"You haven't done this for awhile."

Beijing-Monday August 20th.

We flew from Guangzhou to Beijing because baby Jasmine had to jump a few hurdles before the Canadian Government would give her a visa to enter our country. Her biggest hurdle was a medical exam at the SOS clinic in Beijing. We had to get her ready for 8:00 am on Monday morning. So I dressed her in her best outfit, a little red sailor suit, that matches her Canadian visa photo. We went down for breakfast, and at 7:55 am she promptly spat up on herself, and on her adoring Mother. I took her upstairs to get her dressed...AGAIN...held up the bus, and finally made it to the clinic.

At the SOS clinic we met Dr. Lucy Chen, a lovely woman who had a medical degree from McGill University framed on her office wall. It was a comfort to meet a Doctor from Canada, who had grown up in our hometown. Dr. Chen was married to a fellow Chinese-Canadian, and after graduating from McGill they decided to try to make a go of it in China. Her husband is a lawyer and they have two children, a son who is a bit younger than Louis, and a daughter.

Dr. Chen showed me photos of her family. "What beautiful children," I said. "They are 10 years apart," said Dr. Chen," we adopted our little girl."

With that I squeezed her hand.

She started to look at Jasmine. "She's a very robust little girl," she said. "The strongest child I've seen from the orphanage this morning."

Baby Jasmine likes to eat, we've known that from the moment we got her. We are very lucky, because her height matches her weight, she shows no signs of malnutrition. But the best news came next.

Dr. Chen rang a bell on the left side of Jasmine's head, then used a squeeky toy on the right. Jasmine followed the sounds from left to right. She sat up straight. She smiled. She gurgled.

"Does she crawl?" Dr. Chen asked. "Louis taught her this week," I said. Louis had put her on the hotel floor, and put her favourite toys across the room. She loves her pacifier, and she sped across the carpet to get it.

"She's developmentally on target," Dr. Chen declared. "All the kids are strong, this orphanage may not have been able to spend enough time with the fussy eaters," she said. "But all of the kids are physically strong, that's a good sign from any child that is institutionalized."

Then Dr. Chen began to undress Jasmine, and she started to laugh. "Her diaper is on backwards," she said. " I guess you haven't done this for awhile."