Medical checks and more shopping

So today we headed off to a "western" medical clinic for the medical checks required by Canadian immigration. The check-ups required both kids to be undressed which, of course, started a round of crying. Neither one likes to have clothes (including diapers) put on or taken off. Not sure why. Although, as one woman in our group said... "who is comfortable sitting naked in the doctors office?"

Both girls checked out fine, although both are delayed somewhat developmentally. That was not unexpected. The doctor figures that A is at about a 9 month old stage, and E is maybe one month further ahead. But as we discussed with the doctor, they've made so much progress just in the week we've now had them. So we're all confident they'll catch up quickly. One week ago when we got the two girls, neither one seemed to be able to sit unassisted for more than a minute or two before they fell over. Now, they're both sitting no problem, and are working on standing. (Maybe we'll skip crawling?) E in particular can stand up with all her weight supported as long as you balance her. And A is pretty close behind.

The surprising discovery for me was that while A is definitely heavier than E (8.5 kg vs. 7.4 kg), E is taller by 5 centimetres! I'm not sure if their diets have affected their heights. The doctor told us to keep trying to get A on some solid foods, which we continue to do. But she's still spitting everything out. E on the other hand seems to eat whatever we put in front of her. :-0

This afternoon, a few of us went to the Wangfujing shopping centre. We had been directed there by a friend who has been here a couple of times. We were able to walk from our hotel room, but walking in China is always a bit of an experience. I honestly don't know how they can have such a high population. I would have thought half of them would have been taken out by traffic-pedestrian accidents sometime or another. Basically it seems that the rule for pedestrians is -- go ahead and walk when the walk signal lights up, but watch out for cars which always have the right of way. I don't think I've yet seen a traffic light change without seeing at least a dozen cars and 20 or so bikes come through on the red light. In fact, most people seem to just ride right on through red lights, whether they were recently green or not. Makes it a bit harrowing for us foreigners, but we've learned to just try to stick to the middle of a pack of natives and move when they do.

At the mall DoT and I bought two Chinese "Barbie" dolls for the girls. (I can't remember the names of the doll right now.) I can't believe the blond-haired, blue-eyed dolls for sale here - it was actually a bit of a challenge to find a Chinese doll for them. We also bought nine pairs of shoes! I would have bought more but I have no idea what size their feet will be, when. So, already I may have bought them sandals that will fit them in the middle of winter. Who knows. Also the sales people at this mall were really agressive, and it got to a point where I just had to get out of there.

We weren't exactly sure where we were going when we were trying to find the shop, and after asking a couple of people for directions a very nice young Chinese woman led us to the street. She told us that she wouldn't recommend shopping at the Wangfujing though. Apparently it is very popular with foreigners, but Chinese people don't shop there because it is over-priced. She told us of a better place to go, but it would have required getting on a bus, which was just not going to happen.

I didn't take too many pictures today. There was not a whole lot worth showing you, but I knew you'd want to see something, so here's a picture of the pedestrian mall where the shop was at. Interestingly it was almost all Chinese people there. :-)

Tomorrow we have an early start - so I better quit here and get to bed. (Hopefully E is asleep now - she wasn't when I came down to do this update.) We're going to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. So I should have pictures for you tomorrow.