Exploring...

Nevin ate a big dinner last night!  I ordered lasagna and I think he ate half of it.  It was more of a saucy and cheesy dish, not quite like we are used to in Canada.  After dinner, I was feeling the effects of jet lag and decided to take our new son out for a walk up to the shopping centre where David found a new stroller earlier in the day.  I am finding that if I walk outside during those jetlagged moments, it really helps me get through. Again were getting plenty of attention.  Many people curious about how we look, and in general, people are drawn our baby.

In front of the shopping centres (which are enormous and bunched together) were plenty of beggars and street performers, and children with ailments begging for money.  It made me feel a little sick to my stomach to see it actually.  We are used to seeing beggars on the streets in Toronto, but none of them look like these people.  They are filthy and sickly looking.  There were two little girls who were contortionists and performing gymnastics.  Bare feet, and again, very dirty.  David said they were there earlier in the day, and we were out around 7:30pm, so they must have been there all day and during the evening.  Their mothers were near by supervising and collection money. I said to David that someone must tell Cirque De Soliel about these children. They are talented little children.  Right between them was a young boy who had what appears to be spina bifida and a badly deformed spine and lower extremities. He was on a skate board, begging for money.  And as we were walking his mother gave him toilet paper and he rode his skateboard over to one of the trees planted in the sidewalk to (I can only assume as I didn't stay to watch) relieve himself in the soil.

I looked down at Nevin in his stroller and was overcome with emotion with the thought of what his life may have been like if he had never been left at the orphanage, or if he had never been adopted and been sent out on his own once he reached 15-- the age limit for life in an institution.  At that moment I was very proud to be his Mummy, and told him what wonderful things are waiting for him.

We headed back to the hotel and gave Nevin another wild bath!  No problem with bath time!  There is no doubt that he is settled very quickly with us, and the attachment continues to both of us, although he stills prefers Mummy for most of the comfort.

We Skyped my best friend before bed, and I had to excuse myself towards the end of the conversation as I was dead tired.  And David and I were in bed asleep before 9:30 and slept until 6:30.

In the morning, I had to wake up Nevin so that his big brother and sister could Skype him.  I get really excited when I know I am going to see them! Nevin is responding to seeing their faces with laughs and giggles. And he met is Nana on Skype this morning as well.  We then had to hurry and shower, and head down for breakfast and be in the lobby for 9am.   It was raining and the temperature was cool-- which I was thrilled!  What a relief from the heat.

Our tour of the Inner Mongolian museum was incredible.  And again, we attracted about as much attention as the displays in the museum.  Two women asked if we could get our picture taken with them.  Another woman followed us around, as Nevin was a little fussy, and I figured he was wanting a bottle.  He kept reaching for me in the stroller so I picked him up, and the woman nearly took him from me.  I think she was just trying to help, but really lady!  Back off!!! I'm a Canadian woman and get  your hands off my baby! I was polite mind you....I thought of my sister in law during this moment.  Enough said, right Kelley?

We walked out to the hallway and found a place to sit, and the woman again followed us out to watch .  I fed Nevin, and she stood there watching. Smiling and cooing at Nevin, but REALLY!

On the way home from the museum broke my heart.  Nevin is actually cutting four teeth as I've discovered.  Three on the bottom and a molar on the top.  He suddenly tried to stuff both his hands in his mouth and started to howl in pain.  It was a blood curdling cry.  I felt tonnes of guilt as I had forgotten to put the Tylenol in my bag this morning in the flutter of getting out the door in time.  What was interesting about this incident is that he reached for both of us for comfort while he was struggling with the pain.  He cried all the way back to the hotel, and allowed us to provide whatever means of comfort we could provide for him.  I did cry with him, as I couldn't take the pain away and it ripped my heart in half to see him like that.  Still now while I'm writing this blog, I get a little teary.  He's my son, and I couldn't take away the pain, and it hurt me terribly.

When we got back to the hotel, we couldn't get to the front door.  There were cars everywhere.  All I wanted to do was get my little boy in teething agony up the room so I could take care of him.  We finally got to the door and realized there was a wedding at the hotel and the bride was standing in the lobby.  She was beautiful and was wearing white.  I thought red was the traditional colour of choice for brides in China, but obviously this was a bride with westernized fashion sense.  She was beautiful and her groom was very handsome. Nevin was distracted and stopped crying and we went up to the room to dig for medicine.

David was playing with Nevin on the floor (which Nevin LOVES to do with his Daddy-- it is so sweet to see him playing with David, and he does reach for him to be picked up) and we heard what we thought was fireworks.  And sure enough, they laid a pile of fireworks just below our window at the driveway of the hotel and lit them.  Some were flying right in front of our window!  It was exciting and Nevin wasn't sure about all the noise.  Its a tradition to set off fireworks for a  wedding.

He went to sleep for his nap without much problem as the Tylenol provided some relief.  Tomorrow, we have a shopping day planned with our guide and I will be sure to bring our meds and maybe even give him a dose before we leave.  I don't want him to go through that again, our poor little guy....or should I say, our poor BIG guy!