A Bonding Type of Day

A very uneventful day. Well, if you call going to a local village uneventful. I really did not catch the name of the village. It was over an hours drive to get there. It was warm and muggy. The road that looked well maintained shook the living daylight out of us, and almost breakfast. Though it sounds remote, the village is really not very far outside of Nanchang; an hour or so depending on traffic and road conditions. (There was road construction that narrowed to two lanes, one in each direction.) The countryside is very nice. Green. You may have heard from “propaganda”, lots of rice paddies. Yes, Jiangxi province is an agricultural province, and rice is the main staple. September the rice is close to harvest so many of the paddies glistened in golden waves as the breeze blew across them.

We turned off the main road and came to a stone arch where we disembarked from the bus. I should write a blog on Chinese traffic and drivers someday. Our guide in Beijing gave us the low-down on drivers’ licenses there, but I digress. The arch has writing on either side and marked the entrance to the village. The village is over 1200 years old! The people are ancestors of the original inhabitants, a young man who escaped from war and wanted to start anew. The family did quite well for themselves and the village grew. We walked among the houses. Saw how these people lived and how they still live today. It is amazing the mix between tradition and technology. We saw no electrical for this place, yet we did see motor-bikes and cars come through. Their main source of water is a well that still exists today. You can look in and see the water 30 feet down. The structures are all built of wood and mud bricks. You can see where repairs are made and where other areas are not kept up. It was a step back in time. We met a man, 91, and his wife, 87. I believe they have been married at least 70 years. We saw children. We saw some women playing Mahjong. For a seemingly poor village, it felt prosperous. It is difficult to describe, but prosperous is the proper word.

I know this is more than you really want to read as I have not mentioned Linda once, till now. As a trooper, Linda slept most of the way there on the bus. The sun and heat did not agree with her, but she did enjoy meeting the people of the village. At one point I was sitting next to an elderly lady from the village while I fed Linda. Others were there and you could tell they were talking about her. Smiles all around. We took a break by a huge tree that supposedly has been there since the beginning of the village. Linda had to show off her new found love of trying to stand on her own and make attempts at walking. She was all giggles here in the shade and the breeze. On the bumpy way back to the city, Linda fell asleep once again. It is almost a natural instinct to shut down and conserve energy until later.

Back at the hotel room Linda was as chipper as ever. She was all into her new game. While sitting up, I would give her a little push with my finger in the chest. She falls back and laughs. Non-stop fun and games! I found her ticklish spot, so now I have a weapon to use on her for later. I had to leave for a paperwork checking session. Linda and Mel continued to play. Basically we took advantage of the slow afternoon and began to get some good bonding time in. Mel took some clothes that were too small for Linda down the hall to unload and I began to try and get Linda to calm down for her afternoon nap. This took quite and effort, but finally I managed to get her asleep. About a half hour into her nap, Linda shot out a hell of a scream and started to bawl. I picked her up and held her close to calm her. Once calmed, she held out her hands to Mel, who took her and cuddled her. Linda must have had one hell of a dream. Some nightmare? Who knows.

At dinner, Mel and I noticed that Linda was back to her playful self with a little bit of a different twist. There was a point during our eats and she didn’t want any more big people food, she turned to me and spontaneously reached. I leaned down and she gave me a hug from her high chair, release, and continued playing along. While playing she would watch Mel, and then me, and back to Mel. It felt like she has come to realize we are not going away.

After dinner back in the room it was time for feeding. I had stepped out with a neighbor to pick some stuff up at the shop across the way. Oh, that would be Tiffany’s! When I got back, Mel told me she could not feed her yet, as she was not happy when Mel left the room to prepare the bottle. This is a first. And, during her play, Mel said that Linda turned around and held her arms out, Mel leaned over, and Linda gave her a hug and a pat. Could this be some positive bonding action?

Of course, both Mel and I are a bit uneasy about Linda sleeping through the night now. Whatever woke her this afternoon was not pleasant. We did our routine to put her down, but Linda was so restless. It took a bit to calm her down. Finally she fell asleep.

As I write this, Linda has been turning and moving quite a bit. I feel her sleep is not as deep as it has been. We will see soon enough. Good night all!