Gotcha Day at Last

Wow, what a day! Where to start? Well, we got Tyson and he is awesome! We took a 20 minute drive to the Chongqing Marriage and Adoption Center, rode up to the 14th floor, turned a corner and there he was sitting on a couch with his caregivers. We were so shocked to see him sitting right there, no preamble, no warning, just boom, there he was.

It took a while for him to warm up to us but Melissa won him over with her snacks (teddy grahams - which he shared with everyone there) and he really went for the magna-doodle. He did much better with Melissa than with me. He would let her touch and eventually even hold him but he shied away from me for the first few hours. He gradually warmed up to me once we got back to the hotel and started playing with toys. He stayed pretty quiet all the way out of the Adoption office but really freaked out when we got him in the van to drive back to the hotel. One of his friends from the orphanage was getting picked up at the same time; once they were separated he got very upset. So the 20 minute drive back ended up feeling a LOT longer because he pretty much wailed at the top of his lungs for the whole trip back. Even teddy grahams and fruit chews couldn’t calm him down for long. We quickly hustled through the mammoth lobby with dozens of Chinese looking at us with our wailing child and settled down for an afternoon of playing with toys.

Bubbles were the real barrier breaker (thanks again Ashleigh). We blew bubbles on the floor of our room for hours. It was the first time he really let me near him and we had some great moments. Even now he doesn’t like to be held by me as much as he does Melissa but it’s getting better all the time. So, I think we pulled out every toy we brought with us and he loved them all. Our little dude has been well trained. He loves to clean up after himself, likes everything organized into nice rows – sound familiar? He is very smart and independent. Learns things by watching us do them once and then can and wants to do them on his own.

He is potty trained and lets us know when he needs to go. The only thing he needs help with is getting his little pants down and back up again. Actually the first time he let me hold him was when I had to lift him up to the bathroom sink to wash his hands. We took him to dinner downstairs in the hotel restaurant and he behaved himself very well. We drew a bath and he jumped right in and began to wash himself with the soap. He even knew how to brush his teeth when we got out his new Panda toothbrush. Got some great pics of that.

So, now we are settling in for the night and wondering how to get him to go to sleep. He has stockpiled his toys in our bed and has figured out how to use the TV remote. We are fading and he looks like he’s settling in for a late night of crayons and TV. It’s going surprisingly well and we have to assume there will be some rough moments ahead but I have to say my heart melts every time he calls me “baba”, which is Chinese for daddy.

Melissa also says to make sure I tell you all that he is awesome with a cup, steadily holds a glass of water with one hand, can pick it up off the floor or table, take a sip and put it down without spilling. Also, we got a huge gift from the nannies today in the form of his records from Half the Sky – an amazing educational program he has been in at the orphanage. We had heard of this non-profit program before and had hoped he was enrolled with them. We received at least 50 photos of Tyson from infancy onward as part of this program. We were flabbergasted! We have enough pics of his childhood to make him 2 scrapbooks! It is simply unbelievable – we never thought we’d have any pictures of his infancy and early childhood and now we have dozens and dozens. It’s simply amazing. We’ve been so blessed.

BTW, in the time it took me to write the last paragraph we got the little fella settled down and I think he is asleep now. He gets up at 730 so we better hit the hay as well. More to come…

Keep your prayers rolling as this show just got started and we’ve got a lot to learn!