Here we are talking about Gotcha Day! In adoption terms, Gotcha Day is the day that you get to meet your adopted child. I was all sorts of nerves as we were driving there. I couldn't believe that on the way back to the hotel we would have our new son with us! It's such a crazy feeling. Similar to bringing home a newborn, but obviously with Ben being two, I couldn't help but think what he would think of us, how he would act when he saw us, if he would look similar to his pictures, etc.
We met him at a government building in China, and there was another family with us who was adopting a girl and also had previously adopted a little girl. They were so wonderful and SUPER helpful since they had done it before. When we arrived at the building we waited around for a minute, and had no heads up but just saw two sweet little kids walk into the waiting area with their nannies. They immediately handed Ben to me and he came to me right away but definitely looked uneasy. I started smiling and saying hi and pointed to myself and said mama, and then started pointing to Dan and Jake and Cole. I told Jake to bring him a little stuffed panda that we brought for him.... and that is when he lost it. He threw the panda on the ground and immediately started screaming and reaching for his nanny, calling her mama. Those next ten minutes were pretty rough. By the end of it I was drenched in sweat because he's a big kid, and he kept trying to squirm out of my arms. I knew if I let go though he would head straight for his nanny. Eventually they told the Nanny to leave the room and Dan frantically talked to the orphanage director while holding a crying Jake (we prepared Jake that Ben would cry I think it was just overwhelming for him- Larry also was holding Cole who was crying so everyone was a mess! lol). Dan was trying to get as much information about Ben as he could- we had a list of about 10 to 15 questions that we wanted to ask.
Thankfully, the other family had bubbles and a lollipop that they handed to Ben and he finally calmed down. I was so so thankful! We both sat on the couch and he sucked his lollipop quietly while we looked at some toys and through the books that the orphanage gave him with pictures of us that we had sent. Although those first ten minutes were super hard, the fact that he was crying actually is a really good sign. That means he attached to his nanny and while it is heartbreaking to see him yelling mama and reaching for her, it is comforting to know that he knows what it looks like to trust and love someone. I felt so so grateful for how well she cared for him. After we got all the information and the other family talked to their daughter's nannies, we got back in the van and headed back to the hotel. We gave him some treats and relaxed then took him out to eat. He could probably be eating or drinking every moment of the day - this kid LOVES to eat! Which we are so thankful for!
We discovered pretty quickly that he loves little light up toys and wouldn't let go of this little phone that we brought him when we met him. It says hello and buy bye and counts numbers and he actually started repeating them! Within the first day he started to say words like mama, Cole, didi (little brother in Chinese), guh guh (big brother), and "uh oh." The nanny's kept telling us over and over again how smart he is- and we could already see that! He apparently hands them diapers when he is ready to be changed (this mom likes to hear that!) and is very aware of whats going on. Our agency said we should expect a 6 month delay for every year a child is in an orphanage- so he should be emotionally, socially, and physically acting like Cole, but we discovered pretty quickly that he really does act like a 2 year old, he just lacks in the language skills obviously. We tried to put him in the crib and he didn't love that so we rocked him to sleep and he slept almost through the night- he woke up twice and we had to rock him back to sleep. So the first day with him went really well all things considered :) We already feel so so blessed to be his parents and can't wait to get to know him more!
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