The last day in China went well. We swam and hung around the hotel, and ate one last meal at our favorite noodle shop. Then got all packed up and headed to the airport. Jay is so tiny, I forget that he's old enough to understand what's going on. As we waited for our ride to the airport, he became really thoughtful and sad. It made me realize what a HUGE change in coming to his life. While we all were counting down the days to get home, flying home means leaving everything he knows - his friends, his food, his language,... I don't know how much of this he understood, but he was definitely a somber little guy on the way to the airport.
The flights went way better than I expected. Our flight from Guangzhou to LA was delayed an hour so we were waiting in the airport until about 10pm and then boarded and Jay went right to sleep (well, he insisted on stripping down to his undies and sleeping like that, luckily he let me snuggle him up in a blanket!). He slept for 10 hours straight on that first flight! He woke up, got dressed, ate some breakfast, and watched movies for the last 3 hours. Since our first flight was delayed, we had to run (literally run) to get our bags, go through customs (and complete the last steps to make Jay an AMERICAN CITIZEN!!), recheck our bags, and then the last step was that I had to go to a Special Services desk to get Jay's boarding pass printed -- We all had ours ahead of time, but they couldn't print his until we were through customs with him. When I got to the desk, the man told me it was too close to departure time and we couldn't check him in - we'd missed the flight! As I teared up (seriously, we'd be traveling 18 hours by now!) he said, "Wait! It just printed!" He said he'd never seen the system allow him to print a boarding pass with just a few minutes to take off before but he said, "I'm not gonna question it, just RUN!" So we all ran up to security, met a really nice China Southern flight attendant who pushed us up to the front of security, they pushed us right through. Then they said we could only cut in front of people if they said it was OK, so we begged each person to let us cut. We got up to about 3rd in line before the NOs started. We made it through security and literally ran full speed to the gate. As we run up, they were calling last call for "Bakers! Beekmans!" We made it!! Jumped on the plane, sweaty and adrenaline filled and Jay went right back to sleep for 3 of the 4 hour flight. We were so happy to land in Cincinnati!
As we pulled up to our house, we were amazed.... Our friends had decorated our yard with balloons, Welcome Home posters, our house was painted, landscaped, and our pantry and refrigerator were stocked! We have such amazing friends!! What a perfect homecoming!
So, the Home Sweet Home feeling was definitely how Audrey, Sam and I felt. Jay, on the other hand, is having a tough time the past two days. While in China he was happy all the time, temper tantrums and meltdowns have started at home. I just think of how we felt in China and think he must feel that 100 times worse. He has NO ONE that understands him now, all the food is different, all the sounds and smells are different, he doesn't know the routine... He has some really good moments but then completely meltdowns down for hours. His meltdowns are so sad - he cries, screams, yells in Chinese, hits himself, scratches himself, bangs his forehead in the wall,... And, he accepts no comfort from me or the kids. We've just been sitting with him and letting him get it all out until he's worn out. The first day was the hardest, yesterday each meltdown was about 1/2 the time as the day before. Hopefully we're on track, and they'll be even less today. As he learns the language and learns the routine, I know the happy little guy from China will be back. I just wish I could help him. Here are some good moments from the past few days... He loves building things with Sam.
We went on a neighborhood walk with a bunch of friends. He let Audrey carry him for awhile and then we borrowed a stroller for the rest of the walk!
He LOVES Gisele! He's been following her around everywhere. Rocco hasn't come home yet, but I know if he's good with Gisele, he'll love little Rocco. He's a natural dog lover - fits right in!
