How's this for enthusiasm?
Andrew here, filling in for Donna for a moment. She mentioned a couple of posts down that Gwen unrestrained in a car or plane is like a 26 pound overcaffeinated monochromatic Dalmation puppy, and Maddy isn't much better. So we really had no choice but to buy child carseats for the trip home.
As you may know, China is opposed to vehicle safety in all its forms, so even finding a carseat to buy is tricky. We went to a giant department store catering to tourists, and found some cheapo Graco carseats on sale for i-kid-you-not about 10% of the cost of a new car. We found only one other place that sells carseats, in this case a Chinese brand called "Goodbaby", listed in a product catalog under the heading "infantile products." Ironically, we're considering using the Goodbaby carseats as timeout chairs once we're back in the states.
Anyway, as you can see, Gwen loves her new carseat! We pick up Maddy's probably tomorrow, and then we can plunk our beloved babies in front of our tiny but invaluable portable DVD screen so they can watch the Two Minutes Elmo at eleven hundred hours every day. Elmo in Grouchland is our current favorite -- great movie! And we're fondly imagining that we might actually step out of the 747 with most of our hair still in place.
