GOTCHA!

Wow- what a day!

We arrived at the government affairs office about 15 minutes before the kids did. We met up with my friend Pam (from our Yahoo group) and we nervously waited (and I mean NERVOUSLY!). Suddenly the door opened and a nanny and the assistant director of the orphanage came in with 2 children. Since Pam's son Evin is older than Ben and his cleft is not as severe, we immediately knew which one was which. Besides that, I recognized Ben immediately from his recent pictures. The nanny introduced Evin to Pam and her husband but she was not giving Ben to me. There was a flurry of conversation between our guide and the assistant director. Then, the assistant director picked up the phone and started talking very quickly. After a few seconds, our guide said, "I'm sorry but they have brought the wrong child. This child is a girl who will be picked up next week. They will bring your son this afternoon." I must have looked at her like she had grown a second head! I said, "No, this is our son. I recognize him." Again there was a flurry of conversation and then they again insisted that this was the wrong child. After another call to the orphanage they finally figured out the problem: right child, wrong paperwork! See, a mother knows her child!!!! And, he is CLEARLY a boy :)

Meeting Ben in person was so wonderful. He did not cry at all and Jay even made him laugh (see video below). He has the most precious laugh! He is actually a little bigger than I imagined him to be. I guess I just prepared myself for him to be super tiny. He is small, don't get me wrong, but he is not super tiny. The 12 month clothes fit him nicely. The nannies handed him a lollipop and he held onto that thing with a death grip. Then our guide handed him a package of rice crackers and he held that in the other hand. It was so funny watching him grip them so tightly! Side note: the lollipop is now in a million pieces after the "Drop it on the Floor" game which was enjoyed by all! He is such a happy, smiley baby and he is really ticklish. He should fit right into our family!

After leaving the government affairs office we came back to our room. He ate his rice crackers and drank almost an entire bottle of strawberry Pediasure. It is so interesting to see how he uses his teeth and tongue to compensate for his cleft when he drinks from his bottle. It was then nap time so we laid him in his bed. For the next hour or so he laughed to himself and checked out his new crib. So much for the nap! We decided to get him up and go for a walk outside. We almost made several crash their bikes since they were staring at him instead of paying attention to the road! We came back to our hotel and had some tea in the lobby. He ate a whole cereal bar (I mean he took that thing DOWN!) and then had a ball helping me clean up the crumbs. He would pick them up and put them in my hand. I would tickle him and say good job- he laughter was echoing in the lobby!

Right now he is laying (awake) next to Daddy (asleep!). I have a feeling that tonight there is going to be an exhausted meltdown but then he is going to sleep HARD.

I posted my favorite pictures in this slideshow but you can see more by clicking on the photo link to the right (which is where I will upload pictures to everyday).

Oh-I forgot to mention, the nannies gave us a list of the 7 meals he eats a day. Yes SEVEN! I don't know how they can feed him that often and he can still be so tiny. I guess we will have to wait and see how much he really eats at dinner tonight!