This is the day we officially met Cheng Cheng. We were down in the lobby of our hotel early, waiting for our guide and driver. Therese has started giving me hugs, which are very nice.
It was smoggy and raining outside but that didn't dampen our spirits.
The rain slowed us down and we were late getting to Civil Affairs, but we were the first family to arrive. There were a few children waiting, but not Cheng Cheng. We found a comfy spot on a couch to wait.
Just after a busload of other families arrived, we saw Cheng Cheng, arriving with a woman from the Jiaozuo orphanage. Since he hasn't lived there since he was 9 months old, we were the most familiar people there, for him, and he was only a little shy at first.
When I gave him his Cars cell phone it was perfect--he had brought a Cars backpack with him and for a 4-year-old boy you couldn't have planned it better.
Here is my new little boy, sitting on our couch with us!
We had to do some paperwork with the woman from the orphanage, giving me custody for 24 hours. We also turned in our paperwork for the adoption which will be tomorrow.
Aunt Hannah kept the kids happy with lollipops.
Cheng Cheng was ready to make one of his silly faces for the camera.
He loved the water bottle we brought him and kept coming over to show me.
Aunt Hannah is already working at being the favorite aunt.
We got our picture taken together for the adoption paperwork, and he gave a happy smile.
He wanted to hold Mama's hand as we walked to our van.
Time for a z-bar!
Our next stop was Carrefour, to get diapers and some food and water to use in our hotel room.
The kids weren't as excited as I was by the great diaper selection.
While we checked out, the guide entertained Cheng Cheng with this ride.
This was probably the first time Therese ever rode one of these, and she LOVED it!
What doesn't show in the picture is that her diaper leaked because they drank too much water at the CA office. So I had two kids desperately needing diapers changed. There was no place else to do it but on a bench near the riding toys and checkout. A crowd gathered to watch me do it. I think I was turning red with embarrassment. Most Chinese kids don't wear diapers, since they use split pants, so seeing a foriegn mom with two Chinese kids, changing diapers, must have been quite interesting. I think there were at least a dozen people gathered around me, staring openly. The staring here is one of the most annoying things. I guess it isn't as rude in their culture as it is in ours.
After the embarrassing diaper change, we were so glad to leave. Cheng Cheng was nervous about getting on the escalator and wanted to hold both of my hands.
The next stop was a noodle place, since it was lunchtime. This put the kids in a very good mood, except they hate waiting for the food. They don't understand why it doesn't come sooner. To make matters worse, of course the food our guide had ordered for herself came first, and the kids both looked at me accusingly.
I tried to be a good Chinese mom, but I'm not very skilled at chopsticks. Therese doesn't know how to use them so she needed me to feed her. She is the only person here who is worse than I am at using chopsticks, except Hannah.
After lunch we went back to the hotel, got Therese down for a nap, and Hannah entertained Cheng Cheng while I went to the bank with the guide to exchange money for the orphanage donation. It was quite a complicated transaction and I don't think I could have gotten it done without an interpreter there. There was a lot of paperwork, in Chinese, and lots of steps. We got it done and I made it back to the hotel without being run over by a scooter or bicycle. It is scary to walk around in Zhengzhou because there are so many of them on the sidewalk.
When I got back to the room, Therese was asleep so I got to have some time with Cheng Cheng. We looked at the stuff in the backpack I brought him, and just played.
Then he saw the banana on the desk and he wanted it. He gave me a bite of it and thought it was just hilarious to feed me banana.
We looked at the clothes I brought for him--being a boy he wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Therese was, but he liked them, especially this green shirt with a turtle on it. This was one that Thomas likes, so I had bought one for each of them.
Cheng Cheng got out his cap and put it on me, so I think that means he thinks I am OK. It will take awhile for the bonding, but today we made a good start.
When Therese woke up, we had a simple dinner of PB&J&B. That is peanut butter sandwiches and bananas. And we bought honey instead of jelly, because Hannah didn't want to try "kewpie blueberry" jelly, which was the closest thing to grape jelly at the store.
Cheng Cheng didn't like his bath, but he did like his new pajamas. He also tried to refuse tooth brushing, but when I insisted he gave in. When we actually went to bed he was just so sad. Standing in his crib in his striped PJs he looked like a sad little inmate, so I let him sleep with me.
There is a very moving post on the Eagles Wings blog about Cheng Cheng living. You can see it by going HERE.
