September 9, 2008

The late nap worked out ok. Jade slept 9.5 hours last night and awoke at 2:30am. We gave her a bottle, changed her, and played for about an hour. After that she slept another 3 hours! Perfect! My kind of girl. Let's hope she keeps this up!

Jade has 2 teeth on the bottom, and I believe she is cutting more. We gave her a bath this morning in the sink - she is not able to sit up, so she can't play in the bath tub. It appears as though she has been held a lot, and although we love to hold her - I think its time this little one learns to sit and crawl, so we may have to put her down a bit. She refused riding in her stroller until she saw a few of the other babies in theirs. Now she will ride in it, but only if it continues to move. She is fascinated with her feet and hands and stares at them constantly. When we gave her a bath, she kept holding them out and looking at them. We thought she was worried we might wash them off. She wanted to be sure they were still there!

We are leaving this morning for some touring. There is not much to do around our hotel, so we will go along for the ride. We are having difficulty finding things we can eat in Kunming. This is not like Beijing for food choices. I suppose the local fare might be tasty - but we don't dare try it, as we are afraid we will get sick. It doesn't look appetizing. We had a pizza last night. You can order a "fruit pizza" with bananas and oranges on it. Any takers? We had a vegetable pizza, but it was the worst we have ever eaten. I think I'd sacrifice a week's pay check for a SALS pizza about now. There is nothing like a SALS pizza. If you live in or around Ithaca, go eat one for me. I live on Dove chocolate and M & M's, which you can buy here. We purchase things when we recognize the packaging. I have heard we will have some other choices in food when we get to Guangzhou. Kunming should be good for my diet!

Thanks to all of you who have left notes in our guest book. We look forward to reading your messages and learning who is following our journey. Keep them coming!

Mom has a bad cold and is finding it difficult to talk. Both she and Megan are homesick. We miss Emily terribly. Here are a few photos for now, and we will post again tonight.

 

 

Gifts are very important to the Chinese, and therefore we brought along eight gifts for the eight nannies who cared for Jade. I am attaching a photo of them along with the beautiful lilly arrangement in our hotel lobby. The nannies brought along a very nice carrier for us to carry Jade in. The registrar's office gave her a piece of silver jewelry.

 

 

Today we toured a flower market and a jade market. It was rainy and a bit chilly. I took the sweater out of the suitcase before we left home knowing it is very hot here...but guess I should have brought it. The guides are telling me the baby needs to be bundled since we have not had Jade's arms covered - even though her head is sweating. (The Chinese are accustomed to dressing babies in multiple layers.) We purchased a sweater tonight, so tomorrow we should be a little more popular. I did bring a light blanket, but she does not want her arms covered, so it isn't helping our cause.

For those waiting adoptive parents, don't count on purchasing "anything you need" in China. The Walmart store has three levels - but the children's department is about the size of our hotel room. Clothing is very limited in quanity and size. Bring what you need! We have done all types of charades, but communication is difficult even when pointing to a picture of what you are looking for. I wish I had learned some Chinese before the trip. We did bring a thermos for bottle making and are very glad we did, despite the weight. It is easy to find baby vegetables, but difficult to find the fruit. The only type of fruit I brought was prunes, and this is one kind of fruit we do not need with this baby! You can find formula and diapers without any problem.

Jade is taking some 6 month outfits and 6-9 month outfits. She is eating a lot, so we know she will be in a 12 month size in no time! She is nearly 11 months old.

After the market tours we dropped a hint to the guide that we sure would love McDonald's, and so they were happy to oblige. It was the best meal I remember eating in my life - or maybe not, but it seemed like it at the time. They somehow made a mistake and gave us 8 large fries instead of 4 - so we will be eating the rest for our dinner.

We hung out around the hotel room for the afternoon and visited Walmart again tonight. Phil took lots of video. If you are hungry when you go into Walmart, you will not be when you come out. The meat section is an experience.

The Chinese are very curious about why we have a Chinese baby. We have a note written in Chinese to show them the purpose of our trip. Most give us a thumbs up and say "lucky baby". Many folks want to touch her and rub her for "luck". Some think that Jade is Megan's baby, and this is embarassing for her. They want to communicate with Megan and don't understand why she doesn't speak Chinese. I think we will make another note explaining that Megan is an American, and she does not speak Chinese. Our guide is happy to write all these types of notes for us.

We sent out a large garbage bag full of laundry tonight and have no idea what the cost will be. I guess we will find out soon enough! The clothing probably isn't worth what we will spend to wash it, but I can't stand to see it sitting around unclean.

Megan was able to purchase another pair of jeans today. After purchasing, the sales lady walked us about 1/4 mile to a small tailor shop. The employee cut the jeans off and hemmed them in 15 minutes time for 5 yuan. 5 yuan is less than one US dollar. Amazing. You can purchase many things "cheaper for you" all over the streets of Kunming. The sales persons expect you to barter, but that is one thing I am not very good at. I would rather know the price and pay it.

The people here work so hard, such as the many we have seen today chisling the streets by hand.

We didn't take many photos today - more tomorrow.

Note to Emily:

Hi, Em. How did your music lesson go? We are thinking of you. You can post a message on our guest book or email me at glasslipperdolls@aol.com. We check our email every day. Don't forget to call Grandpa Bernie. He says he has left messages on your cell phone. Maybe the battery needs charging? Make sure you meet up with him for the weekend. You will need to check on those cats, ok? Your baby sister will be happy to meet you. I know you will be good at playing with her - she will like that. We will be home in 10 more days. We are counting them down!

I love you,
-Mom

 

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