Not just another Monday in Nanchang

Nanchang Monday 10-31-11


Jewel is a great sleeper. We were told she wakes at 5am and goes to bed at 7pm. With a one hour nap at 10 and another nap later about 1 ½ hours long. This morning she awoke ready to get up. During the night there were several small cries but I just pulled her closer to me and with a few pats she was right back asleep. When she woke for the day she found Baba and I had changed rooms and he was sleeping next to her. Didn’t seem to phase her in the least. A little grumpy bedhead and then we got ready super fast to run down to the breakfast buffet. Time for showers and dressing after breakfast before our guide, Maggie, picks us up at 8:30 am.

The grief most of the children have is very real and manifests in different ways. Some children scream, pinch, bite, try to run away, refuse one parent or shut down. Our poor baby Jewel was shut down. She would look around but we still hadn’t seen her even attempt to use her hands which she keep closed in little fists. We were told she can crawl and stand but not walk. Have not seen any sign of either of those milestones. No playing or touching of any kind. I’m glad we had read up on these issues and were not worried. If anyone said Mama she would cry and look around. It is also the only word we were told she knows how to say. She did say Mama several times but was not looking for me. I feel so sad for her foster mom as well. I did everything in my power to meet or get information about us to her with no success. Foster parents are usually only allowed to keep the children until the next age stage. Once Jewel was walking she would most likely have moved to a different caregiver. But its nice to know she loves and was loved instead of the alternative of being in the orphanage where caregivers are busy with overwhelming numbers of children.


I decided to give her a bath after a great long nap around 11am. It seems to be a turning point. During the bath she reached out to touch and then grab a toy. Eventually she had two toys knocking them together. This seems like such a small thing for the average US 14 month old but to us it was huge. Dustin came into the bathroom and snapped a couple of pictures but she didn’t seem to want to play in front of him so he left. As the day continued she came more and more alive. Touching things and making it clear she wanted to be held 100% of the time. We could use ear plugs for diaper changes. She doesn’t seem to care most of the time which of us is holding her. The boys said while playing with her on the bed she crawled towards a toy. I didn’t see it and we haven’t seen any signs of crawling so maybe they were just being hopeful?

As we prepared for bed, after that horrible diaper changing again, D was holding her while I prepared a second bottle. And when I held out my arms and said come to Mama she reached for me. What a change a day makes!
　
After our last paperwork appointment we borrowed a stroller from the hotel. The supermarket, RT Mart, is a few blocks down the street. We arrived one day early remember to scope out the area. RT Mart is located in a mall. You take an escalator with no steps to each floor with your cart. The 3^rd floor is baby supplies and all kinds of Wal-Mart type items. The second floor is food. Live fish , turtles and frogs just waiting to be pointed at by the consumer. Perhaps you can even catch your own, we couldn’t tell. Our family received many more stares than usual as we strolled with our 2 boys and 1 baby girl. This is a huge family that only a very rich man could afford to care for. It is also not common for Chinese babies to be out and about. D saw one older woman look like she was commenting on Jewel (probably her lack of enough layers) but the women with her pointed at our boys. Like "Look, they have raised two already. They know what they are doing." But whatever was said no one tried to reprimand us. She was wearing two shirts, warm leggings and a blanket tucked all around her. Did I mention the rest of us were in short sleeves? It was a warm 70 degrees probably. I was even hot in the RT Mart. I think we are abandoning our jackets and long sleeve shirts here. We brought things we never planned on bringing home and Guangzhou is even hotter than Nanchang. We picked up some additional formula and baby food for the train ride. Wouldn’t want to run out there.

Tomorrow we check out of the hotel by 2pm and our guide picks us up at 4:30 to go to the train station. Our train leaves at 6pm headed for Guangzhou. Unlike the other train this one has 11 stops throughout the night. Our stop is the 12^th and final stop of the line. This is important because stops in the middle of the run only have 2 minutes to board or disembark and we need more than that. So both of our trains I chose have us as the first and last stop of each run. The train station in Nanchang was nothing like the one in Beijing. I don’t remember seeing any type of waiting room, paid or not. But we will be fine. Adventure is our middle name, right?