Forever Family

Day 5:  Forever family day! What a sweet little boy Z is.  He was brought to us from his orphanage in Luoyang by one caregiver and one office worker.   We were told that he was brought to the orphanage by his foster mother about a week ago.  He was very cautious as we were each introduced to him, and held onto his caregivers' hand tightly.   Y offered him a lollipop and he slowly warmed up from there on out.  We had a chance to ask many questions of his caregiver, which proved a great opportunity.   She obviously cared a great deal about him, having been there when he first arrived.

 

After a few formalities, we were taken to a photo shop for an adoption certificate family photo – mom, dad and Z.   Z, quite willingly let his mama carry him the whole time.  While walking, he became rather chatty.  Exactly what was said will forever remain a mystery, given our weak grasp of Mandarin.   While waiting for Celine to run the photo up to the office we discovered that Z was thirsty.  He drank quite a bit of water and a whole juice box.   He struggled using the straw, but was persistent in trying and eventually figured it out with a bit of help (and light squeezing).  I'm sure we looked a bit silly as we tried to show him how to suck on a straw in the lobby of this building.   We later discovered that Z could not use a straw due to a small fistula (opening) in his palate, which prevented effective sucking action.  We then went back to our hotel and played with little cars on a plastic road course, which he seemed to enjoy quite a bit, and he really loved blowing bubbles with his Ba Ba.

 

Later in the afternoon we returned to the provincial Adoption Center to finalize the adoption, with Y last year this was a two-day process.   Z was very talkative on the way there but as we entered the building he became noticeably apprehensive.  Of course we forgot our gifts and Ba Ba had to run back to the hotel while Z gave his hand stamp of agreement to the adoption and I gave my thumb prints.    Ba Ba added his and the adoption was final.  The Civil Affairs officer presented us with Z's adoption certificate.   Y and S stayed back at the hotel and watched Winnie the Pooch's X-mass, Y's choice.  It was still on when we got back and Z recognized the Pooh and was confused as to why he couldn't understand it so S change the language to mandarin and we had one happy pooh loving boy.

 

Dinner with our guide and a splash in the pool (which he loved!) completed our day.

update - Everything the orphanage worker told us we found out later was not true - Z came to us from his foster family that morning -