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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Chasing her Zhengzhou roots - Day 1

Last Tuesday morning, Rosabelle woke up in time to finish her breakfast before we headed to the airport for Zhengzhou. As we were afraid she would not be able to have a good lunch on the plane, the nanny woke up exceptionally early to make her some apple pancakes and steamed carrot sticks to eat bring along. For breakfast, she must be too used to her steamed egg, and did not eat much of the noodle soup that the nanny whipped up.

So, whilst waiting to check-in for our 11:40am flight, Rosabelle leisurely enjoyed her morning dragon fruit snack at Beijing Capital Airport..
As there aren't many Burger King outlets in Beijing, Wayne and I make it a point to try to enjoy some fast food whilst at the airport, and quikcly wolfed down our yummy burgers as Rosabelle waited along with the nanny.
As it was a long walk to the departure gate (though the flight was delayed by 30 minutes), we decided it would save us alot of hassle to just pay RMB20 for a driven buggy to bring us to where we wanted to go. Wayne caught some shots of Rosabelle with her eyes half-closed as she shielded herself from the slight breeze caused by the speed of the buggy. At one point, she even jerked her knees in a dance to show her excitement, haha!
It's Rosabelle's second time on a plane (after birth - I took the plane thrice whilst expecting her), and the nanny's first, so I guess they were both equally excited! However, we were all assigned separate lone seats, and had to do some swapping on our own - so troublesome. In the end, Wayne still had to sit away from us as the row we were on had only 3 oxygen masks - just as well, the nanny and I had more space together with Rosabelle in a three-seater row.
As I was afraid the air pressure during take-off would get to her, I nursed her as soon as the plane started moving off, but we again met with delays from air traffic control which did not clear our plane for landing soon enough, and Rosabelle fell asleep even before the plane took off! So I covered her ear and let her have a snuggly doze of 50 minutes - just nice, we were due to land very soon after so it was quite an easy flight where she did not make any noise nor become all fidgety.
The 1hr 20min journey ended soon enough, and Rosabelle woke up excited to see an older boy sitting behind us, and she screamed through the gap to try to wake him up, getting all hyper when he started playing with her. She also enjoyed the apple pancakes and carrot sticks for lunch. A man behind us remarked, 'Oh, there's a baby sitting in front? I'm surprised - some babies cry all the way, and your baby's quiet enough.' So sensible, our dear girl...

Wayne's high school friend picked us up from the airport as we made a 40-minute journey to Sofitel Hotel, quite near to Wayne's home.
By the time we checked into the hotel, it was already way past Rosabelle's nap time, so we bathed her in the bath tub, giving her hotel toiletries bottles as floating toys to keep her entertained, haha!
She was obviously very excited by the big bed and climbed/crawled all over.
The cottony-soft bed and quilt, cold from the aircon, were also very nice for her to just laze upon and play peekaboo with.
After the excitement wore her out, she had a quick nap and we quickly made our way to Wayne's grandparents' house thereafter.
It was the first time Wayne's grandparents were seeing their great-grandaughter, and his grandma gave Rosabelle a big angpow.
Surprisingly, our filial daughter did not make any noise at letting his grandma carry, and even sat comfortably and obediently on her lap for at least 20 minutes! Blood relations are indeed strong man!
Rosabelle then walloped half a banana for her tea-time snack, amazing all the older folks with her appetite and chewing skills in spite of just two lower teeth, heh.
Wayne's Dad and Mum of course also took turns to carry the girl as she basked in their attention.
Even Wayne's old grandfather mustered enough strength to carry her for some precious moments pictures.
And of course, how could we not let her demonstrate her crawling and cruising prowess by letting her loose on the big bed?
We had a nice reunion dinner at the house, and Rosabelle ate some plain porridge with a side dish of potato and snow fish/vegetables puree. I know his father and grandma were quite concerned that we aren't adding any salt, sugar, or fatty meats (!) to her foods, saying that children need such items in their diet so they can have fats and grow chubby... Thank goodness Wayne and I have a common understanding in this, and I'd already forewarned him beforehand that we are against this, and for him to reject any other questionable foods they want to give her...phew!

Wayne said that his grandma really loves Rosabelle - he has never seen his grandma trail anybody from one room to another, and she keeps wanting to carry her even though she is already quite weak (celebrated her 80th birthday in May). From what Wayne tells me, his grandma dotes on him, so naturally, she will adore her great-grandchild, and she was actually looking forward to a girl as she has two boys in the family.

After dinner, we headed on back to the hotel for a good night's rest, where our poor girl knocked out by 8:45 pm! Wayne and I went downstairs to enjoy the hotel's welcome drink, and I came back half an hour later to find Rosabelle awake on the bed, clutching the nanny around the neck. Apparently, not long after I left, some inconsiderate buggers in other rooms shouted along the corridor, waking her up rudely from her deep slumber, and upon seeing the strange and dark surroundings of the hotel room, and me not being around, she was inconsolable. The nanny even deliberated calling me, but instead focused on pacifying her. When she saw me come to the bed, her lips quivered again and I had to nurse her to sleep. Poor girl...at least she slept quite well through the night!

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