Friday December 18: day one

I was a little nervous about jet lag and getting him on our time. Rick and I were operating on 3 hours of sleep and I was really hoping we could get him adjusted quickly. We went to bed at 4:30 am, and he was up at 9:30 am and seemed happy and rested. He had breakfast... a hard boiled egg and a huge bowl of rice. 

I wanted to go to an assembly at school, so I left the house before he woke up. Rick told me that he was asking for me while I was gone. He is the sweetest! 

Rick and Long spent the morning exploring the house and talking through translate. In our house... you are either a smart Kentucky fan, or a not-so-smart Louisville fan. (Sorry, I'm the author of this blog!) Rick felt led to tell him the "red" team was the best. I can play that game, too! This poor Chinese soul will be so confused when he goes home.

Go CATS... or maybe it was GO CARDS?!?!?

When I got home from the school assembly, he came out of the house, smiling, to meet me at the car. 

We took him to Walmart to buy some clothes and try to find some food he likes. He picked out 2 super hero shirts (and let me add that he got super excited when he saw it) and 2 pairs of pants. We used translate to ask him about different foods we saw. This was my favorite conversation: "Do you like bacon?" His eyes got really big and he shouted YES!!!! (no app needed for that response!) So, we loaded up on a few pounds of bacon. Seriously, bacon, why do you have to be SO good????

He wanted to push the cart at Walmart

After our Walmart trip we took him to eat pizza. That was the first thing he asked for when we met him last night. Ha, ha!! He didn't eat a lot of it, and seemed to be more fascinated with the ice in his drink. We let him get a "cola" and he looked like he died and went to heaven while he was drinking it. I think that might be the reason why he didn't eat very much. We will definitely limit the "cola" for him from here on out.

Pizza!!! and yes, our southern China friend is not enjoying the cold weather!

He pulled his ice out and put it on the napkin. He loved to touch it and move it around with his hands. I can only imagine what he is thinking! We take advantage of the smallest things in our daily lives. 

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home. He explored the house, and played with different toys. He loves legos, and anything he can build. While he is building it, he will stop and examine it. I came downstairs to find him playing with our wooden trains. You know, the ones my kids outgrew by the time they turned 5? He loved it. He built a huge track and loved rolling the trains across it and watching the trains go down the hill. I guess when you have never experienced something like this, it is fascinating to the mind.

I loved watching him play and explore with these. He loves anything he can build. And yes, he is still freezing. We turned up the heat, but he still prefers to wear layers around the house. 

Our kids came home from school around 3:00 and were thrilled to meet him. Andrew, our oldest, is a life saver. These two are very "like minded" and Andrew has the patience to play and build whatever Long wants to do. 

He is obsessed with technology, and any type of gadget he can find. He wanted us to put our Ipad in Chinese, so we did that for him. Then he started downloading games and trying to access his social network account from China. He got a little upset when it didn't work. We decided that moving forward, electronics will disappear and we will have set times to play them. I am just amazed at how much he can do with a device. He clearly has daily interactions with them in China. Here is a funny story- while we were exploring the house, he found my big computer in the basement. He pointed and said "computer?" and then sat down. He told me through the translate app that he wanted it in Chinese. I told him we couldn't do that, and it wouldn't work. He looked at me in such a way that I could tell what he was thinking. It was somewhere along the lines of "stupid American." He took my mouse and started clicking buttons, totally trying to find the settings to change my language. So... he has also been exposed to this before. I distracted him and moved on to something else because who knows if I would be able to "undo" what he does to my computer!

We had dinner at home, and then washed up for bed. He is so easy going. He washed his face, his hands, and brushed his teeth and went straight to bed at 9:00. No problem at all! I gave him a hug and told him good night. He smiled and hugged me back, which I loved. He is such a good boy. Any family would be beyond blessed to have him. He has so many talents, and is so curious about things around him. 

We told him we would play basketball tomorrow morning and he was really happy about that. Thank you, Lord, for bringing this sweet boy into our lives. We pray that a family will step forward. Please feel free to contact me by email at sarahmhatfield@hotmail.com if you have any questions, or if I can lead you down the path of adoption.