Xiao Ming

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:15am... Yesterday morning we received Xiao Ming at around 8:30 so he's now been with us for over 24 hours. It was not love at first sight for Xiao Ming but things have improved far beyond what we were prepared for. We went to Civil Affairs, which is in an old apartment in a shabby complex. It seemed really weird because it wasn't a government type building. There were 10 families and so things were a little crazy. Most were adopting babies, so lots of crying. Xiao Ming was not happy when he came in and then when he saw us, he started crying. He finally warmed up a little (I should say tolerated) BaBa (Nathan) after he pulled out his PDA games and then the camera. He absolutely LOVES electronic things like cameras, computers, etc... He wanted nothing to do with me for the entire time that we were at the office. In fact, he tried to walk out several times and all I had to do was stand in the doorway and then he never attempted to leave again because he would have had to walk past me!! Once we headed to the police station to receive the adoption certificate, he told the driver he hadn't been fed breakfast and so we stopped for noodles from a street vendor. I fed them to him and slowly things started to improve for MaMa!

At the police station, everything was finalized for China and he officially became our fourth child. We went to Walmart and purchased gifts for the orphanage that we will be visiting today and bought a stroller for Xiao Ming, which he loves to ride in. This morning, after a night of solid sleep with no waking up at all, we thought we could just walk down to breakfast in the hotel, but he wanted to ride in that stroller.

Xiao Ming is absolutely beautiful! Our guide said his pictures did not do him justice. He is very energetic and has a real sense of humor. He was raised in the country with two girls and one boy besides himself. We are beginning to understand that he was not taught any manners at all. He doesn't know how to use chopsticks or utensils; we think he probably only ate with his hands. It was very fun yesterday to see many firsts for him: first french fry, first orange juice, first big store (Walmart), first American words (BaBa, MaMa, bus, car), first Western toilet and first real tub bath!! He takes it all in stride and isn't afraid of new experiences. One more thing about Xiao Ming, he eats everything! He likes food hot and spicy and at dinner, a sweet girl helped us determine what he was saying he wanted. He wanted mostly vegetables of all types and spicy meats. He woke up this morning and when I laid down with him, he looked at me and kind of shook his head like he was having a bad dream for a moment and then I think remembered where he was and it's been great since then.

We can't wait for everyone to meet Xiao Ming. We are calling him by his Chinese name for now because this is what he is comfortable with. We think he is going to just have a blast with the other three kids once we're home!