Just as I thought, coming home I had to hit the ground running, so there has been no time to post. Now at 9:35pm on Friday night, everyone is asleep but me so I will post a quick update of the past few days.
We left the hotel in Guangzhou at 5:30am to head to the airport in Hong Kong, about a 3 hour drive. The hotel packed us up breakfast in a box so we dined on hard boiled eggs, yogurt and fruit on the drive. There were not many cars on the road at that time but many trucks and our driver was very skilled at maneuvering around them all. He let us out right at the front door to the airport and we were off. We flew first to Tokyo, a 4 hour flight and had a 3 hour layover. It was good that the kids had a break to wear off some extra energy. We then caught the long flight to Chicago, about 11 hours total. Both Lauren Jing Yi and Luke did very well on the flight. We had a bit of a rough start though as we were still gaining altitude Lauren made the gestures she uses to tell me she needed to go potty. We had just taken care of that business at the airport before leaving so I hoped I was misinterpreting her. Since she did not get the response she wanted, she started making more desperate pleas which soon turned into wailing. I asked a passing flight attendant if we could use the restroom and she said that we could do what we wanted but she was to advise us that this was not a good time to be walking around. As the wailing continued, I decided we would risk it. Sure enough, she had to go. After that it was smooth sailing.
In Chicago you are required to go through immigration and it requires 4 steps that all require waiting in line. In addition we had to deliver sealed adoption documents that have to be filed for Lauren. The kids were at the end of their short rope so I was carrying 3 backpacks and various jackets and just hoping the process would end soon. About this time, lack of sleep caused Luke to start bouncing off the walls. At one point he was standing in the middle of the terminal singing his heart out and I just had to tell myself that above all else, I must remain calm. He was excited to get home to presents he had not yet seen. On the short flight back to Springfield he sat one row behind us, which at that point was good for the rest of us. Shortly after take off he was sound asleep.
John and Lily met us at the airport and we headed home. I calculated that Lauren Jing Yi's birthday lasted 38 hours due to the different time zones we woke up in and traveled back through. Most people would think that was pretty cool, this tired Mama just thought it was the day that would never end! We opened gifts and gave Lauren a tour of the house and then we all went to bed. Lauren decided she did not want to take off her clothes or shoes (I insisted on the shoes) before bed, so she slept in her clothes. One would think after our lack of sleep that we would drift off into a peaceful slumber, but that only lasted 4 hours and Lauren and I were both wide awake; China time. I scrambled her some eggs and she also ate 2 whole bananas. We took a long bubble bath, she loved our large deep tub and it was a great way to get her to take her clothes off. She was still having major issues with our pets, 2 dogs and 3 cats and was screaming every time they were in the same room as her. I decided that the dogs needed a bath and maybe putting them in the tub, a place Lauren loved to be, would make them seem more human-like and less scary. It worked like magic. As soon as Daisy was all wet and soapy, Lauren could not resist coming over to the tub to reach her hand in and help scrub. The ice was broken and soon she was giving them kisses. Their relationship has been fine ever since. I guess the cats won her over by association as well.
On Wednesday Lauren and I took Luke and Lily to school. I wanted Lauren to have some understanding of where Luke and Lily went each day. As we were getting ready to leave, Lauren, seeing her brother and sister grab their backpacks, went over and grabbed hers as well. Lauren got to visit both classrooms and all the students gathered around to see her. Lauren was curious and a bit shy by all the attention. It was a lot to take in on her first day. We had to run a few errands around town and Lauren was entranced by all that she could see out her window. She was pointing and talking the whole time and I can only imagine what she was saying. Her whole world had changed and she was riding in a car with this woman she had only met 2 weeks earlier and who was now her Mama.
I was lucky that John was still out on Christmas break so he was around until Friday when a faculty meeting and student appointments kicked in. Lauren and I went grocery shopping on Friday morning and I had a bit of a scare. My 2005 Kia has been known to lock all the doors for no apparent reason. This has happened to me several times when I have loaded things in the back, closed the hatch and hear the familiar "click" that the doors have locked. In the back of my mind, I knew this could become a real issue for me one day, especially if I happened to set my keys down inside the car while I am loading things in the back. You can see where I am going with this story by now. While I unloaded Lauren from the cart into the hatch, I set my keys down and then unloaded my groceries and then shut the hatch....."click" went the locks. I patted both pockets, then dug frantically through my purse. Lauren is sitting the back of the now locked car watching me. To make matters worse, my cell phone was on the charger inside the car. Luckily it was not a hot day so I thought I would try getting her to unlock the doors before I ran in a panic to the nearest store for help, leaving Lauren by herself. So at first I think Lauren thought Mama was playing some sort of game and it was her job to play keep away. Remember that Lauren is not your typically kid living in America who has sat in the driver seat of a car and played with all the bells and whistles, add the fact that she knows very little English and you can see my odds of winning. The only way she would be able to let me in was to hit the unlock button on the driver's door. After about 10 minutes she did come to the door and held up a key in her hand, a small key she found on the console but still a key. It gave me hope that she understood my dilemma to some degree. I made the motion of pushing buttons and she looked down and saw all the buttons and starting randomly pushing. I shook my head no, one by one as she pushed the window buttons and mirror buttons but then she got to the key button. I encouraged her to push harder with lots of hand waving and suddenly heard that wonderful "click" indicating that she had pushed hard enough and I grabbed the handle and opened the door. I grabbed her and kissed her and hugged her and she was so happy and caught up in the excitement of the "game." The ice cream was a little soft by the time we got home. We are taping an extra key somewhere on the car in case this happens again. That was enough excitement for one day.
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