Great Wall

Ni hao! 

I don't remember where I was when my connection died last night. There was a problem with the VPN, but that is fixed now, thanks to a techie adoptive dad down the hall.  Thanks, Jim!

We have discovered that Caleb is quite the talker.  (Surely I mentioned this in my last post, though I barely remember what I was even writing at 2AM.)  According to our guide, he has a vocabulary far exceeding his age.  For some reason, this did not really surprise me.  In my mind I had prepared myself for him to be very intelligent.  Something about his information saying he "likes to lead the other children like an older brother" tipped me off, I suppose.

At breakfast he had an animated conversation with our guide.  She is a delightful young lady of about 30 years of age.  Later I will tell you more about her, but for now, I'll just say that she likes to talk as much as Caleb does, so they have a great time.  She repeats back to us what he is saying and it takes some effort on our part to keep up with all of it.

Anyway, back to breakfast.  Caleb inquired about the meaning of the "No Smoking" sign which was on the wall behind the guide.  She asked him if his foster father smoked.  He said, "No, he doesn't smoke or drink.  He only eats meals.  Smoke is bad for you and chokes other people.  But he did light firecrackers for me!! That smoke is suffocating!"

!!!

Later, on the way to the Great Wall, he chattered away constantly, asking questions about everything that went past the window.  I got some cute video of that.

The Great Wall of China was designed to keep out the invading Huns, as we all know.  It was also designed to keep five-year-olds at bay.  We tried to climb a little ways with Caleb, but it was truly impossible, with the rise on many steps being 8-12 inches and not even a foot's length deep.  So we stopped at the first little resting spot while Tom, always the trooper, continued on a little ways.  We were on our own, with no guide for the climbing, so I kept Caleb behind and tried to keep him from killing himself on the steps while Tom went up and back.  Caleb likes to know where we are at all times, and so he was not super happy about Tom leaving us.  "BABA!!!"  he called and then proceeded to try and follow him.  It was all I could do to keep hold of him by the jacket while he attempted to scale the steps to rescue his dad.

Caleb is testing us a little today.  Not surprising.  He needs to know where his limits are.  He'll find out soon enough.  I think he is beginning to get overtired and probably frustrated at our inability to communicate with him much.  I imagine at some point he'll have a good, hard cry and get some of the frustration out.  For now, though, we're good.

OK, pictures from today.  Click on these to enlarge and see them in all their massiveness....

Packing his things to take in the van.  He is very particular about keeping up with his stuff.

Climbing the Wall with Baba.

Sitting on the wall with Mama!

Caleb and MuShu

Family pic at the Wall.

The last one is a special gift to my China traveling friends.  (Just in case you're missing a certain essential part of the China experience right about now.)

The Squatty Potty

Love,