By Terry R. Cassreino
NANCHANG, China - Camryn finally took the bottle.
Pam and I have been concerned for the past few hours because we couldn’t get Camryn to take a bottle. Every time we offered her a drink (of the bottle, that is), she refused
.At first we thought she was frightened of the bottle. Then we thought she might not have given the bottle in her orphanage.
But when Pam and I took the baby to the hotel restaurant for lunch, we sat her in a highchair, fed her congee and then she drank from the bottle.
And boy did she drink and drink and drink. We knew it worked because we could tell when we changed (or, more correctly, Pam) her diaper a few hours later.
Crying baby
Camryn still cries a lot - except for when she is sleeping.
Seriously, she does seem to cry a lot.
Pam and I suspect she is grieving over the loss of her caretaker at the orphanage and she is still confused by these crazy two white Americans who she is now living with.
I imagine she may cry less the more she becomes used to us. But we wonder how she will take to the friends and family who can’t wait to see and meet her when we return.
As timid as Camryn is, I’m guessing she’ll be petrified of Sophie, our Maltese.
New teeth
Could Camryn be teething?
She already has two bottom teeth. Pam thinks she might be teething two uppers, which could be why she won’t stop crying.
And hey, I’m not just talking about crying. I’m talking about screaming-at-the-top-of-her-lungs hysterics. Sometimes I fear she’ll break my eardrums as well as hers.
Potty training
When the Chinese potty train their children, they start early and use a unique process: Their children wear “split pants.”
Split pants replace the seam up the middle of a pair of pants with one zipper. Boys and girls who are potty training wear the pants with the seam unzipped and wide open.
It’s common to walk around any Chinese city and see parents with their children who are wearing split pants unzipped.
On Tuesday, we saw two children. One, a boy wearing split pants, ran up and down the People’s Square to the delight of his parents and exposing everything to the world.
Wal-Mart similarities
We’ve visited Wal-Mart SuperCenters in Cancun, Beijing and now Nanchang.
And besides the thick crowds, the Nanchang store has at least two other things in common with stores back in the United States.
First: They have a greeter at the entrance who welcomes everyone into the store. The greeter also checks your receipt to make sure you didn’t steal anything.
Second: Why can’t they open all those dang check-outs? The Nanchang store has more than 60 registers, but only 15 open on Tuesday while lines snaked five to 10 people deep.
If they don’t plan to open the checkouts, then don’t tease shoppers who are more interested in popping in and popping out instead of waiting in line for an eternity.
Favorite cookies
Success
While browsing the snacks and cookies section of Wal-Mart, we found Camryn’s favorite biscuits (or crackers, as I call them). She's eating them in the photo on the left.
The sweet, rectangular biscuits cost less than $1 a pack. When we returned from Wal-Mart, we gave Camryn one - and she munched and crunched away enjoying every second.
Smaller town
Nanchang is substantially smaller than Beijing - and the lack of serious traffic problems and smog is more than evident.
It took me, Pam and Camryn 10 minutes by taxi at to reach the People’s Square and the Wal-Mart SuperCenter. In Beijing, the same trip might have taken 20 minutes,
Here’s another fascinating piece of trivia: The cab ride cost us about $1 each way. Try taking a taxi in the United States for that fare and see how far you go.
Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino.
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