This morning we took Molly Kate for her physical. Other than still being a little congested from bronchitis, everything checked out fine. At 18 months, she weighs 21.3 lbs. and is 30 inches tall----VERY small for her age. She is HEALTHY, though, and is an excellent eater!!!
After we were finished with Molly Kate's physical, we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. Of course, for me, that meant SHOPPING!!!! We are staying at the White Swan Hotel---the final destination for all adopting families. It is quite a luxury hotel, and is located on Shamien Island, beside the Pearl River. We have the most beautiful view from our 9th story room of the the river. There are blocks and blocks of shops here on the island with lots of REALLY cute clothes and shoes for babies. I am in HOG HEAVEN!!!!!! We did a lot of walking today, checking out the shops to see which have the best deals. I did buy an authentic silk Chinese outfit for Molly Kate to wear for the RED COUCH picture of all the adopted girls in our travel group. There is a red couch in the lobby here at the hotel----actually, there are a BUNCH of red couches here and every travel group takes pictures on it before they leave. I also bought her three pairs of shoes. It's hard to believe that the stores have the CUTEST leather shoes for little girls for $5! Since all the shoes I've already bought for her are all too big, I have an excuse to buy MORE!!!! I'm also trying to buy something special to give her each year on her GOTCHA DAY until she is 18.
I have to tell you about our BIG ADVENTURE of the day. I can't remember if I've mentioned it in any of my other entries, but Molly Kate is potty trained. In China, potty training is started at about age four days old. The information we received about Molly Kate said that she used a potty chair. The hotel in Nanchang provided potty chairs for the rooms. It was obvious when we first sat her on it, she knew exactly what she was supposed to do. Well, the White Swan Hotel DOESN'T provide potty chairs, so we knew last night we had a problem. Molly Kate woke up twice during the night because of a dirty diaper, and it was obvious she was really distressed about it. It was the first night she hadn't slept all night. We asked Maggie, our guide, where we might be able to buy a potty chair. She told us we would have to hire a taxi and she gave us directions written in Chinese to give to the driver to take us to a variety store that would have them. SO, we set off on our journey, in a taxi---a story in itself----to the variety store to buy a potty chair. We arrived at our destination. Maggie had told us to go DOWN the escalator when we got there. She just didn't tell us how FAR to go down. Let me tell you, it's NOT EASY to find a potty chair in a multi-level store full of people who don't speak English!!! Luckily for us, Maggie had written "potty chair" in Chinese on a piece of paper. Even with that, though, it took FOREVER to find one. Once we did, there were two choices---a small blue one that Molly Kate's little bottom would have fallen right in, or a nice pink and white one that looked like a minature chair. We decided the pink and white one would be the best. We picked up a few more items, and headed for the check out. Sounds simple, RIGHT? WELL, we couldn't find the checkout!!! We walked and walked, until we finally found someone who spoke enough English who told us we had to go down a level to check out, which was actually in the grocery store. (By the way, I'm leaving out the details of me trying to get on an off and escalator NUMEROUS times with a stroller and a baby!!!) We had already been there looking for the potty chair, and I had gotten Molly Kate's stroller stuck trying to go out of the store in one of the exit aisles. ANYWAY, Roger paid for the potty chair and the other items. However, in China, they don't use bags or sacks, so his option was to put all the additional items he had bought in the hole in the potty seat, and head out. Let me tell you, it takes a dedicated daddy to walk down the street carrying a pink and white potty chair!!!! I've included a picture, in case you can't visualize it!!!!
We rode in a taxi back to the hotel and went walking and shopping some more.
Then, tonight we ate dinnerwith three of the other families in our travel group, and Maggie, our guide, at a really nice Thai Restaurant. When we are with the other families, Molly Kate is usually VERY quiet and shy. Tonight, however, she came out of her shell. She smiled and laughed and babbled and beat her bowl with her spoon, just like all the other little girls were doing!!! THEN, she ate a FULL bowl of chicken and rice porridge! We went for a nice long walk after dinner, in search of a particular store that I never found. Molly Kate fell asleep in her stroller, so we took an extra long walk, and then came back to the room. She slept in her stroller for quite a while.
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| Shop Til You Drop! |
When she woke up, I stripped her down and sat her on her potty chair, in front of the TV. It was SO funny---she sat there for at least 30 minutes watching TV and never fussed. I told Roger today that I think we have about as many pictures of her sitting on her potty chair as we do off of it. She LOVES sitting on it!!! She really is such a good baby. I can't remember whether or not I told you this in my entry about our orphanage visit, but her nanny there told me (translated to me) that Molly Kate is beautiful, smart, and a very good baby. She was SOOOOO right!!!
Molly Kate sounds like a dream! We LOVED Guangzhou! And didn't I warn you about taking taxi rides in China? Ha Ha! I loved the photo of Daddy and big brother carrying that little pink potty. Kerry also will sit on her potty for easily a half hour without getting up even once. I think it's just so trained into them at such a young age.
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