Emma Has Her Mandated Medical Exam

This morning we visited the local medical clinic for the exam that's required for Emma to get her visa and come to the U.S. We were there with a whole bunch of other families. The exam didn't take too long. The docs checked her ears and throat, listened to her chest, poked her a couple times (one doc said "Strong" when Emma pushed him away), weighed and measured her. She's 22-1/2 pounds right now and I didn't catch the length measurement.

It's Monday about noonish. We're here until Friday. Tomorrow we fill out more paperwork and Thursday we have an appointment at the consulate, where we get Emma's visa. We'll pick up a day coming back -- so we'll get back to L.A. (still on Friday), stay over one night, and be back in SLC Saturday a little after noon.

Emma's doing really well. She's got us wrapped around her little finger, I'm afraid. She's got tons of personality. Last night we discovered a fun thing to do -- let her toddle down the wide, carpeted hotel hallways to her heart's content. Doesn't hurt when you fall down and go boom. Emma enjoyed "showing off herself" to the floor attendant stationed in the foyer. She'd crawl backwards and then look over her shoulder to make sure she had an audience.

She's babbling up a storm now and I'm sure there's some Chinese in there. When she plays with the phone she picks up the receiver and says "Wei??" (which Judy says is what you say when you answer the phone). She says "BA! BA! BA!" a lot ("baba" means daddy, but I don't know if that's what she means). She also says "mama" when she comes up to pat me on the knee sometimes. This morning after she woke up she was babbling all kinds of exotic sounds. We may try to record some of it tomorrow, if she does it again.

Emma does melt down from time to time. Must be a combination of her age, her circumstances right now, and her temperament. She had a fit last night when I tried to feed her a before-bed bottle and she decided she wanted to do that by herself, thank you very much. Hooeee, watch out! We also opted out of a group dinner last night when we realized she was not about to sit demurely for an hour and a half while the adults ate and chatted (the other families have younger kids who are placid lapsitters). Emma is no shrinking violet, but tons and tons of fun and so sweet and funny. She's also tough as nails. She took a tumble off a booster chair the other night and hit the deck. She just kind of looked around, got back up, and shook it off. She is the energizer bunny and a half and goes goes goes goes until she drops. We're crazy about her.

We got her some stacking cups, which she likes. On the box, part of the instructions say, "The numeral charactered in the bottom of the bowls let your baby enjoy the fun when playing of them, and help to explore. The intellect & imagination inside the baby. Therefore it's your right hand to bring up the baby. Caution: guided by adults when using." Hmmm. Okay. I think we got 'em figured out.

This afternoon we're taking her to a nearby restaurant that has American food (and toddler food!). She may experience her first PB&J today. Then we'll stroll her around for awhile. We discovered if we take her for a stroll at naptime, she'll fall asleep and we can bring her home and make the transfer to bed without too much complaint.

That's it for now....hope you've had a wonderful Sunday.

Love,

Denny