Day 5: Gotcha Day!

The girls woke up very excited about the prospect of meeting Xiao Yu today.  The parents, on the other hand, had butterflies in their stomach.

Emily packed a goody bag for Xiao Yu.  It had yummy snacks, some toys, and other treats.  

 At 9:30am, we were on our way to meet our group in the hotel lobby.

 We took a bus to the Civil Affairs office where all the babies and children would be brought to their adoptive parents.

It is a rather nondescript building, especially given the importance of what goes on inside.

We entered a not-too-big room, where we all played the waiting game.  Sometimes the children are there when the parents arrive, and sometimes the parents have to wait, and wait...and wait...  Our group stood around and chatted nervously.  Although none of us knew each other before this trip, going through this together can be quite a bonding experience.  There were also families from other adoption agencies there.

Babies began to arrive, one by one.  Without warning, they would be escorted in by an orphanage employee and then the baby's name would be shouted out, and then the parents would come over.  There was a lot of crying and tears, both from the babies as well as parents overcome with emotion.  After about 1/2 an hour, our turn came and there he was standing in front of us.  We instantly recognized him...he looked just like his baby picture--the first one we saw of him when we got his file from the adoption agency.

We tried to take it slow and let him approach us.  But we were blocking the doorway and so Emily picked him up.  And the poor guy started crying.  He was scared.

And then we found out that the way to this boy's heart is through his stomach.  We offered his these little sweet snacks (which all kids love, the local guide told us) and that seemed to calm him down.

Eliana was at times quite overcome with emotions.  We think she had been anticipating this day almost as much as us and didn't know how to sort out all the feelings swirling inside of her.

Eliana wanted to hold him; the mother hen in her was starting to kick in.

Then Elvin started playing peek-a-boo with him, and that's when we saw his smile for the first time.  He has huge dimples!

The sweet snack things ran out (i.e. got spilled on the ground).  Also Gabriel ate up all the yogurt melts we bought for Xiao Yu (shades of things to come) so we were down to lollipops.  We don't believe he had ever had one, judging from how the thing sort of perplexed him.

But he eventually got the gist of it.  He is a quick study when it comes to food.  And he is definitely a biter and chewer, not a sucker.

We then had to sign more paperwork.  Not sure for what.

And we had to take a mandatory posed picture on a pair of hot pink leather chairs.

 And then we hung out some more...

FINALLY, it was time to head back to the hotel.  We had been there for 2 hours but it felt like 12.  So much happened in such a short span of time.  About 20 couples became parents, some for the first time.

After the bus started moving, Xiao Yu turned to look out the window.  Then he started yelling, "Yeh-yeh!" over and over.  This means "grandpa" in Chinese.  We found out that in his foster family, an older couple were his primary care takers.  He was calling out to his grandpa.  This reminded us of the sadness that must have been going on in his heart, as well as with his foster family, who have raised him since he was 9 months old--for more than one year.  They must have said their last goodbye to him this morning.  We have pictures of them but don't know who they are.  We hope to track them down and connect with them.

He fell asleep in Mommy's arms.  It was his nap time and also a tiring day for him.

Back at the hotel, we mixed up a bottle of formula for him.  He drank some but didn't seem to be a big fan.

Then we went to a restaurant for lunch.  While waiting for the food, Gabriel used his chopsticks as drumsticks and actually broke one.  Ooops!

When the food came, we found out that this boy can eat.  Emily was not feeding him his noodles quickly enough, so Xiao Yu took matters into his own hands.

Then it was Elvin's turn.  The boy drank rice porridge like there was no tomorrow.

Xiao Yu has a playful and cheerful personality.  He likes to have fun and does things to make you laugh.

Back at the hotel room, we chilled out for a bit.  We noticed that he seemed a little warm, so we took his temperature and it turned out that he had a fever.  After talking to our guide, we found out from the orphanage director that he had been sick 4 days ago, but that by yesterday, the fever was gone.  So it has come back and we hope that he gets better soon.  Fortunately for us, he thinks that infant tylenol is very tasty and does not mind sucking it down.

At 3pm, Emily had to go to a meeting to prepare more paperwork.  So Erica took the girls swimming.

And Elvin gave Xiao Yu took his first bath with us.  At first he didn't want to go in, but we decided that he had to because an informational sheet about him said that he took a bath only once every two weeks.  And so he was pretty stinky.  Once he got in, he ended up liking it.  We think maybe he doesn't like the idea of baths because they may only have been giving him cold baths at his foster home.

Elvin started peeling apples for the kids to eat and Xiao Yu started helping himself to them.  Once again...eating.  When sitting, he likes to cross his ankles.

Xiao Yu and Gabriel competed for apples.

At about 4:30pm, Elvin and Xiao Yu met up with Emily to finish the paperwork.  This document had a picture of Xiao Yu from when he was a baby.

 He put his hand print onto the document.

 And there it is!

Now it was dinner time and by then, we knew he liked rice and noodles.  He also ate steamed buns.  And pork.  And polished off some watermelon slices.  He ate for about one hour straight before he stopped.

Then it was pajama time!  Gabey showed Xiao Yu how to brush his teeth.

And as far as putting him to sleep--we didn't actually know how to do it!  Elvin tried rocking and bouncing him like we've done with our other kids, but that didn't make him sleepy at all.  He is probably not used to that.  Also, we noticed that he doesn't like to be put down on his back; we think maybe this is because that is how he is put to bed--laid on his crib and left to cry it out.  We didn't want to go that route, so Elvin lay with him on our bed and after rolling around for a while, he eventually settled down and drifted off to sleep without a peep.

And so ended our very first day with Xiao Yu.  In the end, many of our fears about Xiao Yu being hysterical did not materialize.  We thank all of our friends and family that have been praying for us throughout this process.  Although we are sure that there is a lot of confusion in his heart, overall, our little boy is adjusting well to us, our family, and all these changes.  We are now, officially, a family of six!