Bringing Hank Home

We have another son!

Wow! What a day! Sorry I couldn’t write sooner, we have a whirling dervish here!!!!
One with the most infectious laugh and an incredible sense of adventure, whirling like there’s no tomorrow.

We left the hotel a little after 10. It was us and two other families from our agency. Their children (just 2 and about to be 2) were coming from a different orphanage.
We walked into the civil affairs office, there were several other families already there.
The Landrey’s and the Thompson’s boy and girl were already in the room. We stood there for a few minutes while Judy went to get paperwork started. Suddenly I saw a little boy in an orange snoopy ball cap & sunglasses walk in!!! There he was! I ran over to him and the nanny, she seemed to realize who I was and started pointing to us as
“Ma-ma” and “ba-ba” Hank cheerfully waved to us and then was looking around to see what/who was next. I tried to take his hand and bring him over to our things. He pulled back clearly saying “Ok lady, I said “Hi” I’ve got other things to do” Not upset per say, just exasperated that this strange lady was keeping him from checking out what else was going on.

I tried picking up the boneless boy a few times, very heavy when they turn to jello like that. Still no tears, just annoyed at me for keeping from what he wanted to be doing. Everyone was busy with paperwork so there wasn’t anyone explaining or translating at the moment. I finally got him over to the couch and tried pulling out some things (ok, bribes) first few things did not do the trick. Then came the Magnadoodle. Success! Now I was a person of interest!!! Jeff came over, he is much better at such things and he also was granted person of interest status. Until Hank wanted to show the nanny the Magnadoodle (nanny was on the other side of the room) We finally let him go to her because he was starting to get panicky. She said something to him and he not-so willingly went back to the couch with us. More Magnadoodle fun.

After signing all the papers the Nanny and Assistant Director said goodbye. So did Hank. To us. He was not so pleased to find out they were leaving without him. Apparently he thought he was coming here to play and then going back.
He was starting to get upset so the nanny came upstairs with us for the official pictures.
While we were busy with that, she slipped out. A few minutes later Hank started looking for here and then the tears came. He kept repeating something over and over while our guide was trying to comfort him. I asked what he was saying
“I want to go home” Quivering lip and all.
I knew to expect that, doesn’t make it easier when it comes.
He did let me carry him downstairs, quietly whimpering.
While we were waiting for the bus, he tearfully asked our guide for a drink. We had something that we gave him and pulled out some cookies as well. That seemed to smooth things over a bit. Our guide explained some more to him, not exactly sure what she said but he became very calm. On the van ride home he was looking around. We hit some big bumps which proved to be worth a laugh. More Magnadoodle fun and by the time we were out of the van we were MaMa and Baba.

Elevators are fun!!!!! Into the room willingly. Then he was willing to check out the contents the backpack we brought. More Magnadoodle fun. He came with a backpack from the orphanage, we got to look through that too. He had the monkey, the book and the photo album we sent back in January. They all still looked brand new so I don’t think they let him play with them but I’m glad they sent them along. He had a bag of various snacks and I kid you not, at least 2 pounds of candy. Amazing. I think he’s eaten about ½ a pound this afternoon. Yeah…I know…but wrap a bow on it and call it bonding and we’ll deal with the sugar crash later.

He’s been happy as a clam since we got in the room. Freely calling us Mama and Baba. We’ve even gotten a few kisses though he’s moving to fast to be really snuggly. There’s a little testing behavior going on but a firm “Bu-ya!” does mean something to him. He’s happy to let us play with his knew stuff but if he thinks we are going to take something away (we haven’t ) he quickly sweeps it up and hovers over it. He only knows a few words of English, about as many as we know in Mandarin. He likes to hear “good job” and will pick up toys and put them in the box to hear it. Then dump them all out as they should be dumped :::grin:::: We thought we might be getting a nap in for him a few times. He turned off all the lights, laid himself down on the bed with us, feigned a few snores then bounced back up and turned all the lights on again.


Overall impression is he’s a good, happy boy. His laugh lights up a room. I know there is still plenty of potential bumps in the road but I think we are off to a great start!!!

Just as I was about to hit enter, he almost took a flying leap off the side of the bed. Jeff said "Careful kiddo!" and a little voice repeated right back "Cawefuw kiddo"

Click on Hank's picture to get to the main album and see a few more from today!