Pearls and parks

Hi Everyone,


Sorry we didn’t make it to posting yesterday. We started the day thinking we would skip the trip to the Pearl and Jade market. Yes, after I raved so much about wanting to go—I was ready


to kick back, take Josie Dong Dong to a nearby park, and play instead. But, it was raining (it is raining again today as well) so Wim said he wanted us to go and we went. I think he was a little sorry we went after we got there, because once there, I decided I was going to buy a little something here and there.

It was a nice trip, a 4-story mall filled with jewelry stores. Our guide pointed out the ones that were the best quality. I only bought a little bit and then we strolled around the mall.




(Our group meeting on the first floor of the Jade and Pearl Market)


(Reena and Josie Dong Dong in front of a Pearl Shop)


(Reena Picking out pearls)



Josie Dong Dong is a good traveler. We bring her food and diapers and she will eat and nap wherever. She is not fussy at all, which is very nice. She is a very happy baby, not really very fussy- only a little bit every now and then and so far, it hasn’t last very long. We keep waiting for a big fit to happen.

She did wake up fussy at 1:30 am last night and would not go back to sleep. I woke up Wim and asked him to try to soothe her. I got a great big whiney, "why?!" from the Dong Dong Daddy. She ended up sleeping in bed with us—hopefully it will not turn into a trend. We’ll see what happens tonight.


Today we went to a children’s park for a little while, until it started raining too hard. Our guide told us we were going to a park; I envisioned slides, swing sets—that kind of stuff. They had a mini roller coaster, tilt-whirl- like ride that was shaped like dolphins, and a bunch of other amusement style rides. There was also a big lake/pond with little paddleboats and motorized boats you could use.
















Unfortunately, it was raining so all of these things were closed.
It is amazing to see the differences between China and the US. The park, for instance, was quite busy with older folks doing tai chi, walking with umbrellas, playing Mah Jong, and ballroom dancing. You rarely see folks so busy in a park in the US.




(Jencie and Emma-
two girls who are in our group)










Josie is really getting use to having a Daddy and she is starting to figure out that Daddies are pretty cool. He can pick her up so that she is taller than everyone else around. I think she really likes that. Tomorrow we are going to a city that is about an hour drive from GZ, called Foshan Nanhai City. We will get to see some mountains along the way.

Wim:
The park we visited, called Six Lakes Park was really very well kept. There was a guy in a wooden boat and upon looking at him, we realized that he was actually picking up floating leaves that had dropped in the water. Not a weed in sight either. One thing you notice in China is that people are always working around you, even when you go to the bathroom. On the Great Wall these masons were doing repairs and had to tolerate so much interruption from traffic. People also are very public about their exercise and musical endeavors, and do not become self-conscious about our observing and snapping photos.



I am very happy that Josie is warming up to me though she will cry loudly if Mommy disappears for too long – like 3 minutes. However, with Mom in sight, we have a ball. She calls Reena Momma more often and she has called me ‘aaayeee’ – so I think I have been promoted to auntie/nanny. Josie seems so on target with her emotional expression, verbalization and fine motor skills, but she is very wobbly on her legs and would prefer to just be held all the time, more like a baby just under a year. Other children that are close in age are walking but not emoting or verbalizing as much. All are making huge strides though. It really is remarkable. We took Josie into the French Wal-Mart again and a week later she is looking around and curious. In her first visit after only having her a day, she had her eyes fixed on the floor and would not look up at all. It was so sad that first day because you knew how frightened she must have been.


Now she is a bit of a ham and even her coyness and outcries seem to be less sincere and more part of ‘body of work’ that keeps us engaged. We are feeling increasingly grateful to her nanny who obviously was critical to her development. Her focus on the face to face face interaction as opposed to the gross motor skills is fine by us assuming there were limits to the amount of time she could spent. As we have learned, Josie is very convincing and has so much personality that when she wants to just groove with you sitting on the floor, you just gotta go along. She’s making up for lost time.


Reena:
Now it is almost 10:00 pm and Josie Dong Dong does not seem anywhere near ready for bed. We tried the Benadryl to see how she might react as I may want to use it for the plane ride home. We gave it to her about 40 minutes ago and now she is playing up a storm with her stacking cups. I guess the Benadryl is out of the question. Time to go live the night-life with our little party girl.


Reena and Wim