Thursday, November 29, 2012
DAY FOUR (CRANKY DAY) WITH OUR DAUGHTER

We have to call the day, Cranky Day. I guess this as to be expected since Mei-Li did not want to go to sleep last night and we had to get up early to go our medical appointment. I have to say that Mommy and Daddy did learn our lesson and did not repeat the same morning routine mistake as before. We had the bottle prepared; her clothes ready and we were ready before we got her up. So, while she was cranky, the morning wake routine was a success. However our preparedness did not change the fact that she was cranky. She would not walk to breakfast. Mommy had to carrier her; she still will not let Daddy carrier her. At breakfast she would not sit in a high chair; she sat in Mommy lap. She also was quick to cry for what seemed to be nothing.

Somehow we got through breakfast with minimal crying. Mei-Li eat some eggs, watermelon, yogurt, congee (little), all after having a whole bottle. She does love her food. J

After breakfast we headed to Mei-Li’s Medical exam. She loves to look out the window and see all the moving people, vehicles, lights, and animals. The traffic here is unbelievable. If we get up to 30-40 miles an hour, I would say we are flying. For the most part we are inching along at couple of miles an hour. The best way to describe the traffic is “Naples in rush hour traffic without the mopeds.” Instead of mopeds, there are bikes and people walking in the streets with the flow of traffic. It’s interesting to see how much one person can put and balance on a bicycle.

The medical facility is a new building in the business section of Guangzhou. Michael pointed to new construction across the street and said that is the new US Consulate building that is currently be built. The new US Consulate building should be done early next year. That was cool to see. The business section of Guangzhou is new and has a western modern look. Mei-Li did wonderful in the van ride to the medical office. The Medical exam was only about an hour long. Michael did a wonderful job organizing the exam and minimizing the time we spent waiting. Mei-Li was weighed and measured, examined by the general doctor, and the ear, nose and throat specialist. The last station was vaccination station, in which she got her TB test. She did not like getting a shot and who does? – No surprise she started to cry. However, daddy came to the rescue with Cheerios. Yes, she loves Cheerios. So, far she has liked everything we given her to eat. Daddy says we adopted a vacuum cleaner made in China.

We got back to the hotel just in time to give her lunch and put her down for her nap. However when we returned to the room, the room service was just starting on clean up our room. So we got some yogurt and headed down to the children’s playroom. Parenting lesson number #11:

(11) You should not increase a child’s stimuli (e.g. playground) right before nap time, especially when a child is already overly tired and ready for a nap.

She did okay eating and playing but the problem came when it was time to go back to the room to nap. She wanted to stay and play and so the obstinate side came out! Back at the room, she cried her herself to sleep. It only took about 40 minutes of crying. We are praying that God show us how to detail with this and that this will get better.

It was no surprise that Mei-Li slept about 4 hours. She did not get out of bed until almost 5pm. At this point I was concerned about getting her to bed later but I knew she needed the sleep. After getting up she had some applesauce and was ready to play. She played with Daddy for about an hour and half. They played with blocks, TV remote, and dolls. Around 6:40, it was time for her nightly bottle.

Then we decided to take her outside for fresh air. We rented a stroller from the hotel and walked her around the hotel neighborhood. She loves the stroller and being outside. One our way back to the hotel we stopped at the grocery store to get diapers, wipes, batteries for toys and water. The store owner gave Mei-Li a yummy lollypop. She started to suck on it with the wrapper still on. Our final stop before getting back to the hotel was Subway to get sandwiches and Chinese soup for dinner.

After returning to the hotel, Daddy put the batteries into Mei-Li’s animal toy. Mei-Li loves the lights and music as she pushed the buttons. She played with mommy and daddy and when started to mimic some of the animal sounds. Daddy got a little of this on video tape. God is good, he is giving us signs that Mei-Li can hear and speak. Even at the doctor’s today the ENT, said she does not see any problems with her ears. Obviously, this only based on the external exam but still a wonderful report and music to Mommy and Daddy’s ears.

After a little play time, Daddy started to feed Mei-Li the Chinese soup. She took, it from DADDY! Meanwhile, I hid the noisy animal farm toyJ.

Everything was good until bedtime. Again, she did not want to go to sleep. Tonight, we put her down in middle of the bed. Fel lay on one side and I was on the other. She cried for about 30 minutes then went to sleep. The good news is this cry spell was shorter than last night, but still hard to hear/held.

There are two more parenting lessons from today:

(12) Remain consistent. Daddy continues to engage at play time and feeding time to gain trust and this continues to pay off. Mei-Li allowed Daddy to feed her soup and let him pick her up for about two seconds. Daddy loves her but she has not completely accepted him yet.

Daddy’s thoughts: He wonders if God feels this way sometimes with us. He is so willing to pick us up, dote on us, love and hug us. He longs for it. We will take provision from Him even acknowledge his presence but won’t let Him love us the way He wants. Daddy’s arms are big, warm and safe. If Mei-Li would just run into them, daddy will never let her go, but do everything in his power to supply her every need.

Mommy’s thoughts: I just wonder if this is what happens when we are crying to God and he remains consistent with us because he loves us and knows what’s best even when we are not convinced of it yet.

One more lesson today:

(13) Mei-Li needs routine and a set time for bedtime. We (as parents) need to be consistent and not give in, even when it’s hard to hear the crying and we are tired ourselves.

Tomorrow is an off day: we are planning to go shopping – stroller time for Mei-Li!! Please continue to pray for good weather and for our continue bonding as a family!

Oh, please checkout Mei-Li outfit and pigtail with a bow. This is the outfit we tried to wear the another day when we had a poo accident. The pigtail is the first one. She actually loves it. It was very interesting to watch her touch the bow the in her hair and then look and touch the bow in her chinese doll. We actually made it through the day with this outfit and the pigtail/ bow intact.

“O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek, you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that those from earth may strike terror no more” Psalm 10.17-18 (NIV)