A Few More Days-A Few More Glimpses

A few more days have passed and we are getting know our little girl a little bit more each day. Here are a few tidbits about her:
When she first wakes up in the morning she is very grumpy and her body is like a limp noodle.
When people see us out in public they often comment about what an "easy" baby she is, when we are in the room by ourselves she is a tiger.
She can pull up in her crib.
She likes being wheeled around in the stroller and grunts when not in motion.
Her hair will not lay flat, don't even try.
She tolerates having her nose wiped a little better if we make a fun noise when doing it. Dave is much at this task, I get a little unnerved after the 400th wiping of the day and lose my ability to make cartoon-like noises.

Yesterday, Friday, we went to the Guangzhou Zoo. It was a really pretty place, very lush and tropical. The best part about was that it was almost deserted. The people who live here must think that low-70's is very cold because no one was there. It was nice to be somewhere that wasn't filled to capacity. It was a neat zoo, you get to be a little closer to the animals than the zoos at home. There were a few animals that we haven't seen before, camels and the giant panda (more like the giant-asleep blob of black & white fur). The highlight for us was a baboon exhibit and in the same cage with one of the baboons was a dalmation dog! They must be friends. And yes, I started crying about my dogs. Thank goodness it was a slow day for baboon watchers.

After coming back to the hotel we went out and did some serious shopping. Emmy was doing good but started to get cranky so we came back early. She is feeling better, no fever but still a little cough.

The main activity for Dave and I last night was fighting through our gritted teeth. He is getting on my nerves and I only say that because I can type without hesitation that I am getting on his. Living in a hotel room together with a new baby frays the nerves. There are only 4 English TV channels (CNN, Discovery, HBO & Cinemax-which only show duds). There is never anything on to distract us.

Fortunately we all got a good nights sleep thanks to Miss Emmy giving us a break and sleeping 8.5 hours straight.

Today she had her Medical Exam that is necessary in order to get her Visa. It wasn't too bad. We basically had to go to three separate exam stations and have some routine things done-weight & height, hearing, and a physical exam. The physical exam doctor made an issue of her cough. But she didn't have a temperature so I didn't think it was a big deal. Later in the day he called our guide and questioned her health which could have meant that they wouldn't give us a Visa until after she had a hospital stay (they are very concerned about things like this after the SARS outbreak and the Bird Flu isn't helping matters). Our guide assured him that she was feeling better and since she had no temperature it shouldn't be a big deal. Then he asked if we had given her any Tylenol that morning. Fortunately I hadn't. So everything should be okay.

After the exam we walked to the Shaiman park. Since it was a weekend morning it was filled with people doing activities. Some were doing Tai Chi exercises. Some were doing ballroom dancing. There was a group of women singing. It was so cool. Dave and I talked about how incredibly homesick we are but we will both be truly sad when we leave here.