Day 2 - On the upswing :-) Food is really the way to a boy’s heart.

  Day 2 -  On the upswing J  Food is really the way to a boy’s heart.

Evan woke up after me this morning and I stretched my arms out to offer a hug.  He came over to me and hugged me, and then climbed back into bed to watch some cartoons.  After a while, we went to the breakfast buffet.  Let me tell you, the Chinese economy is going to collapse if I don’t leave China with this child soon!  I am sure could at least bankrupt this hotel with his eating.   We stayed for over an hour and he never-stopped-eating.  At one point, he picked up a plate with crumbs and held it up to his open mouth and used a fork to scrape every miniscule morsel down the hatch!  Anita and I gazed on in amazement. 

Our official business today was going back to the Civil Affairs Office to finalize the paperwork.  Evan was not very well behaved, I’m afraid.  I smiled like the proud parent I am and kept it moving.  LOL.   Once we left there, things got better for the rest of the day.  I asked our driver to swing by Walmart and I picked up some crayons and a toy action figure.  Evan was delighted – he loves to draw.  I tried to show Evan his name printed in alphabet letters, and show him the finger-spelling sign for each letter.  When we were done, I pointed at the name and said, “This is you!” and I pointed at him.  Evan then took a pencil and wrote his Chinese name in Chinese characters, emphatically drew a box around it, and then pointed to the characters and then himself.  Quite smart. 

We mostly relaxed today and tried to get used to each other.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures. This evening, we went to a local Chinese restaurant.  The meals came out so sizzling hot that the waiter stood holding a napkin in front of you to guard you from splatter for a few minutes when he uncovered it.  It was another interesting experience. 

All in all, today was much better than yesterday.  Evan is strong willed, but our communication is improving.  I am showing him signs for things as we go – teaching myself and him at the same time.  Ben and I took sign language at Armstrong with our terrific instructor Barbara, but it doesn’t really stick until you definitely need it.  Well, it’s time for me to get some sleep – we have to hit that buffet early!  I promise more pictures tomorrow.