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Monday, October 13, 2008
HESITATION, SCREAMING,
DRY HEAVES AND SMILES
That title about sums it up for GOTCHA DAY!
We all woke up surprisingly CALM! We got up slowly this morning
and prepared ourselves for the day. We went down and ate
breakfast where we saw the 3 other American adoptive couples
staying here at the hotel. We chatted nervously about what the
day would hold. After breakfast we went back to the grocery
store and then spent some time at the mall. On the top floor of
the mall was an amusements area sort of like Chuck E Cheese.
Kiah enjoyed spending time there. We decided to eat lunch at
Papa John’s again. By this time it was noon and the excitement
was building. We decided we were nervous but we were reserved…
we just couldn’t imagine how Logan would react to us and we
talked about different scenarios. We got back to the hotel and
prepared ourselves for the 1:30pm meet time.
At 1:30pm we met our guide Chai in the lobby. Our guide is very
sweet and very knowledgeable. We really like her. She told us
that our guide Nancy that we had for Luke’s adoption would be
meeting us at the Civil Affairs office to say hi. As we drove up
to the building a lot of memories came flooding back from last
year. We parked and then made our way into the building. We
prepared our cameras just in case he was already there. When we
got into the room there was 1 other couple who just met their
child but no Logan. Our guide explained that there were 2
children coming from XuZhou and due to the distance they had to
travel that they would probably be late. We chatted with our
guides and prepared the paperwork while we waited. Around 2:30pm
Chai said "Here they come”. I looked out the window and saw 2
ladies carrying babies. It was the exact same window and the
exact same scene we saw last year. A moment later the XuZhou
orphanage director Ms. Tang walked in holding Logan . He was
much bigger than I imagined. He hesitantly came to us. I held
him for a moment and then placed him standing on the floor next
to me. He didn’t cry initially. He was intrigued by Kiah and all
her activity! Kiah was thrilled to be playing with Logan ’s
toys. He was happy to watch her for about 10 minutes but as soon
as he saw Ms. Tang…. he started crying and screaming and he
continued to do that for 1 hour straight. It wasn’t regular
crying… it was loud shrieking! His nanny hid behind a newspaper
in the corner so he wouldn’t notice her! He only wanted me to
hold him. He stopped crying only once when Ms. Tang came over to
talk with us. As soon as she gave him back the shrieking
continued.
After our family photo we were free to go. Logan was quiet in
the car and fell asleep right before we pulled up to the hotel.
He woke up when we were getting out of the van. He was very
curious and looked at everything. We made it up to the room and
Chai and Brandon had to leave to exchange our fees for tomorrow.
As soon as they walked out of the room the screaming started
again. Kiah and I got him quieted down quickly and he was fine
as long as I held him closely. We played for about 1 hour until
Chai and Brandon came back. We finished the paperwork for
tomorrow and Chai left. We played in the room for a little while
longer then walked down to the Burger King which is located in
the lobby of the hotel. This is where we got our first smile! We
fed him chicken nuggets and fries! He loved them! We got big
smiles and some attempts at verbal communication. We then went
back to the room and we were able to slowly transition him to
sitting on the floor to play. While we were playing I was so
tired that I literally passed out! I was finally able to sneak
away to use the bathroom and wash my face. I came back a few
minutes later and he had fallen asleep sitting up! He is now
asleep in his crib.
As I said, he is MUCH bigger than I imagined! He was wearing the
18 month old sized Pooh outfit that I sent him in his 1st care
package in February and it appeared small on him! They gave him
a haircut for Gotcha Day. He has a mouth full of teeth and it is
obvious that he was well fed and cared for. Ms. Tang kept saying
how smart he was and that all the aunties loved him. |
First moments
Intrigued by Kiah
The crying begins
Calm in the room
Smiley boy
Lights out |
