Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Kunming, Day 3


Our guide planned for us to go to the Kunming Zoo, but we decided to lay low and just get to know Mei Lin today. We've been on the go since arriving in China and we're all pretty tired.

The weather took a turn for the worse today and it's cold and rainy. We went out for lunch near the Green Lake area and then onto WalMart. We needed to buy some diapers, wipes, formula, cups, etc. Megan found a whole candy section and decided to buy some. It was more complicated than simply loading up a bag of candy. Each candy had a category for price and had to be put in a separate basket. The meat department had very fresh meat...even live creatures.

Mei Lin decided late yesterday that she only likes daddy and Miyah. She's even hit me and yelled at me when I've tried to hold her. I know that children bond to one parent at a time...she just needs time. The strategy is for me to be the "nice guy" and feed her and give her goodies. These evening I was feeding her some delicious oranges we bought at WalMart (Kunming has awesome fruit!) and she toddled over and gave me a big smile and kiss.

Mei Lin doesn't seem to like formula or a bottle. We're having a hard time finding things she likes to drink. We've tried several kinds of bottles and warm, cold, and in-between temperature drinks. So far we haven't gotten much down her, but she does love broth and eats rather well.

Grace and Mei Lin are both close to walking. I think they will be by the time we get home.

We discovered that Mei Lin is a finger sucker. Hand her a blankie and her fingers go in her mouth with a bit of blankie tucked between the upper lip and fingers. So far she's been a good sleeper.

I gave an orphanage official a book of questions about Mei Lin to answer and Elsie has translated them for us. It looks like Mei Lin lived in a foster home from 7-14 months with two older boys (the parent's bio. sons), and two other foster children (one of them being Grace). The family are rice and vegetable farmers and they apparently smoked (ugh!), but it is obvious that they took very good care of her. She seems healthy and happy.

1 comment:

Patricia said...

We were just DTC on March 30, 2007, so we still have a wait! We are also using CHI. It has been so exciting to follow your journey to Mei Lin. She is beautiful!