This in the first of the blog entries we could not post while our computer was blocked in Beijing
August 15th, 2011
This morning we got up early and headed out to have Elspeth’s immigration medical done. Our guide took us to the exact same clinic where Katrine’s was done 6 years ago. It went well over all. We discovered that little Elspeth has actually grown since June and has reached the height of 80 cm which puts her in about the 10th percentile for her height. She also has an upper respiratory infection which explains her cough but is viral so nothing to do but wait it out. The biggest surprise (not) was that she is horribly underweight. She is not even on the growth charts which begin at the 3rd percentile. We figure that she is actually around the 1st percentile for weight and we might even be being a bit generous there. Can you guess the medical advice? Feed her more protein. So, being dutiful parents, we went for dumplings last night and fed her two whole dumplings and the meat filling from another 6.
With the medical done, the last part of our adoption journey is done aside from waiting for her immigration papers to be picked up so that we can come home and then have them processed at Pearson. Now we fill the time with sightseeing.
Katrine had a very long morning of waiting so Glenn and I had planned something special for her. Our idea was that while Elspeth had her afternoon nap, Katrine and I would get a cab and go ice skating. She loves to skate and how cool to be able to say that she had skated in China. Went to the front desk and asked them to write out the name of the ice rink we’d found online in characters for the cabbie. Well, they did write something and the cabby took us somewhere but the ice rink no where to be seen. Maybe we just weren’t looking in the right place, let’s have lunch and then we will keep looking. I mean, how hard can it be to find an ice rink if we are at the right place (the ad online said that it was big).
Katrine chooses a Chinese fastfood restaurant and we ordered fried rice that turns out to be bacon pizza flavour. Yes, you read that right. It was rice, bacon, pizza sauce and cheese all mixed together. It actually was quite tasty. Now, we are back on the search….nothing….go to information and draw a picture of skating….get weird look…keep going…show new person picture while pantomiming skating…they ask a friend who shakes her head…keep going…repeat pattern about four more times. We give up because we’ve found Starbucks, Gap, the movie theatre (would’ve taken her but the Smurf movie was in English so what was the point) and sit down on some steps that look like piano keys to enjoy a popsicle. It was the most expensive way to get a lunch and popsicle. When we got back to the hotel Glenn made it up to her by taking her and Elspeth swimming. I was the official photographer so I got to stay dry.
After our dumpling dinner we tried to walk to Tiannamen Square but we got distracted before we arrived by a very loud insect that we are calling “Bird Cricket” on account of the fact that we debated whether it was a bird or cricket. In the process of investigating the sound we discovered a lovely little parklet beside a small river. At one end of the river there was an ancient lock originating from the Ming or Ching dynasties. It consisted of a heavy wooden beam with a iron dragon’s head on either side. Not sure how it worked but it was nice to look at.
I am going to share some sad news now. Two pieces really. As you may have guessed by our lack of updates, our computer was deemed “not compatible with the internet in Beijing” today by the hotel. They wanted to reformat the whole of Glenn’s computer which was not happening so we are posting these updates once we’ve got home. The second piece is of a personal nature. By the time you read this we will be home and telling Katrine so it is now safe to tell you all. My grandmother in Scotland passed away the previous Wednesday. Her funeral was last Thursday. I am heart broken that we will not be able to attend her funeral but it can’t be helped. Babies always arrive on their own schedule and adoption is no different. Grandma would’ve understood but it is hard not to be there to say goodbye. If you are wondering why my parents are not here to welcome us home it is because they really needed to be there. They won’t be meeting Elspeth until the beginning of September when they come home. That is how life unfolds and it can’t be helped so just send some extra hugs our way.