarely received them in the past and now she's had many! I suspect that Claire relieved a lot of built-up tension yesterday when she had her huge meltdown and I'm sure knowing that we're headed home soon is also comforting to her.

Today, Ren began repeating more words! Our efforts at teaching him to kiss also paid off; tonight he gave me, Paul and Claire our first kisses. It was so incredibly sweet. He's a pretty funny little character. He's very impatient to eat: when the food arrives at the table, he wants to devour it immediately which he usually can't because it's too hot. That prompts a little pouting or mini trantrum from which he quickly recovers. If he has something a little sour (even orange juice), he shrugs his shoulders up high and makes an adorable scrunchy face. After a meal, he takes off his own bib. So far, he sits pretty well for a meal. We hope that continues because we really enjoy family dinnertime at home.

Right now it's 9:30 on Thurday, March 5 and we're about to start packing. We leave the hotel tomorrow in the early afternoon and will fly out at around 5:30 p.m. We arrive back in Edmonton on Friday night (Edmonton time). I'm not as introspective about leaving China as I was last time but I think that's because there's not a lot of time for that - we're just trying to survive! But I am very grateful to this country for giving us our family. China has been very good to us once again in all possible ways, and I know we will be back many times in our lives. Just not for more kids ;)

This will be our last post from China, and I want to thank all of our friends and family back home for following along on our journey. Thank you for connecting with us by leaving comments or praying for us or sending happy vibes. Whatever you are doing, we feel it. It hasn't been an easy journey (not that we thought it would be) and we truly believe we got through it with your help and support from the other side of the world.

Lots of love,

Monica, Paul, Claire and Ren

ps - A few of you have commented about how often I have been posting to the blog while in China. I surprised myself too! Somehow the kids' sleep schedules accommodated it and it was the most relaxing thing I could find to do. I also loved being able to connect with all of you back home. As many of you know, I will turn this blog into a book for Ren so I also wanted it to be as 'in the moment' as possible. I doubt he'll like my discussions about hitting, etc. but hey, I can always edit, edit, edit! (Or I'll simply say, "But look at you now!")