We have our Seth-Siyuan: June 29th

Finally we have our Seth-Siyuan. We arrived at the Civil Affairs office at 6:00. He was sitting there on the nannies lap. I had brought a fun car which I would wind the wheels and it would roll towards him. He couldn’t resist it, and pretty soon he and I were on the floor playing together with the car. Then I brought out snacks. He sat on my lap for quite a while. I had made a mixture of gold fish, cheerios, and kix. He tried each of them and decided he liked the goldfish best. Then he sat and picked out all the gold fish and put them in my hand. Things were going well and then his nanny came and said goodbye. He started to wail, and she left and then he really cried and cried calling after her Ma-Ma Ma-Ma. It broke my heart and he begged me in Chinese to put him down so he could go after her, but she was gone. He sobbed until Derek came back from signing paperwork and then he went right to him and stopped crying. That was it, the rest of the evening he would only let Derek hold him and though he looked sad he didn’t cry again. He loved the juice we gave him and kept munching on the snacks. When we returned to the hotel we ordered him some Congee (rice porridge) and he ate half the bowl. He was getting so sleepy and the guide was in our room having Derek fill out more paperwork. I tried to feed him a bottle but he could hardly keep his eyes open. He let me hold him and I wrapped him in his new cuddly blanket and he fell right to sleep. I had to hold him for another hour and a half it felt so good.

Things went better than I expected, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings when he wakes up in a strange place with strange people. He is so beautiful and so sweet. The orphanage director said he’s very well behaved and intelligent, but I couldn’t tell if that was the standard party line or if it was genuine. I hadn’t asked, but when he was walking by us he stopped and told me that in Chinese. The orphanage gave us a picture book with pictures from when he was a baby ‘till now. They also gave us a bag of soil from Baoji so he could also have a piece of his homeland to take with him. It felt so right, to finally have him and hold him. I didn’t even mind that he took to Derek. Becca wouldn’t have a thing to do with Derek so I guess it’s his turn to be the MFP (Most Favored Parent). I was so glad Nicole & Alex could be a part of it. One was running the cam-corder and the other the camera so I didn’t end up with many pictures with them because I was so absorbed in Seth-Siyuan. I can hardly wait to now start this journey and see what it will bring.