3.24.09 Walk in the pedestrian street...

Thank you for your e-mails. We've read them all and enjoyed reading them. It is nice to know that you are following us in our journey. Keep reading our posts. We'll continue to update everyday and post pictures. Just excuse me sometimes when I'm not making sense, I am just running out of English :).

The weather today is much better than yesterday. The sun actually came out and it is a beautiful day, perfect for our walk. Most families join in the walk with babies in their strollers with our local and CHI guides, Mary and Elsie, respectively. We left at 10:00 am after we ate breakfast at the buffet. Maelyne really enjoyed her ride. At the pedestrian street, there's a lot of shopping stores at the bottom floor of the buildings and looks like there are residents or maybe offices on upper floors. While we were walking, we drew some crowds to take a peek at the babies or maybe just have not seen foreigners (Caucasian) before. It was like we are celebrities and being mobbed by the paparazzi. For me and Henry, they thought we are also one of them so they did not care about us. However, Maelyne got a lot of attention, they are speaking of course in Chinese but we think they are saying, "she's very cute" :). There were 2 little boys came at different times, to say hello to Maelyne and thought that was neat! She is already liked by boys. Uh oh.. The walk was nice and just what we needed to breath on some fresh air. Some of us separated ways and on our way to the hotel, we stopped by the market to buy more groceries. Here in China, if you go grocery shopping, you have to bring your own bags or buy them at the store and bag your groceries yourself. So we made sure we brought the bags we bought from Walmart yesterday.
At the market, I wanted to buy a conditioner (believe it or not I have not used conditioner since we got to China, only the shampoo and conditioner in one that the hotel provides, but not the same as using those 2 separately), I asked the saleslady to help me find it but could not tell because she doesn't speak English, everything is written in Chinese. (Our guides were not with us since we we came to the market on our own). She was able to find someone that can translate in English (I think a Chinese customer also), so I am happy to get the pantene brand.
Maelyne seemed to enjoy shopping but she was getting fussy so we had to get back to the hotel quickly after paying for our groceries. Remember, in my last post she has not pooed? Well today, she is really trying to go but she's constipated we think. It was heartbreaking to listen to her cries (we both cried, too), but we did our best to comfort her. I called Mary, our local guide and said she'll buy suppository at the pharmacy. Lo and behold, she came up to our room with the stuff in about 10-15 minutes and that thing worked magic. Maelyne was relieved and so we are. She slept peacefully and we were able to relax. Thank God! They said, babies born in China are potty trained early so they don't wear diapers for a long time because they are expensive and not a lot of parents can afford it especially in the orphanages. Mary showed us the way to hold her when we think she needs to go so next time we'll use that trick. In addition, Elsie, the CHI coordinator said we should give her chrisanthemum tea to help the constipation and she went and got a package for us. We're happy and appreciative of all the help from everyone in our group.
After Maelyne woke up from her nap after 2 hours or so, we fed her with rice cereal mixed with apple paste. She must be hungry she almost finished everything in the bowl. She also drank apple juice from her bottle. She was happy and ready to play. She loves her musical toys and the ones that rattle. She is now more confy with us and must have found her comfort zone. As if we've had her for a long time now. She's a quick learner. She knows the "give me five and high five, which she only learned yesterday. She's been talking to us, laughing, smiling to us and at other people and really curious about everything. When she sees a new object, she demands to touch or hold or feel it otherwise she'll be screaming. We were in the playroom after her meal and she was really active. We put her in the walker and mostly she did is move sidewards and backward. We taught her to move forward and hopefully she'll remember. Henry showed her to throw balls but she did not quite made it yet.
At dinner tonight at the hotel's Sampan Seafood Restaurant with the Connels and the Epleys, she was getting the waitresses attention. She seems sociable. She was happy with the food, too. She had noodles and fried rice this time.
Putting her to bed was a little hard again but she was able to sleep around 9:30 pm.

Here are some of her happy moments:

Maelyne found a new friend...

Enjoying the ride during the walk...

Maelyne loves to shop...

Trying to walk with the walker...

Trying to throw the balls...

Slide time...