Jennifer cried a little bit, but Abigail took it all in stride. If you remember, she was the one who screamed for like five hours when they had their initial evaluations, so this was tremendous progress!
There were no real surprises in their lab results or their diagnosis and plan for treatment. We are glad for that. The bad news was that after testing for immunities, Abigail needed four shots and Jennifer needed three. With as much worrying as they did about them they surely were cooperative! Again, Jen cried a little bit, but Abigail didn't even flinch. Wow.
We thought this was going to be a short appointment, and perhaps in the world of international adoption it was, but it still took two hours. Most of that time was spent actually WITH a medical person, not just waiting, so I continue to be impressed at the time and attention these folks take with our children.
At one point the nurse practitioner was asking about their diet and we were discussing options for calcium since neither girl likes milk. She mentioned ice cream and Abigail ran with it! Ice cream is one of the signs we've learned in our Signing Time movies, and she made sure we didn't forget that she wanted some.
I think I had an "AH HA" moment. We have found that when we tell Abigail she may have something but she needs to wait for it (wait is another of our signs and she knows the meaning) she is very, very persistent to NAG us until it happens. If our bio children had done this we would think they were being a little naughty, and honestly it gets tiring. But what if, just consider - WHAT IF she has been told lies in the past to get her to cooperate? She has no way of knowing that if Mama tells her, "Yes, we are going to get ice cream," that I really WILL make every effort to do what I have promised. I'm choosing to give her the benefit of the doubt and have even a little more patience with the pestering. In time she will learn that I can be trusted.
After the long morning and being human pin cushions we figured they were due for a treat. Lunch at Chick-fil-a followed by the requested ice cream was in order!
We think this may have been the first time the Little Princesses have had an ice cream cone. They seemed quite amazed when we told them they could actually EAT the cone part!
Jennifer is so, so funny when she eats. If it is something she really likes she will nod her head over and over and say, "yummy, yummy." The cone was worthy of this reaction. This little munchkin ate the ENTIRE THING!
