Trains, Kissing and Shots

Things have been very much back to normal for the last few weeks. After his little bout of sadness, Yikealo has been joyful, sweet and happy most of the time. He is so much fun, and I'm honestly amazed at what a great time I have playing with him. This very girly girl is having a ball with all of the little boy toys - who would have believed that could happen??

Yesterday, I was reading Disney's Pocahontas story to him. There was a picture of John Smith and Pocahontas kissing, which he was completely fascinated by. Several hours later, as he was about to fall asleep for his nap, he informed me, "Mom, when I get big, I'm gonna kiss a girl." Great...I'm so glad that he's already planning this out at the tender age of three. I guess that maybe there's something to be said for continually reading "boy" books like "Smash! Crash!" or "Go Dog, Go!"

Two weeks ago, he had his six-month follow up appointment at Rainbow Babies international adoption clinic. They rechecked him for a whole battery of things - HIV, Hepatitis A and B, TB, titres for immunity and who knows what else. Thankfully, he's negative on everything. When we were there in July, they drew about 10 vials of blood for the initial tests, and as soon as the lab tech picked up her blue tourniquet band, he started SHRIEKING. David and I looked at each other and said in unison, "He knows what this is!" - and it took both of us to hold him down. This time, I had warned him that he was going to get a "shot" again, and that if he would be a good boy, I would buy him a "milkshape" on the way home. He marched into the lab as if he owned the place, and asked the tech, "Does this hurt?" She told him that maybe it would hurt just a little bit, to which he replied, "I big, brave boy. I no cry." She was highly amused, and said that he looked like a "big, brave boy!" He did great - he whimpered just slightly when he first saw the needle, but didn't cry at all. Apparently bribery in the form of "milkshapes" works wonders!