I believe I left off getting to Guangzhou on Friday the 25th (last leg of the adoption trip).
The next day I took William alone to his visa medical exam appointment along with many other adoptive families in our agency's group. I chose to go alone with him to save on transfer fees, but quickly realized it would've been well worth it to have the extra help.
First I'll say that William doesn't do well at all with official-type-environments, and gets quickly stressed. I also think, like many sweeties in his shoes, he has some medical trauma and does *not* like doctors and/or medical staff. The doctor didn't even have to say a word to him and he began crying, and you can imagine what the lil guy thought when the doctor started look in his ears, mouth, etc. Next stop was basic weight and height checks - not a fan either. Then the general exam which went even worse (it was like a progression of pure torture for him). They checked his body after removing his clothes, and the poor lil guy *really* hated the doctor taking off his diaper (who wouldn't?!). Last part of the total exam was the TB test...of course, worst of all because needle-poking is involved, and guess what? The nurses just take your child away into the room and do not allow you in. 
:-\ The second that took him he began wailing. And when they opened the door - of course even worse wailing. 
:-( So that was that, and I think we were both very happy to have that over with!!
:-\ The second that took him he began wailing. And when they opened the door - of course even worse wailing. :-( So that was that, and I think we were both very happy to have that over with!!
We got to the hotel and after a while they needed just 1 parent to do some paperwork and to attend a brief meeting (just to go over the itinerary for the rest of our stay here in Guangzhou/China), so I went by myself to do all that while Billy and the kids stayed in the hotel room. When I got back, lil William was sound asleep and took a nice 2 hour long nap (nice but hoping he sleeps tonight!).
He is a sweet sweet boy but he definitely has an ornery-spunky side that keeps us on our toes! He had a huge personality when he was in the hotel room where he's most comfortable!
On Sunday, we went to Shaiman Island near the hotel here in Guangzhou - the sun was shining and the weather was just perfect so we were happy about that!! It's such a beautiful place with a park and many shops. We ate at a restaurant with other adoptive-families which was nice, and walked around and bought some souvenirs. William is still very withdrawn in public, but I think he's enjoying new sights and sounds a *little* tiny bit more every time.
This boy's personality comes to life big time in the hotel room. That morning he got infront of the mirror and did a kung-fu stance and shouted "HIIII-YA!!" Of course by the time I got my camera he stopped!
He also picked up his stuffed dog and cuddled it for the first time, and I consider that a big win after seeing him just toss it aside this past week. We're working on "gentle touch" which he definitely didn't learn in the orphanage and he seems to be learning fairly quickly (still a ways to go of course). We tried (and still try) to show empathy every chance we get (another thing many sweeties do not learn in an orphanage setting usually either - while we were there in fact, we saw caregivers encourage hitting to be funny, and not caring when a little girl was upset after being hit).
Another big moment was when he watched Billy closely pick Ms up and carry her to the bed and toss her on it, and he went up to Billy with his arms stretched high up asking to be picked up also. (It's *very* normal for sweeties like him to prefer one parent over the other for a while.)
He took a quick huge liking to Ms. Cosette, and it's finally wore her down some by that point. Her main retreat was to get on the laptop and play games with headphones on (he'll leave her alone during that time). She loves him, but I know adjusting to a new 2 year old brother was/is not easy (for either of them) and they've been *incredible* troopers like I knew they'd be. I think the orphanage visit was good to help them understand William more (even though they did well with him prior).
He's already picked up quite a bit during this time. Hello, bye-bye, dog, "meow" for cat, Baba/Daddy, Mama, etc. He also baby babbles some Chinese which of course is cute!!
He's already picked up quite a bit during this time. Hello, bye-bye, dog, "meow" for cat, Baba/Daddy, Mama, etc. He also baby babbles some Chinese which of course is cute!!
Shaiman Island (sweet boy was sound asleep)
He thought he was pretty funny by shutting big bro in the bathroom!
For a week he'd just toss this stuffed dog aside, and then one night this happened!
