Guangzhou Sunday evening of February 7 and Monday February 8th

Hmmm, someone said that we look elated!   Perhaps I have been a bit too rosey in my postings :-)   There is no doubt that we are happy and that things with Isaac are progressing so I guess overall we are elated but we're also coping with a lot.   We had a group dinner last night although I think we were at about 3 tables so we really just could chat with the people at our table.   The kids would not nap earlier in the day and were overly tired when we arrived at the restaurant.   The restaurant was Malaysian and we really enjoyed the meal, although for being in China, it's incredibly hard to get plain white rice.   Anyway, we sat down and Indigo was waving her chopsticks, almost poking Grandma and not stopping when she was told.  Grandma had to shout "no"; at her which then made her fall apart.  Isaac was shrieking and throwing a massive tantrum.  I walked him a bit until he calmed down and brought him back to the table and he had another massive melt down.  This time I just held him because I actually felt that it rewarded his awful behaviour to walk him and the families at the table were understanding.   Things got better after that - as you can see Grandma and Indigo played the hand stacking game - note the huge pearl ring Grandma is sporting from her bit of shopping!  The food starting arriving and at first Isaac was still so mad that he would just turn his head but food won out and he ended up eating a lot and became very happy and jovial.   Indigo barely touched a thing which is becoming sort of par for the course on this trip although most days she gets a good breakfast in her and she had the McDonalds twice and grilled cheese sandwich twice.   We bought apples in Nanjing and she eats those and a daily fruit snack etc.   She is not starving and we are weary of getting her to try things.   So, dinner ended well and we walked back to the hotel - it was sweet as Isaac walked with Granddad the whole way back.   David had started to feel the effects of a cold going on so we got the kids to bed and went to bed fairly early ourselves.   I then woke up in the night because Isaac was coughing (he has had a cold since we got him) and then I lay there worrying about him - what if it was in his chest and I have no antibiotics and we still have a whole long trip left, should I give him some benedryl, but he seemed to be sleeping so I did not want to wake him etc. etc.  So I was up for ages, decided that perhaps I had heartburn so took some tums, decided to suck on a throat lozenge, read for a while and finally fell back to sleep.   We overslept until 7:30 after all that.   When Indigo came in I told her it was still night time because the clock at our bed said 5:30 and said "but it's light outside" - she gets up and looks behind the curtains right away.   That got us moving and we jumped out of bed and got ready - I think we made it to breakfast by shortly passed 8.  At first, Indigo's behavior was terrible - she was so grumpy.  I think she had really low blood sugar from not eating well last night.   I went to get plates of food for both the children and when I returned David had left with Indigo.  They returned in due course and she ate the minimal amount we asked her to eat before she could have a glass of juice.   She did end up liking the cheese and so she even had more of that.  Then it was Isaac's turn to melt down and David, who has little patience when he feels bad, took him to the room.   Then Indigo had a massive fit about putting her shoes on before we left - wanted us to put them on for her - some fair amount of regression going on.   Elated right!!   We met the group at 9:30 and headed back to Shamian Island for the TB check.   Granddad elected to stay at the hotel and watch the Super Bowl.   I think David would have liked to stay too.   This time we were in and out of the medical building in five minutes and that included a squatty potty visit.   The result was negative which was obviously a relief - we thought it would be as we had seen no reaction on Isaac's arm.  Things turned better with some time spent on the playground at the island - both kids had a great time.   This young guy James came up to us and said he wanted to practice his English and we had a delightful talk with him so that is who is in the picture you see.   He told us that he has learned his English from American movies and he is a huge fan of American sports and knew all the football teams and NBA.   Grandma and I "needed" to do some shopping and so David hung out a bit and the returned to Lucy's again - the burgers were calling.    The one photo is of this awesome guy Jordan who is one of the shop owners who just has such a great personality.  He did the Chinese characters of Isaac and Indigo's name gratis.   I guess the time it takes to do that keeps you looking in the shop!  Grandma and I literally shopped until we dropped, skipped lunch in favor of shopping, and have both ordered tops which we hope will be delivered to the hotel by Thursday.   We staggered back to the White Swan where we were to meet, but not without stopping at the ATM.   I left Grandma on the red couch and went to find David and children.   David was having a painting made of Isaac's name and I ended up also getting him a chop.   David took a photo of the Pearl River which you see and also Indigo with some of the many beautiful sculptures on the island - you can see she found a hopscotch amongst the sculptures of the children playing - so cute.  David has been dying of heat and I had seen a place with some t-shirts so he got one and then we rushed to meet the bus.   We were given the option of going back to the mall from yesterday but at this point we thought we would all return to the hotel.   Isaac fell asleep on the bus - which is turning out to be bad because then we can't get hiim back to sleep at hotel.   I ended up getting off the bus at the mall just to get a carry-on suitcase because I have to have something to help with our purchases and I think we can get away with an additional carry-on.   Got back to the hotel and the kids had not slept at all!   I thought I would find all three fast asleep but it was not so.    Apparently Isaac had practicaly been jumping up and down in the crib - this is a kid who could barely get himself stood up in the crib when we first got him.   David is in full blown cold mode (translation - he is miserable and of course, sicker than any person with a cold could ever be).  So, we're ready to get some dinner before the children completely crash - Isaac appears ready to fall asleep at the little table so we have to go before things head way far south.    Have now since gone to dinner - went to a delicious Italian restaurant for a change.   Indigo ate like she had never been fed - had multiple rolls and then about 5 helpings of my pasta.   Isaac ate well too.  When we first walked in he started to cry and I thought "here we go again" but I asked them to bring some bread right away - some things are reliable with Italian and he was soon really happy.  He loves tomatoes and we had a sort of crushed tomatoe dipping sauce which he devoured.   Indigo loved the guy who we think must be the owner, a young cute Italian guy.   He did some high five with her and then when we left he shook her hand and kissed it and she gave him a huge hug - we can barely get her to hug family members but she fell hard for his swarthy good looks and charm.   After being back about 30 minutes Isaac was already sleeping and Indigo is in bed too - it has since taken her at least an hour to go to sleep!   Photos from evening yesterday and today below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7322989@N05/sets/72157623253944125/