Day 4 with Konnor

Thursday May 17, 2012

Today was a pretty low key day.  It has been so beneficial to us that Konnor was from Guangdong Province.  This means that we have been able to be in Guangzhou the entire time we have him until we go home.  I think this has been so helpful to him, b/c it means that we have had the same environment and alot of down time while here.  We have been able to spend lots of time snuggling and basically just doing whatever he needs to do b/c we haven't had the busy schedule that sometimes accompanies being in another province before traveling to Guangzhou.

Today we went to a local museum with our guide.  It was very interesting to learn about the Han Dynasty that was only around from BC 203 - BC 111.  We were able to walk thru the actual excavation site where they found the Emperor.  After this we went back to the hotel b/c little man was ready for lunch and a  nap.  Needless to say the nap didn't happen : )

About 230 Konnor had his first ever visitors when the Cole Family came to visit.  They are actually from my home town, and when I noticed on Facebook that they were living in Guangzhou I had to get in touch to see about getting together.  It is crazy to think how the people you know may touch your lives in the craziest ways in the future.  Konnor made fast friends with their daughter Alivia.  We headed out for pizza and then Konnor decided that he was tired, but entirely to interested in the new people to take a nap.  I have already adapted to the whole my food will never be eaten warm again thing : )  It was great to see everyone and we really appreciated getting out of the hotel for a little bit with someone other than our guide for conversation.

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel where we were able to get Konnor to take a short 30 minute nap. Unfortunately after 30 minutes he started screaming bloody murder.  We suspicion he was having a night terror (his first) and it was absolutely the most awful thing I have ever experienced.  He was still asleep, but would just scream and arch with huge tears streaming down his cheeks.  It took us a good 45 minutes to get him calmed down.  The whole time I am crying too b/c there is just nothing you can do to help when this happens.  We just held him and talked to him until he finally woke up.  We know night terrors are a common thing when children have their lives disrupted, but my goodness they are terrifying.  And if that wasn't a night terror then Heaven help us when he does have one b/c our hearts were breaking into a million pieces watching him so upset.

After that though he was back to his normal happy self.  Actually Mark and I have noticed that since that happened he has been reaching for us more and actively seeking us out.  He is crawling to us when he wants us (not that we are ever really that far away, but it is nice that he wants to come to us).  He is now giving us more full fledged reaches when he wants to be picked up.  He learned today that he can stand up all by himself while holding on to our fingers or the table.  He is also doing better at taking in some water by spoon.  Still not great and I wish he would take a bottle, but we are putting lots of fluids in his meals.  He zonked out around 9 pm and fearing the worst, b/c of his naptime experience, we headed to bed shortly after that.  He woke up twice during the night, but only for a short time and went right back to sleep. He slept until 7 am!!!!!  We were so excited.  The nannies had said that he usually sleeps from 930 pm to 630 am, so hopefully this means he is trying to get back on his normal schedule.  Although they also said that he only takes one nap a day from 12-2 pm and that is proving to not be the case.  I think maybe he took a few naps on his own.  Usually he will sleep for 30-45 minutes in the morning sometime and then again 30-60 minutes in the evening.  Whatever he needs.  We are not really concerned with a schedule right now so it doesn't really matter.  We are still trying to stick close to the hotel with small outings so that we are available to just do whatever he needs.  He did great when we went out for dinner today and never "checked out."

Konnor did hear "No" for the first time today from MaMa and BaBa.  We were trying to charge the computer and he kept going back to the cord.  He had also gotten comfortable enough that instead of lying there perfectly nice and still for diapers changes like he did the first two days, he has now decided that diaper changes are now time to see how flexible MaMa and BaBa are.  He just laughs the whole time, but we are quickly learning how to change the diaper of a toddler that is crawling away from us.

Ok this gets me caught up to today.  Here is another dose of Konnor cuteness to get you thru your work day!!!

Mark took this one and I love it!!!  Yes ladies he has eyelashes that most of us spend hundreds of dollars a year on mascara to even come close to.  

Happy Baby--we are seeing more and more smiles freely given