Day #2 with Micah

What a personality change in 24 hours! At the Civil Affairs office yesterday, he was quiet and just watched everything. He didn't even cry when I picked him up. Yesterday afternoon at lunch he cracked his first smile - it took almost five minutes of snorting like a pig into his neck and back. When we went back to the room because Thea had fallen asleep while at lunch, Micah started to play with his toys with Steve and he just started to emerge from his shell. Steve got smiles, noises and laughs out of him. Later that afternoon, playing with the balloons we brought along, he started to like me a little more - and since I'm the one shoving most of the food into his mouth, he should be adoring me a little more. This child eats anything, and I've probably violated about ten different recommendations about how to introduce new foods all within 12 hours. He hoovered an Gerber banana/blueberry mix and rice cereal in the room, vegetable congee and steamed egg at dinner, as well as apple juice and formula. The only worrisome thing is that he hasn't pooped yet, so we're pulling out the big gun tonight (prunes) if he doesn't do the deed. (We found out today he uses the potty, but I think it's a bit early - we bought a little plastic pot at Carrefour today just to see if it was true.)

He's got one upper front tooth, with the second coming in, so he has a very pumpkin-esque smile.

Today (Tuesday) we had to go back to the Civil Affairs office for the official paperwork. Yesterday when we got Micah, the province granted us temporary custody for 24 hours. We had to have an official interview with the province's adoption director and we also had an opportunity to talk some more with Director Huang from JingZhou CWI. At the official signing and sealing with fingerprints (and Micah's footprint), we received a silk bag with soil from JingZhou and a little jade ornament with a dog on it since Micah was born in 2006, the Year of the Dog. So now we are a Rabbit, Rat, Sheep and Dog.

Tomorrow is a free day so we're being taken to a museum and then going to a local restaurant for lunch. It will be a nice break from the hotel restaurant, though it's breakfast buffet is great. Thea got KFC chicken nuggets and fry-fries today for lunch, since the KFC is in the same building as Carrefour. Steve and I passed - neither of us was all that hungry and we didn't really come this far to eat what we could get around the corner in New Jersey.

Anyway, that's the update from the Teahouse of Cruella DeVil. The other family with us has two adjoining rooms with 'normal' decor. I'm going to be seeing spots for weeks after we're back - I need to take a picture of this room after it gets made up and before Micah and Thea start dismantling it for the day, it's a five-second-long window of opportunity.

From here I can't put titles on the posts, and I can't get into see the comments, even with www.anonymouse....

More later. I need to see if Steve is surviving watching two children.