Callie Characteristics

God answers prayer! Three to four hours after I posted our lost blog entry, Sara was up with Callie, still feverish and miserable. Sara called our pediatrician friend in KY who assured Sara she was doing all the right stuff. Shortly after the call, and while Sara was still holding Callie, her fever broke! She woke up much better and playful. She had a mild fever again in the late morning, but that broke at lunch, and her cold is subdued. Thanks for the prayers, and keep praying, please.

Many of the electronic controls are on a console by the bed in our hotel, well within reach of Callie. So our “Do Not Disturb” sign is always on, and the radio is always on, too. Usually we’re listening to either contemporary Chinese music or to a Chinese call-in program.

Callie and I have developed at least 10 little games that I am asked to do over and over and over and over and over. I think I did “this little piggy” 20 times in a row tonight. No joke. I think part of it is her trying to learn our language, and I think the language issue is still a big thing with her.

When Callie is hurt, she doesn’t say, “Ow, ow.” Instead, she says, “Oh, oh” and places her hand on her ouchie spot. Once we rub it and kiss it, she’s usually good to go.

We learned from Alison, our Beijing/Guangzhou guide, that Callie is calling Anna “Sister," me “Daddy," and Sara “Auntie” in Chinese. Alison attempted to correct her. Analyze that one if you want.

It’s been interesting to Sara and me that Callie has bonded to both of us about equally as well, which is highly unusual. It has not turned out that way in any of the other families. In 3 of the families, the adopted bonded to Mom tightly. In 2 of them, they bonded to Dad, to the point where neither one of them wanted Mom at all and would cry when Dad would leave the hotel room. Both of those moms really struggled for the first few days until their daughters warmed up to them. And in one family, the girl bonded instantly to the 12-year-old sister. Side effect: the one bonded to is worn out after just 2 or 3 days. (Anna bonded instantly to Sara in ‘02.)

More bonding issues: Mixed results on adopted kids bonding with their new siblings. Callie is always concerned where "Je je" ("sister") is, but she never really wants Anna to hold her.

One of the traditions for adopting families in Guangzhou is “the red couch picture” wherein all the adopted kids of the group are dressed in traditional Chinese dress, placed together on a red couch, and their pictures are taken. That precious little tradition took place today. Only two of the kids were not cooperative, as predicted by their parents. (See the picture on the left.)

Anna bought herself a Chinese Barbie-like doll. We couldn’t find a name for her, though, in the box. I suggested Kow Lung, but she’s not going for it. Anna also made friends with a boy, Taylor, in our travel group who is slightly older, which is great for her. Nonetheless, I'm keeping my eye on that boy . . .

Chinese TV: Our days are usually busy, so we don’t watch much. However, we have taken in some professional sports: table tennis, badminton, and sumo wrestling. I still haven't figured out the philosophy behind, "Get as large as you can, and wear as little as possible."

We did a 2-hour river boat cruise on the Pearl River this evening. Guangzhou is beautiful at night along the river, all lit up with neon, and the weather was perfect.

Last night we went to a traditional Chinese restaurant. In the lobby were cages and tanks holding several menu items, most of which were alive: varieties of fish, turtles, shrimp, one variety of snake, sandworms (very large), water beetles, etc. Our actual meal was much tamer than that, however. Tonight for supper we had Papa John’s.

Three prayer requests:
1) Pray Callie continues to mend and the rest of us stay healthy.
2) All of us are concerned about how well our kids will handle the 12-hour flight home Saturday. Pray for all 7 families and their adopted daughters. (Callie’s showing signs of not wanting to be held all the time.)
3) Pray both our flights (to Chicago and to Fort Wayne) are not delayed or cancelled.