With Tyler still leery of us it was very fortunate that Nicole the founder to his charity and 3 other children were also planning to take the high speed train back to Taipei. We are staying in Taipei which is the capital and need to finalize his travel documents here. The two hour train ride was non stop action. Ty cried for a few minutes and then fell asleep. Two other children though were running up and down the train car. The coke we gave them seemed like a bad idea and proved to be as much. Don’t judge.
We got tours of 2 much larger facilities in Taipei. One of which Tyler has spent some time over the years when he needed to be in the capital. There are older kids there and lots of people working hard at providing a stable environment. A few blocks away they have a facility for adults who are very sick. I think we found our new favorite charity. This one is hitting close to home.
Because Tyler has had a cough for a few days, and even though he has already been to the doctor once this week, Nicole suggests she take us to a clinic one more time before we take him back to our hotel. He has no temp, just the cough and spit up a little food which ended up on my shorts. The doctor prescribes some oral medication and one other type. Nicole’s English is pretty good so she tells me it is to be used if he wakes up at night because of the cough. Here is what I hear her say phonetically. “You put it in his azz-ole.”
I smile and joke to Nicole that he has a cough and not hemmroids using my words and hand signals. Sara is now embarrassed of me. This is getting awkward. She is repeating “put it in the azz-ole”. In the end the pharmacist does give us some suppositories and azz-ole is exactly what it sounds like.
Nicole and her assistant Hanna bring us back to our hotel and see us into our room. Tyler seems to be comfortable so they sneak out and it’s just us. Reality time! A few minutes later Ty is crying and he is in no mood for comforting. My Ferber technique shows no sign of progress so Sara trys picking him up. The melt down lasts about 20 minutes. He and I both are both soothed by HBO (also known as Home Box if you reign from some parts of Western MA) so the day comes to a comfortable end.
Midnight…some coughing leads to crying. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s azz-ole medication time. I look at Sara and say “God bless you”. Without getting too graphic the first attempt is…ahhh… refused. Sara is successful on try number two. There is a minor celebration, no high fives though…she hadn’t washed her hands yet.
We all got a good night sleep. Today we head to AIT which is our American Institute in Taipei for Ty’s visa. Before we leave we give Tyler a big bottle of some kind of PediaSure Nicole gave us which he sucked down. Now, while I am enjoying deep fried toast at an elaborate breakfast buffet, Sara is getting reacquainted with some regurgitated PediaSure. Poor kid is clearly still not feeling well and we rushed it with the full bottle. He and Sara need to go back to the room and change their clothes. I’m able to shake off the scene and enjoy another deep fried toast. I realized at this moment I am transforming into Pepere Gladu slowly but surely.
We get to AIT and have to kill about a half hour in the waiting room. We meet another couple from Texas who are adopting two children. Around the time they are saying that they are school teachers I get a full frontal blast of the remaining PediaSure. I honestly can’t believe there was that much chunky liquid in this kid. I’m in complete denial. I don’t even move nor does Tyler. Sara takes an anxious lap around the waiting room and declares that there is no bathroom. I haven’t moved despite the fact that my shirt and shorts are covered in what is approximately 12 ounces of upchucks. I’m still just looking at myself and Tyler in disbelief. A woman in the waiting room offers me a single tissue. Offering a single tissue in this situation is something my friends Mark or Eric would do, nostrils flaring, betraying their mocking.
Someone more serious brings a trash can. I’m able to scrape the biggest portion off into the can. Sara has located a bathroom on another floor. Tyler has a spare set of clothes in our travel bag. I on the other hand am not so lucky. I decide the only sensible course of action is to wash the entire front of my shirt and shorts in the sink so it doesn’t look like I messed myself before our visa interview. This is turning into a real life National Lampoon’s Asian Vacation. They made us check our camera at the security desk so you will need to trust me that the entire front of my shirt and shorts were borderline dripping wet during our interview.
The interview went well despite my appearance and they are just waiting on a currier to bring one more document. We should be able to pick up all our documents on Tuesday.
By the time we get back to the room Tyler is feeling a little better. He is keeping down small sips of apple juice and a few crackers. Apparently while I was at the store getting a thermometer, ginger ale, and snacks Tyler and Sara were playing well and he is repeating English words again. I use the word “apparently” though because this is all hear say…they were napping when I got back.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
We made it. The travel to Taiwan was long but went relatively well. The only notable issue was an older woman sitting next to us who savored picking her nose and then rolling what she mined between her fingers until they dropped on the floor. No, I’m not kidding nor do I seek out body function humor. It just seems to find me. So, perfect traveling basically.
We made it to Tyler’s facility where there was a party for him. He looks good. They had Thai food for everyone including the kids. For those that are jumping to the conclusion that I am confusing Thai and Taiwanese food, I’m not. Just picture really spicy sauce, translucent noodles, shrimp and squid. Great taste when combined with the 90 degrees and no air conditioning. I was well lathered. Sounds like a great time to get our picture in the paper.
Surprise, here come reporters including photographers from two different news papers. Good thing I got a sexy hair cut. Did I mention that for several days some of the nannies have been showing Tyler pictures of us, telling him he is being taken to the United States? He understands only enough that this got him wound up starting yesterday and he didn’t sleep. When we showed up to the facility he wouldn’t even look at us and cried if we tried to pick him up. All the other kids were jumping into our arms. So back to press photos…I truly considered asking if it would be against their code of ethics if we used one of the non-crying kids as a stunt double strictly for the publicity shots. To summarize… sweat, crying kid, and good hair.
We are back at the hotel (which is really nice but also rumored to be haunted…more on that later) and Ty just stopped crying. He and Sara are both sleeping. If you recall from our last trip the two of them bonded over their ability to sleep often. I just finished wiping kid puke from my favorite Hollister shorts. I will fill in the story gaps tomorrow after we get some sleep. No relevant diapers to report.
We made it to Tyler’s facility where there was a party for him. He looks good. They had Thai food for everyone including the kids. For those that are jumping to the conclusion that I am confusing Thai and Taiwanese food, I’m not. Just picture really spicy sauce, translucent noodles, shrimp and squid. Great taste when combined with the 90 degrees and no air conditioning. I was well lathered. Sounds like a great time to get our picture in the paper.
Surprise, here come reporters including photographers from two different news papers. Good thing I got a sexy hair cut. Did I mention that for several days some of the nannies have been showing Tyler pictures of us, telling him he is being taken to the United States? He understands only enough that this got him wound up starting yesterday and he didn’t sleep. When we showed up to the facility he wouldn’t even look at us and cried if we tried to pick him up. All the other kids were jumping into our arms. So back to press photos…I truly considered asking if it would be against their code of ethics if we used one of the non-crying kids as a stunt double strictly for the publicity shots. To summarize… sweat, crying kid, and good hair.
We are back at the hotel (which is really nice but also rumored to be haunted…more on that later) and Ty just stopped crying. He and Sara are both sleeping. If you recall from our last trip the two of them bonded over their ability to sleep often. I just finished wiping kid puke from my favorite Hollister shorts. I will fill in the story gaps tomorrow after we get some sleep. No relevant diapers to report.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Travel Dates!
We finally have our travel dates!! We leave on September 1st and have our appointment in Taipei on Friday Sept 4th. We can't pick up his Visa until Tuesday Sept 8th so that means we'll have some time to tour around Taipei.
We'll be sure to keep the blog updated as often as we can.
We'll be sure to keep the blog updated as often as we can.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday's Web Chat
We had a Skype web chat with Tyler last night. He looks really good and seems happy. There was a nice man named Jack who was there with Tyler. He has done some work with the orphanage and has known Tyler for a while. Jack’s been in Taiwan for 55 years but was born and raised in New York.
Here’s a photo of Jack and Tyler.
Here’s a photo of Jack and Tyler.
At first Tyler was kind of confused about the whole web conference though. He couldn’t understand why we were on the computer calling his name and waving. This is about how the call went.
Maybe Mom and Dad are behind the computer…
Oh, wait, I have a very important call coming in and I have to take this…
Dad, the call must be for you…
Did I mention I got a new truck?
Eventually, because he’s two, he was done talking to us and we got a kiss goodbye. (OK, now my heart is broken…here come the tears)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Tyler in Action
No news on the adoption but we finally edited some video from the Trip. Here is a few minutes of Tyler in action.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Happy Birthday
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Final Day
We meet with Ms. Kuo, our in country adoption facilitator, one last time. She is encouraged by our situation and expects that in June we should be complete. She tells us it will be a 100 degrees and very humid when we come back. Awesome! Every time we see her she has a gift for us and kind words. This time she has a scarf for Sara and says it will go nice with Sara’s very white skin. I think it is a compliment but we laugh anyways.
We leave for the Science Museum which we find has motorized pandas that you can drive around for the equivalent of 50 cents. Of course Tyler picks a beat up looking one that looks like it was soaked in the rain. Inside the museum there is an entire area dedicated to small children and we are able to spend a few good hours before he starts to get tired. It is probably time to change him anyway.
So there I was carrying him toward the bathroom and I felt it. With his bum resting on my arm he lets at least one go. I imagine there are two big ones in that diaper now. He is all smiles so he and I both know what needs to be done. I casually suggest to Sara who is walking beside me that she take this one, I need to do something. She happily agrees…she’ll be a good mother. At this point a careful self examination reveals that Tyler saving all the dookies for Sara may not be completely accurate as I mentioned before. I may be helping to tip the scales…either way it is not important. Besides I ate stinky tofu last night…I don’t want a flashback.
Arriving at the hotel Ty is clearly tired but fighting it. We decide to use the stroller again but this time we walk around the property. He is sleeping in moments. This allows me time to video tape the city streets.
Half the vehicles seem to be mopeds. In Taiwan, the joke about a moped being fun to ride until a friend catches you doesn’t translate. More interesting is that fact that most people ride mopeds with little breathing masks on. In fact, even just walking around a few people wear masks. Our understanding is that it is because of the air pollution. We have noticed that most days seem smoggy. Is this what L.A. will be like in a few years?
Forget car baby seats or booster seats. In Taiwan you are more likely to see a 3 year old holding on to the back of a moped with no helmet. It is actually pretty shocking for a country that is so industrialized. It was not uncommon to see a small child hanging onto the back of a moped and another between the parent’s legs in front. Oh yeah and we saw two accidents while we were here.
It’s Valentine’s Day. We eat in the hotel restaurant for the first time. As we sit down, we see that tonight is an 8 course meal. It is a no options special for Valentine’s Day. It’s romantic. We can definitely do this with a two year old. Wine is included, a toast, Happy Valentine’s Day! Ty is hungry. He uses the international sign for hunger by smashing his spoon into his plate repeatedly. The first course has just arrived and Sara and I start to identify the situation. We agree that if we have to leave before dessert that will be fine.
The waitress brings some soupy rice for Tyler which proceeds to consume at rapid speed. He hasn’t eaten that fast all week. The second course just arrives. Even with our inexperienced parenting we know a meltdown is only about 10 minutes of idle sitting away. The crayon and paper may give us 15.
I tell the waitress we would appreciate the next courses as fast as possible, explaining we need to leave in 20 minutes or so. She nods and I think we have a good understanding of the situation. Even if she didn’t understand English she sees the kid right? What about my hand moving from back to front in circles and saying faster. This is multi-cultural I hope. Well it’s not.
The next two courses are so delicious….seriously 5 star. Oh and the romance…candle light….soft music…dimmed room and fine linins. Actually it was not romantic because these two courses were spent taking turns walking/running with Ty in the halls to keep him occupied. I mean if you love fine things in solitude and love yourself in an unnatural way maybe it was romantic but again I digress. I have not seen Tyler this happy all week. He won’t stop laughing. Our lives were too uncomplicated before. This is fine.
If you can count you know we left with 4 courses remaining. We will need to imagine how tasty they were. Half price discount doesn’t translate though. The hostess’s English was great earlier. It’s not a big deal, even a 5 star meal here only cost $60 US dollars wine included.
Unfortunately our week is coming to a close. It is time to bring Ty back to his facility. Emotionally Sara is holding up much better than expected. We say bye and get some hugs. The video camera is on so we know we are not going to get the blowing of kisses. We found that by leaving the camera on all the time in the room we got some good video though. So how do you say ok it is time to leave in a situation like this? There were several minutes of lingering after we had already said bye. It is kind of dramatic. Tyler decides how this trip will end. He closes the door in our faces. Even his rudeness makes us laugh.
We get back to the hotel and there is no little boy to reach up and press the elevator down button even though we want to go up.
We leave for the Science Museum which we find has motorized pandas that you can drive around for the equivalent of 50 cents. Of course Tyler picks a beat up looking one that looks like it was soaked in the rain. Inside the museum there is an entire area dedicated to small children and we are able to spend a few good hours before he starts to get tired. It is probably time to change him anyway.
So there I was carrying him toward the bathroom and I felt it. With his bum resting on my arm he lets at least one go. I imagine there are two big ones in that diaper now. He is all smiles so he and I both know what needs to be done. I casually suggest to Sara who is walking beside me that she take this one, I need to do something. She happily agrees…she’ll be a good mother. At this point a careful self examination reveals that Tyler saving all the dookies for Sara may not be completely accurate as I mentioned before. I may be helping to tip the scales…either way it is not important. Besides I ate stinky tofu last night…I don’t want a flashback.
Arriving at the hotel Ty is clearly tired but fighting it. We decide to use the stroller again but this time we walk around the property. He is sleeping in moments. This allows me time to video tape the city streets.
Half the vehicles seem to be mopeds. In Taiwan, the joke about a moped being fun to ride until a friend catches you doesn’t translate. More interesting is that fact that most people ride mopeds with little breathing masks on. In fact, even just walking around a few people wear masks. Our understanding is that it is because of the air pollution. We have noticed that most days seem smoggy. Is this what L.A. will be like in a few years?
Forget car baby seats or booster seats. In Taiwan you are more likely to see a 3 year old holding on to the back of a moped with no helmet. It is actually pretty shocking for a country that is so industrialized. It was not uncommon to see a small child hanging onto the back of a moped and another between the parent’s legs in front. Oh yeah and we saw two accidents while we were here.
It’s Valentine’s Day. We eat in the hotel restaurant for the first time. As we sit down, we see that tonight is an 8 course meal. It is a no options special for Valentine’s Day. It’s romantic. We can definitely do this with a two year old. Wine is included, a toast, Happy Valentine’s Day! Ty is hungry. He uses the international sign for hunger by smashing his spoon into his plate repeatedly. The first course has just arrived and Sara and I start to identify the situation. We agree that if we have to leave before dessert that will be fine.
The waitress brings some soupy rice for Tyler which proceeds to consume at rapid speed. He hasn’t eaten that fast all week. The second course just arrives. Even with our inexperienced parenting we know a meltdown is only about 10 minutes of idle sitting away. The crayon and paper may give us 15.
I tell the waitress we would appreciate the next courses as fast as possible, explaining we need to leave in 20 minutes or so. She nods and I think we have a good understanding of the situation. Even if she didn’t understand English she sees the kid right? What about my hand moving from back to front in circles and saying faster. This is multi-cultural I hope. Well it’s not.
The next two courses are so delicious….seriously 5 star. Oh and the romance…candle light….soft music…dimmed room and fine linins. Actually it was not romantic because these two courses were spent taking turns walking/running with Ty in the halls to keep him occupied. I mean if you love fine things in solitude and love yourself in an unnatural way maybe it was romantic but again I digress. I have not seen Tyler this happy all week. He won’t stop laughing. Our lives were too uncomplicated before. This is fine.
If you can count you know we left with 4 courses remaining. We will need to imagine how tasty they were. Half price discount doesn’t translate though. The hostess’s English was great earlier. It’s not a big deal, even a 5 star meal here only cost $60 US dollars wine included.
Unfortunately our week is coming to a close. It is time to bring Ty back to his facility. Emotionally Sara is holding up much better than expected. We say bye and get some hugs. The video camera is on so we know we are not going to get the blowing of kisses. We found that by leaving the camera on all the time in the room we got some good video though. So how do you say ok it is time to leave in a situation like this? There were several minutes of lingering after we had already said bye. It is kind of dramatic. Tyler decides how this trip will end. He closes the door in our faces. Even his rudeness makes us laugh.
We get back to the hotel and there is no little boy to reach up and press the elevator down button even though we want to go up.
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