PROUD PARENTS OF JOSHUA AND MAELYNN

AT LAST, we are proud parents of Joshua and MaeLynn. We met with Mr. Li at 1:30 PM and he drove us over to the Adoption Registry in Guangzhou where we met and picked up our two newest additions to our family. It was quite an experience as you can imagine. Both of them did NOT like the thought of going to perfect strangers and they both immediately started to cry. However, MaeLynn calmed down rather quickly but Joshua was the loudest and cried the longest then all the children that were there. Yes, I know every parent thinks their kid is the loudest, but in this case, it was a fact. However, after about an hour and people started to leave, especially Joshua's orphanage workers, he immediately stopped crying and started saying, "Goodbye, Goodbye," with a huge smile. Since then, he has been in very good spirits. MaeLynn is who I am concerned about the most. Even though she calmed down rather quickly, she just became limp and numb. You could tell the whole ordeal was quite traumatic for her. She threw-up in the car on the way over from the orphanage so today has not been her day. Now that we've been back at the hotel, she seems to be slowly settling in and getting just a tad more animated. While at the Adoption Registry, her worker said that she does seem to respond when they call her name very loudly, so they suspect she may have some hearing. This was good news as it sounds like boney conductive hearing aides should work fine and she will not need cochlear implants. She did like it when I held her hand up to my throat to feel the vibrations. She actually held her hand up to me on her own a couple of times. She does have eczema so we will need to get the proper skin care treatment. Joshua is TINY, and I mean 18 month old tiny, even though he is 3 years old. He and MaeLynn are close in size, though MaeLynn is slightly taller and weighs A LOT more than he. However, he is VERY bright, extremely curious and seems to communicate quite well. He knows his local dialect very well, but of course, that doesn't do us any good. Mr. Li said that he doesn't even know how to speak it as it is a mix of Cantonese and Mandarin. But, Joshua knows exactly what I am asking of him and has let us know he needed to go to the bathroom. He even performed duties that I asked him to do without having to repeat myself. I used English mixed with sign language and he picked it right up. I asked him to go over to the T.V. to grab the cookies for MaeLynn. He immediately shook his head in the affirmative, ran over, grabbed the cookies and gave them to MaeLynn. A few minutes later he did something similar again to another request. He is quite helpful and seems to really be settling in. Just now MaeLynn buried her head and when I went over to her, she immediately started to cry. Without hesitation, he went and got her doll and handed it to her. He is doing VERY well.  He has also been very good at letting us know his needs. His orphanage workers told us that though he is tiny, he knows way more than a three year old should know and is quite a bright and inquisitive child. We noticed this trait right away. I feel MaeLynn will need to take longer to adjust. We need to remember that though she is bigger, she is over a year younger. Therefore, mentally she seems to be right on target for being two. Tonight Phil is running out to Subway and 7-11 to get them congee (a rice cereal) so that we don't disrupt their diet. Of course, they've been given cookies and Chinese treats all day. MaeLynn has hardly touched anything, but Joshua has been eating up a storm. His orphanage did say he is not finicky and eats quite a bit. I would have to agree from the few hours we've been with him. One cannot even imagine the fear these two children have had to experience, being ripped away from all that is familiar, especially their caretaker. Nonetheless, Phil and I couldn't be happier at this moment as we gaze on these two amazing angels. We are proud parents of six, beautiful and amazing children!