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February 11th, 2003, 7:00pm
Chapter Five: Of Dumplings and Breadsticks
We all took a cab to what appeared to be a market district.
Amazingly, this seemed a bit more familiar to us, as it
resembled the Chinatown district of San Francisco.
Many shops selling different items, such as clothing, toys,
and basic market supplies, lined the streets. The cab deposited
us on a corner, and we walked a few blocks to the store of
the friend of Mei-Chun. The beautiful gold Tradional Outfit that was a
gift to us was from her store, and we wanted to thank her in person.
A very kind woman (forgive us, we cannot remember her name,
another "casualty"),
we saw that she had many more beautiful outfits,
and we decided to get more: another outfit for him (red
with gold trim), and a coat
for his grandmother. She very generously discounted the
price on the new things, and
also gave us a beautiful blue fur-lined
vest for him to stay warm. It is darling!
We then walked to Mei-Chun's house, a short distance from the clothing
store. Mei-Chun graciously offered to make dinner for us, and she
served us these wonderful homemade dumplings, they were
delicious!!! We were still trying to get used to Paden being
with us, and it was so hard not to want to hold him. But
he would have none of that, there was a big, bright, huge
world to explore, and he was going for it!
Mei-Chun was so gracious to invite us to her home. She is taking art classes, and she showed us some of the beautiful traditional paintings she had done. They were very simple, yet they showed a wonderful sophistication in their simplicity! We wish her all the best in her art; we can't wait to come back in a few years to see what else she has created.
After dinner (many dumplings for us, a bottle for Paden), we walked to the corner to catch a cab. The cab dropped off Mike & Magda at their house, and then took us to the hotel. By this time, it was getting late, and we were sure Paden would be exhausted. He must be, because we were! Fortunately, it was true, and Paden was dressed and ready for bed quickly, and in the crib for his fisrt night with his new Mommie and Daddy. For a while, it was hard for me to fall asleep, it was so tempting to get up to look at him every five minutes! Eventually, I fell into a deep, restful sleep.
That sleep was briefly interrupted at about 3:00am with Paden
giving us a little staccato cry. But as soon as he relocated his
pacifier, he was quiet and sleeping again. This happened
about once every ten minutes for the next hour or so, then he returned to
his deep sleep for the rest of the night. If this is all
we have to deal with, we've got it made. (Note: Ha. Ha ha.).
The next morning, we fed Paden some rice cereal in the room, and then gave him his first bath in the sink of the bathroom. Boy, it's fun when you're that size! We got dressed and went downstairs for our own breakfast. Paden was not too happy with the high chair, and preferred to be held while he munched on . . . breadsticks! We had our own cereal and toast, which Paden also tried out. This kid loves bread!
A quick clean-up in the room, and then we were off again to
St. Lucy's for the final farewell to the staff. When we got there,
Mike and Magda were still out at a hearing to try to speed
their case along. We waited, played with Paden, and looked at
the many pictures of babies and new parents throughout
the halls of St. Lucy's. When Mike and Magda arrived,
Magda, Lynne, Paden and I walked a block or so
to a market called "Woodpecker's", which stocked
plenty of baby supplies. We picked up more Gerber veggies,
a large can of formula (the stuff we brought was Soy-based, and
Paden did not at all like the taste of it), some extra pacifiers,
and a couple outfits. Thank goodness our suitcases are expandable!!
Back at St. Lucy's, the last good-bye was started, more hugs and kisses from everyone. It was sad to leave, but we knew we will be coming back in a couple years for Emma, Paden's future sister.
After the return to the hotel and the compression-packing of our suitcase, we went to the airport to catch our flight back to Taipei. Lots of bottles for Paden to help with the change in air pressure on ascent and descent, but Paden came through with flying colors. Not once during the forty-five minute flight did he protest, other than to object at our restraint of him eating the tray of the seat in front of him. A nap back at the Hyatt hotel (I noticed they put us in a room at the end of the hall this time. Near the Emergency Exit. Behind the ice machine.)
We gave Paden his first veggie dinner while we dined in the Cafe restaurant (again, we noticed they put us in the booth in the corner in the empty section), probably the first non-rice or non-formula food he'd ever had. Apparently, it was like candy to him, he could not get enough of it! Okay, he likes carrots, at least his eyes will be in great shape! We dined on our dinner, which Paden was very interested in (watch that Paden Radius!) in tag-team style, and it was really beginning to sink in; we had our little Paden! *sigh*....
Tomorrow was the day he would become official, and would be able to come home with the proper papers (almost like registering a purebred with the AKC!). We had an 8:00am appointment, so we were ready to awake early. It was another easy night, with the exception of another hour-long session of intermittent spurts of "Where's-my-pacifier?", but beyond that, all was well with the world.
- To be continued....
