from xml.dom import minidom
import xpath

zooXml = """<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Zoo xmlns='http://foo.bar/zoo'>
  <Compound><Chimp/></Compound>
</Zoo>"""

mydom = minidom.parseString(zooXml)
compound = xpath.findnode('/Zoo/Compound', mydom)
print compound.toxml() # as expected: <Compound><Chimp/></Compound>
print xpath.find("Chimp", compound) # as expected: [<DOM Element: Chimp at 0x24c0cc8>]

newChimp = mydom.createElement("Chimp")
compound.appendChild(newChimp)
print compound.toxml() # ok, two chimps now: <Compound><Chimp/><Chimp/></Compound>
print xpath.find("Chimp", compound) # wait a second, that's still only one chimp: [<DOM Element: Chimp at 0x24a0d88>]

mydom = minidom.parseString(mydom.toxml())
compound = xpath.findnode('/Zoo/Compound', mydom)
print xpath.find("Chimp", compound) # now it finds both chimps: [<DOM Element: Chimp at 0x24c9808>, <DOM Element: Chimp at 0x24c9888>]

babyChimp = mydom.createElementNS(mydom.firstChild.namespaceURI, "Chimp")
compound.appendChild(babyChimp)
print xpath.find("Chimp", compound) # that worked: [<DOM Element: Chimp at 0x24c9808>, <DOM Element: Chimp at 0x24c9888>, <DOM Element: Chimp at 0x24c9548>]