One Year Ago . . . January 13th

Kellin slept through the night and woke up about 5:30. He had a bottle and then sat on my lap and we tried to play. I was able to get some smiles and giggles from him, and he let me hold him for quite a while before he became too overstimulated. He already was doing a little bit better with touch. I tried to introduce him to toys. He had no desire to hold anything (other than his blankie) in his hands and he also had no idea that when a toy left his hands, it was still there and he could search for it. It was either there or it wasn't. He wouldn't hold onto or play with any toys, but here you can see I put a ball into his hand and he didn't immediately drop it. Success, of a sort.

He is a handsome boy, though, isn't he?

In many ways, Kellin behaved as though he were deaf as well as blind. He did not react to most sounds, even loud ones. He did not seem to respond to any words (not even his name), even when our guide spoke to him in Chinese. The only kind of sound that got any response was music - his body would get very still and he seemed to be listening when I sang, especially "Twinkle, Twinkle." I must have sung that song hundreds of times during the trip to China.

Anyway, this morning I tried taking Kellin down to the breakfast buffet and offered him many different foods, with no luck whatsoever. I put a little bit of yogurt into his bottle, mixed with his formula, and he did drink that.

Kellin took a nap,

Doesn't he look sweet as he sleeps?

and Dad went out and got Burger King for lunch. The cheeseburger had some sort of unfamiliar sauce on it, but I still thought it was pretty good. After lunch, our guide arrived to take us out for some sight-seeing and to do more paperwork at the notary. We stopped at the springs in Jinan to walk around for a bit. There were many people bringing all kinds of containers and filling them up at the springs - our guide explained that people use it for watering plants, not for drinking. I was carrying Kellin around at this point which quickly became difficult. Although Kellin was not that heavy, he was difficult to carry because he did not hold on or help at all, and in fact, he often fought to get away from the closeness. It was like holding a very restless and wiggling 19-pound weight that absolutely did not want to be held.

After this walk, we went to the notary, which was a quick in-and-out visit. A couple papers to take care of and we were done.

Off to walk around a well-known park in Jinan. This time I tried putting Kellin into this soft baby carrier I had brought along. Although he did not like it any better than being held, it was much easier for me because I didn't have to hold him tightly with my arms to keep him from wiggling away. It was refreshing to be out in the cool air and see the water and trees - a little bit of nature in the middle of a big (polluted) city. We didn't make it long before Kellin became too fussy and restless and we had to head back to the hotel so he could have some alone time in his bed.

No idea what these guys were doing, but it was a fun picture.

After returning to the hotel, we spent some time gazing out the window at the bright light (quickly becoming one of Kellin's favorite things to do). If you look at my face, I think you can see how exhausted I was at this point.

Dad ran out to find supper and returned with food from KFC. Again, it was sort of familiar food (chicken) but with an unfamiliar sauce on it. I was exhausted and we ended up going to bed early.