Adoption Day! It's official now!

On July 31, 2007 we made it official by signing the adoption papers that made Bing Bing our son. Baden had been too keyed up from meeting his Forever Family and trying to get him to fall asleep had been a challenge. My sister had posted to the Journey to Baden group wondering how our night went, and this is the answer that I gave her:

"The night was great... PJ and I fell asleep finally. She kept sitting up to look over at her brother, who sat right up to look at her. She finally fell asleep (as did I) and left Baden to deal with Scott who was trying to get him to stop playing with all of the knobs on the nightstand that control the lights in the room... the White Swan light show was going on in room 1432! No, still haven't made it to 'bucks... dying for a hot coffee right now - actually a venti iced dulce de leche sounds FANTASTIC right now, but I'll take a hot whatever right now. :)

T - PingJing and BingBing's mom"

From the moment Savannah and Baden met it was clear that they were meant to be together. Neither Scott or I could imagine that there was another brother or sister meant for them and it was fun to watch their relationship develop and unfold.

Looking back perhaps there was a reason that Scott was the chosen parent for Baden, having me available for Savannah probably made her feel more secure about her place in our family. It certainly helped with the sleeping arrangement. Savannah and I slept in one bed and Baden had Scott. As you can see from the picture above we had to get creative with Baden sleeping. He was an active sleeper from the first night. After falling out of bed between the nightstand and bed we moved the bedspread and stuffed it in the space to at least give him a padded landing. He was also clearly attached to all of his new "things." Both blankets, the books and toys all had to be within reaching distance for him, and to this day he prefers all of his stuffed animals, including the huge panda and dinosaur he has, all on his bed.

Finally we were ready to head back to the Civil Affairs office to make it official. We were in a different part of the office this time and the waiting area was terrific. They had mini-gym equipment for the kids to play on and it kept these two active three year-olds busy.

This was a scene that I became quite familiar with over the course of the next two weeks... Baden safely contained by a very protective younger sister and the security of their Dad, while I sat in the back seat and played the role of the observer. This experience also gave me a taste of what Scott had gone through with Savannah. If he at all touched her stroller she was not happy and let him know it. The only way she would go to him is if he had Cheerios or a bottle for her. I had my own secret weapon... my stash of dried mangoes.

Savannah did a great job trying to bring out his animated personality. One of the early lessons was making silly faces. He was a quick study. :)On our way back to the hotel we stopped off at a Carrefour store (France's answer to Target, but in China it's like a Super Target on steroids). We hit the baby clothes area and picked up some clothes that would fit him. The 2T and 3 year size things I had brought fell right off of him (with the exception of the red shorts his Grandma Joyce had picked up - with the waist cinched in all the way they stayed on.) Though my son turned 3 years 9 months on the day we got him, I still had the chance to buy him baby clothes after all. We then headed down the escalator to the grocery area and was that ever an experience for him. The one thing Savannah wanted to do with Baden when we arrived back in Bellingham was to take him to the "food store." Her wish came true in China. We picked up bowls of ramen noodles, multi-litre sized bottles of water and then Baden discovered the Ritz cracker selection. We wanted Baden to begin understanding that he wouldn't have to worry about lack of food and being hungry again, so we stood back and let him pick out several packages of crackers to snack on. Satisfied with his choices we continued on. I'd been afraid that the entire scene would be too overwhelming for him, but as long as Scott was nearby to either hold his hand or carry him he was just fine. He actually tried to use the cash register when we checked out. I don't recall if the cashier was amused by that maneuver or not.

Back at the hotel room the kids were finally at a point of being emotionally wiped out and ready for a nap. They put their pajamas on and climbed on to the "girl's" bed, creating a moment that made my heart soar.

While the kids napped Scott and I had another chance to really look at the book the Bao'an SWI had given us as a gift, along with a glass figurine. This is how I described what we'd learned from the book (which was more like a informational brochure about their overall facility) " The SWI gave us a gift of a glass figurine/plaque along with this incredible 48 page book/pamphlet talking about all of the aspects of the SWI (they take groups of kids to the zoo and on other outside activities, Wal-Mart has a Christmas lunch with corporate people coming dressed in Santa hats, the Shenzhen Lion's Club is very active with the SWI as well - really all quite remarkable). Anyhow, as I was looking through the book I realized that the ayi's all wear pink jackets (it really looks more like a sterile uniform look for the staff vs. what Scott saw at Yihuang. I realized that yesterday when we got him I had on a pink blouse and that probably confused the poor guy."