Gotcha Day

      We were asked to meet down on the 3rd floor of our hotel with our guide at 3:15 today to go over paperwork before Little Man arrived at 3:30.  I was literally pacing our hotel room at 2:50 - I was shivering with chills because of the nerves.  Dustin was equally as nervous, double and triple checking our backpack with toys and snacks to entertain our son with while the paperwork was completed.  By 2:55 neither one of us could stand it any longer so we gathered our things and made our way down the elevator to wait in the conference room we would meet him in.  My heart was racing as we stood looking out at the lake outside our hotel and I heard a tiny voice downstairs -- I held my breath.
     A minute later through the doors of the conference room comes bouncing in the most beautiful boy... smiling and carrying a lime green stuffed frog, he looked at Dustin and then at me knowingly.  His caregivers walked in right after him, asking him to go show his frog to "mama" and "baba".  He came right over to us.  They told us he had slept the entire 3 hour train ride from Xiamen and had not eaten since 10 am.  A very wise fellow adoptive mama had told me to pack a big box of cheerios because the kiddos here love them (what toddler doesn't!) and they don't sell them at the grocery stores here.  So I pulled out my stash and handed him the little snack cup - the kind with the rubberized lid that keeps the snack from dumping out on the floor.  He was shy at first, waiting patiently for me to feed him one cheerio at a time.  I handed him the container and he was confused by why the lid kept his snack away from him so he started to peel back the rubber sides and together we held back all six corners of the lid while he grabbed cheerios with his other hand - smart kiddo!  Dustin took some Thomas track out of the backpack and built him a little track on the carpet and pretty much stole his heart.  This boy already adores his daddy!  It is the best thing to watch.  Dustin played with little man while I finished up paperwork - by the time I came back to the floor the two of them were giggling (little man has the most infectious laugh!) and stuffing cheerios in their mouths by the handful.
      After a few minutes of pictures and exchanging gifts of gratitude with his caregivers, they left the room  and we alone, for the first time, with our son.  It felt a bit like that first time our newborns were placed in the car seat for the ride home from the hospital.  I thought, "This is really it. He is here!   A  lifetime of memories ahead."