Amelia, Mitch & Zen - our fifth day as parents

Well, it's now Friday Oct 17th. Tomorrow we fly to Beijing. It's been such a busy and wonderful time. We've been getting to know Zen and I've come to the conclusion (for now) that this is a very good name for him.


He's not fussy, poops regularly, eats voraciously, is extremely cooperative, is very smart, very beautiful and loves to cuddle. He did get into a tussle with Mitch over the container of cheerios and burst into tears when Mitch won the battle -- boys will be boys.

I was at first a little concerned that maybe he wouldn't bond to Mitch very quickly but it's okay now. On Wednesday, when Mitch went to the gym and said Goodbye at the door, Zen burst into tears and ran to the door. No bonding issue there.

Yesterday, while he was laying down for his afternoon nap, he couldn't sleep and was babbling to himself for 45 minutes. After a while, he kept saying MaMa MaMa --- that's something he never said before. In his bio, they said he could only say Da Da. It was so sweet and, of course, I had to pick him up and let him out of the crib then.

We had a get-together in our suite with two other American families and their newly adopted daughters and sons. Zen was very shy and serious. He doesn't indulge in the destructo play that the other children enjoy (hitting balloons, throw toys, knocking down blocks). He likes to build things up and put the pieces back into his puzzle toy. It was so funny to see how differently he played from the other children. When we all ended up sitting on the floor in the livingroom in a circle, Zen stayed outside of the circle. Mitch and I dragged him in and he immediately started backing out of the circle on his bum until his back reached a wall.

He's just a sweet, funny little guy. We've managed to find his a couple of things to make him laugh but he is generally serious.

Well, we fly to Beijing tomorrow where we'll rejoin the Canadian group. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and their new daughters -- and maybe we'll get to post some pictures.