Day two

I had thought that we got off pretty easy yesterday, and sure enough it was a bit of a tougher day today (and not just because both of us have biceps of jello right now, as it turns out Kiyomi likes to be held all the time).

Kiyomi slept well enough last night - from about 9 p.m. to after 6 a.m. She snorfled and whined at about 5:30, but was coaxed back to sleep with a little bum pat. In fact, she slept longer than I did!
However, once she did wake up, she seemed to have developed a wee bit of a cough. She didn't eat much at breakfast and its been hard to get liquids into her. We haven't yet figured out the right substance or receptical (sippy cup vs. bottle), and she seems resistant to whatever we try. Luckily, she loves watermelon, so we've been loading her up with that as much as possible. By the afternoon, the runny nose had appeared, and we knew she wasn't quite right as she seemed to be sleeping an awful lot, and has been a wee bit fussy. Sure enough, poor little nipper is running a low fever. So, she's spent much of her day sleeping, as evidenced by most of today's pictures.

We were shuttled to a local department store, where we experienced a little more shopping (I think we've already had our fill of shopping). We had to get a stroller and a few other baby essentials, so we negotiated our way around the place, primarily through hand gestures. Unlike the markets, there is no bargaining in department stores, so that made it easier in some ways. Of course, very little English is spoken by the attendents (and there are dozens of them), so it makes trying to figure things out a bit of a challenge and made me wish I had worked harder at learning just a few more Mandarin words. With 15 Canadian families (all of whom are caucasian except for Kohji) wandering the store with Chinese babies, it's safe to say, we drew attention.

It's a little embarassing to admit it, but we haven't ventured out of the hotel much. We would be more inclined to at least take a walk, but for the 36 celsius temperature and blistering uv. So we've pretty much cowered in the hotel, and tried to get to know the little nipper a little more. Of course, today, she slept most of the time, so daddy decided to join her.


Dinner tonight was in the hotel restaurant again. It had a special significance, but not necessarily a happy one for the nearby patrons. Only through this strange process is the topic of your kid's bowel movements something you would think to bring up to the strangers at the table next to you. I actually caught Kohji talking to a lady from the States with her two kids (also adopting) at the next table about how we had just fed Kiyomi some prunes as she hadn't yet 'gone', and that it didn't seem to take that long for the prunes to work their magic - ahh parenthood!

I'll leave you with two final shots - one of the river here in Nanchang and the other of Kiyomi's 'dinner' (yup, that's watermelon stuck to her cheek because she's snoozing).

















Tomorrow, we're going to see the country side and visit an 1000 year old city (assuming Kiyomi is up for the long bus ride). Right now, she and daddy are wandering the halls. Since she's been sleeping all day, she's a little resistant to it right now, so Kohji's taken her for a walk. Here's hoping it works.