Earlier Jake updates

Here is an earlier update Jake Edition 5:

The last 24 hours has been a huge breakthrough period for Jacob! He is laughing and playing so much with Deb and others and made the two hour flight from Zhengzhou to Guangzhou without any crying or problems and many of the kids cried on the flight. Part of it was because Kay got him a couple suckers which he likes and I think the sucking motion helped keep his ears depressurized. He loves those. We also bought him some milk as we were rushing to get on the plane which turned out to be an apple juice/milk mixture but he really liked it.

He has been going to Kay to hold him a little and playing a lot of games including the dreaded throwing things on the floor game which is now one of his favorites. Deb holds him facing her and then tips him over backwards (carefully) until he is upside down, then quickly rights him up until she leans back which he loves and shrieks with gales of laughter. He loves passing things and getting them back. We killed 30 minutes standing in line just taking things in and out of Ken's wallet, business cards and credit cards, passing them back to him, then he would put them back in the wallet, close it, then open it again and start all over.

We just had an excellent Thai dinner at the Cow and Bridge (?!?) and Jacob played with the chopsticks. Between waving them around and hitting his mother and the child next to him in the face, he beat out a nice smooth rhythm on the table. He and Kay played a kind of pick up sticks and a little sword fighting with them for quite a while. However, he and GWB won't eat broccoli.

We had dinner with three other adoptive families, two from Ohio, Wapakoneta and Hickoryton. The English family who live in LA organized it, Adrian and Lucy. Their boy Arthur had the bunk next to Jacob for the last 27 days before adoption.

Deb says she has lost 10 lbs between the lack of nongluten food and carrying Jacob around. He is now starting to give her a little relief as he will let Kay carry him a little and stand and play with others instead of demanding to be held all the time. He plays a lot with Ken and though he will not let Ken hold him yet, he holds Ken's finger and leans over and affectionately puts his hand on Ken's chest for a while.

We are now in even a nicer hotel with a lot of other adoptive parents (near the US consulate) and there are many shops catering to adoptive parents nearby.