Another Santa Sighting

Here's a video of our encounter with Santa this morning at the coffeeshop. Listen for the twins' Christmas wishes - I guess we can cancel the trip to Toys R Us.

- the traditional chocolate yule log for breakfast

- Zoë's bathtime



- Kate has decided that we don't have enough on our plate this winter, so we're going to build a little backyard rink (assuming winter eventually arrives). So yesterday, we got the kids some skates and we practised walking around in the living room. It's always good to have some early footage that we can share with Ron Maclean when he's doing an Olympic feature on one of the kids in 2026.

- Thankfully there's no photo evidence, but I ran the first of our local Snowflake Series of road races today. A bit of a misnomer as there was no chance of flurries. I took advantage of the good weather to improve my time over last year by more than a minute and a half. Kate looked after the brood so she didn't run this time.

Christmas Season

When you have two year-olds, the cynical "I can't believe how early the Christmas decorations are out this year" stuff just doesn't fly. On Friday night we took the kids on the candlelight parade to light the Christmas lights in the middle of town.

The lights are lit by Father Christmas, not by a Coca-Cola-esque Santa Claus. So, I tried to explain to the twins why he wasn't dressed in red or saying ho-ho-ho and why he was carrying a staff.

Jacob was excited by the whole event. He loved the candles, the hot chocolate, the parade, the crowd, the lights, Father Christmas, and especially the brass band playing carols. He and I stayed behind because he just couldn't leave. When the crowd had dispersed and the band stopped playing, he burst into tears and wailed that he wanted "more songs". The boy does have his enthusiasms.

Actual conversation between Jacob and I:

Jacob: Christmas not today
Me: That's right.
Jacob: Christmas tomorrow.
Me: Well, it's not for awhile, but this parade is the start of the season.
Jacob: Where the snowman go?
Me: Umm, which snowman.
Jacob: (giving me the "are you really that dumb?" look) Snowman
Me: (Looking around)
Jacob: Snowman right there (pointing at Father Christmas)
Me: Right, there he is. Snowman.
Jacob: I like Snowman (looking up at me, nodding seriously).

Twins Talking

Lest anyone think that Zoë has a monopoly on fantasticnesses lately, here are some of the twins' recent bon mots:

- We've been reading Stuart Little to the twins. But Jacob calls it "Too Big Little".

- Molly refers to our new vehicle (yes, I'm driving around in a soccer-mom-mobile) as the "mini-man". Not sure if this is intended as a derisive dig at me.

- In time for the Grinch season, Jacob has created a new word - "who-body". As in, "who-body else is coming for dinner?"

- Here's Jacob trying out the exer-saucer, and Molly giving the "you mess with my brother, you mess with the whole family" look

First Solo Flight

The grandparents have all flown the coop and Kate returned to work today. So forget Amelia Earhart or Steve Fossett - the true test for a solo flight is whether you can get three kids to go down for simultaneous naps. And the fact that I'm blogging tells you that I'm basking in the glow of success right now. Not to mention that while the twins were at nursery school, I managed trips to the coffeeshop, grocery store, hardware store and photo development place (to develop the disposable cameras that we sent to the orphanage about a month before we travelled there). So, I'm feeling quite virtuous. It's all almost enough to overcome the sense of bewilderment I'm feeling at the Patriots collapse in last night's game (if Belichick can choke in the last 2 minutes of a football game, what other eternal truths can be called into question?).

Here are some of my mom's photos:
- Molly and grandpapa in their Chinese sweatshirts

- Zoë ready to eat

- opening cards and presents

- Molly and Zoë enjoying the panda puppet

- Zoë and her mama

- Scott and Julia's party for Zoë started at 10:30am - grandpapa teaches the twins a valuable lesson that it's never too early for that first beer

- Zoë watching Sarah at her first party

- sporting her new boots

- reading Peter Rabbit. No such thing as quiet reading time with these three

- Big smile

Places to Sit

We're starting to get into the flow of home life. Zoë might be the best baby of all time. She's happy and smiley and engaging and wonderful.
She also has a very simple troubleshooting guide:
- if crying, feed
- if crying half-way through a bottle, burp and then feed rest of bottle
- if still crying, then feed some more. End of guide.

The twins are really taking to her. They laugh at her antics, give her kisses and are very gentle with her. We took Zoë for a checkup and the twins were in the exam room with us. As soon as Zoë got place on the exam bed, Jacob began to howl and flail on the floor. He didn't want Zoë to suffer (he had his flu shot last week). I thought it was a pretty sweet way of being a protective big brother. No health concerns for Zoë. She has put on half a pound since she was weighed in Beijing a week ago.

Molly and Jacob are definitely not yet back to their old selves though. They're fragile, on edge and much more fractious than usual. I think we left the grandparents with much more of a handful than we had anticipated when we asked them to look after the twins while we were in China. But, hopefully as we settle into a routine and they begin to trust that we're not taking off again, then they'll get back to normal.

Here are some photos of Zoë in her new surroundings. Lots of new places to sit.

- Sitting in the leaves. Molly gives Zoë this look a lot - seems like a lot of joy in having a new sister. And it's definitely mutual. In addition to taking care of the twins while we were away, continuing to entertain them since we returned, picking up a nasty cold, preparing fantastic meals, etc., Kate's mom has also raked and bagged all these leaves

- Sitting in Nicholas's old chair. She really likes playing with the bears on her feet.

- Sitting in a bumbo

- Sitting in her high chair

- Sitting on the floor with her baba and a ball

- And sitting in the exer-saucer

Zoë Sitting Up in Beijing

Here's a video of Zoë sitting up for the first time (at least, for the first time with us). In the hotel room in Beijing. Note that it is "take 5" not because of any fault of Zoë, but rather because Kate repeatedly held the camera sideways and I didn't want any of our loyal followers to get cricks in their necks.


I think that's the end of our China videos. So, tomorrow I'll try to catch up on some back-in-Canada stuff.

Now For Something Less Serious

Jumping fish. Our guide, who lives in Nanchang, had never heard of fish jumping in this lake.

Fengxin Tour

- Here's a quick tour of the room where Zoë spent her first 8 months

Friends from Fengxin

I'll try to finish up the video summary of the China trip tonight. Surprise, surprise, I'm finding that I don't have all that much free time at home to catch up on the blogging.

Here's a video from Fengxin of Zoë sharing a bottle with her best buddies.

Video From Fengxin

Here is our arrival at Fengxin, showing the grounds and buildings of the complex.


- Zoë's nannies - you can see how much they enjoy her

Video of Zoë Soothing Herself

When Zoë wants to calm herself, or get herself to sleep, she pulls her sleeve down over her hand, then plays with her fingers (which sometimes makes it look like she's calculating complex sums) while making a tucka-tucka sound. It's pretty killer. This video is from the hotel in Nanchang.

More Videos from Nanchang

This one gives a bit of a sense of life in Bayi Park, in the middle of Nanchang


- Zoë enraptured by a traditional performance at the Tengwang Ge

Video - Kate Holding Zoë for 1st time

Video - Chris Meeting Zoë

Maybe one day I'll find time to turn our videos and photos into a packaged slideshow/video, but until then here's the unedited footage of me meeting Zoë for the first time, in the lobby of the Gloria Grand Hotel in Nanchang. You have to love her deathgrip on my jaw.

Home!!

We made it home on Thursday night, after a very long flight. Zoë slept on and off throughout the flight and we had bulkhead seats so it was about as good as a 12 hour flight with a baby could be.
Here are a few photos of our very happy reunion with Molly & Jacob. Wow did we ever miss them. We've been home for a day and a half so are starting to settle into the new routine (with much help from Kate's parents).

In the next couple of days, I'm going to post a series of videos from the trip (I wasn't able to post large file sizes from within China). But in the meantime, thanks to everyone for following along on our trip - all your comments made a big difference to us and just knowing that we had so many people's support was fantastic.

- Zoë on her flight to Canada

- Molly had this look of wonder on her face for the first five minutes after meeting Zoë for the first time

- first photo of the new family

- three kids having bottles - yes, it's going to be verrrrry interesting

- Jacob & Molly showing appropriate enthusiasm for their new traditional Chinese outfits

Last Night in China

We went out for dinner with our guides tonight for Peking Duck. Zoë ate an extraordinary quantity of steamed egg - clearly something I need to learn how to prepare. Tonight is our last in Beijing. Tomorrow evening we fly to Toronto - 13 hour flight!!

Oh, I keep forgetting to mention that on her 9 month "birthday", Zoë sprung her first two teeth. There has been a fair amount of drool, but no complaints.

Here's a photo of her Chinese passport, her Canadian permanent residence document (we can apply for her Canadian citizenship immediately after landing) and her adoption certificate.

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More Summer Palace Photos

- Still napping - Zoë may not have absorbed the entire Summer Palace experience
- Apparently if you climb the 100 steps up to the top of this temple, you will live to be 100. But the catch is that there are actually over 200 steps. Not sure I want to live that long.
- My attempt at artistic Chinese photo
- Kate heading up the 100 steps

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Molding a Well-Mannered Imagination at the Summer Palace

- winner of the best sign contest today
- me at the Summer Palace entrance
- Zoë Dragon posing in front of a dragon
- Kate by the lake at the Summer Palace
- Kate and a sleeping Zoë

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Second to last day in Beijing

We leave here tomorrow evening so we're trying to pack in a few more touristy sites. We spent the morning up at the Olympic site. The Water Cube is even more remarkable in person than on tv, and the scope and size of the whole Olympic campus is quite something.
- Water Cube on the left and Bird's Nest on the right
- Kate and the Water Cube
- inside the Bird's Nest - some kind of race car event going on

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Nine month old Zoë eating ice cream sundae

It's a little dark, but you do get the idea that Zoë likes ice cream (along with every other edible substance on the planet)

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Signs, signs, everywhere signs

These are a few of our favourite signs from the Wall...

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More Little Hero on the Great Wall

- the zigzagging wall
- the end - Zoë officially becomes a little hero, even if she fell asleep. Kate becomes a double hero for carrying a baby to the top.
- me too, in case there was some doubt as to my tenacity or hero-ness
- serious contemplation of how it feels to be a hero

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Little Hero on the Great Wall

- Kate and Zoë on the way up
- seriously steep Wall
- you can see that we picked a gorgeous day for the Wall - not sure it would have been passable in Sunday's snowstorm
- Zoë having fun, way up high

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