sticky wickets in Hanoi

[J]

Don't worry. We haven't hit any roadblocks. I just like the sound of "sticky wickets," and sticky is what K was when he finished the lollipop at the SOS clinic here in Hanoi. Today we were picked up by our Holt friends (along with the Wise family) and taken to get K's passport. That was another bureaucratically painless event, requiring one signature. Hardly any waiting, even. And then we went to have K's check-up at the SOS clinic prior to the embassy visit. This was a change to the earlier itinerary, but it worked out fine. First we had to stop for photographs, though, since the passport-sized pictures are not the right size for the visa application. Again, that was quick and painless.

At the SOS clinic, we waited a bit more, but that gave us time for a nice chat with the Wise's. And it allowed Maya to share her Cheerios with K. It would be fun to be able to go back and see how these two interacted in the Bien Hoa orphanage, but here, Maya would carefully feed K one Cheerio after another, sometimes biting a Cheerio in half and then giving the other half to K. Very sweet and amusing! There was the moment, though, when Maya got her fingers too far into K's mouth while feeding him a Cheerio, and he bit her....

In addition to Cheerios, K got a lollipop at the clinic, though he wasn't very effective at eating it. He doesn't seem to have the knack of closing his lips around things... like lollipops... and so as he eats, he creates a continuous flow of sticky drool. Like a small, chocolate snail, he ended up leaving a trail of slime all around the clinic waiting area. I followed him, trying to wipe up the floor, walls, and K himself, but it was a losing battle. As he continued to slime away in the examination room with the doctor, I continued trying to keep him from making too great a mess. Finally, the doctor said, "Please don't bother, sir." Fortunately, a moment later K accidentally shot the lollipop out of his mouth and across the floor, creating the perfect opportunity to make the lollipop disappear. He had eaten most of it, so it wasn't like I was taking candy from a baby. I have an aversion to stickiness in general.

So, we've got the passport and a clean bill of health. The very nice doctor confirmed that the scabies seems to be gone. And she confirmed that his head is very lumpy and bumpy... but that the lumps and bumps are just the way his skull is shaped. E had been worrying vaguely about whether K was sprouting water buffalo horns. On Monday, we visit the embassy. Ah, progress.

Last night, we all went to the Thanh Long water puppet theater at the north end of Hoan Kiem lake. It was a terrific performance, and TM and K were entranced the whole time. We didn't get any pictures during the show, but everyone enjoyed it, and we had front row seats. M wants to find one of the frog water puppets. B and TM liked the dragons that squirted water and sparks.

This evening, we'll head back to old quarter for more shopping and dinner... but now TM and B need a swim.