Nihao.

Today was a rainy, stay-in day. Ben Rui is still with a cold and as it rained almost all day, we stayed in our room, venturing out for breakfast.

The excitement today was getting our guide to ask room service for fried noodles (in the US it’s called lo mein). We got two plates worth and it was a beautiful thing. This was the highlight of the day.

The low light, the ultra-low light came at Ben’s bedtime, when he didn’t care for the plan to put him in his crib, even though he was exhausted. How much didn’t he care? 30 minutes of squirming around the crib with an awesome crying tantrum. I’ve seen time crawl at work, but this was some kind of magic to get 30 minutes to feel like several hours. And the crawling/squirming thing . . . quite fascinating to watch. Head at the top, feet at the bottom. Head to the side, feet out the other side. Head at the bottom, feet . . . where are his feet? How’d they get . . . there he’s off again. Head at the top, crushed in the corner, feet all over the place, arms flailing, voice wailing. Good God man, make it stop!

We agreed not to give in and pick him up because as soon as we’d put him down, he would probably start all over again. Nancy tried this theory and it proved true: she picked him up, the crying ceased. She put him down, the crying commenced. So we let him cry it out. Not the most pleasant thing to do in a hotel, but as it was only 7 pm, we figured no one would be sleeping. When he finally fell asleep, the silence was deafening, but golden.

Otherwise, we spent the day playing with him, watching him figure things out, and getting him to smile. We fed him, changed him, fed him some more, and changed him again. When I say we, I mean both of us. I’m fine changing the “pee diapers”, but the “poo diapers”? Not so much.

So it turns out little 16-month old Ben can fart with the power of a hurricane. Good God. And I was kneeling behind him at one point. You know . . . things like that shouldn’t happen to anyone. Watering eyes, burning nostrils . . . the works.

It’s 10 pm and we’re mostly packed for our trip to Guangzhou. Hard to believe that although we’ve waiting for this day, it’s almost upon us. It’ll be Ben’s first time on a plane (heck, his first time anywhere outside of Huai’an or Nanjing) and I’m hoping the two-hour flight goes smoothly. At least all he has to do is sit there and be wheeled through the airport and onto the plane. We have to juggle a ton of stuff we’ve never had to, including feeding him, changing him, keeping him amused, getting the stroller on the plane as a carry-on, dealing with cabin pressure changes to his little ears, and other things I haven’t thought of. Fingers crossed that our “guide” can help us get through the airport with a minimum of difficulty. Our last guide told the check-in person that we were overweight because we had stuff for a baby. This time it’ll be a bit more obvious. I can only imagine wheeling the stroller with the carry-ons while holding the baby under one arm.

So this is it. Our last night in Nanjing. Our next stop should be another 10 degrees warmer and much more adoption friendly. When next I/we write, we’ll be at our final destination before heading home. We get to meet up with the other families we met in Beijing and exchange “war” stories of our time in the provinces. I can say with a degree of certainty that the next time we’re here in China, I want to have a much better grasp on the language. More than hello, thank you, and excuse me.

To all of you who have put up comments, xiexie. To all you faithful readers, thanks for keeping us company on this magical mystery tour!


Peace,
Gary . . .

P.S.: Ben is still awesome, cute, and very intelligent (just so you don’t think I’m forgetting the new dad essentials!).