han-han eats ice

On certain days, I question the relative value of having come early to Taiwan...those days are the ones when flights have to be changed AGAIN because we have no final dates yet...visa, passport, change fees, space available?, and any other number of questions. Most days, I have been SO grateful we could do things this way, see the country, get to know people and culture and hopefully appreciate a little more where our little guys come from. No news on final ruling yet, passports are supposed to be done by today, medical next, but no indication of dates we'll be done.

(above, caregiver and her daughter with Han-han) Our visit with Han-han yesterday was just great. He's learning little bits of English: "more" for when we play airplane and fly him through the air. Because it was pouring rain, we didn't go to the park but hung around his house. We did a routine of pretending to go to sleep, then ride on my back to the living room, say hi to everyone, go back to the room, lock the door, hop off back, arrange blankets and then start it all over again...for at least 30 minutes.

We took him out to dinner--I think they must eat out a lot because I haven't seen much use of the kitchen. So Sam, Han-han and I set out for the food court. We passed by a decent looking pizza place and decided to stop there. The minute we sat down, I realized my brain had completely checked out. I was in a restaurant with a non-english speaking child with absolutely NO toys, books, etc to keep him busy.

Lucky for us (or unlucky as the case may be) we were right beside a "digital" mall with phones and computers to play games etc and those machines where you try to claw a stuffed animal out. Passed the time that way til the pizza was ready. He was perfectly happy with the pizza, trying to cut it with a knife and fork and holding it upside down, eating the crust end first.

Even better was eating ice. Pretty much nothing is served with ice (maybe some teas, which we generally don't get), so he used the fork to scoop out individual pieces of ice. It was like watching our Congolese friends see snow for the first time...pure entertainment for us and wonder for him. GOTOVIDEO I videotaped him, and once he had seen himself onscreen, he wanted to be recorded again and again, hamming it up more and more each time. A great night!!