We left for the govt office around 10am on Monday where the official guardianship transfer would take place. Emotions were running high for everyone on the bus ride over. One family wouldn't receive their child until later in the afternoon and they were kind enough to come with the other families and video. I'll try to post some of that soon.
Some of the children and ayis (nannies) had already arrived. We saw Luke immediately but had to wait for his name to be called to go to him. He looked happy and content, so I assume his train ride from Beijing (where he lived at the Morning Star home) went smoothly. He had a little scrape on his nose that is a surefire giveaway that he's all boy.
He played with us while his ayi was there...dancing, reading, rolling the truck. He even gave us hugs and kisses on the cheek. We had some little apple puffs that at first he would take from us and give to his ayi to feed it to him. But eventually he let both me and Bobby feed him a couple. We went through last minute logistics like the milk he drinks and diaper sizes with hand gestures and charades since the guide was busy with other families' paperwork. His ayi was very kind. She was showing him the picture sheet we sent and going through the family members with him in Chinese. It helped us later when we skyped with the family, you could tell he remembered the pictures and couldn't take his eyes off Jonah and Kayla for a bit.
Then his ayi had to leave.
It was hard. She slipped out the door. He noticed immediately and his grief was palatable. He let me hold him through this but mainly because he wanted me to take him out the door to find his ayi. He stopped crying as long as I stood close by the door. He never took his eyes off of it. Though they tried to prepare him that he would have a new life, you just can't explain that to a 21 month old.
While at first I was his go to for some kind of comfort, that quickly changed once we returned to the hotel. He was very upset to be in the hotel room with us. He kept pointing to the window to go outside. None of the toys we brought could distract him. The crib finally arrived from housekeeping and he fell asleep soundly for his nap. We were relieved he was able to go to sleep. He had to be exhausted.
When he woke up, Bobby was upstairs filling out more paperwork. Luke RongXuan took one look at me and it all broke loose again. He would at least take a sippy cup from me, so I felt better that at least he was getting some water in him. Bobby was soon done with his part of the paperwork and it was my turn to go up. When I came back, Luke had calmed down and seemed at least not so unhappy to sit in his baba's lap. So that settled it, for this trip Bobby's in charge of all things "care" for Luke. I get to be all things fun. Okay, that's not actually true...I'm actually noodle cooker, cleaner upper, and loaded down pack mule after our second Walmart trip. It's all good though. Having been through this before when the shoe was on the other foot with my velcro baby Kayla, I know Luke will come to know me as Mama in his own time.
