Forbidden City

Today we visited the Forbidden City. Wow. There isn’t much I can say that can adequately describe what it is like to walk through such an unbelievable place of history. It was amazing. The colors, the details, the architecture…everything about it just took our breath away. We weren’t able to stay as long as we would have liked because it was so bitterly cold and we didn’t want to keep Pudding out in the terrible wind. I am just thrilled that we were able to go and visit and show Pudding such a vital piece of his history. I do think he will appreciate seeing these photos of himself at such significant cultural landmarks when he is older.

Today he started showing us so much more of his personality. We are getting unprompted kisses from him…completely melts our hearts. We have gotten the first big belly laughs; he thinks it is hilarious to knock down the tower of blocks before we can even finish building them. He is such a rascal – we’ve discovered he likes to throw things in the trashcan and toilet, things like the remote control and important papers. I think he is going to keep me on my toes when we get home. Many of you have commented on how much he smiles. He is the happiest kid on earth. He wakes up with a smile on his face and it stays there all day. His smile lights up his whole face and brings a little twinkle to his eyes. He is such a flirt too. Everywhere we go, all the woman surround him and take turns holding him. He loves the attention.

As for his relationship with us, he definitely looks to Stu as the nurturer and me as more of a playmate. He wants Stu to carry him all day and is always willing to cuddle up in his arms. When he is in the mood to play, he brings me his toys with a big smile on his face. I think that this is because Stu is the one who feeds him (since he is much better with chopsticks than I am), but it’s such a reversal from our roles with Chipmunk, Monkey and HD. Whatever the reason, I think bonding is going great.



Time for bed now… if we can sleep through the fireworks. Evidently today is the Red Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the Spring Festival here. Fireworks started at about 6:45 and have been going all.day.long. Not sure how long they are going to last but I don’t think it will affect our sleep at all. Jet lag is hitting Stu and me hard and by early afternoon we are struggling to stay awake. Hopefully Pudding will go down soon so we can all get a good night’s sleep.