Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Good Morning! Katie’s still sleeping after her big day yesterday, so Eric and I are up checking your messages in the guestbook. Again, we thank you for thinking of us while we’re so far from home.

You probably know that we submit these entries very late in the evening, after we’ve done all of our scheduled events/appointments, eaten dinner and getting Katie settled for the night. I guess that makes for some interesting reading on your part, because when we re-read our entries we are amused by our own addled thoughts, misspellings and other mistakes in them. Sorry about that, we’re sleep-deprived parents (okay, that’s completely untrue, Katie sleeps like a champ and we drop like rocks into sleep each night – but we have to blame it on something!).

Today, Miss Katie turns 11 months old. She’s been part of our family for one full week now, and we cannot imagine our lives without her. She definitely fits in with our big, noisy group. She’s not the oldest baby in the group (actually she’s one of the youngest), but she’s one of the most vocal (many of you are nodding your heads that, yes, the CCAA picked the perfect child for our family). She’s also one of the biggest – super chunky thighs -- exactly like her brothers at this age. Man, that girl can suck down a bottle in no time! She’s been offered many types of foods, and eats small pieces of some things, but really gets most of her nutrition still from the bottle.

1:35 pm: We’re just back from a visit to the Guangdong City Municipal Zoo, one of three zoos in Guangdong. I believe we were taken to this one because it has one panda bear in it, and the guides know how crazy Americans are for panda bears. The zoo actually has a very good variety of animals in it, including elephant, giraffe, white rhinos, hippos, lions & tigers, and all sorts of gazelle, monkeys and the very elusive dalmation dog and raccoon. Many of the animals were active, and that makes it a bit more interesting to view them. They also had a unique petting zoo where, for 10 RMB (about $1.25) you could hold a red panda, chimp, parrot or other animal for pictures. That’s where we found the dalmation.

One more thing about our visit to the zoo, and then we’ll move on. Many times today, I felt as if our family were one of the exhibits. Obviously, we stand out here, so we’re used to people noticing us or stopping to look at us. Most people quickly look at our family, see the stroller and look into it, or look at the baby’s face if one of us are holding her. Then they quickly look back at all of us before stopping to stare at me. It’s not always a pleasant stare, either. Most times, I just smile and say “hello”, and sometimes the people smile back, but not always. Most people do not have the ‘social graces’ that we have in the U.S., where we try to look surreptitiously at what curiosity has caught the eye. These people stop dead and STARE.

Later this afternoon, we’ll go for Katie’s medical examination. We expect her to pass with flying colors, as she seems incredibly healthy to us. Many of our groups’ babies have been diagnosed with bronchitis and other upper respiratory ailments, and we’re very thankful that Katie seems to have escaped these illnesses.

9:21 pm: One last note before we turn in for the night. Katie sailed through the medical exam and got the physician’s okay to leave the country. She didn’t especially like it, and it wasn’t very thorough. We have a pediatrician appointment at home on the day after Thanksgiving, and I know Dr. K. will be much more thorough.

We had a wonderful dinner at a Manchurian restaurant. Katie tried lots of new foods and seemed to enjoy them. She’s doing really well with chewing, despite the fact that she only has 2 teeth. The boys stayed at the hotel and ate (again) at Lucy’s. They’re really doing well, and are enjoying their time in China. I think that’s as much of a surprise to them as it is to us, as we’d expected them to be longing for home by now, but they really haven’t talked about missing home.

By the way, Aunt Karen decided not to come to the zoo with us (as she’d already pet pandas, she didn’t really need to see one behind bars) because her feet were tired from all the walking we’ve done. Instead, she took off for the Pearl Market, got turned around, and ended up walking miles, alone, through the streets of Guangzhou. So much for resting her tired feet! She did get back safely, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

That’s all for tonight. Tomorrow we visit the White Cloud Mountain. Enjoy today’s pictures!