Alison's Birthday

Saturday was Alison's birthday, and we spent it in the metropolis of Shijiazhuang. We started the day off with everyone able to function and get out of bed, which is already better than we were on Friday. We have not run into any morning extreme blood sugar low's since that first morning with Bo, as we are now able to monitor his food intake and shots much more than we were able to on gotcha day.

Saturday was originally scheduled as a free-day, but was rotated with Sunday for one reason or other, and we got a trip to the mountains instead of a museum excursion (which the 3 children would have hated). These mountains held a portion of what was once the Great Wall (which Alison and I had previously done), and looked like a heckuva long climb (especially when carrying a 41-pound child) - so we opted to take the Gondola to the top. Safe isn't a word that I would use to describe the gondolas, as our return trip was filled to the brim with passengers and many of the drop-off points didn't have sufficient barricades. Other than that the views were outstanding and Bo was overall OK during this trip. Bo let us know when he was ready to go by explaining that he wanted to eat noodles. We hoped that he would actually walk a bit during this excursion, but he was primarily held (Michael even lent a hand during a particularly steep portion of the trail on our return trip).

We returned back to the room and Bo got his noodles while Alison was able to catch some much needed zzzz's. Bo and I stayed entertained during this by playing with Lego's and watching Pokemon (much less violent than Ultraman). After about an hour and a half, Bo decided that it was time to go outside and made it his mission to wake up Alison and hit the road, IMMEDIATELY. Inevitably, he threw a tantrum because neither Alison nor I were prepared to go outside when he was ready. We did end up going outside, but not before he stopped his crying, etc. We ended up going to a grocery store down the street that had a sign at the top of the building which says 'Aquarium' on it. After negotiating a bit with the girl at the bottom of the stairs, we were allowed to enter and we walked around looking at all of the fish that they had for sale. We did not find any clown fish (like Nemo), but did find a turtle and a few cool looking fish - so mission was accomplished. We did pick up a few knick knacks that have a local theme that can be placed in Bo's aquarium or fish tank should we go that route.

We scheduled with the Smith family for one of us to run errands and grab dinner to bring back for everyone, and that worked out well. We were unable to find a component for the Nintendo DS that both families need, and I was unsuccessful in finding a place to get film developed, but we came back in the nick of time as Bo was very worried about when he would be eating (the sun was setting, etc). I suppose I am lucky that Alison (who Bo has accepted as his caregiver) was here with him to deal with that rather than myself, as he threw a tantrum with me for about 45 minutes a few days prior when we had a similar circumstance.

Last night was relatively easy as I gave him his bath and Alison was able to get to sleep a bit earlier than us as Bo and I watched Nemo together than fell asleep.

Overall it was a good day of much-needed bonding for myself and Bo, and Alison had a few opportunities for some needed rest.

I fly back to the states tomorrow. I am not looking forward to leaving Alison alone with Bo, as I know that he can be trying and he has a habit of pulling on people (which is really bothering Alison with her hand problems).

Today I would like to find a kite if possible and go out to the park with Bo (hopefully one small enough that we can travel with), or a nerf ball to toss around. Alison and I have also discussed possibly going to the hotel pool once again in an attempt to coax Bo in (maybe not yet, but another time on the trip possibly).

Ryan