Airplanes and other fun things

Whew! In Beijing and back on-line.

I know you're probably all tuning in to find out how Kiyomi's first airplane ride went. Well, let me tell you, it was completely and utterly... uneventful. In fact, yesterday was her best day yet. She had no realy fussiness, napped well and was generally in a good mood all day, even on the plane. This, despite the fact that she had dinner of leftover egg and ham in the airport (waiting for our delayed flight) and didn't get to sleep until 11:30 at night!

Our morning started out pretty easy, although she gulped down a huge breakfast. We headed for the Security Office at 10:30 in order to pick up the girls' passports. Needless to say, given that it was paper, Kiyomi took a huge interest in the passport. It only took a few minutes to get all the passports, but we had to go as the officials needed to see us and the babies. With that, we had finally completed all the paperwork to get her OUT of China. Now, we need to do all the paperwork to get her INTO Canada.

At 3:30, we all met in the lobby in order to get to the airport for our flight to Beijing. In some ways, it was a little sad to be leaving Kiyomi's birth province. We didn't get to experience much of Nanchang, but we at least have some stories and photos to take away with us. Unfortunately, once we got to the airport, we found out our flight was delayed an hour. Let me tell you, killing time in a waiting area with 18 babies is an experience. Luckily, we had brought some dinner for Kiyomi, so we entertained her with food while we waited. It was really entertaining though, when some announcement was made in Chinese, and all the Chinese people in the waiting area started to scramble away. We were convinced the announcement said - "if you want to get away from the babies, head to gate 5 NOW!" We caught on though, so they didn't escape us.

Our guide, Marui (on the right), has taken a bit of a shine to Kiyomi. We think it's because Kiyomi tends to scrunch up her face at people to make them laugh. Kiyomi likes Marui too, and will reach out to her when she comes by to say hello. We got a picture of Kiyomi with both our guides, Jenny (Nanchang) and Marui (Nanchang and Beijing). They are very sweet ladies and try to make things as smooth and comfortable for us as possible. They are also trying to teach us a few Chinese words. One we've heard a fair bit is "piao- liarng". It means, "beautiful", and many Chinese have come up to Kiyomi to play with her a little and cooed "piao-liarng". She generally just stares at them or makes a funny scrunched up face!

We've also discovered that Kiyomi likes to dance and bite (although not at the same time). If you hold her under her arms, and stand her up, she'll shimmy like crazy and laugh while doing it. The biting was an accidental discovery. We'd notice she liked to nuzzle against our forearms, and kinda suckle, usually when she's getting tired. However, if you nuzzle into her neck, she reacts by laughing and searching for something to chomp down on. I've actually got a Kiyomi bite on my chin, when she grabbed my chin in her teeth and pulled. The little nipper's got a strong jaw I tell ya! We also heard her first laughs yesterday. She gets a big kick out of watching her mom and dad turn into blubbering idiots making faces and silly noises. She's also getting snugglier.

Once the flight finally left, she was tired and fed, so she fell asleep for most of it. Kohji had to quickly learn how to eat rice with his left hand. He didn't do too bad considering (only dropped a couple of mouthfuls on the sleeping baby). Kiyomi did take a souvenir from her first flight and it's become her new favourite toy (yup, that's a barf bag - nothing's too good for our little girl).

By the time we made it back it to the Beijing hotel it was almost 10 o'clock. Most of the babies were tired, but generally doing ok considering. I can't say the same for the parents. Watching our group walk in, I can honestly say, I've never seem a more wasted bunch of travellers in my life. What does it mean when our daughters are all better travellers than we are?

This morning, the Canadian paper chase has already begun. We took all the girls down to the lobby this morning to get their visa pictures taken and Kohji is in the process of doing immigration paper work with the group downstairs as I type (while Kiyomi naps here in the room). The visa shoot was hilarious - all the babies had to be held out against a white background, while about 12 adults stood around them trying to get them to look at the camera. I swear these kids must think we're all nuts.

We're planning on taking it easy today, as tomorrow is a big day - we head to the Great Wall. I've been looking forward to this, and Kiyomi seems to do better when we get her out and about during the day. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.