The Zoe Chronicles

Big news this morning: we've got POOP! Yup, we (Zoe, not us) had our first poop in 2 days. She woke up at 3:30 this morning with a special delivery. We've been waiting on this since Monday so everyone is pretty happy.


Another big development- we got our first smile from her this morning. It amazing to watch the transition that these children go through over the course of the week. Some of them shut down completely, others are inconsolable screamers and some, like our girl, just give you the stink eye for 3 days while they try to figure out if you're ok. Keep in mind, we still get the stink eye from her, but it's mixed in with a few smiles now :-)

So, we tried to capture that first smile, but it went by pretty quickly.

What we've learned about Zoe Lu:

• She eats well. Formula several times a day as well as soft foods like "fruit paste" and congee (rice porridge).
• She belches like a sailor.
• She can't sit up on her own (she's a bit of a noodle).
• She can brace herself with her legs when you stand her up.
• She can hold objects in boths hands.
• She follows sounds and people around the room (especially daddy-- we always have to know where Baba went.)
• She sleeps VERY well. Not counting our first night with her, she goes to bed very easily and sleeps through the night.
• She snores.
• She doesn't have the ear piercing, high-pitched scream that most babies have when hysterical. Instead, our daughter growls like a tiger. Yup. I'm not kidding. We call it her "Grr" face.
• She is just getting her first tooth (bottom-middle).

We met with the doctor on Monday night and he checked her out. She weighs 16 pounds and is not too far behind developmentally. Nearly all the kids in the group have a bad case of scabies, which is a very itchy rash. But we brought RX meds for the condition and were given the go-ahead to treat her last night. We gave her bath then slathered this smelly cream over her whole body- she was not happy about this. The condition should clear up in a few days.

Our guide took all of the familes to Walmart last night. Yup, there's Walmart here. It's actually right next to the KFC. We bought more diapers and stocked up on snacks. They sell some very interesting items in the supermarkets here. Right next to the steak-flavored Cheetos, they had bags of "Squid Chips." I'm bringing some of those back for everyone :-}

We've finished all of our ''official" business in Nanchang so we have a couple of free days before heading out on Friday. Our guides arranged for a dressmaker to come to the hotel today and this afternoon we're going to check out one of the oldest pagodas in the area (if the weather clears up).