The Road Less Traveled...: Zhengzhou Day 3--It's official, he's ours!

John went to sleep around 8:30 all by himself after I laid him in the crib. He sucks his left thumb to go to sleep. Thumb suckers are adorable, but horrible to break the habit! :) Vivian still likes hers at bedtime sometimes. He slept all night, and we had to wake him at 7 am so we could get to breakfast because we were leaving to go back to the adoption registration office at 8 am. We were having some trouble with too many stinky diapers, so we have had to ease off of the junk food. He had eaten gummies, lollipops, M&M's, and KFC the day before. For breakfast we stuck with eggs, fruit, and yogurt.

When we arrived at the registration office, he played in the little (nasty) play area while we waited on the other families to arrive. When our guide was gathering us up to get our certificates of adoption, I assumed that we would be going into another office and I didn't know how long it would take. John had a very full stinky diaper, so he had to be changed pretty quickly, so I asked if they could wait a minute while I changed him. Well, all that had to be done was the registration officer gave everyone their adoption certificates and said a nice "congratulations" and that was it. So, we had to be given special treatment and she did it all over again for us. ha ha If I had known that was it, I really would have waited on the diaper! But what a moment! We are officially and legally his parents!

After the registration office, we drove to the notary office for more official paperwork. Since John was only wanting me to hold him at this time I got to be the one to carry him up 6 flights of stairs as there is no elevator in that building. I was more out of breath carrying over 30 lbs. up those stairs than climbing the Great Wall!

We got back to the hotel and stayed in our room for the bulk of the day. John was a little upset when we got back to our room. His tummy was still bothering him and we went through a few more diapers. We fed him a banana, yogurt and Cheerios for lunch, and then when he got up from his nap he had some congee. His tummy has been much better since. We're going to ease him into the American fare. There is nothing he won't eat, and he eats a lot! That's really the only orphanage-type behavior that we're seeing: overeating. He's OK when something is all gone, but if there is more to eat, well, he wants to eat it.

He had a hard time going to sleep at naptime. He didn't want to lie in his crib, so I laid him between Billy and me on the bed. He did not want to have anything to do with Billy at that time, so John and I moved to the other bed. He went to sleep pretty quickly but he woke up a couple of times fretting. I guess he slept around an hour.

After nap and his snack, he was happy again and we went for a walk in the nearby park. He really enjoys riding in the stroller. We walked down to Pizza Hut for dinner. No pizza for him! He had fried rice, although he wanted our pizza too. :)

Bathtime is such fun. He just loves it! Lots of splashing and giggles.

Bedtime tonight was a breeze. Hope he sleeps all night again!

Tomorrow we visit his orphanage. I know it's important to see where he's been all his life, but I just hope it's not too traumatic for him. I'm praying that he wants to stay with us and not reach for his nanny.