Gotcha Day Part 2

Back at the hotel, Esther became more relaxed and the giggly girl evolved!

About a half hour after returning to the hotel, there was a knock on our door.  It was one of our guides, I can't even tell you which one at this point because the excitement of the moment blurred that part from my brain, to say "they are in the lobby and on their way up"! Eeeek.  Grab the paperwork, grab the toy bag, their coming!

Quickly checking Ester out.

They finally arrived on our floor and BAM - this kid is active and constantly on the go.  We met in the elevator area.  He is into everything and I mean everything.  He was pretty uninterested in us but totally checking everything out.  If his hands can grab it, he has it and most likely it's going into his 

mouth.''

I know, he's missing pants.  He came to us in pants without a diaper/undies and I smelled a strong smell of urine; therefore, I thought it was his pants.  Turns out it was the shoes he was wearing.  I'm guessing that when he wore split pant and peed, that he likely hit his shoes often.  Needless to say I bagged them up and put them in the trash.  Thankfully, I brought shoes that fit him!!!!

This kid has a great belly laugh and it is so good to finally see a smile on his face after seeing years and years of pictures of such a sullen look on his face.

Our adoption picture was taken, money exchanged for various fees, and that was that.  We were told to head to our room so he wouldn't see the director who brought him leave.  The kid did not blink an eye.  He was more interested in getting his hands on anything and everything in the room.  

Needless to say, he kept us busy for the next few hours.  After fixing him and Esther a noodle bowl for lunch, which they both loved, we took a walk to Starbucks because I had been up since 4 am and needed a recharge.  Then at about 2 p.m. I began to see they both definitely needed naps from the stress of the day.  Xavier thought he might be able to out will me but I told him he got stuck with an equally strong willed mama.  After about a half hour of my instance that he lay down, and being slapped, kicked and having my glasses grabbed off my face, he gave up and crashed. (He hasn't grabbed for my glasses since!)

During their nap time, I had to run down to meet with the group to do about 90 minutes of paperwork in preparation for adoption finalization on Tuesday.  I left the teens in the room to wake the littles at 4pm.  I'm told they napped well!

More exploring and keeping up with Xavier ensued.  I am so glad I have several helping hands here because we have been tag teaming to handle him.  We have to be like hawks, can't take our eyes off of him.  Come dinner time, we attempted to visit a Japanese noodle place but after sitting down to look at their menu we only found one dish with noodles; therefore, we departed and ended up heading to Burger King...lol.  This seemed to be a hit with both Esther and Xavier.

While he is non-verbal, at lunch time I taught him the sign language sign for "more" and he has been using it when eating.  This encouraged me.

Right before bed time, we were able to Skype with Baba and kiddos at home!  Esther is already saying "Hi" and Kailey has been working with her on saying "I love you".

Overall, the day was a bit overwhelming but we survived.  They went to bed fairly easy.  So thankful that Esther is calm and laid back because they balance each other out.  

Final thoughts on the day, after spending time with Xavier, I have my suspicions that he has an undiagnosed issue that we will look further into once home.  We are committed to him and get whatever help he needs to develop and grow!  Despite his stubbornness, it is obvious that he likes to learn and is able to do many things.  Oh yeah, he is potty trained!  He either heads to the bathroom or holds his private area when he needs to go!  YAY!!!!  We are still utilizing pulls-ups on both for the time being.  

Thank you for your continued prayer, they are felt and appreciated!