Guangzhou yay!

I am currently sitting in a nice little hotel room in the White Swan hotel, with American families wandering about with their newly adopted children all over the extensive grounds, and a marathon screaming session going on immediately to my right. We've done everything for him. He got a tour of the island early this morning, a stroll around the jade statues before and after lunch, he's clean and fed and watered and held for hours with Irish ballads playing. I don't understand how he even still has a voice now. He works himself up to a horrible screech, with fists clenched and/or fingers in his mouth. That's another thing I don't understand. When he's crying this hard, doesn't he bite his fingers? But he seems not to.

While he grows more and more determined to be inconsolable, I grow tireder and tireder of everything, in general, not just of trying and failing to console him. He slept a solid 9 hours last night, and I slept 5. While he keeps the volume up, I've lost my voice several times over from singing softly.

Fortunately, my husband is still somewhat sane and functional. My guys have both outlasted me. Not that any of us are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

I don't think the stomach bug is bothering me anymore, but the Potato Effect has kicked in. See, when I go on long vacations and eat out a lot, I hit a certain point at which I can't indulge anymore and I order a baked potato. My friends laugh at me, saying, "Why don't you have one of the delicious entrees?" But no, I only want a baked potato, and my appetite stays more or less poor for the rest of the trip.

I figured, after having the stomach bug for 4 or 5 days, the Potato Effect would not apply. But it seems to have. I can enjoy small amounts of food, sometimes.

AwesomeCloud has been doing a few more little things of interest. This morning he and I played nicely with colored wooden donuts for several minutes. Yesterday he decided he liked solid food after all, and now he adores it so much we have to practice portion control and endure screaming hissy fits when we make him eat slowly.

He's still screaming. I have no idea how he does it... or why. I guess he's starting to hate this room as much as he hated the last one. That makes no sense to me. Surely he didn't spend his days rolling around in a stroller for hours and hours at the orphanage. And now even that last vestige of peace is starting to not work anymore. (The sling works better when he's not fussing and elbowing me in the chest constantly. Sorry, but I'm only human. I have limits. Actually my limits were crossed, steamrolled, and pureed a long time ago and now I'm just operating on blind, dumb faith in the idea that I'll be home someday.)

The Guangzhuo guide and I had a nice little shopping trip to the shopping district yesterday. I tried a mango freeze drink which was very good. She took me around to a baby clothes discount store, a book/CD store, and a department store and I bought a bunch more baby necessities. Materially, I feel better prepared than ever before. What a relief. I don't think the eternal scrambling and scrounging we were doing in Nanjing would have done my poor overstretched sanity any good if we were still having to do it.

Tomorrow we're going on a half-day tour. This will either be a very good thing or a very bad thing. I will be thrilled beyond words, though, if it just turns out to be a way to pass the time. Lately, we've taken to saying to each other, "Oh no! It's only 10 AM! What do we do for the rest of the day?!"

I wish he would nap. He only drifts off in the most inconvenient positions (frequently, again, with an elbow in the chest of whoever is holding him) and jolts awake, ready to cry, with the slightest readjustment of position.

I need to read some accounts of more difficult babies, so I can be reminded that he's of kinda average difficulty. Unfortunately, the parents around here are good for one conversation each, and part with reassurances and promises, but I haven't had a real second conversation with anyone.

Also, what am I supposed to do with all the diapers we got that don't fit him so well? They're way too bulky to pack and bring home, and the size isn't the problem so much as the style. Is there a baby item trading protocol around here? I guess people just trade with other families in their group, and we don't have a group.