Thursday and Friday

I'm behind on blogging. Sue me. Rose has really been struggling. Between the travel and being away from her dad and siblings and becoming a big sister, her whole world has turned upside down. She does not want me to hold Eli at all, and when I do, she screams and slaps and uses whatever objects she can get her hands on to beat him. And then, in the blink of an eye, they'll be crawling around on the ground together, squealing and laughing. But mostly, she kind of hates his guts. The hardest thing for me is that I really want to bond with Eli, who is so happy and sweet and eager, but I also appreciate that Rose needs to feel that she hasn't been abandoned or replace. I think the feeling is more intense than it would be if he were a newborn, because he can do so much-- he's better competition than a little, bitty baby would be.

Anyway, that hasn't kept us from sightseeing, although maybe it should, since both babies seem happier when we keep things simple. On Thursday, we visited the Ming tombs and Purple Mountain, which almost did Annie in last year (remember the corn lady?). This year it was a lot less crowded, and my mom said that the memorial to Sun Yat Sen was interesting, but I'll have to take her word for it because this was the second year in a row I've stayed at the bottom with the babies.