China trip – Day 4: December 2014
Note: We’re trying to post recaps of each day at the end of each day, but the internet connection at our hotel in Shanghai is much worse than it was in Beijing. So, sometimes we can’t connect, or, in the case of Monday night, it was sooooooo slow and unreliable that it took forever to upload the pictures/videos. We have more videos but were only able to get a random few uploaded — hopefully it was worth the extra wait to see these and we can add the others.
Report from Leslie: Well, we could not have asked for a better day. We both woke up around 4 am and, since neither of us could get back to sleep, watched this past week’s episode of SNL then went to the gym to try to work off some of our nervous energy. After the gym, we showered and changed and then went down to breakfast. Our hotel in Beijing definitely catered to a more western audience than our hotel in Shanghai, but the buffet was still sufficient and I am happy to report the quality of the coffee at the Shanghai breakfast buffet is far superior to what was available in Beijing. After breakfast we came back to the room to get all of our stuff ready to go to the Office of Civil Affairs. Unfortunately, this only took a few minutes and we were left with the better part of half an hour to sit around being anxious, so we did some laundry in the tub to keep ourselves occupied.
We met our guide, Amanda, at 9 am and drove about 15 minutes to the Civil Affairs office. Once there we completed a ton of paperwork. Another family, working with a different agency than our own, was also there to pick up their new son. They were very kind and we had a nice conversation while we were completing all the paperwork. We also realized they will be in the same hotel as us when we are all in Guangzho completing the US portion of the adoption, so we will most likely meet up with them there. They are travelling with a large group from their agency, so we will hopefully meet some other families as well. We are the only family from Holt travelling at this time, so we were initally disappointed that we would not get to meet other adoptive families; however, that problem seems to be remedied.
After the paperwork was complete, they brought the children into the room. Han looked pretty hesitant with everything going on, but he came right over to Jeff and me and did not seem to distraught about it. He latched on to a toy car that we brought and, most exciting to me, refused to let the nanny hold him when we tried to get a picture of the two of them together (he didn’t want me to put him down). We are really really lucky in that the orphanage gave us a photobook of Han, so we actually have some pictures of him when he was a baby. We never expected to have anything from his early years, so that particular gift is much more than we could have imagined.
We left the Civil Affairs office around 10:30 (I think we were there under an hour) and came back to the hotel. We gave Han some Cheerios, which he loved, and then Jeff went to go get some lunch to bring back to the room. By the time he ate his snack, Han had started to come out of his shell a bit and would smile and laugh a little. By the time we finished lunch, he had called Jeff “Ba-ba” (Daddy) and me Mama and was playing with his car. He gives us hugs, will sit and cuddle, and laughs easily. It took awhile to get him to go down for a nap, but he fell asleep between Jeff and me.
Han woke up easily and we all went out to walk around and buy some shoes for Han. Our hotel is on this gigantic pedestrian shopping district and, fortunately for us, there is a GIANT children’s store right next to the hotel. We were able to get Han some new shoes and we loaded up on some baby wipes. This store is 5 floors of children’s clothing and related products; it is kind of insane. We walked around a bit more and found another mall and went in and let Han walk around a bit in there (I was carrying him in the Ergo before that). It is obvious that he is more comfortable at the hotel; his personality is huge when we are in the hotel room. When out walking around he is a bit more reserved, but is really just looking around taking everything in. When he was walking in the mall he held my hand and would ask to be picked up every now and then. At one point he saw a shop that had a bunch of cookies on display. He just stopped and looked up at us with these adorable pleading eyes, but, being the mean parents that we are, we did not give in to the cookie request since we were about to go to dinner. Han just went with the flow and kept on going.
After stopping to get some more bottled water, we went back to the hotel to play for a bit. Han is in love with his stacking cups; even more so now that he discovered a pile of coins. He has been having a blast putting the coins in the cups, dumping them out, and starting over. When it was time for dinner, he put on his coat (and even tried to zip it himself) and put on his shoes by himself. We realized at lunch today that he has never actually fed himself before, but he sure has no problem trying. We gave him a kids size fork and he went to town on dinner, even though most of it just ended up back on his plate. Honestly, he never gives up and never gets frustrated, he just keeps trying. I did end up feeding him a good portion of his dinner, just because it was taking so long, but I have no doubt he will master utensils in the next day or so.
After dinner we came back to the room and he had a bath. He is now sitting in his pjs and has been playing with the coins and cups for the last half hour. This has been a really amazing day. We had been preparing for a lot of crying and greiving, and the possibility that he would not like us very much for awhile. Instead we got smiles and giggles and cuddles. We are sure that at some point the saddness over all of the changes will show up, but we are happy with what we have today and very thankful for our new little boy.
Report from Jeff: Leslie captured all of the major details of today. It has been an amazing day. These first ~12 hours have been so different than the first 12 hours after the girls were born (though I was sent out of the room to get food in all 3 cases, I believe). Instead of just watching him, we’re getting to interact with him. It’s also such a cool experience to get to not only enjoy time with Han but explore with him. He’s just as unfamiliar with the city as we are, and only slightly more overwhelmed than we are. The size and scale of all of the buildings — and shopping especially — still is blowing me over. As much as the purpose of the trip is to meet Han and bring him home, I’m still trying to appreciate the city and remember to take pictures of all of the sights.
Also, I’m amazed at how easygoing Han is. As I was writing this, he is in the other room, in bed, just quietly playing with his yellow toy car (which he immediately latched on to) in complete darkness. Then, I heard the noise stop, and I went in to check on him and he had fallen asleep. Same thing happened with his nap this afternoon (or at least Leslie tells me — I had fallen asleep next to him by that point). He’s also got a great appetite and has tried and enjoyed all of the food we’ve given him so far. He is still on formula and loves that. He even cooperated for his bath, diaper changing and teeth brushing. What an attitude!
All the pictures and videos from today are in the China: Day 4 SmugMug gallery and most should show up below too.
[smugmug url=”http://hinyard-lash.smugmug.com/hack/feed.mg?Type=gallery&Data=46379306_4JJkWC&format=rss200″ imagecount=”200″ start=”1″ num=”200″ thumbsize=”Th” link=”lightbox” captions=”false” sort=”false” window=”false” smugmug=”false” size=”L”]