April 11 2012 afternoon

After our naps, we gave the two littlest boys baths for the first time. Both Leo and Sam liked the bath, and they both knew how to soap themselves down etc. As I mentioned before, our children have all been well-trained in hygiene and neatness! At around 5pm, we ventured over to the local Pizza Hut for dinner. David is already tired of Chinese food, and Pizza is pizza. At least the food is closer to pizza than to Chinese food. Leo (Dang Tong) is, as I’ve mentioned, more like a 3 year old than an almost 5 year old (his birthday is April 25)). We had to remove the salt and pepper from the table, and watch him play with all the silverware while we ate. I don’t think Dang Tong (Leo) ate a bite of food; instead he pulled some biscuits out of his pocket. Sam (Fu, KangChao) ate ½ a slice of pizza, but by the end of the meal he began melt-down number 2. We had to scoop him up and run to the hotel, once again, with a sobbing child, screaming for his Baba. We are trying to teach John how to comfort Fu, KangChao, since he has attached exclusively to John for now. John is not quite 16 years old yet, and I’m sure he was never comforted as a child. As soon as Fu, KangChao begins crying, John begins to distance himself—which sends Sam (Fu, KangChao) right over the edge. John wants to say things like "Shut up. You’re embarrassing us." We are trying to show John that all Fu, KangChao needs is for him to rub his back and coo things like, "Everything will be ok." Fortunately, this melt-down was shorter than the other night, and then it’s as if it never happened. During this crisis though, Ben also started sobbing. Yes, it’s that heartbreaking to watch him crying for his father. Less than 10 minutes afterwards, the kids are all singing the theme song to the Pleasant Goat cartoon, and all is well. While I’m happy it’s resolved, for tonight, both John and David are building up a serious anger for the orphanage director who let Fu, KangChao believe they were his Mom and Dad. We’ve decided that we can’t eat dinner outside of the hotel for awhile. As Ben said, dinner is when he lost his dad. We better just eat dinner in the room.