Such is the life

In our neighborhood, they're extending an underground shopping center and possibly doing something to the subway. I'm not sure exactly what's being built where, but I know there's a lot of construction around. This brings me to my first photo.

We see this all the time. Apparently in order to make ramps instead of curbs, the construction sites dump their extra cement on the roads and sidewalks like this. This one was very fresh-- you can tell because it doesn't have footprints or wheel ruts in it yet. Heaven forbid we should pick up those traffic cones and section off the wet cement. That would just be asking too much! (But to be fair, for what they're paying the construction workers here in China, it IS asking too much.) 

It's really not too much of a problem, because most of the time, the concrete is of such a poor quality that after it dries with all its footprints and wheel ruts in it, it crumbles into gravel and gets swept away. This doesn't make me feel much better, considering the building I'm living in is made of concrete.

Penny modeling her lovely scarves

There's a fabric market not far from our house. While we were out running errands (by which I mean shopping for fabric), we stopped by this silk shop. Penny had a blast sorting through their silk remnants, and we bought several (1 kuai each-- about 15 cents) to add to her dress-up box. Shortly after this picture was taken, Penny grabbed the yellow stool in the background and brought it over to the pile. The shop ladies were like, "Oh how nice, she's bringing a stool for her mommy to sit on."
Nope. She plunked it down for herself to sit on and kept rummaging through the scarves and bedecking herself in them.

Mmmmm... smoggy!

This is why I feel no motivation to exercise. I'm healthier breathing as little of this as possible. Plus, it's below freezing first thing in the morning and only slightly above in the afternoons. And see all that lush greenery? Oh wait, there isn't any. So we stay inside.

Celery is in season now. There's Chinese celery and Western celery. They're just different varieties of the same stuff. The Chinese celery has skinnier, leafier stalks and less of a flavor. But I bought some Western celery and made some stuffing to go in my chicken. Nothing like a little holiday cooking to make you feel at home. With the leftover celery we made ants-on-a-log. Penny enjoyed them. She ate the ants, ate a bit of the peanut butter, and then took a bite out of the back of the celery-- not along the ends or anything, but just right there in the middle of the log. I didn't realize how unoriginal I was by just eating them from one end to the other.

And of course we have Meimei. During our fabric shopping expedition, she was bundled up and sleeping in the stroller. During the ants-on-a-log, she was taking a nap. But when she does decide to grace us with her presence, she is a delight. Until she's ready to sleep again, that is.
She's working on some teeth, as you can see from the drool all over her bib. She's been salivating like this for over a month, so I'm about ready for the teeth. We started feeding her some applesauce sometimes. She has a little mesh binky that we can put some food in, and she takes her pears that way. Naomi is very good at turning from her back to her tummy, so much so that she thinks arching her back and flipping over will always improve her prospects. It's not always true, especially when I'm trying to nurse her.
All these new talents combined make for some uneasy nights. She doesn't wake up too much, but when she does, she's usually lying on her tummy with her face in a puddle of drool.