Another Free Day

Tuesday was another free day. We woke up to rain and the temperature
had dropped considerably. When we first arrived in Nanchang it was
warm enough for shorts but now we needed long pants and jackets. I was
surprised by how much the temperature changed although I don't think I
should have been because it is similar to what we experience back
home, warm one day, cold the next. After breakfast we went to our room
to wait for our laundry to be picked up. Our guide was nice enough to
arrange for someone to pick up our laundry. Nathan is quite the messy
eater so he is always needing clean clothes. I will be doing laundry a
lot when we get home. But for now, someone else was doing it and I
can't say I minded. :)

After the laundry was picked up we decided to take a walk to W@l-mart.
Richard figured it was about a mile or so away and we felt that would
be doable. By now the rain had stopped so we figured it would be
something to occupy our morning. Soon after venturing out though,
Isabel wasn't that interested in walking and carrying her a mile one
way and a mile back would be more than I could handle so we just went
to the local market and picked up more fruit. The picture of Richard
and the kids with three bags of three different kinds of oranges only
cost us about $1. We were excited that we had some good food for snack
time. As you can imagine, Nathan has been on a very predictable
routine. It's definitely necessary when running a home full of kids,
not to mention the fact that kids do well with routine. So, he has two
snacks a day at specific times and we are trying to stick to it as
best we can while living a not-so-routine existence right now. He does
really well with naps too, just falls asleep within minutes of putting
him down. Bedtime has been a bit more of a challenge but not too bad.
He is also sleeping through the night.

Nathan ended up taking a pretty long nap. We let Isabel watch a movie
with headphones on and then Richard and I ended up falling asleep as
well (accidentally for me). When we woke up, Nathan had slept 2.5
hours and we felt he needed to get up if he was going to go to bed at
a decent time so we woke him. Afterward, we just hung out at the
hotel. I didn't have the desire to go out again and really, Nathan
needs to be bundled up pretty well because his body doesn't regulate
his temperature like ours would and so I felt we should just stay in.
We played some but because Nathan's nap was so long, it was soon time
to figure out dinner. Richard decided (or maybe I suggested) that he
go and grab some take-out. He decided to take Isabel with him since he
can carry her on his shoulders. We also think it's good for Isabel to
have some "daddy time" because Nathan prefers Richard and gets a lot
of time with him being carried and such. Isabel is not used to this
and although she has been doing great, we want her to feel like she
gets Richard's attention too. So they have been having their together
time most every day.

Once Richard and Isabel were going to leave, we learned that Nathan
was not happy with the situation. He cried when Richard left and
wanted nothing to do with me. I tried playing with his train but he
wasn't interested. Then I took out a mini container of Pl@y-doh that I
had brought with us. He didn't seem interested in that either. He
found an Aqu@-Doodle that our friends the Nelson's gave him and that
seemed to divert his attention (thanks Nelson family!). I had put the
Pl@y-doh in his backpack and he ended up taking it out and we played
with that for quite a while. Just as we were putting it away, Richard
and Isabel returned with food. We sat on the floor and Nathan scooted
over to sit next to Richard (of course). :)

After dinner, it was time to take a bath. We washed Nathan up and he
had lots of fun trying to get Richard wet. Then Isabel got in the tub
so she could play (she WANTED to take a bath too which is not common).
The two of them nearly soaked poor Richard. After baths Nathan seems
to want us to put music on so we did and we had lots of fun dancing
around the room. Isabel would tell Nathan, "this is how you dance" and
she would have at it! I think he really enjoyed it. He even tried to
dance a little. Mostly we carry him and dance with him but he started
trying to move to the music which was fun to see. He didn't do it much
though so we will have to work on that!

After our little dancing party Richard and Nathan sat and played and I
read to Isabel. Then we had another story that we read as a family
before bedtime. We have noticed that although Nathan loves to be
picked up, he didn't really give hugs (at least with us) so we've been
trying to teach him what hugs are. So last night we all gave each
other hugs and for the first time, he gave Isabel a hug. In the past
she would ask him and he wouldn't want to or she would try and "force"
him but this time it was mutual. It was fun to see. I think that
Isabel has adjusted so well with this transition, almost better than
Richard and I have and certainly better than I could have hoped for. I
am so thankful that God prepared her heart for this!

Putting Nathan to bed last night was a bit challenging because he kept
wanting to play. Finally though he went to sleep. I have to say it was
a good day, our first complete day as a family of four!

Oh, I wanted to offer a congratulations to my dear friend Debbie who
will be getting married this Friday and whose wedding I will sadly
miss! Debbie, we wish you and Tom a lifetime of happiness together. We
are so happy that you found each other!!

Take care.