So, needless to say, we had a rough morning. We were just about to leave our room, to meet for the shuttle bus (for our US consulate appointment), but I had to change a poopy diaper (funny how they always manage to do it right when you need to go!). Abram was so mad and thrashing around, that I said, “forget it..maybe later he’ll settle down and let me”. Once we were in the lobby and waiting, we had a bit of time, so Jeff took him to the bathroom. I could hear Abram screaming and crying….poor Jeff. I’m getting the feeling that Abram is so loud, that everyone in our hotel is starting to recognize his voice. I guess Abram fits into our home/house hold all that much more!
Our appointment went fine, nothing exciting to tell about. Tomorrow (late) we will get his visa. Yeah!! That’s the final step before leaving.
After we got back and had another full blown fit in public (one Chinese woman stared at us for what seemed like an eternity), we grabbed something for Abram to eat and headed for our room to put him down for a nap. Every nap time and at night, either Jeff or I will rock him and sing to him until he is asleep. As we set him down, if he wakes up, he will immediately arch his back and start screaming. There have been times that we’ve had to let him cry it out (because we tried and tried), but lately he seems to calm down faster and fall asleep. It will be nice to eventually get into a routine, something we both miss.
Even though his tantrums aren’t any fun (no one’s are), we are so thankful that we’ve experienced this MANY times before with our other 2 children. Abram’s motives and feelings might be different than our biological children…but the tantrum still looks the same. It’s wearing, emotionally exhausting, and sometimes physically exhausting, but it’s to be expected from a toddler…especially a toddler that’s undergoing HUGE change. I keep praying that God will help me to be sensitive and discerning through it all.
During Abram’s nap, I “shooed” Jeff out the door, he needed a break! He was able to make some purchases at the shops (that we looked at yesterday) and to pick up Subway for lunch. He needed a chance to walk around without carrying Abram around with him. Much to our disappointment, Abram only napped for 40 minutes today and wouldn’t go back to sleep.
This afternoon, I left the boys and ran to a spa that’s a few blocks away. I’ve had a few different people tell me about the 70 minute foot massage, for only $11(US). Oh my, was it ever….wonderful? Ticklish? Painful? It was all of that. To start out, they brought in a bucket of scalding hot liquid (the color of coffee, but smelled of Chinese herb). They had to cool the water before my feet could handle it. Then they brought in hot tea for me to drink and orange slices to eat. The lady had me sit on the ottoman, and rubbed (or more like dug into) my shoulder, neck, back and arms. Very thorough, though sometimes painful. Then she had me sit on the chair while she proceeded to massage my feet and legs. She did a warm towel wrap to my calves and feet….ooh it was awesome. So over all, it was well worth the $11 that I paid! Though I’ve heard other people say, “why did I pay $10 to have someone beat me up?!”
Today, we felt a bit stir crazy since it was raining outside. There’s a play room here in the hotel, but Abram won’t play in there unless other children are there….social boy…just like my Chase. Out of desperation for something to do, I filled the tub up with bubbles and we (Abram and me, of course) leaned over and played in the water with measuring cups and spoons.
It kept him busy for awhile until his shirt was completely soaked.
Tonight we ate out with Ryan and Heather at the Thai Restaurant. It all went ok, until Abram wanted no supper and only my soda (which had caffeine in it) and Jeff’s kiwi juice. Yup, another melt down! Poor Ryan and Heather, for putting up with us.
Abram rarely tries anything new, which in some ways, is fine for right now. But even if he’s eaten a large breakfast, as soon as he gets into our room, he’s whining for snacks. He would snack all day, if we’d let him and then he would never be hungry enough to try lunch or supper. I wonder if snacking is part of the way he copes with everything right now. This is very frustrating to us, because all we hear from him is whining.
I think both Jeff and I feel a bit worn out and need space from Abram and each other. We are sick of living out of suitcases….ok, now I’m complaining! We are so close, but yet, home seems so far away. And then once we’re home, a new adventure begins, with new sets of issues. Please pray for our patience and creativity for the next two days ahead of us. We don’t have anything planned and feel confined. There are some awesome day tours to do, but it would be miserable with a toddler.
After reading this, don’t get me wrong, I don’t question us being matched with Abram and I love the little booger, he can be tons of fun! We just need SPACE and a routine!
Love,
Jeff, Chelby & Abram
(Abram looking like his name's sake from the Old Testament:))
and, yes, 10 Pandas
They had LOTS of every kind of animal. I think Jeff and I enjoyed it way more than Abram. We wish Chase and Aubrey could have been there, they would have loved it!
From there we went to the shopping mall/pedestrian street.
Oh, and most of the workers speak good English (at the hotel and the shops and restaurants). We did a lot of walking today, outside in the nice 70 degree weather!! Last week, Nanchang was in the 50s. So we welcome the comfortable weather!
We got there at a decent time and were out fairly quickly. Tomorrow is a free day, which we plan on going to the “Safari Park”( a zoo, where the animals are in there natural habitat). It cracked me up that our guide tried to explain the difference between the city zoo and the Safari Park and the bottom line was always…” Zoo has one Panda, Safari has 10 Pandas”. So, she convinced us….we’ll go see 10 pandas. :)
and playing at the children’s room (here at the hotel), we headed out for supper. One of Jeff’s co-workers, who adopted from China 6 months ago, suggested a good Thai restaurant. So we took his recommendation and it was so good! The Sweet and sour chicken with cashew nuts was fabulous. The only thing not fabulous was eating out with a two year old….have I mentioned how stressful it is to eat out with this little guy?! I could do room service, but it’s very expensive here and Abram is such a messy eater that it leaves our room a complete mess! As much as I love not cooking these past few days, I can’t wait until I don’t have to take him out. 
I bet Jeff that we would get through 30 minutes of it and have to stop because Abram’s attention is very short. Jeff said, “no, I bet 15 minutes”. Unfortunately Jeff was right.
Yup, the pedestrian street. If you’re like me, I’ve been wondering what it was, but didn’t figure it out until a couple days before we came to China. It’s basically an outdoor mall with a street only for pedestrians, no vehicles…..ahhh (relax), I can handle this kind of walking in Nanchang.
We thought we were doing good, but as Jeff held him, his pant leg would get hiked up, exposing his leg. A few people scolded us for that. But when we were in a store, our guide pulled his pant leg down to help us and then said to Jeff, “Oh! He only has on one pair of pants! You need to put on another pair!” I thought about saying later, “well how many pairs of pants do you have on?!?” We were in a shop and they tried selling us “under-pants” (pants to go under his other pants) – we politely declined and said we have some back at the hotel (which we do, although we probably won’t put them on him :)). We just CAN’T win! 
As we waited for the bus the locals stared at us and one man came up to our tour guide and started asking questions about us. As he was talking, I was noticing others congregating in our area, listening in on their conversation. Our guide, Tina, translated…”He wants to know where you are from? I told him to guess, but he said that all the foreigners look the same.” We laughed and told Tina that many times we can’t distinguish between Chinese, Japanese or some of the other Asian countries.
It was quite the adventure looking for various things and not being able to read most of the packages. 
I had no desire to go because I didn’t want to have to cross Suicide Street with a 2 ½ year old, much less by myself. Jeff actually enjoyed looking at all the very, very different foods from what we’re used to and all the workers trying to be helpful but not speaking any English. One thing we’ve noticed is how gracious and helpful everyone is here. It truly is a treat, especially knowing how our culture is. In some ways it’s convicting, thinking of how unhelpful we are to those who might need it. We’re always in a hurry and they don’t seem to be (except when they’re going through an intersection!).
Even as we were eating (which we were pleasantly surprised that we enjoyed it) the waitresses stood maybe 3 feet away and watched us.
