As far as China is concerned, he's ours now

Tuesday, March 24, 3:45 pm

Technically, until today we were only temporary guardians. Now, as far as China is concerned, we are Aidan's parents. We completed the paperwork and fees this morning at the Guangzhou Civil Affairs Department. All adopting parents must be interviewed twice, explaining why you want to adopt and promising that you will not abandon or abuse your child, but will care for him and provide the best possible educational opportunities for him.

Jan took pictures for me at the office, but I left the memory card in the computer back at the hotel room. The shots instead are stored on the camera's internal memory, but I can't upload them without the cord, and that's in Marysville in a little Rubbermaid container in the hall closet. I'll have to share those later.

After our return to the island, we walked with the Newell's over to Starbuck's, then took our kids over to the play area in the center promenade. Aidan and Leah had the chance to walk around a bit and stretch their legs, but they mainly just looked around and watched what everyone was doing. Then, we went back to the hotel for lunch and naptime.

Naptime didn't go so well. Aidan did not like getting put in the crib for a nap. That was the first time we heard him cry other than the first few moments when he was placed in my arms. I rocked him and held him on my chest ... he was quiet, but his eyes were wide open. He sure showed signs of being tired, but I think he's also getting used to his new temporary digs and wasn't sure of what was going on. I tried to put him back in the crib twice, but each time I started to lay him down, he would jerk, wake up, and start crying again. Finally, I called Jan to come rescue me (she had gone back to her room and I had to go potty), and she managed to get Aidan back to sleep. That's where he is now as I type this post.

Here are a few more shots of our day thus far, minus the pictures from the civil affairs office.

Check out Aidan's new baseball cap. Can't start too early creating a fan. (Julie's going to see this post and say, "Hey, that's not the outfit that goes with that hat!" She's right...he has a cool baseball outfit ready for another day.)


And here's Aidan on the playground, not quite sure what to do.

And finally, from a storefront window on the way back to the hotel ... Who needs Barbie when instead you can have "Betty" and "Bertha"?!?!