Bob Dog
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007Last year, you all may remember our shopping day in Nanning, on which we bought a new pair of Bob Dog sneakers for Anna. She came in a little pair of pink fabric squeaker shoes, not new, and too big. We also had no clothes that fit the little sprite, so we were desperate to get some little leggings or pants that fit, and a new pair of shoes. We didn’t know, but apparently Bob Dog shoes were kind of a big deal. Anna wanted nothing to do with those shoes, and she took every opportunity over the next few days to wrench them off and come bawling to one of us carrying her pink shoes asking us to put them back on. I had to hide the pink shoes. After we got home, and she had more shoes to choose from, she did the same thing with the Bob Dog shoes. Whenever Joe would leave for class, she would take off whatever tennies I had on her, and come crying with her Bob Dog shoes.
Will came to us in a little pair of well-used olive drab canvas sneakers. Today was our shopping day in Yinchuan, so a new pair of Bob Dog sneakers was at the top of my shopping list. It was, in fact, the only thing on my shopping list. We began the day with some breakfast downstairs (see photos). We had to go to the police station, where they process the passports, to have new photos taken of Will and Isabella for their passports. We don’t know what was wrong with the first photos. Then, we were free to travel by taxi to the department store.
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 Anna was entranced with the idea of drinking milk from a coffee cup. Even though she kept spilling a bit at a time, and cleaning it up with her wipe, she drank almost a full cup of “Anna’s coffee” this morning.
Laura found the baby department for us, and Isabella got some diapers and a stroller while we hunted for new shoes! We made a beeline for the Bob Dogs, and picked out a wonderful pair of black sneakers with red trim and red and green lights in the heels for Pan Pan. Of course, Miss Anna had to have a new pair of Bob Dogs as well. She and Baba picked them out while we were trying to figure out if Will’s shoes fit correctly.
After the shoes, we tried to find a duffle bag inexpensively so we could pack some of the items that came with Will. We didn’t find anything cheap enough for our tastes, but Trish and Buck found a nice suitcase to replace the one that disintegrated on the flight from Beijing to Yinchuan. Then we traipsed all over kingdom come looking for outsized pants to fit our generous American butts since all of us are out of pants until the laundry comes back. We did finally find a store that had some jeans that fit us, but they were a bit pricey and they were unwilling to come down enough to allow us to buy them without going to the bank to change money, so we left to eat lunch and think about it.
We ate lunch at the KFC, and neither Will nor Anna would eat the egg custard that Anna was so wild about last year. I ate Anna’s; it was quite good. I don’t know why our local KFC doesn’t serve those! Anna was getting quite tired by this time, so we headed back to the hotel and after about a half hour of screaming and crying from an overtired baby, Joe got Anna to sleep. Nicki and I tried to get Pan Pan down for a nap, but he refused. His schedule from the orphanage does not mention a nap, so I’m guessing he doesn’t take one now. We’ll be having to institute that once we get home. He was pretty exhausted at dinner time, though. I did close the curtains and made him understand that he had to be quiet because Anna was sleeping. He did well, drawing in a little book I gave him, and putting stickers in it until he woke up.
I had to put my foot down today and become the mean mama already. I hate that, but someone has to do it. It started with Pan Pan trying to grab my computer mouse. After 3 gentle “no”s, followed by naughty giggles, I had to physically remove his hand and give him the “mom” look. He was surprised, and he has not tried that again. He is a little boy, though, and his behaviors are new to us. He is very cheerful and exhuberant, and if you play along, he is soon trying to wrestle and hit and poke, all while giggling furiously. I don’t like hitting, and over the course of the afternoon, he lost his flashlight, his shoes and his pencil, all because he was using them as weapons. I’ve had to remove his hand from the big flashlight in the room, and the cabinet door leading to the fridge as well, all followed by the “mom” look. He gets the mom look. He doesn’t try those things again, at least while I’m there.
He’s still confused about who is who, and will try to call Nicki “mama” until she stops him. He called the nannies “mama” too, so I’m not quite sure he understands what it means. Nicki corrects him each time, and he will identify me as the mama when pushed, but I’m not as fun, and I’m the possessor of the “mom” look, so he’s probably thinking this is all a bad dream. He has to sleep with us, though, so I know he’ll get the picture. He also has to come home with us, so time is on our side in establishing the right relationships. Nicki has been so incredibly helpful in allowing me to spend the time with Anna that I think is necessary to prevent her from feeling any ill effects on her place in the family.
Anyway, to finish the day, Joe went on a scouting expedition to find a pizza place he was sure we had driven by close to the hotel. He found it. It’s Uncle Robin’s American Pizza, or something like that, and it’s about 2 blocks from the hotel. He met Uncle Robin Lee himself, and was thrilled to find Robin spoke English quite well. He gave Joe his business card and told Joe to call his cell phone to order pizzas in the future so he could speak to him directly, and he will deliver to our hotel. Joe was beyond thrilled! He came home with 2 smallish pepperoni and extra cheese pizzas, and they were quite good. Anna ate about half a slice, which is normal for her, and Will first ate all the topping off, and then started working on the crust. He wasn’t so sure about it, but he was a good sport.
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 The extra cheese was apparently a bit too cheesy for the princess.
Tomorrow we go on our big tour, to Sand Lake and to some mausoleum where someone important is buried. I guess we are not going to get to go to Movie City. I can’ t quite understand why we are so limited in our touring when we are in this province for so long, but there it is. Thursday we have only one appointment, in the afternoon, and Friday, we just have to pick up the passports. I may ask if we can do one of the other things either on Thursday morning or Friday afternoon, even if we have to take a taxi. I know it’s a lot of stuff to drag kids to, but I think they would enjoy both Sand Lake and the old movie studio sets. Well, we’ll see what happens.Â
I’ll try to remember to ask about that restaurant, Cathy. I know we’ll still be looking for places to eat. We’ve got 3 more nights in province. Tomorrow is Halloween, so we’ll get to put our kids in their special Halloween sweatsuits, and get out the goodies and let them trick or treat in the hall! Then it will finally be Thursday, and I will be able to get out of these stinky pants!
Added later: I forgot to mention that Will woke up crying just a little this morning. We got up, just he and I, and we sat down by the window and ate some little buns. He then indicated he needed to go to the bathroom, and he pooped, so life was better already. We sat by the computer,and he ate while I perused e-mail, etc. Anna woke up, came and joined me on my lap, and we decided it was a good time to call Grandma and Grandpa on Skype. Anna and Will both got to see them, and talk to them for a few minutes. It was still dark here, so G&G had a hard time seeing us, but they saw a little. So, they’ve officially met Will! Joe has photos of us talking on the computer on his blog. Check them out!