Testing....

So after my lovely post yesterday, Noah decided that today would be a totally different sort of day for his new parents. We got our bit of sunshine and happiness, so today he thought he would try to test the waters to see what he could make us do for him. Apparently he is feeling secure enough to defy us and watch to see what will happen. I'm used to 8th graders with bad attitudes, but 2 year olds take it to a whole new level. Every time Noah wanted something today he decided to scream and cry for it at the top of his lungs and if he didn't get it he would try to hit me or throw something. It was entertaining the first few times, but by the end of the day, Peter and I had just about enough of the charade. Unfortunately for Noah, his parents are just as stubborn, if not more so than he is... and he is outnumbered 2 to 1. Also, his mom is a teacher with an iron will who doesn't concede easily to the foolishness of children. Poor kid...

Aside from the tantrums (which got less dramatic as the day went on and he figured out that we don't play that game), Noah had a pretty eventful day. In the morning we went to the medical clinic to get his TB test read and for the medical exam that is required by the US Consulate. Although we got there early, the place was packed with sick people and folks who are trying to immigrate. Adoptive families have their own waiting room so that was nice, but it was boiling hot and there were tons of mosquitos everywhere. In fact, before we went into one of the rooms to see the doctor, the doctor was flailing around an electric bug zapper to try to rid the area of mosquitos for us! What service :)

The medical exam consisted of taking measurements, checking his hearing by playing a note on a electric keyboard, and then a very rudimentary physical exam. They literally spent all of 5 minutes at each station. This did not give me great confidence in their findings, but at least we passed and that is really all that matters so that we can get home to see some real doctors.

After the exam, it was time for the shots. We waited for at least an hour while they typed up each page of his vaccination record (yes I said typed, as in on a typewriter). Then we were told to make our way through the crowds to the shot station and went into a small area behind a desk with an open window, a rickety fan, a chair and not much else. Poor Noah got 7 shots all in one sitting, 2 in each thigh, 2 in one arm and 1 in the other. He screamed so loud I thought I would go deaf. We then went back to the waiting room to make sure the kids didn't have a reaction and after 30 minutes or so were allowed to leave. It was quite the experience and caused Peter and I quite a bit of worry since we opened the newspaper today to see an article about a bunch of kids who got sick or died due to bad vaccines here in China. The government of course denies the incident. :)

Once the medical clinic visit was over, we went back to the hotel to take the infamous red couch picture that all adoptive families who stay at the White Swan Hotel take during their time here. We dressed Noah up in his little Chinese silk outfit and placed him on the couch with the kids from the other families we are traveling with. He just sort of sat there looking confused. He doesn't seem to enjoy having his picture taken and gets rather serious when he sees the camera, so don't expect too many great shots once Peter finally posts some pictures.

After the picture, we enjoyed tea time with the other families and then went to a local park for some play time. Noah figured out that it is great fun to slide down a slide, which is something he's probably never done since they don't have jungle gyms in rural China. He spent more than an hour just going up the stairs and down the slide over and over and over again until he was drenched in sweat, dirty and exhausted. We then came back to the hotel where he screamed through another bath and is finally asleep in his little bed.

Tomorrow we are going to explore another local park and do some bargain hunting....