Things we're grateful for this Thanksgiving

1. Smiles.
2. Hand games that make Quinn laugh out loud.
3. Stacking cups.
4. Peaceful nights. Thanks to a RIGID schedule, we now have bathtime, reading in the rocker and then to bed. Quinn usually wakes up when we put him in the crib, but cries for only about 15 seconds - tonight, he just looked up at the mobile and didn't cry at all.
5. Eye contact. Finally.
6. Learning ever day. When we came home Quinn couldn't handle a big, chunky stacking ring - he would over- or under-shoot the central post and give up. Less than two weeks later he has mastered a three-part stacking tower with very narrow wooden posts.
7. Crawling. In China Quinn could barely make it from one side of the bed to the other. Now he is crawling through the entire house.
8. Walking. He looks like a cross between Frankenstein and Popeye with his goose steps and wobbly legs, but with a little assistance (we hold him under his arms), he's cruising.
9. Baby pajamas. Is there anything cuter?
10. Kisses. Quinn has two versions: The vampire kiss, where he tucks his lips around his teeth and bites the neck; and the face plant, where he positions a hand, palm open, in front of him, then falls face-first into it.

Things Quinn is grateful for this Thanksgiving

1. Stacking cups and rings. Always a good time.


2. Baxter the dog. Loyal and protective of HIS boy.

3. Grandma Marj. Unconditional love, and a weakness for Gymboree.

4. Best pal Ba Ba. Always happy to act like a kid himself.

5. Bedtime stories. Good Night Moon works EVERY time.

Boy under a microscope

Quinn's first doctor's appointment led to a flurry of specialist visits.

First up, on Monday he will meet with an internationally know feeding specialist, who happens to live in Tucson. She will work with him on his refusal to eat solid foods. Our first exercise was to track anything he puts in his mouth - that was easy, the answer is nothing! - and to dip the fingers he puts in his mouth in juice and see what he does. He pops them in just like normal.

Next up, he is enrolled in Arizona's Early Intervention program for kids with developmental delays. That will lead him to a physical therapist to get him to use his bad shoulder (he suffered a brachial plexus injury during delivery) and an occupational therapist to work on his walking.

In December, we will visit an international adoption clinic in San Francisco for a thorough analysis of his development, attachment, etc.

This kid is going to see a lot of waiting rooms. We'd better make sure we bring the stacking cups!

Here I am, family!

We arrived in Tucson at 5 p.m. Monday. My entire family was waiting for us at the airport. The first to meet Quinn was the person who has been the most excited to meet him: Grandma Marj:

Next up was Grand Bill:

Aunt Marie and Uncle Steve came down from Show Low:



Uncle Bruce was so sure our plane would be late that HE was late:

Great Auntie Susan was waiting, too:


Great Auntie Jan (otherwise known as GAJ) brought a mirror so Quinn could see his favorite thing: his reflection:

Hello, America

We're home!

The journey was far easier than we had feared, thanks to a miraculously good boy who had only one bad moment on the loooong flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles, when Baba tried to help fussy Quinn by popping his fingers back into his mouth. SKREEEEEEECH!!!! He screamed for about a minute and quieted down.

Quinn became an American in the eyes of the law when we touched down in LA. He seemed to understand the significance of the moment as he looked out over the tarmac:


For most of the flights, he entertained himself by playing with his toys. On the flight from Guangzhou, we were lucky to have an empty seat next to us:

He did very well, but after a while he got a bit bored:


On the long flight, he had his own little cubby under my seat - although he spent most of the flight sleeping on my seat. About two hours before we landed I gave up and surrendered the seat to him; I sat on the footrest and read a book.

Here he is in his cubby. This is the first picture he ever posed for and smiled:

Homeward bound

Tomorrow morning we head home.

I'll be sad to leave China, the place of Quinn's birth and heritage, but I'm excited to get him into his new life and develop some sort of routine.

This trip has been amazing, and I've loved everything about it.

I'm so glad we were able to see China and learn a bit about a country I had underestimated and misunderstood.

I'm so grateful that we were able to see Quinn's finding place and piece together some of his history and the events of day he was found - the day he began his journey to us.

And most of all, of course, I'm awed that this trip gave us our amazing son, who is currently sitting on the middle of a kingsized bed, happily stacking his cups and babbling his adorable little baby babble.

I'll write again once we're home and settled. Thanks to all of you for sharing the most important journey of our lives - it was fun to have you be a part of it!

The White Swan play room

I had heard a lot about the playroom at the White Swan, so while Tom called his mom this morning Quinn and I headed down to check it out. It's big and carpeted and full of baby toys. It was built by Mattel, in a stroke of marketing genius. Parents try out Mattel toys here, and go home and buy them.

From Quinn's perspective, the place is pretty perfect:

Quinn's first American meal

After more than two weeks in China, some American food sounded pretty darn good. It's a gorgeous day, so we went to Lucy's and ate outside.

Iced tea - hooray!

And grilled cheese sandwiches - with the crusts cut off!

Boys' day out

Yesterday I had a meeting, so Tom and Quinn headed out on the town. They made quite the scene and made friends everywhere they went. A gallery owner gave Quinn a rattle to hook onto the Baby Bjorn (he LOVES it). Later one of our friends went to another shop and said they had adopted their daughter from Beijing, and he said he had met a man that morning who had a Beijing Boy. The man had "cool hair," the guy said. Of course, Melanie knew just who he was talking about.

A romantic dinner for three

Last night was beautiful, so we ate at a lovely outdoor restaurant on a heavily planted pedestrian street. We sat at a big, wide couch, which was perfect for Quinn. He sat and played with his trucks and rattles the whole time we were there.

We were sitting on this front porch:


The place used to be a coffee and tea house, so their tea presentation was quite lovely:

That face...

We just can't get enough:

A knock at the door

Yesterday afternoon while Quinn was napping I heard a knock on the door. When I opened it there was a smiling young woman holding out a box. "This is for you, from the hotel," she said. I looked down and saw... Chinese adoption Barbie!!!!! There she is, standing in a garden and holding little Chinese girl. Way fab - I totally love it.

Here she is:

Bargain shopping with the bargain shopper

Today our Guangzhou guide, Raymond, took us shopping for kids' clothes. First we started at a very fancy department store, where the clothes were fabulous, but priced about the same as they would be at home. So Raymond dragged us out of there and took us to the children's garment district, which is mostly wholesale but has some retail outlets, too.

That Raymond was quite the wheeler and dealer. I'd point out what I'd like and he'd ask the price, then scowl and tell the seller that was ridiculous. If they didn't come immediately down he'd say to me, "We'll go to another place" and lead me out of the store. Most of the time someone would come running after us with a better price, but sometimes not. Usually in those cases Raymond would say, "The 66 yuan they want is is a very good price." Then why did we leave? That's just the way you do it here. So we'd look at another couple of stores and then head back to the one we had just marched out of and say we had reconsidered.

Pretty quickly I got a beautiful Chinese New Year's outfit for $13, a very nice coat and matching ski pants for $14 and a nice stocking cap and gloves for $4. Then Raymond hit the motherlode: a row of wholesale shops that each had a box of retail bargains out front. I got two pairs of sweat pants for less than $1 each and seven adorable long-sleeved t-shirts for less than $2 each. It was quite the haul, and a really fun experience.

The latest Americans

Yesterday afternoon we headed to the American consulate to get the kids' immigrant visas. The guy who runs the adoptions unit is new to the job, and still obviously jazzed about it, and he came out and gave a sweet speech about how much he loves his job. Then all 37 families in the room stood and gave an oath that all the information in our children's information was correct, and poof, instant Americans. It's not official until they touch down on American soil, but all the paperwork is completed.

Congratulations to the newest little Americans!

Only in China

At a very nice Thai restaurant in Guangzhou, an entire page is dedicated to food for infants:


Starbucks in America serves green tea latte, too. But the version here is VERY strongly flavored of matcha powder, and very delicious. Also much greener than the American version:

Random acts of cuteness