Mourning

Quinn has definitely entered his mourning phase. Both at his nap yesterday and overnight he cried in his sleep. Not an angry or needy cry, but a low, mournful, heartbreaking wail. It's so sad. I know that's a good thing and it means he was, indeed, bonded to his nannies. But seeing his little face and hearing him cry is just devastating. Hopefully he'll move into his next, happier phase soon.

Finally, a smile!!

And we didn't get it on film!

We've been eating dinner every night in our hotel's top floor lounge, which has a very nice happy hour with lots of good food. It's easy, free and tasty, and feature comfy couches that are good for Quinn. He was sitting on my lap and pushed himself up to discover a mirror behind him. We don't know if he's never seen one before or he was just enchanted with the good-looking boy in front of him, but he started laughing and cooing and generally having a great time. Shockingly, the fun continued right on through bathtime.

Hooray!!

Bonding day

Today was "bonding day," a low-key day with an optional outing. But first, Quinn discovered the joy of the stacking cup, which Marj guaranteed every baby loved. Boy was she right!


After breakfast, we went to "The Place," a combination outdoor mall and Freemont Street Experience (which you'll understand if you've been to Las Vegas). On the top floor is an indoor playground with very simple playground equipment on a soft floor. It was WAY too much for poor Quinn, who responded to all the lights, sounds and kids by retreating into himself and sticking his middle fingers into his mouth, where they stayed until dinner time.



Last stop was China Super Wal-mart, which was, indeed, super. It's HUGE. We bought Quinn some very cute Chinese outfits and us some Chinese snacks.

about that bad shoulder

Quinn for available for adoption because he has something called brachial plexus injury, which is when the nerves in the shoulder are either stretched or torn during birth. An update before we left said he couldn't pick anything up with his right hand, so we were pretty worried.

Miraculously, all appears well. He immediately grasped a ring toy with his right hand, although he doesn't hold onto it long. He also grabbed my finger with no problem. His right thumb does appear quite weak and he definitely favors his left hand, but I'm not worried. Ronnie gave us some exercises to do (thanks, Ron - mom, can you send her this blog address?) and we'll start working with him today.

Still breathing

After a little whimpering, Quinn went right to sleep last night. He was pretty fitful and whimpered in his sleep pretty frequently until about 1 a.m., when he feel into such a deep sleep that every time I woke up and saw him still in the exact same position I was convinced he wasn't breathing.

He still sleeps, and still breathes, even now.

Emperor Rong Rong

When the orphanage workers first put Quinn in our arms yesterday, I was worried that he was so interested in everything around him except for us.

A few hours in, the reason became clear: The Little Emperor had simply traded one set of servants for another. This boy was clearly the pet of his nannies and exudes a brand of confidence so bold that it actually takes a while to notice it.

When the workers came out with the children yesterday, I was filling out some paperwork and looked up in the middle of the moment. The other two children were brought out first and I had the vague notion that I couldn't see Quinn. Looking at the pictures last night, I saw that he was surrounded by workers touching him, patting his back and checking us out, HARD.

An orphanage manager was on hand to answer questions after the "hand-off." She didn't seem to know the other kids as well, but she knew every last thing about the little boy they call "Rong Rong" (Jian Rong is the name he was given when brought to the orphanage, which roughly translates to "We hope you can someday rebuild your motherland." She also spared no time communicating that pretty much everything I was doing was not good enough for The Little Emperor. She didn't like the way I was holding him. The way his sweater kept bunching up. And she scolded me severely for taking him outside into the 75-degree weather without his stocking cap, which she pulled onto his head with his full acceptance.

When it was time for us to go, I could tell she and another worker wanted to say goodbye, so I hung back. A male worker put his hand on Quinn's back. The female manager reached out for him, so I handed him right over. Quinn, of course, was fine with all scenarios.

On the bus later, Leah, one of our agency representatives, confided in us: "I think he is very spoiled. Boys are so rare here, and he is so cute." She said it confidentially, like it was a vaguely bad thing. But I couldn't have been more happy.

We've got him!!!

Finally - finally! - the day arrived. In a word, it was amazing.

Here's how it went: Our agency reps drove us to the orphanage at 2 p.m. and we were taken into a very nice waiting room - the only room at this orphanage that adoptive parents ever get to see. We had to fill out more (!!) paperwork, gave our gifts to the orphanage workers and had a chance to ask some questions about our children. Most of ours had already been answered in a packet our agency gave us during orientation this morning, but we did have some new ones.

At about 3 p.m., the orphanage workers carried in the three kids in our group (our orphanage only allows 3 kids to be adopted out each day). All three were quiet and stoic, and that was the atmosphere in the room for quite a while.

At first, Quinn wasn't interested in looking at us at all. But he clearly dug the blue chandeliers, which he kept staring at. He looked up, down, sideways, anyways but at us. However, he obviously likes to be held and didn't fight us on that one. We offered him a few toys and he showed a little bit of interest but still didn't want to interact. On the way home from the orphanage we stopped to get our photos taken and Quinn was pretty much the same.

He snoozed a little in my lap on the way home, and when he woke up started pointing at his mouth. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to realize he was hungry. I tried Cheerio's, but he was having none of it. So I gave him a bottle of water and he slurped that right down. It was about 70 degrees and he was dressed in a ski suit, a thermal shirt underneath, socks and shoes. And when we were leaving the orphanage workers put a stocking cap on him. The boy was boiling hot.

Tonight at the hotel we saw the first glimpses of his personality. Spunky, active and into everything. He isn't walking yet but is getting close and wants to stand. His shoes light up when he puts weight on them, which is, of course, a fantastic incentive.

He cried a bit when I changed his diaper and clothes and whimpered a bit when I put him in his crib, then he fell right to sleep, which is where he is now.

I'm following right behind him. What a day!

Sorry for the lack of detail here, but I'm pooped. More tomorrow, I promise!