Sunday, October 19, 2008

The restaurant, which opens at 5:00 a.m., wasn't open today when we showed up for breakfast, so we went back to our room and watched a movie, then returned at 6:30.  It was much busier than when we normally eat, but the delay meant we got to meet a very nice lady from Kansas who was adopting her third Chinese child, this one a son, and her first Beijing adoption.  She will be here through the 28th, so we may not be alone after all. 

The morning was boring, but the day got better.  LB took Aidan to the garden but he wouldn't behave, so she brought him back and we played with his balloon.  He would go into a runner's crouch, I'd say ready-set-go! and he'd be off like a little rocket, running and then jumping to grab the balloon string.  We broke for a room service lunch, then played and danced.  He taught me the words to a song he frequently sings.  We went next door to play with our travel mate's daughter, and then I was going to go to McD's for supper but he got very upset at the idea of my going without him so I threw pants and a coat on over his pjs and he came along.  He skips everywhere we go.

After supper he learned to say the English numbers one through four.  He was so proud of himself that he did it again, and again, and again.  He would also clap his hands after doing it.  LB took him next door to show off his new talent and they cheered for him as well.

Random garden photos.  LB goes there daily to do her school work and get our of the room.  It is a really beautiful Japanese garden-we are in a Japanese hotel-but like all of the beautiful gardens of Beijing, there is a layer of dirt much like Mount St. Helens ash after the eruption, covering everything (pollution).  It really is too bad, because the city is beautifully landscaped in the common areas and everything is still in bloom, unlike home.

---