Chaing Kai-Shek's Revenge

Mike and I have discovered a great way to lose weight--go to China. We've both had a bout of...something. Let's just say we're both feeling rather empty. Since we've both been feeling poorly, we've been pretty much hanging around the hotel the past few days, just playing and bonding with Ella. The only exception is yesterday Mike and Ted (the father of the twins in the next room and the kind owner of this laptop) went to Yujiang to the orphanage where Ella was and to the town where the twins came from (the name of which escapes me now).

Ella is making great progress. She is very small for a nine-and-half-month old--according to the finicky bathroom scale, somewhere around 6-6.5 kilos (about 13-14 pounds). She is clearly getting stronger every day. She's a very serious little baby. Mike and I were delighted on Saturday afternoon when we got our first smile out of her. I don't think she's had many reasons to smile before now, which breaks my heart. She comes out of her shell a bit more every day. and is getting stronger each day, exploring the world and objects and doing all the things a baby should be doing (or should have been allowed to a few months ago). She has clearly attached to me. It's strange to be the mommy--to be the source of comfort for another person. But it's cool--it feels good to be able to make her stop crying just by picking her up.

(Interesting unrelated side note--there's a school across from the hotel. We can see the soccer field and running track from our room. This morning, we saw the whole soccer field filled up for an all-school assembly. Now everybody is out doing their exercises. Quite a sight.)

Nanchang is kind of a weird city. It clearly doesn't see too many foreigners. You get looked at a LOT. There are a few other western families adopting babies in the hotel (including a group from Spain who left the other day, many of them chain-smoking around their babies). All of the clothes we have for Ella are too big. We've gone shopping twice--once to a Wal-Mart (I know, I know, there go my indie creds) and once to a department store. Peope seem to shop like they drive--it's busy and crowded and a free-for-all. The department store was weird. they have way too many people working in the shops, so if you show interest in something, a clerk will literally hover over you while you look at things. Personal space bubbles in China are much smaller than they are in the States (practcally non-existent).

Going out with the babies is kind of weird. Paula (the mommy of the twins next door) and I took the kids to the grocery store down the street yesterday. The twins attract a lot of attention. It's weird, because people look at you and the baby and you can see the look of surprise when the faces don't match.

I'd better get going. Mike wants to look at some news and we should get the computer back to the neighbors. Here are some more pictures.

One more thing: Ellla wants me to add: Happy Birthday, Grandma!


Here's Ella being cute. She has some delays but seems to be overcoming them by leaps and bounds.

























Here's Mike celebrating his first ever diaper change. Ella says he did a good job.



























Ella often sleeps spread-eagle. She looks like a little star. We think it's because she can--she's not all bundled up and it's warm. (It's a damn cute sight.)












There are only about half a dozen people who can truly appreciate this photo. But yes, those are The Orange Shorts. I was not present when this photo was taken.