Can't take him anywhere...break a bowl, poop on the furniture...

Today was a "down" day for the group. No excursions, tourist- or adoption-related. Just plenty of quality time with the kiddos. And boy, did Caden decide to make that quality time memorable for us!

He started by breaking a bowl at breakfast. Should've seen that one coming. He likes to throw things...I just thought that maybe the Apple Jacks would keep him occupied enough. Guess I was wrong. As soon as I got up to get my breakfast and turned my back, I heard a crash. All I could do was close my eyes and start aplogizing profusely to the service staff in the restaurant at the hotel. I was trying to avoid having him eat directly off of the high-chair tray, even after it had been wiped down with sanitizing wipes...but I think we're just going to have to bite the bullet.

He took a nice nap shortly after breakfast. Three solid hours. So dad got a good nap in, as well. I wasn't particularly tired, but sleep when you can get it, right?

After the nap, I took Caden up to the child "play room" in the hotel. It was somewhat underwhelming, but kept Caden occupied for a good hour or so. He was kind enough to poop right after we got there. The boy has impeccable timing when it comes to these things (more on that later). Luckily, no one else was in the room, so I was able to change him and he was able to keep playing. No changing facilities in China. That's one of the biggest inconveniences we've run into. That and the non-potable water.

And yes, the anti-bacterial wipes were put to great use following the play room time.


We spoke with Yisha, our CCAI rep here in Zhengzhou, and she has arranged for a trip to the Wal-Mart shopping center for us to find umbrella strollers, baby items, etc. Just a couple more things required and we'll be set. We're burning through water like crazy. One of the by-products of not being able to ingest the water from the taps here. We've been through nearly a case of bottled water in just one day.

For dinner, we decided to go to the noodle shop next door again. The first thing we saw was an old American man barking Chinese at the staff, we presume paying his bill. He stopped in the middle of his Mandarin and said "Hello, how are you today." Talk about surreal.

Mom went with something a little lighter and we used those for Caden's dinner, as well. I had noodles with mutton. That's right. Mutton. It was pretty good. Like mild beef. Very tender. Would've been a totally uneventful dinner (except for the old man) had Caden not leaned to the side, looked the other direction, squinted really hard, and grunted. We knew that meant trouble...but we had no idea just how much. Suffice it to say, I had to carry him out in front of me to our hotel next door, strip him down, and throw him in the shower. Sometimes, that's all you can do when confronted with a mess of that magnitude. Add in the fact that changing Caden's diaper is a two-man job under the best circumstances, and it was just the best course of action.



Not a lot of pictures from today. I did find some pictures on Mom's camera that I thought I'd include: