Gotcha Day

"Gotcha Day" is the day when the adoptive parent(s) meet(s) their child(ren) for the first time. (For our British friends, note that the term "gotcha" is American slang for "got you.")

We met our guide, Glen, at our hotel at 2:30 p.m. His driver took us to another hotel that was about 15 minutes away from ours. This is the hotel where the orphanage officials are staying with the children. When we arrived, there were many other couples waiting in the lobby as well. We recognized some of them from breakfast, too.

Around 3 p.m. we were told that it was time for us to go upstairs. There were three children in the elevator with us, but none of them appeared to be Scarlett or Sienna.

We were taken into a large room with another couple. It was like a hotel suite that had children's toys and playground equipment instead of hotel furniture. There were some couches along the wall, too. The other couple in the room was waiting for a two-year-old boy. The woman joked that if we were offered two children that we should just accept them and leave quickly. When she found out we were in fact waiting for twins she was amazed! She said she knows a lot of people who want to adopt twins. And I know that she is telling the truth. Twins are extremely special and rare. Knowing they will always have each other is a tremendous comfort for us and will be for them as well.

Each minute we sat there waiting was like a day of waiting in Florida. Finally, two girls in frilly pink dresses entered the room! They looked like they were dressed for the most important day of their lives. We could have taken them to either a wedding reception or a beauty pageant in these incredible outfits. Previously I was wondering if the girls would enjoy wearing princess dresses at Hong Kong Disneyland, and I think I have my answer. I suspect we'll be booking appointments at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Disney World soon, too.

The girls initially had little interest in us. All they wanted to do was play! It was difficult to get photos of them because they were just running around at approximately the speed of light! We did manage to get a few photos of them on the rocking horses, playing with large plastic balls and going down the slide.

Peter was able to bond with them while I went through a list of questions with the three nannies from Guilin who knew the girls quite well. I learned that the girls drink regular milk (rather than formula milk), but that they might need some help eating. I also learned that the girls lived with a foster mother and father, their daughter (age 22 or 23) and another younger set of foster twin girls (which we suspected). I am so glad that the household still has children in it.

The nannies gave us backpacks for the girls which included drinks, yogurt, candies and the four one-use cameras we had sent (for a July 23 arrival). There was a precious handknitted bag with a panda on it that the foster mother made. The family also answered the various questions that were included in the package (again, from www.blessedkids.org), and Glen said he would translate everything. And best of all, there was an amazing photo album with about 10 photos of the girls that were taken by a professional photographer on Aug. 1, 2007. In the pictures, the girls wore various outfits including their pink dresses, traditional red Chinese pantsuits and even silly outfits like watermelon and tomato costumes. The last photo showed the twins in matching dresses with their foster mother and their aunt (the foster mother's sister) in the picture. The foster mother would like for us to send her photos of the girls in their new home as well as pictures of them growing up. No problem! I will take photos of these photos and post them to the blog.

When I finished with the questions, I started to play with the girls, too. At that time, Peter informed me that he thought that Scarlett was more outgoing than Sienna, but the nannies told him he had it backward. However, there was some evidence that this was the case today.

Scarlett would easily allow me to touch her and help her play. Sienna didn't seem afraid of me either, but she kept calling out for "Baba" (Daddy) to help her "fly" off the top of the slide. Earlier in the day Peter said he wouldn't answer to "Baba," but when Sienna would say it, he would do whatever she wanted.

Amazingly there was no crying for the first 20 minutes. Then, out of nowhere, Sienna started to cry. I predicted that Scarlett would cry as well, but she didn't. We comforted Sienna and she calmed down in about two minutes.

Interestingly, the only word of Chinese that I said that they understood was "bu" which means "bad" or "don't." For example, Scarlett was touching some presents that didn't belong to her, and I said, "Bu bu bu" and she knew to stop. The problem is that we have a wonderful cat who will soon turn 5 and his name is Snubu. We often call him "Bu" for short. As I predicted, we will have to call him "Snu" for short because he is very gentle and good. I joke that "Snu" must mean "isn't" in Chinese; therefore "Snubu" must mean "isn't bad." The nannies said the girls have been exposed to a local dialect which is NOT that closely related to Mandarin.

The girls were having such a good time playing that they didn't want to leave. But after about 45 minutes or so, it was indeed time to head back to our hotel. Fortunately they had bonded with us enough to go down the elevator with us and out to the van. We were told that they are familiar with riding in an automobile and that they enjoyed the train ride.

Glen came with us to the room to finish some more paperwork which involved not only our signatures on various forms, but our thumbprints (in red ink) as well.

Meanwhile, the girls were overwhelmed with all of the items I had laid out for them. So I helped them focus by getting out the Cheerios. Not only did they enjoy eating them, but they also enjoyed moving them from one plastic container to another. I don't know why this was so much fun, but it was! They both loved their Hello Kitty sunglasses! However, their Mickey Mouse flip flops were much too small (although I'm sure another set of children will love them). They also liked the red, white and blue headbands.

Then a photographer came to the room. Her job was to take a family photo of the four of us as well as photos of Peter and me with each girl separately. The photos were to show how well we are getting along. It was difficult to get the girls to look at the camera and smile -- particularly when both were in the picture at the same time. They wanted to move around the room and explore things. And there was no way to get the Cheerios out of their hands.

The photographer left and soon so did Glen. He said he would meet us at 8:30 a.m. in the lobby. We have more paperwork to do in order to make the adoptions official. Then we will have lunch and catch the 2:15 p.m. train to Guilin. I believe the ride is about 4.5 hours.

Fortunately the pull-ups I brought from home were the right size for Scarlett. Sienna demonstrated her prowess at using the Western-style toilet. The girls were late for their afternoon nap. We decided to put them in their pajamas rather than in regular clothes. The monkey pajamas we brought were big for both of them. But they were close enough and they looked adorable in them! This also was the perfect time to introduce them to bananas. It was love at first bite for both of them! Afterall, they were born in the Year of the Monkey (2004).

I readied myself for a nap too. We put the girls in their cribs and they seemed to know what to do. They needed some reassurance, so we made sure that we positioned the cribs so that they could see each other. After they drifted off, Peter went to Wal-Mart with a more detailed list of what to get. The girls had their pink sandals, but no other shoes. Scarlett wears a 27 and Sienna wears a 28. Scarlett weighs 25 lbs. and Sienna probably weighs a bit more (as she is about two inches taller).

Peter came back about two hours later with shoes, more clothing and more diapers. He also had a Pizza Hut Veggie Lover's Pizza (with mushrooms, green peppers, onions and yellow corn). It hit the spot! The girls got up for a few minutes one at a time. Sienna used the potty and we helped her brush her teeth. Then Scarlett got up. She didn't need the bathroom or a diaper change, but we did brush her teeth. Soon they were sleeping again. I woke up around 2 a.m. and decided to work on the blog. Perhaps I'll try to get a bit more sleep now ...