Did I say I loved Chinese New Year in that last post? Did I say I loved the fireworks?? Well, *maybe* that’s because I never experienced it before with a sleeping infant!
Yes, my new-mom friend has gone to the US for a job fair this week, and another friend and I (collectively known as the “Beijing Aunties”) are swapping out nights on baby patrol. The first day went fairly well. There were a few tears, but mostly Baby was happy doing all the things babies like to do with some regularity…eat, poop, play, sleep.
We made it all the way through dinner—a bowl of infant cereal jazzed up with some baby peas gently folded in. Clearly Baby is a gourmand who realized the recipe was slightly off, but she did mange to eat a few bites. A little more play, then bottle time rolled around. I took a page from my sister’s book and added in her secret weapon—a little bit of cereal. Just a little, mind you, to tide Baby over until a respectable hour like 5:00 am instead of the 3 or 4 she has been used to. She chowed down the bottle and loved it, but trouble started at snuggle time. Baby wanted to snuggle with Mom, I just wasn’t mom, and there was nothing I could do about it. And so the wailing began. Fortunately, the tag team relieved me at 7:00 so I could go up for my massage. (Yes, tough life, I know.)
When I came back around 8:15, Baby was in bed asleep. Ah, sweet relief! I put on my pajamas and tried to get to sleep quickly, knowing I’d be up in a few hours. But I forgot it was The Night Before Lantern Festival. Oh, yes—you didn’t think the fireworks went on for just one night, did you? No, they go on for nearly three weeks! Every night for three weeks. Well last night, the construction workers at the site right out the back window must have gotten their hong bao (red envelopes of cash) and decided to shoot the whole wad on fireworks. And not the pretty, colorful, bursting-in air-fireworks—just the loud, continuously popping ones used to “ward off the evil spirits”. In China they light the whole string at once (they don't ration them out one-by-one like American kids with a small pack of Black Cats to split three ways and last the whole Fourth of July.) It sounded like artillery fire, with the 20-story buildings giving it that echoing-off-a-canyon-wall effect. Needless to say, the sleeping baby awoke with a roar.
I picked her up and tried everything I knew to soothe her. She wasn’t having any of it. I looked out the window and could see the guys had considerately moved away from their own building so that they were right up against mine. I opened the window to yell…well, how do you yell, “You’re waking the baby!” in Chinese? Or “Stop that racket!” Or “Step away from the building!” I just didn’t know the words to use, so I decided a little non-verbal communication was in order. Fortunately for those guys, they had moved on by the time I got back with the pan of water. But someone else had started up around the corner, so I opened the window and slung it from the seventh floor. Hey, desperate times require desperate measures.
I’m pleased to report the fireworks ended immediately after that (although I am sure I committed some sort of MAJOR cultural faux-pas). And the baby slept soundly until 6:15 am! A new record! (OK, I actually got nervous around 5am and went to check that she was still breathing). She woke up happy, smiling, and all is well…at least until tonight’s Lantern Festival Night! AGH!
Yes, my new-mom friend has gone to the US for a job fair this week, and another friend and I (collectively known as the “Beijing Aunties”) are swapping out nights on baby patrol. The first day went fairly well. There were a few tears, but mostly Baby was happy doing all the things babies like to do with some regularity…eat, poop, play, sleep.
We made it all the way through dinner—a bowl of infant cereal jazzed up with some baby peas gently folded in. Clearly Baby is a gourmand who realized the recipe was slightly off, but she did mange to eat a few bites. A little more play, then bottle time rolled around. I took a page from my sister’s book and added in her secret weapon—a little bit of cereal. Just a little, mind you, to tide Baby over until a respectable hour like 5:00 am instead of the 3 or 4 she has been used to. She chowed down the bottle and loved it, but trouble started at snuggle time. Baby wanted to snuggle with Mom, I just wasn’t mom, and there was nothing I could do about it. And so the wailing began. Fortunately, the tag team relieved me at 7:00 so I could go up for my massage. (Yes, tough life, I know.)
When I came back around 8:15, Baby was in bed asleep. Ah, sweet relief! I put on my pajamas and tried to get to sleep quickly, knowing I’d be up in a few hours. But I forgot it was The Night Before Lantern Festival. Oh, yes—you didn’t think the fireworks went on for just one night, did you? No, they go on for nearly three weeks! Every night for three weeks. Well last night, the construction workers at the site right out the back window must have gotten their hong bao (red envelopes of cash) and decided to shoot the whole wad on fireworks. And not the pretty, colorful, bursting-in air-fireworks—just the loud, continuously popping ones used to “ward off the evil spirits”. In China they light the whole string at once (they don't ration them out one-by-one like American kids with a small pack of Black Cats to split three ways and last the whole Fourth of July.) It sounded like artillery fire, with the 20-story buildings giving it that echoing-off-a-canyon-wall effect. Needless to say, the sleeping baby awoke with a roar.
I picked her up and tried everything I knew to soothe her. She wasn’t having any of it. I looked out the window and could see the guys had considerately moved away from their own building so that they were right up against mine. I opened the window to yell…well, how do you yell, “You’re waking the baby!” in Chinese? Or “Stop that racket!” Or “Step away from the building!” I just didn’t know the words to use, so I decided a little non-verbal communication was in order. Fortunately for those guys, they had moved on by the time I got back with the pan of water. But someone else had started up around the corner, so I opened the window and slung it from the seventh floor. Hey, desperate times require desperate measures.
I’m pleased to report the fireworks ended immediately after that (although I am sure I committed some sort of MAJOR cultural faux-pas). And the baby slept soundly until 6:15 am! A new record! (OK, I actually got nervous around 5am and went to check that she was still breathing). She woke up happy, smiling, and all is well…at least until tonight’s Lantern Festival Night! AGH!
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