Remember last night when I posted that An An was on Dan's chest sleeping in the bed? Well, she slept straight through until 6:30am. HOORAY! Today was full of great moments--like our first sighting of An An's adorable smile. Dan decided to ballroom dance around the room with her this morning and she got such a kick out of it. She smiled such a big smile--her whole face just lit up. It was so adorably amazing. Seeing that smile for the first time--knowing she had at least some trust in us to have shared it--AWESOME.
After An An's first bath with us (she screamed, but recovered quickly) and breakfast, Chandler arranged for a tour van to take us to a pavilion of historical significance to this province. I'd love to tell you the name of it, but the ticket stub is in Chinese...oops, guess I need to ask Chandler that tomorrow. :) Anyway, it was beautiful. We rang a huge bell for good luck, climbed all the flights of stairs to the top of the pavilion for a view of Nanchang (not much view today--very overcast), and got to see An An in her winter hat for the first time. She loves being out and about; she has such interest in what's going on around her.
After the pavilion, Chandler arranged for our group to have lunch at a very busy restaurant across the street from our hotel. We had a private room and Chandler ordered a variety of dishes for us to try. It was soooooo good. I've long heard people say that American Chinese food is nothing like Chinese Chinese food, and that is so true. I think it's high time some Chinese Chinese food finds its way across the ocean. :) An An tried a couple dishes and both were a hit with her, as was the deep fried pumpkin cake for dessert. Mmmmmm. She loves food. But she hasn't pooped yet, so I'm wondering where all the junk we keep stuffing into her is going... (Graphic, eh? Guess this means I'm really a Mom if I'm talking about constipation on the blog...) Anyway, lunch was GREAT, but crossing the street to get back to the hotel? CRAZY beyond words. Terrifying. There's this thing here in China...it's as though pedestrians are completely invisible. Mind-boggling traffic.
After lunch, Chandler arranged for a local tailor to come to the hotel. This was super fun. Now anyone who knows me knows I'm not into the whole silk dress thing, but it was so cool how they came to Chandler's room and unpacked all sorts of samples and then helped us select a style and fabric for a custom-made silk garment. An An loved this! Her face lit up with a huge grin when she saw all the colorful samples and watched me get measured for a silk jacket. (I ordered a silk jacket for me and a matching style with a slightly different fabric for An An.) It was super cute; when I jokingly asked her if she liked my selections, she smiled this big smile and kicked her little legs. Her smile is just electric. So, An An and I will have matching custom clothing by Friday. :)
Other than that, although An An is a champion eater, drinking is another story. Chandler called the orphanage today and found out they had been feeding the kids water with a spoon. A SPOON?! Dear God. I tried this method with several spoons, but water on a spoon takes the same kind of talent catching a fly with chopsticks does, so more water wound up on An An than in her. We resorted to shooting water into her mouth with the Motrin syringe. After 30 minutes, we'd managed to get about 2 ounces of water into her. We'll try again tomorrow.
Oh, another thing happened today. An An decided she is cool with me, too, and I can now share the all day carrying duty with Dan! HOORAY! :)
Right now Dan is trying to get her to sleep. She sleeps very well if you're up and walking around, but the transition to the bed once she's sleeping is darn near impossible. I so hope she sleeps as well tonight as she did last night. (Fingers crossed.)
Tomorrow we are free most of the day and then going out for dinner and to some sort of ferris wheel downtown. I didn't catch the whole plan, but if there's a ferris wheel involved, I'm soooooo in. But most importantly, tomorrow we'll continue to get to know An An and see more of that feisty personality (she is indeed strong-willed--that's very clear already) emerge as she gets more and more comfortable with us. It's sort of like watching a flower bloom--every day reveals a little bit more. (And along the way we get to see that awesome smile.) Life is good. :)
8 comments:
I didn't think she could get more beautiful, but her smile is gorgeous! How fun!!! I was re-reading your previous post, when this one showed up. What a treat. Yes, it's Tuesday, and yes, I should be working...but I can't help myself! Just love seeing how your new little family is growing so much, so quickly. It's incredible.
From my mom -- Linda Clifford (she couldn't post while at work:
So amazing! Your writing is so wonderful -- we feel like we're there with you. Just beautiful! Congratulations!
I love today's post and pictures. :D Seeing you as a MOM and Dan as a DAD is freaking incredible!! You're a family!
Re: the poop...hard not to talk about it, eh? ;) Can you put water in her bottle? Or get some melon? E seemed to respond to that the best. Otherwise, don't sweat it too much. Kids will find ways to drink when they're thirsy, and she's probably getting plenty from her congee and formula. At first we went weeks without E getting much water directly...it was all in the form of formula. Same with our breastfed babies at that age....almost no water. :) H20 became an issue with E, eventually, so we did add extra water to her formula. Still do. She likes it better that way.
Awesome guys...and I can say, as a mom of a strong-willed girl, that you're in for a ride! Strong-willed kiddos are a blast...sometimes I just sit back in amazement and wonder at her. Love it!
"puker" today. Hm.
Something just occurred to me...in Korea when we were talking with S (our friend in Seoul), she said that Koreans don't think it's healthy to drink a lot of water at once, especially when eating. That's why water glasses at tables are so tiny, and why some beverages come in such small containers. Apparently too much water or beverage disrupts (in theory) digestion. So feeding her water with a spoon or dropper may be fine. She might not be used to getting more than an ounce here or there.
Don't know if that helps or not, of if Chinese beliefs are similar, but thought I'd put it out there!
WOW! Looking at the photos from this post and the last, my goodness has she come a long way in a tiny bit of time.
2 ounces with the Motrin syringe is actually pretty good. I remember watermelon and jarred baby food being helpful for hydration. (Also, it is fun to try to figure out what is in the baby food jars.)
xo!
Awesome photo's again. She has a contagious smile and so beautiful at that.
Thank you for contiuning to stay in contact it's really great to read your blogs.
I love the picture of her with you where your heads are touching.
Truly a blessing!!!!!
Thanks for the love, guys!
She's not into the formula at all, either. She eats like a horse, but just doesn't seem interested in drinking. The texture of melon is such that she just holds it in her mouth. And now that she's discovered so many other great foods, she is like "no thanks" to the congee...we've created a food snob in no time flat! ;)
I think I'll head out to the store today for more jarred food; she is okay with that and at least it's liquidious, right?
yeah...baby food, mushed up food and veggies...that's all good! Lots of kiddos her age decide they're over formula, and not being crazy about water is pretty common, too. Offering juice in a bottle can be great...most kids love the opportunity for a sugary drink. We water down apple or grape juice when Mr. I or E is constipated and let them have at it.
If it helps...E, N, and the rest of the tribe all regularly went (and still go) several days between poops, depending on what they're eating/drinking/what's going on at that age. Fun-fun! Poop talk!
Is she getting any of the food or formula she had as her main diet last week? If she's adjusting to the new foods she's getting now that she's eating more widely, her intestines might eventually need some support. At home you can give her probiotics...in China maybe some yogurt? I'm assuming her formula was dairy-based, at at her age yogurt should be fine as long as you start with small amounts.
I think I'm getting ahead of myself in the advice department, though (It's annoying, I know, so feel free to ignore!) I'd wait a few days and see if things clear on their own. A couple of days of no poop isn't bad. :)
E, THANKS for taking the time to leave comments and help us out. Your advice could NEVER be annoying. Keep it coming, please!
The orphanage did not send the babies with any of their old formula and we were unable to get the name of the specific brand. We brought formula from home that contains probiotics. They were feeding her a mix of formula and congee in a bottle, but she didn't like it when we tried. I'm sure the new formula tastes weird, but I'd not so interested in buying formula here...
Anyway, today we bought a different kind of rice cereal and mixed that in with the formula and she downed 6 ounces, so maybe we're on to something? I tried the watered down apple juice and she took a few ounces of that, too. But that and the prunes didn't do anything after a full hours, so we resorted to plan B as noted on today's post. DRAMA. ;)
She's such a little mystery in soooo many ways right now.
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