Adjusting back to life in Vancouver...

We are adjusting to life back in Vancouver.  Some things are falling into place easily and others are taking a little bit of time.

Xiao Yu continues to eat well and is being exposed to a lot of new foods that he has never had, we are sure.  For breakfast one day, besides his scrambled eggs, he had Tillamook cheddar cheese for the first time.  He approves.  Even though drinking milk is more and more common in China, most people in China don't eat cheese.

Xiao Yu also had a cupcake with frosting on top.  This was one of the cupcakes left for us by our friends.  He ate all the frosting first and then some of the cake part.  We weren't sure if he was going to like it because his paperwork said that he does not like sweet things.  But it also said that he drank formula and that turned out to not be true either.

From our kitchen, Xiao Yu kept looking at our backyard and so we took him out when the rain stopped.  He loves the swing and really enjoyed it in our little swing in the back.  This has more of a bucket seat so it's easier for him to stay on.

Although he doesn't say that many words yet (that we can identify), he catches on quick.  When Gabey was having a midnight snack, he wanted to get in on the action.  So he went right to the silverware drawer to grab a spoon for himself.  He's pretty good at communicating what he wants...

And for some reason, he has an obsession with shoes.  He always wants to have shoes on.  Here, he found Eliana's purple shoes and put them on, even though they are 5 sizes too big.  

The girls are adjusting well.  They fell right back into life at home, with their books to read and toys to play with.  Two of the three animals Karina put on her stroller she acquired in China.  When Daddy asked what her favorite part of China was, she said: "Buying so many things!"  

Eliana continues to be a good big sister with him.  She is extremely patient with him and is willing to play little games at his level just to keep him entertained.  As a result of spending time in China, she also has started using some short phrases in Chinese to communicate with Xiao Yu.

Gabriel, on the other hand, has had the hardest time.  Since they are so close in age, Gabriel and Xiao Yu compete for many of the same toys and also compete for their parent's attention.  Now, Gabriel will purposely snatch a toy away from Xiao Yu in order to instigate a bite from Xiao Yu, at which point Xiao Yu gets in trouble--which is Gabriel's ultimate purpose.  We are having to discipline both of them heavily at this point and we hope that the coming days or weeks, this struggle will be a passing memory.

As far as jet lag...on the first night home, everyone was so exhausted that all went to bed and slept through the night.  The 2nd night, however, Eliana and Karina woke up at 1:30am and declared: "We're not tired anymore!  We are hungry and we want breakfast!"  Elvin got up with them, fed them a little, they watched a video and then went back to bed with the help of Benadryl.  Gabriel has been waking up at night several times but going back to sleep immediately and Xiao Yu, too.  We have heard that the little ones will often adjust the quickest to the time change.  

Here are the three "big" kids having a "sleepover" with the sleeping bags on the floor last night.  They lay their heads down and in about 2 minutes all three were snoring.

Elvin has this entire week off and this coming Monday will start work part-time.  "Normal" life will start back up again soon as tomorrow Karina has preschool at 9am and later Eliana has her piano lessons, etc.   Hopefully, we'll all start sleeping at night, and being functional during the day!