Our Journey to Carson

We Have Our Little Man!!

This picture was taken in the hotel, just before we left to meet Lisa, our guide, and head to the registration office to get Carson.

OK...I know, I know...you don't care about details. You want pictures!! Take a peek...

He went right to Kevin, not afraid, not crying

Finally got MY hands on him! We're looking at the photo album we sent him in the first care package back in July...he recognized us right away and liked saying "Mama", "Baba" (aka Daddy), and "Qiu Feng"...he would laugh every time I pointed to his picture and said his Chinese name.

For those of you who wanted to see him smiling, how about a picture of him laughing with his big sister??!! Adorable!!Believe it or not, within minutes of meeting us, he was hamming it up! He LOVES this little phone we brought...it lights up and talks. He wouldn't put it down. Couldn't you just eat him UP???!!!

Here we are with Director Yin, who clearly loves our Little Man! She was very sweet and thanked us for adopting him and asked us to please get him the surgeries he needs and make sure he has a happy life. The only tears we saw out of Carson were when Director Yin left the room without saying goodbye......but the Dum Dum lollipops I had in my purse were INSTANTLY soothing to him. The boy LOVES candy!!

In the van on the way to the Bank of China to exchange our orphanage fee into yuan, Carson decided he enjoys squealing at the top of his lungs. Here is Meggie trying to shush him while he's squealing and laughing...While Kevin and Lisa waited in line at the bank, Meggie and I took Carson outside to blow off some little boy steam...he kept squealing in the bank and no one enjoyed that, trust me! He decided he wanted to walk the stuffed dog we gave him...carrying it by its ear and dragging the poor thing in the dirty sidewalk.

He's smart, though...when I made it clear with a stern face and a "No!" that the dog should not be put on the ground, he instantly figured the dog better not hit the sidewalk again. Instead, he decided to do THIS...

...swinging it around like a baseball bat. I'm telling ya, this kid is 100% boy!!

He got bored with the dog pretty quickly. Thankfully, Meggie remembered the bubbles we had with us. You will LOVE these pictures of the two of them playing bubbles in front of the stores. They created quite a stir...people just stopped and looked at us. Guess what?? We didn't care. He squealed with delight and Meggie and I laughed ourselves silly. This kept him busy for nearly 20 minutes!! Enjoy these...they're priceless...

Caught a bubble on his nose!

Trying to blow them himself...cracking himself up in the process!

Ready for more bubble chasing...

His first outward sign of affection...hugging Meggie!! Thought I was gonna cry right there on the sidewalk! Sorry it's blurry, but the boy moves quickly!!

He feeds himself pretty well, but doesn't have a lot of control with utensils. Meggie was feeding him banana at lunch with a fork...he thought it was hysterical to bite on the fork and not let go. He has a VERY devious sense of humor...doing things and then watching us out of the corner of his eye to see if we're paying attention.

OK...I could go on and on. Suffice it to say this has gone SO MUCH BETTER than I would have ever dreamed! He's a bundle of energy, but he's incredibly smart and mimics everything we say. He's very outgoing and comfortable telling us (in Chinese, of course) what he thinks! He has already said his first English words...after the bank, Kevin grabbed his hand and they marched back to the van. Kevin started chanting, "Let's go, let's go!" and Carson joined right in! Now, whenever we're going somewhere, we all say, "Let's go, let's go!" and he says it right with us!

He's stubborn when he's not getting his way and definitely feels the need to be independent. In the van, I offered him a bag of cookies. He couldn't open them but would not let me! When I took them from him to open the bag, he had a FIT! That's fine with me...I want him to be a strong, independent kid.

By the way, he bonded INSTANTLY with Kevin (every other word is "Baba"), enjoys hamming it up with Meggie, but doesn't seem especially fond of me. In the van on the way back to the hotel, I gave him the special sippy cup we brought that has a place to insert a photo. I had inserted a photo of the three of us (this photo had also been in the photo album we sent him, so he was familiar with it). He said "Baba" and kissed Kevin's picture. Then he said "Jie Jie" (aka sister) and kissed Meggie's picture. Then he gave me a sly little sideways glance (he was seated next to me)...waited a second...and finally said "Mama" and kissed my picture. What a stinker!

I have so much more to post....but for now, I'm going to stop. We put Carson down for his nap (he takes a two hour nap every day AND sleeps 12 hours at night...thank you, God!) and it went surprisingly well. We all went in to kiss him goodnight...after making smoochy noises, Carson puckered up and kissed Kevin. (Wasn't particularly fond of the mustache!) My turn...smoochy noises, followed by a kiss! He kissed Meggie, but then decided to smack her...whoops!! Oh well, progress comes in baby steps!

He puts himself to bed very easily. I put on the CD of Chinese lullabies I got from Gina...calmed him right down! He talked to Meggie and his stuffed dog for 5 or 10 minutes, then out like a light! Take a peek...quiet, though, he's finally asleep...
Lisa will be back at 3:00 with the doctor...Carson is getting a physical. After that...who knows?! I'll post more later, after he's asleep for the night. We're going to walk to KFC for dinner...Meggie is DYING for some familiar food!

To say that my heart is full is an understatement...we are so blessed and thrilled to welcome this funny, joyful, outgoing, stubborn, energetic Little Man into our family!! One more picture...

...and I'm taking a nap...this day has worn me out!!