Gotcha Day

It was amazing. The last few days have been a whirlwind. We only found out we could get him yesterday and then this morning we got him at 9:30am.
He's a sweetie and a ham! When I started this blog I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. I mean, what input did he have in us telling his story? Well he loves the camera and he loves seeing his picture on the computer. Then tonight in the grocery store he attempted to gesture to the produce dude "check it out, this is MY family."
So I guess that is the big ok for the blog.
I've never adopted before but I volunteered at an orphanage for 6 months. I had dreams of my son being in an ideal place and really adored and just the apple of the eye of everyone at the orphanage. And that they had kept him until he was 4 because they couldn't bear to let him go. I've seen the blogs of several of the kids I worked with that were adopted, if they are the favorite of the orphanage the ayi (or ayis) comes and there are big hugs and tears. If they are not the fav, the director or the assistant director comes.
Little guy galloped into the room with the director. Little guy is the right blog name for him 'cause he is little. No meat at all on my little man. We were given a minute to meet him and then the paperwork. Apparently we are a highly unusual case because nobody, Nobody, adopts on a Thursday. Monday is the day, not Thursday. We just smiled and nodded our head.
The director said she didn't know much about him. Teenager was given a schedule to translate to us. Hey-didn't we have a guide? Why of course, the agency insisted that we use their guide, not the translators from the company that sponsored the camp last week. Nope, had to be their guy. Anyway on the cab ride he figured out that Teenagers chinese is really good. On the phone yesterday, I figured out that he had a standard speach and didn't appreciate any out of the box questions. We thought having a translotor was going to be very vital for us establishing the pecking order of the family, we didn't ask Teenager to deliver her sister when she was 11, so now at 16, should she be responsible for passing on the vital info? No fears, she is indeed a teenager and told him that she wanted to play with her brother and didn't want to translate right now.
It was decided that tomorrow we can meet with his teacher when we do the final adoption and ask questions.
Anyway, the stuffed animals with our face were a big hit! He walked in carrying them. He matched each one to our face and was so excited. It was very cool. We brought a white board and we drew stick family and put chinese characters over the people. He took the pen and drew lines between each figure and showed them like all holding hands. It was so sweet!!!!
He loves cameras. He knows a few signs and says ma and ba.

i love you in chinese sign

The director said if you talk real loud he can understand you. Yeah, hopes for hearing aides! Of course, we didn't see any signs of him responding to sound. In some way because he is deaf, even though he is 4, he is like a baby. It feels good for bonding, I think. He makes little sounds or facial expressions and it feels very natural to be like "oh baby, what can I get for you".
Princess is handling the arrival of the prince very well.

They love looking at themselves in the mirror

There was only one episode of big heartfelt tears when after I carried him on my shoulders to dinner, his dad carried him back. That just broke her heart.
We spent the day playing and enjoying him. It was raining so we got him an umbrella and he just loved it. The schedule was right on til bedtime. We got back a little late from dinner and missed the scheduled laydown time by 30minutes. That error took about 3 hours to correct. At the nap today, he woke up a little confused, but grabbed his stuffed animals and was happy again. We know he should be sad from leaving his previous life. I think maybe he thinks this is a fabulous vacation. I hope he comes to understand that he really is part of the family now.

Hefei, China