Today we had to go to my Historic District Commission meeting, Violet did great I brought lots of food, set her up and she was as good as gold! We then went over to play with Karl, Stocky, Grams and Gramps. She loves Grams little kitchen. She was fascinated by the boys working on Karl’s motorcycle. In the evening she had a slight fever from the immunizations, threw up and only had 2 night terrors. Maybe this is a trend toward sleeping better… we can only hope and pray!
Mariane Sobodash gave Violet a quilt in a beautiful box. I pulled the quilt out to take to the quilt meeting today and she climbed in and started playing. She then put all the diapers around her. She went to the Hand’s All Around Quilt Group meeting today and was able to meet all the ladies. She had a blast, after about five minutes of warily staying in my arms she was off and running, handing people scraps of paper, taking them back, blowing kisses, and after each thing running back to me for another bite of cake. She loves sweets! What a joy to share her personality with a group of women that have sent so many wonderful wishes, blessings and prayers to us thru the whole process.
Today she turned 19 months old! We went over to Grams and Gramps so we could meet Uncle Karl, who flew back in from NYC last night. We had a great time playing and running around. We were learning that you can’t just walk off the top stair you need to turn around and go down backwards, which was hilarious. She doesn’t like her hands dirty and if she falls she will hold them up for us to clean them, and after each step she would hold her hands off to be brushed off, it took a while to get in the habit of going down all the stairs and THEN whipping off our hands. She is just too precious. Later she pointed until I had put water in one of her bowls so she could splash in it, she then proceeded to take off her socks and shoes to splash with her feet. Guess I need to run out and pick up a kiddy pool, I just saw them advertised for 4.99! Talk about cheep entertainment! She is a water bug! Later she took a nap and Mom and Luke came over to help put the books back in the barrister and pull out the porch furniture. Luke installed the baby gate which is pretty funny because we still need to put in the railing. Todd spent the evening with Violet playing and bonding and I spent the evening cutting three weeks worth of grass, they were so tuckered out from playing hard they took a nap. I pulled out the rest of her clothes to take up to her bedroom.
Today I had an appointment so Grams went with us to watch Violet while I was busy and she was a trooper. I did bring a bowl of garbanzo beans, which she loves but doesn’t like the husks so each one she gives you the husk because she doesn’t want it in with the other beans in the bowl… too funny. We ran errands all afternoon, and she loved it, she is so mesmerized by all that goes on around her and all the sights to see. Today we learned “kiss on the lips” so now we can blow kisses and give kisses on the lips. She is so cute. We have been slowly meeting all the neighbors and they all fall in love when she giggles and blows kisses.
We ran errands today while Todd put in the base molding behind the barrister so all the books could be moved back out of the dining room. Violet is always very interested in playing with the 14 piles of books that need to go back upstairs and we are tired of trying to distract her from that area of the house. 
We are still working on Mama and Dada. Those are her only English words so far but everything is still Mama (food, toys, etc.) so we are now learning that there is only one Mama. We found a basket for her toys and she wanted to be a toy! Grams and Gramps gave her a mini radio flyer wagon that she puts her baby dolls in and pulls around. A big hit because it is just her size!
After sleeping in and a leisurely breakfast Violet and I started on laundry which she helped by sitting in the basket and collecting the dirty laundry, she also helped by putting the clean clothes I give her into the dryer. Todd spent the day following us around putting up safety latches, outlet covers and baby gates that we didn’t get to before we left. We went thru 3 weeks of mail and found out Violet loves junk mail we had her going back and forth between the two of us all afternoon. I’d give her a piece of junk mail to give to daddy and he’d give her a rag to give to mama, it was too cute. She got to meet Grams and Gramps and even blew kisses and gave them high-fives.
We left the hotel at 6 am to make our first flight of the day… a four and a half hour flight to Tokyo. Five minutes into the flight she fell asleep and we watched two movies, thinking “our child is a dream, this is a piece of cake!”. We then had a four hour layover in Tokyo. She spent it running back and forth between us, either playing with her stacking cups or Todd giving her ‘trot trot to Boston’ while trying to check email. She was a real trooper. We were thinking that the next 12 hour flight shouldn’t be so bad. 
Once we got on she was wide awake and did ok as long as she was in my lap, so trying to put her to sleep on the seats between us was five minutes of crying. Needless to say she got lots of sleep on my lap and when we got home I was exhausted. Luke/Stocky and Clara were our “pick-up crew” as everyone else was out of state. Violet got her first ride in a car seat but with the smoothness of the Explorer and the driver she wasn’t car sick! Good News! Clara painted two signs, one at my parent’s house and one at ours, how awesome! 
We went to the waterfront and took the Star Ferry to Hong Kong, Violet did great on her first boat ride, she had a wonderful time playing with the seats on the boat. The back of the seat would flip from back to front depending on which way the boat was going and she enjoyed moving the back of the seat, back and forth. After walking around Hong Kong for a while we took the Peak Tramway, a funicular railway, from the Central district on the island to Victoria Peak. Once we arrived at the peak we had to take escalators up seven flights to the observation deck. It was a spectacular view of both Hong Kong and Kowloon. On the way down Violet thought it was great because the escalators are the perfect height for a seat so we would start on the next one and she would sit and swing her legs, completely content with life! 
It was built in 1994 to transport workers from the residential area to the business center. It is 800m long and climbs a total of 135m. At some points it is three stories above ground so it provided great views of the city below. After wandering around the rest of the afternoon we took the ferry back to Kowloon and headed to Kowloon Park to check out all the statues. Since it was a long day Violet sat and took a rest, I think that look says “listen you two, I’m tired so I’m taking a break.” What a cutie-pie. We finished off the even in the swimming pool, which had a wonderful view of the harbor.
We took the train to Kowloon which is just across Victoria Harbour from Hong Kong Island. Violet had a great time playing with the trash/vomit bag, she found out it made a great hat! We had a great time, she was busy busy busy for the whole two hours… we couldn’t imagine a 24 hour flight! She is so active! We took the shuttle 10 minutes down to the waterfront to walk around. We would have walked because the waterfront was close to the hotel but trying to cross over numerous expressways made the task much more difficult it wasn’t very pedestrian friendly.
We went thru the Avenue of the Stars, their version of Hollywood Boulevard with the handprints in the pavement, and were surprised at how many we knew. Later we watched the light show. At 8pm each night the buildings on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon participate in a light show for 20 minutes. It's all set to music that can be heard over the harbor speakers.
Well, once we got to Hong Kong it was too difficult to blog and when we got home the spaghetti hit the fan. I’ve now downloaded the photos and can catch everyone up…
It was nice but not what I had created in my mind. Afterward we took photos on the “Red Couch” which is a MAJOR tradition of Chinese adoptions. It was like a comedy routine! So, we have Deb and Steve with their two well behaved children that are calm and nothing like our wild child, I was having images of Violet not sitting still and Deb’s two girls looking at us like is she ever going to sit so we can take the photo. Poor Chloe didn’t want to take the photo and was going thru all sorts of antics trying to get off the couch and Violet is looking on like this was all for her entertainment. We did get a photo of just Violet as well as us three on the couch. Kids will keep you guessing every time! 
From there we took a group photo in the play room and were off to the US Consulate for her swearing in ceremony which was as uneventful as we had heard. We went thru security, waited in a room for about 40 other families to all arrive, finally a lady steps up and spends about two minutes congratulating us and telling us what paperwork we are about to receive, we all stand up and repeat after her on behalf of our child, they pass out more paperwork and it was over. 
There are two major events, both unable to be photographed, our swearing her in today and when they stamp her Chinese passport as she comes thru customs into the US when she actually becomes a US citizen, this one was pretty anticlimactic. After that it was pretty much going back to pack to leave the next morning.
We had to hang out at the hotel this morning because Judy, our guide, was at our first US Embassy appointment. No news was good news so we were able to go out in the afternoon to walk the mall, a pedestrian road full of shops. We brought along a plentiful supply of Cheerios, the magic food for children. 
Later we took a photo with the Beijing crew on the Holiday Inn red couch. Then it was one more trip to play at the outdoor gym on Sha Mian Island before one last dinner at Lucy’s. It was so hot that we took a dip in the pool before bedtime. Only 4 more days and we’ll be home. We love China but are ready for our own home!
