Day 8 (The Pavillion, Guizhou Museum)

Today was a good day!  Charlotte is feeling a little better than she was (hoping it was just a stress cold), though I was in the shower when she woke this morning, which caused an early morning meltdown!  I was able to calm her down pretty quickly.  She and Sam are making progress in the bonding department, though she still preferrs me, which I am ok with. : )

We had a good breakfast with some of the other families, which are now like family.  Charlotte seems to brighten up when we are out of the hotel room and around others.  She ate more than just carbs today, which made me glad (three bites of eggs!), but nothing makes her happier than a big bowl of slurpy noodles!  You should hear her squeal!  She is very clean when she eats and asks me in her own way to roll up her sleeves and push up her bracelet,  We have her wear a bib, but she really doesn't need it.  THe other day, I was pouring some juice into her sippy cup and I spilled some - oh, how she fussed at me!  I had to laugh!  Her favorite phrase is, " Uh oh, spaghetti-oh!"  which sounds like, "Uh oh, spu yay yee yah!"  : )  She has been talking up a storm at me in mandarin and even singing a little today.  When she plays she whispers quietly to herself in a very serious tone.  She loves to get dressed in the morning and is great about being put in the baby carrier.

We went to the Pavillion as it is called, today.  It appears to be a place to read, study, drink tea, exercise and visit with friends.   They were selling some spinning tops (I really don't know how else to describe them) that you hit with a whip at the Pavillion.  Charlotte is not a fearful child, and she loves the sound of the tops being hit by the whips.  I was able to convinvce Sam to buy a small one for Charlotte (as did some of the other families).  I am hoping that someday someone can teach her how to do this.  Mostly men do it for upper body strength, but today a lady was doing it. It seems like it would be really good stress relief.  We are fairly certain that this top, whip exercise thing is found mainly in this area.  I'm glad we have one, even if she never does use it.  It is one of those things that I will alawys associate with Guiyang and one of the first things I saw her get excited about.

She seemed a little restless at the Pavillion, so I decided to let her out of the carrier to walk since it wasn't very busy, like Beijing.  She had too much fun going up and down the stairs lie the older kids!  She laughed and sqealed the whole time, only wanting to be picked up now and then.  Speaking of stairs, we got a lot of stares today!  People were stopping and looking at us trying to figure out what all of these foreigners were doing with all of these Chinese babies!  Most of the people seem very kind and supportive when our guide explains what is going on.  Many of the grandparents with grandchildren will stop and smile at us or say hello, or have us take a picture with the baby. : )

The Pavillion was pretty, Charlotte and the other children were so cute and I wish I had more pictures, but I am now mostly caring for Charlotte in my awake hours and Sam has the camera and is not nearly as inspired by things as often as I am, so less pictures. : ) 

After the Pavillion, we went to a small local museum and gift shop.  The museum focused on the Miao ethnic group (we still can't find out which ethnic group C is in - probably not Miao) which was really interesting, except C was fussy and I wasn't cluing in to the fact that she needed to potty, which we eventually did, and C is a squatty potty champ, unlike her mother.  The smell and level of cleanliness in there was just about too much for me, and I almost threw away C's shoes afterwards.

Back to the museum...  it had some very nice gifts in it in all price ranges and we were able to buy C a few gifts for the future for very reasonable prices, though I am now regretting not getting her and FL some silver bracelets.  I was too focused on C, who was very restless and I could NOT trust out of the carrier.  If you are traveleing here soon, I would plan to buy gifts here.  The items were different and all seemed reasonably priced (unlike many places in Beijing) and there was no pressure to buy anything and no one followed us around.

When we got back to the hotel, some of the children played together and the sweet U family gave C a prune, which she surprisingly ate, and a yogurt drink (which is probably anything but yogurt) which she loved.  Prunes and yogurt drinks will be on our shopping list!  Another family offered us some ramen and C had a meltdown when she saw it she wanted it so badly!  Needless to say, I have thrown all of my food rules out of the window and we are doing whatever works, which the prune did, by the way. : )

The little Princess is now waking up from her nap and requires me, so I'll leave you with a picture or two that I managed to take (she knows what a camera is and actually poses herself, btw).

I hope to eventually catch up on posting during nap times, which are fairly predictable, but we'll see if the VPN and wi fi cooperate!

Thanks for reading!

Things I'm glad I brought:

* Kleenex with lotion

* Sanitizing wipes (DO NOT come here without them  DO NOT!)

* Clothes for C that I can layer/change for the weather

* Pretzels (C loves them)

* Emergen C - I've been able to sneak this into C's juice

* baby carrier - everyone is using one, all different brands, we have an ergo

THIngs I wish I had:

* Prunes

* Applesauce pouches (the other kids here love them for snack)

* Tissue just for the toilet - most public ones here do not have any

* "boogie wipes" which are saline wipes that do not chap little noses