Hi, Everyone,
Sorry we haven’t taken the time to post anything yesterday. We’ve been a little busy. I’ll start from the top.

Yesterday, we met our rep at 0900 to go to the Civil Affairs office in Shanghai, where we would meet our son and get complete our initial paperwork. We figured this time would be different from our previous experience, but didn’t realize it would be different than anyone – including the orphanage or Civil Affairs officials thought it would be. The day was full of lessons. When we arrived at the office, we went to the elevator, we ran into the nurse from the orphanage who was bringing Bao Tong, so we met right there off the lobby of the office building. It took everyone by surprise. By the time we got off the elevator, Kira and Michelle were walking hand-in-hand on either side of Bao Tong when we met the officials. The boy was quite reserved and seemed to be rolling with all that was going on. So ends the first lesson: things don’t always know there’s an order in which they’re supposed to happen.

We were ushered into a meeting room and in the commotion of everyone finding chairs and getting kids and bags arranged, I managed to drop or camera on the floor. Indeed, the new camera was broken. There were many potential lessons in that event. The one I chose was, “When conditions are complicated, strive for simplicity.” It sounds heady, but is more useful than “Don’t drop the damn camera on the cement floor.” In any case, the end result is the same – only a few pictures of the first meeting. We did have the video camera running, but we were both kept busy with paperwork, so the camera was usually left on, pointed vaguely in the kids’ direction. It was tough not being distracted by him. When we were, we were promptly reminded by our rep, “You have a job!” (the paperwork).

Fortunately, the officer was quite efficient and the process was pretty smooth and quick. Our rep, Lilly, also made the process smooth, not only for her coordination, but also because she brought a bag of Chinese cereal like Sugar Smacks, except grape flavored. This kept both kids occupied the entire time. Due to the unorthodox meeting, some of the process steps were anticlimactic, such as the medical check on us that was intended to be prior to the meeting, but all the “i’s” got dotted and we left there with our probationary son. Though we had possession, the adoption technically doesn’t occur until the next day. Even so, we had to decide on a name for him before we left the office, and so we did. We’ve named him Max (not short for anything – just ‘Max’). His full name is Max Baotong Nelson.

Once we got back to the hotel, we got the kids and Michelle settled in the room and Lilly took me to a find a place to fix the camera and to buy another stroller. One advantage of breaking your camera in China is that, since many gadgets are made there, repairs are much cheaper than in the states. Lilly has the stereotypical Shanghai business sense, and we visited just two shops to find a very reasonable estimate to do the repair. We then ran to a nearby department store (It was huge, very modern and quite busy.) and in about 20 minutes were leaving with a new stroller. Back in the hotel room, we learned the next lesson: our new, two-year-old boy eats a lot. In fact, since that time, we learned that he will eat until food is no longer visible. We’re told this is not unusual for male adoptees, and a very temporary phase, but by Max’s build, we’re not at all sure this pattern is a recent development.

We were going to try out the new stroller, but found that one of the axles was bent, so I took it back to the store. Had to exchange for a pink one. He’s young enough – hopefully that won’t hurt him too bad. There was no problem except language. Language has been a challenge because Shanghai has its own dialect that is quite different from Mandarin, the national language. All younger folks learn Mandarin in school and many know English to some extent (usually better then the extent I know Mandarin), but Mandarin is obviously not the first language for anyone raised here. Unfortunately, this is true of Max as well. They only spoke Shanghai dialect at the orphanage, so we’re not able to communicate very directly. He’s at the age where he understands much more than he verbalizes, so Lilly can get him to do some things.
We needed to do something else with the kids and we wanted to reward Kira for her behavior, so we took the kids to the swimming pool in the hotel. Both kids had a great time, but we learned the next lesson. Max does not like having bare feet. We knew this was not unusual for kids in orphanages, so it wasn’t a big surprise. Perhaps a bigger surprise is his struggle with sharing. We thought that might be a necessity in the orphanage. One might also think that being born in a Communist country might make sharing second nature, but sadly, neither is true.

We wanted to keep things simple, so we got room service for supper. Max ate easily 3 times what Kira does. We all had a long day and went to bed a little early. He didn’t go down without a fight – more literally than not, I’m afraid.

We had a good wake-up and breakfast today. Max loves ham, rice, waffles, crepes and watermelon and almost anything else that’s place in front of him. He refused a few surprising things like congi (what he ate at the orphanage), potatoes and cantaloupe. We learned the next lesson when I took him away from the table so we could meet our rep on-time. He has a formidable temper. Because there was still food visible on the table (our theory), he threw a fit the size of which has not been seen in China in decades.

We finally got underway and got to the registrar’s office. After a very long wait in a very warm office with two very squirrely kids, the process was done and we received our adoption papers. There was another 45 minute taxi ride to get to the Notary’s office, where the adoption became final. Finally back at the hotel, he wouldn’t nap and there were more displays of temper.
We had to leave to let housekeeping clean the room, so we went to the department store and got a few things and walked to an ex-patriot area for supper. We thought we’d try pizza in Shanghai. It wasn’t bad. Max ate more than two pieces, which was even more than Michelle could eat. We started to hide the leftovers so we could get him to leave without getting cited for disorderly conduct. It worked.

We walked back to the hotel. Fortunately, Kira has claimed his pink one and Max likes Kira’s old one. He enjoys watching the world go by. We still garner a lot of attention from people, but know there’s no rude intention – they’re just curious. People have been generally kind to us. Housekeeping at the hotel has been especially attentive and helpful.

Michelle and the kids have all been asleep for awhile. I think I’ll head-off, too. Tomorrow, Lilly has arranged a visit to the orphanage in the morning. That should be fascinating!

Best wishes to you all.
Kim, Michelle, Kira & Max