Coming Home
May 22, 2009  |  April 28, 2010

Friday, May 22, 2009 WE’RE HOME!!! Woohoo - we made it!! We’re home, and we’re all very happy. So what can I tell you about the trip back? Before I have to say, our little guy is a great traveler. Our train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong could have been a nightmare (for reasons which I’ll take up with GWCA, but that’s another matter…..) but he’s so easy, as is Emma. Ethan slept for a good part of the train, and then thoroughly enjoyed the lights of Hong Kong! We even heard a few “wow!”s on the ride from the train station to the hotel as he was mesmerized by the skyline at night. We arrived at the hotel at around 10pm, took our baths, and then fell asleep around 11. The Regal Airport Hotel was so nice and easy – it couldn’t have worked out better. The next morning, with six bags, 2 children, and a stroller we were able to easily walk to the airport from the hotel (they have a covered walkway AND push carts!), and then once we checked in, we hit the toy store, some money exchange, and then on to boarding. The only pseudo-difficult part was when Ethan had to go “nyao nyao” (bathroom) while we were going through the passport check, so we had a small “accident” but we changed on the way to the gate, and made it in more than enough time. So…..the big flight…..15 hours. Here’s what I’ll say….Now I have been told by multiple people that it will be hard, a nightmare, and no one will care about your predicament, but I have to pay the highest compliment to the flight attendants aboard Continental flight # 98 from Hong Kong to Newark. They were the nicest, most solicitous, most helpful people we could have had. Two attendants spoke mandarin and offered to help explain things to Ethan, and almost every attendant came over to congratulate me and talk to me and offer help in various ways – they were really great. On top of that – Ethan was really a dream child. First, he fell asleep for the first 2 hours – that allowed mom to eat and watch a movie. Emma in the meantime, had made herself entirely comfortable with her own tv and movie selection; she ate, and did not need, nor did she want to be bothered by mom. Once Ethan woke up, he was up until the last 1.5 hours of the flight (isn’t that always the case?), but he basically sat on his chair, played with the seat belt, the remote control for the tv (including the attendant call button, but they just ignored the whole thing), and the little ambulance we bought at that toy store in the Hong Kong airport – all for 12 hours…… The only issue was his fascination with the bathrooms on the plane – he loved going in there, whether he needed to use them or not….but hey, I could handle that as long as he was quiet and happy. Emma did offer to play with him so I could sleep, but that lasted about a half hour. The last 4 hours were the hardest because he was so tired but hadn’t been able to run around, so he had a hard time falling asleep – towards the end, he cried for less than a half hour, and then finally fell asleep. When he woke up, he was a happy kid again. Once we landed, it took us almost 2.5 hours to get through passport and baggage control. For the passport control, first we were told to go through the non-US passport holder line, but that was a nightmare, so we switched, but then we were “escorted” to the back room (it was kind of amusing to watch everyone look at us as we were being “escorted” – I can only imagine what they were thinking….. but after a short wait with some interesting other people, then Ethan became a US citizen – Hooray!!!!). FINALLY, we go to get our bags, and we’re on the line from hell, but we hand in our declaration card, recheck our bags, and phew – we’re out of there! We had to switch terminals for our connecting flight anyway, so we took advantage of Continental’s President’s Club and grabbed a much needed shower before going off to meet Ethan and Emma’s Aunt Ellen, Uncle Jon and cousin Julia, who were waiting for us with a huge bunch of balloons, an enormous cooler with awesome food and games for the kids. We played together for over 3 hours, and we had such a GREAT visit. We found a corner on one of the departure floors, spread out a blanket, and just camped out. At first Ethan was shy, but he soon warmed up and he was playing ball and play-dough and other funny games with the Taner gang, while Emma hung out with her cousin who she adores, and I caught about 15 minutes of sleep.

Getting ready for the long flight home Playing with the Taner gang at Newark airport I like my new toys Already invading his sister’s room Hey, I can ride this thing Forget bed – I want to play with Jie Jie

The flight from Newark to Tampa was bumpy to say the least, but both kids slept, which meant I could grab about an hour of sleep myself – which was the most I was able to have over that 27 hour period. All in all the trip home was 44 hours, 36 hours without a break…..but we did great, and then we finally made it home. I have to add that on the car ride from the airport to the house, both kids sat in the back seat singing….it was the sweetest sound. When we first walked in the door, the first thing was how happy Ethan was to see Baba, but then he saw, on the table by the entrance, his picture, and I cannot describe to you just how much his face absolutely lit up, as he started jumping (as much as a 2-1/2 year old can jump) and pointing and yelling, “Ma-ma, Ma-ma, Ma-ma!!!! I think that’s when he realized he was home. It was so incredibly precious and sweet and adorable, and all those adjectives that describe the very best about children’s happiness. And then he discovered the playroom, and then we showed him his room. Needless to say, we arrived home at 1am, and he played until 7am. I was long past mentally coherent at that point – I lost count of how many hours it had been since real sleep, but both Emma and Ethan were so happy and enjoying each other and enjoying being home. At last, both kids fell asleep – and they slept until 5pm (Ethan) and 7:30pm (Emma) that day (which was yesterday). Its now 11am on the 22nd – Emma’s been up for 15-1/2 hours and I’m hoping to keep her awake as long as possible to get her acclimated to US time again. Ethan took a 3 hour nap from 1am to 4am, which is typical for his afternoon nap in China, and now he’s playing with his sister in their play castle. I can’t end this update without describing to you all we’re learning about Ethan. First, he LOVES his sister, who he calls Jie Jie. I constantly hear the pitter patter of feet and the yelling of “JIE JIE….JIE JIE…..JIE JIE…..” We think he’s confused about Mama vs. Emma, but for now Jie Jie is just sweeter anyway. He loves to investigate anything mechanical – so we have to be careful with all televisions, phones, radios, appliances – basically anything with wires (and we have covered all outlets…..). He’s learning the song A, B, C, D, E…..and he adores everything musical. He likes to play Emma’s toy piano, and he likes to watch the Baby Einstein videos, but other than that tv, including cartoons, just doesn’t interest him. He even likes to vacuum and dust, and earlier, he helped me with the laundry. He did finally have his first night terror, but other than that, he sleeps pretty soundly. And this morning, from 4:30am through 6:30am we played ball – throwing & catching & kicking. For those of you who know me well…..yes, I did let him do this in the house…..I’m evolving now that I’m a boy mom. I’ll repeat what I said the first day we met him….he is so wonderful, and gentle, and sweet and kind, and funny….and he’s so fun. I hope my energy level holds up, because this little boy is another light in my/our lives, and I love to play with him. Emma’s adjusting – she went through the phase of only describing him as annoying, but she’s back to saying how cute he is, and she’s so patient with him – playing with him, sharing with him, and laughing with him. We’re good…we’re really good…..we are blessed, and grateful, and in awe. I still feel like it’s all a little surreal – did we really actually go to China? Did it all happen? And we’re back? [Boy it’s a good thing I have this log to prove it, huh?] I didn’t add this earlier, but I’ll include here that on our last afternoon in Guangzhou, before our train ride back, we went to the consulate to finalize the adoption. Part of that process is taking an oath. There were another 8 or so families at the time we were there (2 others with boys, and the children ranged in ages from 10 months to 8 years old). While taking the oath, it really hit me – we did it, we actually did it – it’s not a process anymore, not something to talk about on yahoo groups, or over emails or in get-togethers. This is it, and it’s real….really real. And I cried. The whole time, with my right hand raised, and Ethan in my left arm, mouthing the words while tears streamed down my face, and I held Ethan and kissed him. And now he’s here in the house, and he really is such a good boy, and yes, I do love him and yes, he seems to be so happy with us. It didn’t have to turn out this great, this phenomenal, or this special….but it did, and I’m so thankful. So on that note, I’ll thank you again for sharing all of it with us. We’ll post updates periodically. We have a number of doctor appointments the week after next, and we’ll just continue…day by day….. And as I sign off, Ethan is walking around singing “hoyla hoyla hoyla…..la-la-la-la….e-i-e-i-e-i-o…..” Be well. Lots of Love, Dawn

“Where we love is home…..”
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Chinese character for Family is a synonym for Home.

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