kids. The routine has been for me to read with Kiyomi while Tamara
lies with Ren until Ren falls asleep, and then Tamara gets up and
blogs. Tonight, Ren wasn't quite ready for sleep, which meant that he
was making all sorts of silly noises, which had Kiyomi laughing in
fits, which encouraged Ren to make more silly noises, which caused us
to tell Kiyomi to try not to laugh, which had poor Kiyomi trying (and
failing) to keep her guffaws in, which had her making even funnier
noises, which caused Ren to... well you get the idea. Bottom line,
the kids vanquished Tamara, and I think she's out for the count.
Well, the super exciting excursion today was 3 hours at the SOS
International medical clinic to get the immigration physicals done.
Ren came out A-OK with no real issues. He endured the blue-sweater
removal and shoe removal with aplomb, and didn't seem to mind the
poking and prodding too much. The most important news for us is that
the hole in his heart seems to be shrinking - Dr. Chen, the Canadian
doc at the clinic who examined Ren told us that if she had not been
told by us in advance, she may not even have noticed the murmur
through her stethoscope. Obviously we won't know the full extent of
the issue until we get the full battery of tests done when we're back
home, but for now anyhow, it all looks good. Certainly any heart
issue isn't slowing him down any!
Given the drudgery of the SOS clinic experience, we were relieved to
have had Kiyomi spending the day with Obaachan and Ojiichan, who took
her to a local park, and then to a Japanese fast-food place for lunch
where she duly impressed her grandparents with her gorging abilities.
After Ren's nap, we decided to see how a family swim might go. Tamara
and I had been alternately taking Kiyomi swimming during Ren's naps
(with Kiyomi suprising us with how quickly she's advancing - front
crawling for short distances now with no floatation devices!). With
Ren's reluctance to remove his clothes, we thought that he would be
not so happy with the swimming experience. However, emboldened by the
bathtime success of last night, we took Ren down to the pool. At
first he just looked stunned, and refused to take off his shoes. So
he stood next to the water in his bathing suit and his shoes, watching
Kiyomi and I swimming about. After Tamara jumped in and coaxed him
in, he took to it like a pro. It seemed clear that he had swum
before, with tons of giggles, and even dipping his face in the water
voluntarily. All in all, it was a good family event.
As another indication of last night's bathtime success, at one point
this afternoon Ren grabbed a bunch of his cars, ran to the bathroom,
threw the cars into the empty tub and then proceeded to climb in,
shoes and all, and play with the cars.
Tonight, we indulged in a little western comfort food and had Pizza
Hut delivered. It was a bit of an ordeal to get the help of the folks
at reception to order the food for us, but once it arrived, we were
happy.
All in all, Kiyomi and Ren are learning their respective boundaries a
little better, and Tamara and I are learning how to define those
boundaries for them better. There are much fewer tussles, and a
little bit more interactive play between them. Kiyomi is still Ren's
favourite toy, and Kiyomi is starting to take on her big-sister role
with pride.
Tomorrow we're off to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace and one
more place whose name slips my mind. The last time we went to
Tiananmen Square, it was blazingly hot, none of us had enough water,
the kids were wilting before our eyes, and the bus was about 45
minutes late picking us up. Hopefully things are a little more
pleasant this time around.
Goodnight from Beijing.
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