Continuing the Journey

FLASHBACK SERIES - (Originally Posted October 29, 2007)
*************************
We Have Our Little Man!!

This picture was taken in the hotel, just before we left to meet Lisa, our guide, and head to the registration office to get Carson.

OK...I know, I know...you don't care about details. You want pictures!! Take a peek...

He went right to Kevin, not afraid, not crying

Finally got MY hands on him! We're looking at the photo album we sent him in the first care package back in July...he recognized us right away and liked saying "Mama", "Baba" (aka Daddy), and "Qiu Feng"...he would laugh every time I pointed to his picture and said his Chinese name.
For those of you who wanted to see him smiling, how about a picture of him laughing with his big sister??!! Adorable!!Believe it or not, within minutes of meeting us, he was hamming it up! He LOVES this little phone we brought...it lights up and talks. He wouldn't put it down. Couldn't you just eat him UP???!!!

Here we are with Director Yin, who clearly loves our Little Man! She was very sweet and thanked us for adopting him and asked us to please get him the surgeries he needs and make sure he has a happy life. The only tears we saw out of Carson were when Director Yin left the room without saying goodbye......but the Dum Dum lollipops I had in my purse were INSTANTLY soothing to him. The boy LOVES candy!!
In the van on the way to the Bank of China to exchange our orphanage fee into yuan, Carson decided he enjoys squealing at the top of his lungs. Here is Meggie trying to shush him while he's squealing and laughing...While Kevin and Lisa waited in line at the bank, Meggie and I took Carson outside to blow off some little boy steam...he kept squealing in the bank and no one enjoyed that, trust me! He decided he wanted to walk the stuffed dog we gave him...carrying it by its ear and dragging the poor thing in the dirty sidewalk.
He's smart, though...when I made it clear with a stern face and a "No!" that the dog should not be put on the ground, he instantly figured the dog better not hit the sidewalk again. Instead, he decided to do THIS...
...swinging it around like a baseball bat. I'm telling ya, this kid is 100% boy!!

He got bored with the dog pretty quickly. Thankfully, Meggie remembered the bubbles we had with us. You will LOVE these pictures of the two of them playing bubbles in front of the stores. They created quite a stir...people just stopped and looked at us. Guess what?? We didn't care. He squealed with delight and Meggie and I laughed ourselves silly. This kept him busy for nearly 20 minutes!! Enjoy these...they're priceless...

Caught a bubble on his nose!
Trying to blow them himself...cracking himself up in the process!
Ready for more bubble chasing...
His first outward sign of affection...hugging Meggie!! Thought I was gonna cry right there on the sidewalk! Sorry it's blurry, but the boy moves quickly!!
He feeds himself pretty well, but doesn't have a lot of control with utensils. Meggie was feeding him banana at lunch with a fork...he thought it was hysterical to bite on the fork and not let go. He has a VERY devious sense of humor...doing things and then watching us out of the corner of his eye to see if we're paying attention.
OK...I could go on and on. Suffice it to say this has gone SO MUCH BETTER than I would have ever dreamed! He's a bundle of energy, but he's incredibly smart and mimics everything we say. He's very outgoing and comfortable telling us (in Chinese, of course) what he thinks! He has already said his first English words...after the bank, Kevin grabbed his hand and they marched back to the van. Kevin started chanting, "Let's go, let's go!" and Carson joined right in! Now, whenever we're going somewhere, we all say, "Let's go, let's go!" and he says it right with us!

He's stubborn when he's not getting his way and definitely feels the need to be independent. In the van, I offered him a bag of cookies. He couldn't open them but would not let me! When I took them from him to open the bag, he had a FIT! That's fine with me...I want him to be a strong, independent kid.

By the way, he bonded INSTANTLY with Kevin (every other word is "Baba"), enjoys hamming it up with Meggie, but doesn't seem especially fond of me. In the van on the way back to the hotel, I gave him the special sippy cup we brought that has a place to insert a photo. I had inserted a photo of the three of us (this photo had also been in the photo album we sent him, so he was familiar with it). He said "Baba" and kissed Kevin's picture. Then he said "Jie Jie" (aka sister) and kissed Meggie's picture. Then he gave me a sly little sideways glance (he was seated next to me)...waited a second...and finally said "Mama" and kissed my picture. What a stinker!

I have so much more to post....but for now, I'm going to stop. We put Carson down for his nap (he takes a two hour nap every day AND sleeps 12 hours at night...thank you, God!) and it went surprisingly well. We all went in to kiss him goodnight...after making smoochy noises, Carson puckered up and kissed Kevin. (Wasn't particularly fond of the mustache!) My turn...smoochy noises, followed by a kiss! He kissed Meggie, but then decided to smack her...whoops!! Oh well, progress comes in baby steps!

He puts himself to bed very easily. I put on the CD of Chinese lullabies I got from Gina...calmed him right down! He talked to Meggie and his stuffed dog for 5 or 10 minutes, then out like a light! Take a peek...quiet, though, he's finally asleep...
Lisa will be back at 3:00 with the doctor...Carson is getting a physical. After that...who knows?! I'll post more later, after he's asleep for the night. We're going to walk to KFC for dinner...Meggie is DYING for some familiar food!

To say that my heart is full is an understatement...we are so blessed and thrilled to welcome this funny, joyful, outgoing, stubborn, energetic Little Man into our family!! One more picture...
...and I'm taking a nap...this day has worn me out!!

*************************
Nap Time...Then Up For a Physical!

When the doctor arrived with Lisa about 10 minutes early, I offered to go wake Carson up. He woke easily, no fuss, and cooperated with the physical like an angel. The only time he started to cry...started but never actually did...was when the doctor kept pushing him to talk to her. I felt like saying, "Listen, lady, you just woke him up and poked all over him...give him a break!" I kept my mouth shut...hard to believe...and she finally stopped pushing. He is a model patient, endured everything she checked without so much as a whimper. Some pics...
This is when the doctor kept pushing him to talk...and he blatantly refused!!After the doctor left, I gave him a snack of drinkable yogurt (at least, that's what I think it was!). He liked it and gave a loud, "Ahhhhhhhhh" after a big gulp. I laughed and said, "Yummy!" He laughed along and repeated, "Yummy!"
Currently, Kevin, Meggie and Carson are rolling around on our bed, laughing and shrieking. (Haven't heard THAT much noise in a while!!) They got out the beach ball (thanks, Wendy and Tim!) and he LOVES it!! We've got a mean game of smack-the-ball-around-the-room going on.

Gotta go...I'm missing all the fun!!!

*************************
Our First Wonderful Day Has Come to an End...

If anyone had suggested that Gotcha Day would have been this smooth, I would have laughed at them. Carson has only cried for a total of maybe two minutes...when Director Yin left...and candy solved that pretty quickly!

He's pretty full of energy, God love him, so we're doing our best to keep him running throughout the day. Unfortunately, today was a rainy, chilly day, so we were stuck inside. We went to the very tiny playroom in our hotel. A few pics...

Being silly in the stroller heading to the playroom...the beach ball just HAD to go with us!!Playing with a truck...complete with mouthing all the truck noises! He actually plays very well by himself and stays entertained for a fairly decent stretch!
We were told he can't lift very heavy things. Let me tell you, he will certainly try! He was using this big purple bolster as a baseball bat and swinging it with all his might! He also has a power kick...any ball in his way gets launched. We're gonna have to look into spring soccer...
He's warming up to me pretty quickly, but he's still definitely Baba's boy...two peas in a very goofy pod...
Not to get too graphic, but he only had one accident in his pants today...during Gotcha, poor guy...but otherwise we've caught him in time to go to potty. He also had his first...ahem..."quality time" in the bathroom. We didn't try to get to the lobby for that one...he did his Baba proud, let's just put it that way. We're STILL airing out the bathroom! Our guide was afraid he wouldn't use a Western toilet since he's used to potty chairs...he's done fine!

Bath time was a little daunting, in theory. In reality, he was awesome. He only got upset when we tried to wash his hair. Like any kid, he kept leaning his head forward instead of leaning back for the shampoo to be rinsed. We couldn't explain it to him, so we did our best. Pretty much we all came out unscathed...
We put him in a Pull-up for bedtime...hope that wasn't a mistake. He kept patting the front of it like it was bugging him. We don't want regression in toilet training, but we also don't want the poor guy to end up soiling himself and the bed!

Teeth brushing was also an intimidating idea...didn't need to be! He opened right up, saying "Ahhhhh" the whole time, and was so proud of his pearly whites when we were done. Take a look at my little cheeseball...
Carson talks...non-stop! He is like a running Chinese commentary on everything we do and say. He tries very hard for us to get it, then realizes we just don't and smiles and laughs loudly! As he's warmed to me, he's also starting to really enjoy the camera. He's the funniest little dude and already seems completely comfortable with us. Meggie and I tried to lie down on the bed and watch "Shrek" with him, but he was just too full of energy...no couch potatoes in this crowd, I guess!

Speaking of Meggie, the two of them are so cute to watch...thick as thieves already, but she has an uncanny ability to redirect him when he's acting out. (Those who know Meggie are probably NOT surprised by that fact!) He follows her around like a puppy and will hold her hand while we're walking, but never mine. Take a peek...
I've been calling Carson "Pretzel Boy"...he has the loosest joints I've ever seen! His favorite way to stand...and I'm not making this up...is with his feet parallel, right foot facing forward, left foot turned inward and facing completely to the back! He's a contortionist!! I can't get a picture to show you yet...he sees the camera and runs toward me. Also, he IS able to bend his elbows normally. When he's relaxing...like tonight at dinner, in the high chair...his arms look completely normal. However, when he concentrates on using his hands, he stiffens his arms at the elbows! It's so funny, 'cause he's actually making it HARDER to accomplish his goals! He feeds himself very well with finger foods and actually maneuvers a spoon fairly well...getting better the more we force him to do it on his own. I'll be very interested to hear what the Ortho doc has to say about his joints!!

We are the only family in this hotel. There is a large conference here and the place is jam packed with business men and women. We've seen a few Americans and they talk to us a lot. The Chinese seem to watch us with disdain...our guide, Lisa, says that isn't the case, they're just curious. At dinner tonight, one of the waitresses was trying her darndest to get Carson to talk to her. He was moving away and wouldn't look in her direction...until she loaded him up on yogurt, his favorite! He ended up getting two bowls and a cupful...the yogurt here is thin and drinkable, so spoon or straw works. After all that yogurt, he talked up a storm with the girl. It was very cute...until the waitress took him out of the high chair and let him down without asking us. Suddenly, we felt a little powerless...and I worried if Carson was going to stop listening to us and go with this girl! Kevin jumped up and intervened...no harm done. It is just amazing how bold people can be. We're trying to take it all in stride, but it is challenging at times!

We decided on 8PM bedtime. He's amazing...tuck him in, smooches for all, and he just falls asleep! He's mimicking more and more words...we now get "Bye-Bye" and "Love You" at bedtime. He also loves to mimic "NO!" when he's in trouble...then we all end up in fits of laughter and forget why he was in trouble anyway! (What a con artist, huh?!)

Tomorrow we go back to the registration office where we met Carson this morning for more paperwork. After that, we have asked Lisa to take us shopping (we need some food in the room...poor Meggie is starving!) and to McDonald's. Carson tried his first French fries at dinner...took a couple to get him interested, but he was hooked! (Not a fan of ketchup, though.) We brought peanut butter crackers and Propel powder to put in water bottles, so I don't think Meggie is literally starving, but she really needs some comfort foods within easy reach. Let's hope they sell Pop-Tarts in Hefei!

Just checked on Little Man...sound asleep like an angel! Guess I'd better be off to bed myself, in case he has a rough night and wakes up a few times.

Thanks for checking on us, commenting on the blog, and keeping us in your prayers. God has been truly good to us!!