China Trip - December 14, 2004
Today, we had a much more relaxing day. We spent the day learning more about Elisa. We learned that Elisa comforts herself by sucking on the sleeve of her pajama blanket. Always her right sleeve, and she uses her left hand to move the right hand. She does not take a pacifier, at least not yet. When she gets sleepy, she also goes into a little ritual, crouching down like she's praying to Mecca, and rocking herself quite forcefully. We're always trying to keep her from hitting the sides with her head. So we're glad we have the bumpers for the crib at home. Elisa slept from 8:30 pm clear through to 7am, with only a few minutes of fussing between 4-5am. After all the commotion of Gotcha Day, she must have been exhausted. But we're keeping our fingers crossed that the good sleeping pattern is a regular thing.
We're still using the small bottle that the orphanage gave us. We started off using the Nestle formula that the orphanage uses, and are transitioning to a 50-50 mix with the formula we brought from home. She definitely likes a good bottle! We also notice that she likes to hold on to toys, sometime two or three at a time.
We went down for the excellent breakfast buffet at the hotel. It was like Sunday brunch, with a huge selection of Chinese and Western items. They set up many high chairs, knowing the babies were staying at the hotel. Elisa lasted in the high chair for about ten minutes. Not yet a fan of Cheerios. We gave her some Kanje mixed with milk and sugar, and some eggs. Neither was a big hit.
A bevy of Xiushan beauties. Most of the other babies are 9-12 months old, so Elisa is the senior baby at 14 months.
At 10am, we climbed on the bus and took the babies to the Chongqing Zoo to see the panda bears and the tigers. We dressed up Elisa in her new snow suit and hat from Zia Linda.
Elisa looks like a Russian Princess in that hat. It was a big hit with the local population, who stare at us curiously as we walk around. Notice the tiger in the background.
As we toured the city by bus, we saw an absolutely amazing amount of construction, particularly of new modern condominium buildings. The modern buildings are adjacent to the old, crumbling buildings. China is growing very rapidly.
