The slight lull in posting about our adventures is the result of having family visit this past weekend and starting to begin the Long String of Medical Appointments for our little man.  Alexander has now met his grandparents on both sides, and everyone appears to be charmed by his huge smile and laugh.

Friday, we had our first appointment at the Adoption Clinic at Comer Children’s Hospital– a great team of medical professionals that are very experienced in dealing with patients such as our son. They are incredibly sensitive to his developmental and nutritional needs in the context of being an internationally adopted child.  We’re really happy so far, and we look forward to working with the team.

We had our second visit to Comer just this morning, where our guy got his first blood draw.  He was as cool as a cucumber during the first visit aside from a few sad “La’s”, but today was a different story. As soon as the little koalas-in-spaceships hospital gown came out, he knew the deal. No amount of artfully blown bubbles, movies, or toys would distract him from whichever medical personnel was administering care. I think they took a total of 8 vials of blood from our little guy, who was thoroughly unhappy. The staff was incredibly gentle, and we had an advocate who helped us decide if he was too stressed to continue.  Though he was clearly terrified, we did our best to soothe him, and they were able to complete all the needed labwork. Wow, there is nothing worse that seeing your child in a hospital gown howling. I also apologize to all the families outside the lab this morning whose patients looked appropriately terrified by the racket we made.

In the end, we had a very successful visit. Things are rolling along, Alexander is gaining weight and appears to be adjusting well. I almost took a picture of him this morning after the appointment, with his angry face and little bandages on each arm. Thank goodness though– when you’re little, a warm bottle and a long afternoon nap can make any situation a little better.