Doctors and Relatives and Social Workers, Oh My!

When we last left our hero, he was developing a cough that daddy thought was no big deal. Daddy was wrong! Turns out he had (has) a pretty bad ear infection. We discovered it on our first visit to see Dr Taylor, our pediatrician who helped us with Manu's pre-adoption screening. We were really impressed with her knowledge of foreign adoption and issues specific to foreign and institutionalized children, and we wanted her as Manu's primary physician. Manu began the trip to the doctor in good spirits, probably because he didn't know what was about to happen. Dr. Taylor poked, prodded and otherwise irritated the little guy as she carried out her examination. She was pleased with his development and overall condition, but wanted to run a series of tests to ensure he was in good health. We were warned that the lab was going to take a lot of blood from the little guy, and boy did they. After leaving Dr. Taylor with a prescription for Amoxil for his ears, we headed down to the lab, where a couple of gentle young ladies proceeded to take about 17 vials of Manu's precious blood. As you might imagine he was not at all impressed with the whole ordeal, though I believe he was crying more from being held down than any pain the needle might have caused (guess who had to hold him.) After we finished he had one more stop in radiology for a chest x-ray. Mommy and Daddy had to hold him still while they took the pictures. If he wasn't in a bad mood before, after being stripped down and bent into all kinds of positions, he was now! Poor guy had streams of tears flowing down his face. Finally through we stopped at a Starbucks kiosk to grab a quick cup of coffee before heading out. As usual Manu drew a crowd of admirers, as most of the employees and several passing customers comment on how cute he is (they didn't have to hold him down a few minutes ago, LOL.) After leaving the clinic we treated Manu to lunch at Mellow Mushroom, a local gourmet pizza place in Lexington. Manu really enjoyed the hummus with pita, and chewing on some of our pizza crust. Finally he was all smiles again!

That weekend we headed back to Whitesburg, Leslie's home town, for a welcome home party for Manu. There he was introduced to many extended family members and friends. There was lots of food, and Manu especially seemed to enjoy the mini quiche. Everyone that came was very generous, showering Manu with new toys, outfits and lots of diapers! Manu began the party very clingy and fussy, probably because he still wasn't feeling too good, plus being surrounded by "strangers", but after a bit he opened up as he was passed all around the room. We awoke Sunday to several inches of snow that made the mountains quite beautiful, but we headed back home early to give us plenty of time to deal with any bad roads. We made it back with no problems.

A few days later we had our first post-placement visit with our social worker Amy. She was very nice as we discussed our transition as a family and Manu's health, sleep and eating habits. This was much less stressful for Leslie and myself compared our initial home study a year ago. Not because that one was bad, but this time we already had the baby! We also learned that Amy was only a week away from flying to Ethiopia to adopt twin 3yo girls! They are so adorable and we are very excited for them! We will have another visit with Amy in two months and again three months after that.

The next day it was back to Dr. Taylor to have his ears checked in advance of a hearing test. Turns out his ears were still full of fluid, so no hearing test that day. This also explains the last few sleepless nights for Leslie and me! She checked him over again and gave us some really good news about his litany of tests: He's a healthy normal little boy; on the small side, but catching up. Unfortunately for Manu, it was time for some immunizations; three to be exact. We decided to give him a flu shot in addition to those, as Dr. Taylor informed us that Lexington is just now beginning to see the flu appear. We held him down as nurse Ratchet, ...er Elizabeth, administer the shots. He cried, but recovered pretty quick. We left with an appointment for next month for more shots, and a new Rx for Augmentin.

Since then Manu has received his "green card" (which isn't green), making him a legal resident of the US for the next ten years. Of course he will become a citizen long before that card expires. Yesterday we took a trip to Shelbyville to see his Nana, his Momaw and to meet his Uncle Matt, Aunt Tara and "Older Cousin" Maddie. She's four years old and happy not to be the youngest any more! As usual his curiosity compelled him to explore every shelf within reach, as he attempted to put anything and everything in his mouth. Again, bad weather was upon us and our trip home took longer than usual, but we got back to Lexington safe and sound.

Tomorrow is a big day for Manu: his first day at Day Care. Neither of us can believe that it has been six weeks already. It's going to be hard to let him go off on his own, especially for Leslie, as she has been with him almost every moment since we got him, but we have heard really good things about this place, and our two prior visits were very reassuring. Stay tuned for more on this monumental occasion!