Clinic Day. The place all good kids go to cry. And some of them put on quite a show. But first, we had to get the family up and to breakfast.

Monica awoke first. She wasn’t quick enough with the camera settings, but if you look closely at this photo she took, you can tell our little girl is already in love with her big brother. Christian decided last night that he wanted to sleep with her. We were happy to oblige and to see he has accepted her to willingly. He made sure she was all tucked in and comfortable. This scene made our heart happy. I was glad she at least got enough light into the camera for us to have this picture. In case you cannot tell, Alexis has her hand on top of Christian’s hand.

The breakfast at the hotel was pretty tremendous. I didn’t take pictures. I should have. I’ll try to one of the mornings we are still here. The food offerings run the gamut. Since we were hoping to get to the hotel lobby on time, we just grabbed a few things and ate pretty quickly. I have to say, though, you should not leave that restaurant hungry. If you do, it’s your own fault. Even I could find enough to eat there to keep me happy.

But this is Clinic Day. We met the other families in the lobby and all nervously sat/stood around waiting for the go ahead to load the bus. Some shared their previous stories of Clinic Day while others just walked their children around in strollers to keep them happy. Monica was intent on holding Alexis right before this possibly, epicly (yes, I made that word up) horrendous experience for our new, little daughter. I think Monica was more nervous than Alexis, but Alexis had no idea what was ahead for her.

We loaded the bus and spent about 20 minutes listening to the directions given to us by Jocelyn, one of the other CCAI employees. She talked us through what would happen once we arrived. We would go to the fifth floor by elevator, walk through the reception area, get a Visa photo taken, move to a holding area for adopting families, and then go through four different rooms where our children would receive different checkups: general screening, ENT, height & weight, and then the blood draw for the TB test. Seemed pretty easy and straightforward. We handed over our $1570 Yuan for the appointment and awaited our arrival at the clinic.

First of all, the reception area was loaded with Chinese families who were awaiting clearance exams for travel with their own children. I certainly appreciate the separate, smaller room for adoptive families. I think that many people and kids in one place (with plenty of crying kids) would have just made our kids (and their mommies) even more uneasy about the upcoming events. I’m sure it’s why they do it that way.

Anyway, the Visa photo was a snap, no pun intended. Then we spent about 20 minutes waiting in the adoptive families waiting area for the checkups to begin. We were first in the general screening room. Easy. Next was the ENT room. Alexis was a bit uneasy about the whole deal, but overall she handled it well. She had on her Doc McStuffins stethoscope and the doctor compared it to her own. You could tell she loved the children. The next room was just height and weight, but that freaked Alexis out  for some reason. It only took a few minutes, but there was plenty of crying involved. I don’t remember the weight. I recall something like 28 lbs. The paperwork is in Chinese, so I have no clue.

Then the third room. The dreaded TB blood draw. The two nurses came out and took Alexis from Monica, went into the room, and shut the door. That’s right. No mommies allowed. We knew Alexis was in there because we sure could hear her. Man, she was not happy. It only took a few minutes, but she was back out the door and into Monica’s arms. She was crying and pointing. She’d point at the bandaid on her left arm and then point at the nurses. She was one ticked off little girl. We took her back to the other end of the hall where our stuff was at. I swear, every person we passed along our walk down the hall, Alexis had to show her bandaid and point to the room where the crime had been committed. She wasn’t going to let them off easy. Christian and I think we interpreted some of Alexis’s Chinese as, “I know where you ladies live!” Monica doesn’t think her little girl would ever be like that. Judging by the strong will this young lady has exhibited in the week we’ve had her, I wouldn’t discount my translation.

The good news was that the Clinic Day was over for us. We just had to wait until the rest of the families finished their visits, load the bus, and enjoy a smooth 20 minute ride back to the hotel. We decided to hit Subway for lunch again before napping. This is where we first observed a little trick of hers. We noticed that Alexis likes to hide food that she doesn’t like to eat. It was the olives. Now, I don’t like them either, so I don’t blame her.  It was pretty funny (to me mostly). She was lining them up in the little crack between the table and the wall. Unfortunately, the wall was the glass wall to the front of the restaurant. They kind of stuck out sitting there. She didn’t see a problem with it at all, though. Christian did similar things with food he didn’t want when he was that age. Funny how their personalities are so much alike: strong willed, verbal, and bright. Monica thinks we traveled all the way to China to get the little girl most like Christian. She’s probably right.

Once back to the hotel, we went straight to the room for a nap. Monica and Alexis napped. Christian and I headed to the Executive Lounge to watch a movie and take care of the aforementioned snacks that might get in our way. We had the entire lounge to ourselves. Only one other guy was there, and he was a few rooms away. We finished the movie, a few Pepsis, and a Bundesliga  soccer game. We had an hour before dinner and two females to wake up.

Dinner was at a Cantonese/Portuguese restaurant near the hotel. To say Alexis loved it is an understatement. Me: meh. Christian wasn’t much of a fan either. Monica thought it was good. But Alexis. She was in hog’s heaven. You have to check out the pictures for April 21 at the link to the right on the blog, but this one is just a sample. The funniest part was that she out ate all of the adults, went to the bathroom when everyone was finished eating, and came back for another round. This girl is healthy. For those of you familiar with Chinese adoptions, you might think she is gorging. She’s not. She doesn’t hide food for later. She doesn’t want food in her hands to feel safe. She ALWAYS offers to share any food she has with others. She even tried to share her cookie with one of the doctors that ticked her off at the clinic.  She’s just got a great appetite. We are so fortunate that the foster home took such good care of her. It is obvious in so many ways. The $210 Yuan we spent on dinner was wasted by Christian and me, but Alexis more than made up for it.

Our return trip to the hotel included a walk through some of the shops in the hotel. One of the jewelry stores had some beautiful jade sculptures. Hundreds of pounds and thousands of dollars. These folks are artisans. Very nice work. We walked past plenty of clothing shops, a Starbucks, and even a mani/pedi shop. Monica decided to wait until she gets back home to have another mani/pedi visit. There’s some irony in there somewhere.

We made a quick trip through the Executive Lounge to check out the evening desserts and then back to the room. It’s been a long day, and we have an early start on more paperwork tomorrow. We have a dinner cruise tomorrow night. From what I am told, the Chinese government spent $40 billion Yuan on making this river and it’s shoreline beautiful for the Olympics, so it should be a beauty to behold. Expect lots of pictures. We also have a zoo visit, a city tour, a trip to the market (where the knockoff stuff is sold), and maybe another Wal Mart trip in our future. For now, we sleep.