China trip

We went for a two week trip to Shanghai when Nathan was 11 months old, mainly to visit family.

Getting there
We first flew from San Francisco to Beijing (12+ hours). We paid for a separate seat for Nathan and it turned out to be a wise decision. Nathan did okay at first but quickly got tired of sitting in our laps. James and I took turns carrying him and walking around in the few available common areas (where all the other parents were carrying their babies too). Nathan fell asleep like that a few times but would wake up once we lay him down on the seat. Seems that he just couldn't find a comfortable position. We ended up just carrying him a lot and were both exhausted by the time we arrived in Beijing.
The Beijing airport was only one month old and built to impress (with Olympics starting in a few months). Nathan was happy to crawl around a bit on the sofas and side tables. By the time we got on the next plane to Shanghai he was so tired he slept through the entire 2 hour plane ride to Shanghai.

Home at last
My parents greeted us at the Pudong airport. It was the first time for my dad to meet Nathan so that was pretty exciting. My mom was surprised at how interactive Nathan is now since last time she saw him was when he was only 2 months. We ended up taking two cabs since we had so much luggage. Nathan enjoyed the cab ride a lot since this is the first time he rode in a car without being buckled into his rear-facing car seat. He was moving around a lot and kept wanting to touch everything.
We arrived home at around mid-night local time. James was so tired he went straight to bed but both Nathan and I were too excited to sleep.

Yummy Shanghainese food
Nathan got a chance to taste some authenticate Shanghai dishes. Some of his favorites where fried belt fish （带鱼）, crab meat and tofu clay pot （蟹粉豆腐）, chopped 马兰头 mixed with tofu, 酱 duck (don't know how he chews it), and lotus root stuffed with sweet rice. He also very much enjoyed pan fried pork buns （生煎馒头） for breakfast.


Great-grandparents
For me, The highlight of our trip was taking Nathan to see his great grandparents (阿太, 太公). My grandma had raised me until I was 6, so I feel extra close to her in some way this trip was mainly for her to see Nathan. Even though great grandma was not strong enough to carry Nathan anymore (bad back), she still got the magic touch and was able to get him to sleep by singing him a lullaby. It was pretty amazing since I couldn't even get Nathan to sleep so easily.

Hospital experience
Nathan had been recovering from a cold when we left the states and the traveling turned it into a fever. By our third day in Shanghai, his fever reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit and we were running out of baby Tylonel, so we finally decided to brave the hospital. It was quite an experience! We went to the Children's hospital in Pudong (supposed to be one of the better ones) and it was jam packed with worried parents and sick kids. There was a 4+ hour wait to see a regular doctor and he wasn't quite sick enough for ER. Luckily my mom and cousin found out about a "special care" department where we could get seen by a pediatrician right away for extra 300RMB (~40USD), and we did just that. The facilities there was much cleaner and the waiting area had toys and books just like the hospitals in the US. The doctor even spoke English! She listened to Nathan's breathing, checked his throat and ears for infections (luckily none), and ordered a blood test. It was the first time Nathan had blood drawn from the finger tips poor thing, luckily the results were normal. So the doctor wrote us a prescription for more baby tylonel and some antibiotics, but then my mom and cousin requested a different brand of drug and pretty much got into an argument then and there with the doc. I was really embarrassed and just stood aside and let them duke it out. Later I learned that doctors have "quotas" to meet for certain drugs (probably ones with most kick back) even though they're no good. My cousin has a 4 year old boy so luckily she was there. Anyway, Nathan got a lot better after a few days of the treatment. Looking back, I feel fortunate that we were able to get the special care, but am also annoyed at how they can get away with such blatant unequal medical treatment of kids.

Back
The two weeks went by too quickly and soon enough we were on our way to the airport again. Nathan did amazingly well on the way back. At the airport he was daring enough to walk around now and go up to other kids (usually girls). He played peek-a-boo a lot with the nice lady in the row behind us. He also slept a lot sounder and didn't cry much at all. Even James and I managed to get some sleep on the plane. Overall I think the trip made Nathan a lot mellower. and more tolerant of new surroundings. It was also a great family bonding experience. We got a chance to co-sleep again and I loved snuggling with Nathan in the morning. We did that for a while even after coming back to the States since Nathan was so jet-lagged he was sleeping from 4am to 2pm. James and I would be so tired we just let him play in our bed and he eventually falls asleep, which was a pretty bad habit to form. After two weeks he was slowing adjusting back to California time again and we had to do the sleep training thing again to get him to sleep in his crib, but I'm happy to announce that he is consistently sleeping through the night again, yay!