A Flexible Name

Ella's sleeping patterns have been quite variable lately given a rather messy confluence of events: four teeth coming in, a case of excema, and a head cold. So I have had time to contemplate how flexible her name is, and just how many situations it can fit!

Because this contemplation is often done at 3:00 a.m. (or today at 5:15 a.m. when she decided to wake for the day), it is a bit painful. But we find it amusing. But then, we are sometimes sleep deprived.

It goes like this: "When Eleanor / Ella is [XXXX], we call her [XXXX.]

Sleeping: Eleasnore
Without purpose: Eleabore
Loud: Yelleanor or Bellownor
When she's still hungry: Eleamore
When the nappie needs freshening: Smelleanor
Sick with stomach flu: Salmonella

Will post some recent pix soon -- computer not letting me do that right now for some reason!

Outakes!

Did I spell that right? Is out "Outtakes"? Well, whatever. This is what having two young children does to the brain.
Due to popular demand, here is (finally) another post to the blog. Ella is thriving (the Early Intervention people came today and judged her absolutely age appropriate in all her skills, an amazing feat for an adopted baby from China, where temporary developmental delays are so common... ). They said we should just sit back and watch her flourish now!
And, even better, Tyler is no longer terrified of her and is actually able to play with her a bit now. Finally.
So here are the outtakes from the shoot we did of her in our living room ... the best of the lot will be showing up soon in your mailbox in the form of her "arrival announcement." But here are few in the meantime ...
Sarah
Oh - and next up on the blog - finally, the long awaited photos of Tyler's ancient Egyptian bday party ... all in good time for our faithful followers!

My breakfast is almost ready!

 

Good morning, everyone!

 

Mama, Tyler's Little Sister and Eleanor's Big Brother

All in the same room at the same time! Tyler's doing wonderfully well with Ella, although at times he's a bit frustrated with her Foghorn Leghorn-style mode of communicating her desire for food and/or drink. Said frustration is most evident while Tyler is using Derrida's techniques in the deconstruction of the often irreconcilable and contradictory meanings in the earliest episodes of Sponge Bob Square Pants.

 

He has said: "Dad, how can I conduct a thorough transformational reading of Patrick Starfish's soliloquy on jellyfish hunting, which is so obviously a thinly veiled criticism of our own unrealized shortcomings, when Eleanor's making that racket!

At Play

Every little person who has come through our living room finds these wooden something-or-others fascinating. I don't know where they were made or if they had a purpose (besides entertaining myriad toddlers), but they provide endless fun...

Eleanor at Home

Enjoying an amuse bouche of Goldfish and Cheerios

Make mine a...

Grande, soy, machiatto with a double shot and whip cream, please

Momma Pat's Spaghetti Dinner, Delivered

Sarah's mom was kind enough to bring dinner over today and happily the majority of Eleanor's dinner actually ended up in her belly! Thanks for dinner Mama Pat!

 

We've settled in quite nicely, Tyler is having a blast with his little sister and I'm typing this now because Ella is still a bit feisty after her 12:45 ayem bottle.

 

Today, I cleaned fixed the forward-facing infant car seat that we haven't used for a few years, repaired the parking brake on the Bugaboo stroller and generally made myself useful. Ella is still a velcro baby to Sarah, but I've been taking her on progressively longer strolls around the house and she's mostly cool with it all.

 

Ella met a few of her neighbors and we received the most wonderful gift from the neighborhood - a scrapbook of sorts, with notes from people up and down the blocks surrounding us, letting Ella know about her new community. Thanks to everyone who participated and a special thanks to Michelle for the wondeful concept and execution!

DEPARTING TOMORROW

We are in Hong Kong tonight after more buses, coaches, trains, temperature and ear checks and crying babies than I will ever care to recall. Marc is out dining with half the group in downtown Hong Kong and I, suffering from a touch of tourista and a looooong day of travel with not enough food (which, given the tourista, was not a bad thing), stayed at the hotel with Yan Lin and the other half of the group.

 

For me, China has been alternately inspiring, terrifying, welcoming and astounding. If this country ever pulls itself completely togehter in political / socio economic terms, our collective goose is cooked! This country is so vast in scale and scope. The large cities are on steroids -- the billboards and towers/skyscrapers are huge, the apartment buildings endless and soaring (and most often squalid), and the numbers of people and sprawl of the cities is just unbelievable.

 

And, of course, China has given us one of their daughters and for that, we are eternally grateful.  Yan Lin is the Chinese gerber baby / kewpie doll incarnate and we look forward to introducing you to her (and by then I hope I am feeling better.) I hope the flight is not as miserable as I am anticipating. Off to bed now - thanks for checking our blog during the trip!

 

Sarah, Marc (eating some feast somewhere) and Yan Lin (sleeping)

Red Couch Redux

Okay, so I kind of forgot that the Red Couch is a rite of passage -  we've completed an obstacle course of paperwork, medical exams and bureaurcracy to get to this point. The reward is obvious, but the red couch is a symbol of completion of a task. With all the girls together in China for the last time, it's a potent slug of reality.

Happy Girl

 

Bath Time!

Sarah reminds me  to remind y'all to scroll down to the red couch photo below...

Guangzhou at Night

Be sure to scroll down to the Red Couch photo; Eleanor Yan Lin is third from the left.

 

Guangzhou is positively neon at night. Whole buildings are wired (tubed?) with neon and flashing lights, while boats make their way up and down the Pearl River ferrying dinner guests and sightseers.

 

This is the first and only city Sarah and I have visited that has exhausted her shopping mojo; she actually said "I am shopped out." This declaration came only after she bought twenty orr thirty dresses and/or outfits for Eleanor, naturally, but it was impressive to see her subcontract shopping to a friend's 18 year old daughter so that she could rest. Because our plane was late arriving in Hong Kong, I fear she may have some backup special mojo in reserve for shopping in the new city...

 

Two more pictures of happy parents

 

The Imperial Order of the Red Couch

A rite of passage for adoptive families in China is the "Red Couch" picture at the White Swan Hotel. Here is Miss Elenanor along with her classmates posing for posterity...