China Review

Last week Larry and I got in a full week a intense grandparenting and some good time with Micah and Jodi! We stayed with Micah and family in Shanghai and got to know all four of the China Sittigs a bit better. Maryann, no surprise, was adorable. We cuddled her til she gave those sweet little baby coos. But despite all my typical grandparental enthusiasm, I never could seem to have the camera ready for her most hilarious smiles! She is a great little traveler all around town in her stroller and a content little sweetheart at home. We'd already been acquainted with Charlotte, of course. but this was the new, improved Charlotte, a real little person! We read countless stories on our bed, danced to her Elmo sing-a-long toy endlessly and had big fun rolling out Play-doh. She has an impressive attention span and we communincated pretty well, in spite of our dearth of Chinese. Jodi, was her usual warm and chatty self! Standing in the kitchen while she cooked up breakfast or digging into lunch with chopsticks at the table, we traded stories back and forth companionably. We learned about her plans ahead, her hopes for the girls, bits of Micah news... Most of our Micah time was spent over some yummy, memotable meals too. We heard about his studies ahead, the ins and outs of being the science chair/teacher at school, and watched him be the instructive, patient, "funnest" dad around. All in all, we came home with a better sense of life in Pudong --in the small 10th floor apartment, at the market with Jodi, on the playground with the girls and with Micah at school. It was a good trip.