China Trip - December 21, 2004
Another cold day in Beijing. Today we dressed Eliza in a black top (thanks to Sandra!) that brings out her eyes. She is eating and eating and eating, and her cheeks and belly are getting rounder because of it. This morning, Vicki went with the group on the bus to do some heavy duty shopping at the Silk Factory, a government-run factory and retail place. I stayed back in the room and played "Mr. Mom". We have a great time, except for a little accident when I spilled a whole bottle of formula -- fortunately only on the tiles in the bathroom. Other that that, I did pretty well, including playtime, putting her down for a nap, feeding her a ton of steamed eggs, clipping her finger nails (a matter of personal protection!), doing a heavy duty diaper change, dressing her in her snow suit, and taking her in a taxi cab to meet the group at a restaurant for lunch. Kind of a Daddy Decathlon. We got to the restaurant right on time, with two extra warm bottles and even clean nostrils.
The lunch restaurant offered entertainment in the form of Chinese folk dancers.
After lunch, we took our bus to the most famous shop for Pearls, where we did some real damage. Excellent deals on pearls, so we got a bunch. They seat you at a table and bring pearls to you, and give you little water bottles.
Notice the picture of Laura Bush with the store owner. The shop also had similar pictures of Bill Clinton, Colin Powel, Dick Cheney's wife, and various other U.S. government dignitaries that have been to the store.
On the way back to the bus from the Pearl shop, Elisa is in the stroller, buried inside her snowsuit holding a bottle in one hand and with her other hand positioned so she could push down the flap to see out or to play peek-a-boo.
Back on the bus, Elisa is happy to be freed from the confines of the snowsuit.
Back at the hotel, they had a piano player playing in the lobby. Here's the view of the lobby from the elevator as we went up to the room.
The group organized a dinner outing to a "food court", but we decided to hand around the room tonight. So I went to the nearby Pizza Hut and we got some thin crust and deep dish carry out pizza, while Vicki ordered noodles and steamed eggs for Eliza from room service.
We had a great party until a few minutes ago, when I finished my half-hour of laps in the dark with Elisa in my arms to get her to fall asleep. After 15 minutes of laps, I though I had the job done. So I laid her down carefully in the crib, where she laid silently for about ten seconds before loudly declaring "BA!", as if to say "bah-humbug to sleeping!". Then she stood up and after a bit of playing around, raised her arms to have me pick up and do more laps.
This parenting stuff can be tiring! Good night!