Gotcha Day, Part Two

Nathanael's napping right now, which gives me a little time to tell you the whole story of Gotcha day. It's pretty neat.

When we arrived at the Civil Affairs Office, where the children are handed over, another little van pulled up with children in it. As we were entering the tall building, we recognized Nathanael. His caregiver was taking him into an elevator to take him up to the 26th floor where the office was. Jennifer grabbed my hand and ran into the elevator.

On the ride up, he saw us smiling at him and talking to him. He didn't know that we would be holding him within five minutes. His caregiver had it figured out, though. One of the people with us jokingly accused us of "cheating." It was really neat.

Jennifer got to hold him first while I took pictures. Then she handed him to me. He had a small tear in his left eye, probably frightened. But he never really got upset. He was dead weight, very limp, as we held him. I held him for the remainder of the time and on the bus back to the hotel. I sang to him and, on the bus, found a way to win his trust.

Mindy, one of the other moms, had handed me a small, kid-sized, bag of plain M&Ms. Chocolate, it seems, is a universal language. One by one, I handed him the little pieces and, one by one, he gladly took them.

Back in the hotel room, Jennifer got out the magna doodle and let him draw on it. Drawing, it turns out, is one of his favorite activities. Here are some of the pics of the M&Ms and the drawing.