Sunday, November 12, 2006

Eric is starting today’s entry. I want to address an issue raised by some concerned readers of our site. Yesterday, we reported that we gave Katie honey to help with her constipation. I would like to make clear that this should not be construed as a recommendation. Honey is believed to be safe for children over 12 months of age. Under 6 months, and possibly up to 12 months, there is a small risk of contracting botulism, presumably due to C. botulinum spores which might contaminate the honey. At a young age, the baby’s digestive system is immature and may be susceptible to these spores (which produce bolulism toxin), and therefore, might contract the disease. This is certainly rare and probably not a big issue for most Chinese adopted babies as they are usually close to one year of age at the time of adoption. Adding a small amount of honey to the formula is also a common practice in China, as it was suggested to us by several local sources. Just to be clear, though, most American pediatricians do not recommend giving honey to infants less than 12 months of age. In any case, we are no longer using honey as I found a way to slip in some apple juice into her formula without her noticing.

Institutionalized children lead a very routine existence right up until the time of adoption. They are on very set feeding and sleeping schedules and never leave the confines of their orphanages. I think that when they are brought to their new families it is such a shock that they literally shut down—physically and emotionally. We have noticed an incredible change in developmental milestones in just 4 days. It’s as if Katie has aged 4 months in 4 days.

One more thing before I turn it over to Kelly. This afternoon, before we went to dinner the boys and I went out to the park to play Frisbee and badminton. Joe and I again attracted lots of attention from young boys and pretty soon we had 8-10 kids playing with us. We finally just sat down and let the kids play. They obviously had never seen a Frisbee but we taught them how to throw it. Meanwhile, Kegan and Toby were playing Badminton with locals. After a while I started playing with a man probably about 25-30 years old. I never knew badminton could be such a workout. I was literally hitting the birdie as hard as I possibly could right at the guys face and he would smack it right back at me. We had some volleys that lasted several minutes.

I almost forgot. The boys and I took a walk down the narrow streets of Guangzhou today. They were overwhelmed by the sights and smells. The turtles, snakes, millipedes sea horses etc. were most impressive. I think the boys are starting to appreciate the life they have back home in boring old Grand Rapids.

Okay, it’s Kelly reporting about our day now. First, what an amazing change in Katie! Did you know she can crawl? Yep. That means we now have to baby proof the entire hotel room! Not too fun, when you don’t have many places to put things, and cords have to run across the floor because the outlets aren’t anywhere near where the desk is. Katie can also pull herself to stand at the coffee table. She’s not too steady when she has toys in both of her hands, but as long as she’s holding on with one hand, she does great.

Speaking of standing, she’s now standing in the preferred footwear of Chinese children in Guangzhou: squeaky shoes. These shoes literally make a squeaking noise (think dog toy squeak) each time a child puts his/her weight on them. They’re cute for babies like Katie, who can barely move around, but are totally obnoxious in public places when a child can run around. When Katie gets proficient at walking, we’re losing the squeakers!

Second, we visited the Chen Family Clan today. It’s a historic site of the most prominent family in Guangzhou. It’s now a historical site and folk art museum, and we learned about the Chinese arts of silk making, ivory carving, porcelain, wood carving and embroidery. What incredible gifts the Chinese have given to our world! The boys were museumed out, so they stayed back at the hotel and hopefully got some homework done!

Third, we had another China adventure this evening. Similar to riding bikes in the hutongs in Beijing, we took a walk down the busy streets to Guangzhou (with two little girls, our three boys, three babies and a total of seven adults) for a dinner buffet. Thankfully, we crossed the busiest street on an elevated walkway, but we still had to negotiate the street markets and all of the people selling and shopping, bikes, trucks, cars and even an ambulance.