January 23rd - Medical Exam and thinking about the NJ blizzard

It was a short night and a hurried breakfast (20 minutes) to get to the lobby for the group departure. We were pleasantly greeted by the Holt staff including John, our guide when we adopted Elise.  He recently started working for Holt.  We liked him very much during Elise's adoption and feel very comfortable with him helping our group this time.

We are in transit to Medical Clinic.  John is one of our favorite guides.

Here's the entrance to the medical clinic.  Our guides prepared us to how chaotic it would be.  They were right.

Upon arrival to the building, Drew had his photo taken for his US visa. He was not happy because we had to interrupt his bottle for the picture.

We needed all 11 Holt families to complete before we could leave so we all worked together to help each other.  Elise did a great job being patient.  She even shared her educational games on her ipad with one of the 3.5 year olds we met in Nanning. 

Drew needed to visit 3 stations.  Luckily he is under 2 so he didn't have to have a venipuncture for the TB test.  

Here's a shot of all 3 stations we visited.  The door closest in this picture is of the medical examination.  The doctor did physical examination (stethoscope to listen to heart, push on his abdomen, etc).  He cried almost as soon as the doctor touched him.

The next room is the ENT room.  I think it was the same guy who did Elise's exam.  His equipment appeared updated with the exception of squeak toys.  He had a peanut shape and a vegetable shape vs the animals a few years ago.  As soon as the doctor examined his ears, he started crying.  

The final station was a vitals check.  It included his weight and height.  We had great anticipation to see the number on the scale.  We swear he feels almost 30 lbs.  Since he LOVES to be carried, we do a lot.  He doesn't hang on or help in anyway.  Carrying him truly feels like dead weight.  He especially feels heavier after a meal.  To our surprise, the scale said only 11kg.  You can see below how much he enjoyed this experience.   Makes me look very forward to our pediatrician visit when we return and the surgical consult at CHOP for his upcoming palate surgery. (can you detect the sarcasm?) 

Catherine, our lead guide, said she was pleasantly surprised that our 11 families completed this task in a very short time.

Here's a picture of one section of the waiting room.  Tight quarters for many people.

It is still very cold here.  Because of this, we stayed the rest of the day at the hotel, and usually in our room.  This also allowed us time to review the weather forecast throughout the day showing the blizzard hitting our family and friends.  :( 

Drew was enjoying his bottle.  

Elise posed for this picture on our bed so I could send it to Tiffy.  

Here they are playing with each other.  Drew watches closely and tries to imitate.  It was cute to hear them both laugh.

Drew showing off his squatting ability.  His quads are quite impressive.

After bath, he was hangin' with dad.  He's got a funny little laugh.

Before they both went to sleep, we turned on the Lego movie.  

I'm not necessarily a big fan of this movie...but it is very nice that there are options of tv shows in English beyond original James Bond movies (like last time).