Officially our's and officially testing me out!

The rest of last night went well. He let me give him a bath, though I could tell he was a little nervous. He's never had one in a big tub like that! The scar from his splenectomy is pretty awful. He looks like a shark attack victim, quite honestly. I will be interested to see what they have to say about it when we get back home.

Also, the boy didn't have on unders and try as I may, he wasn't putting them on last night either! Or this morning. Just gonna let that be for now. His 5T jammies fit great but the 4T shorts I put on him today are falling off.

Cale fell asleep pretty early, worn out from the excitement of the day! I kept asking Roman if he wanted to sleep, he said no. So I just sort of eased him into it... turning off the lights, putting the toys away, turning the tv way down low. I asked if he wanted to sleep with me or Cale, he picked Cale. But while I was trying to move big brother over to make room, Roman climbed up in my bed. I laid next to him and he was asleep within minutes. He was the last to wake this morning :)

I'm sure he was worn out from his day as well, so we'll see if tonight goes as well. Though... as active as he is, I'd be surprised if his body doesn't always crash at the end of the day!

I was excited to see that he knew how to brush his teeth and they seem to be in pretty good shape! We have some pictures of him missing his two front teeth, so these are permanent.

We went down the breakfast buffet this morning and he was very clear about what he wanted and didn't want. The boy loves congee. Loves. Congee. He got tickled at me trying to use my chopsticks last night, but I couldn't find any this morning so he attempted a fork- that tickled him just as much! In general, "we" are still struggling with food a bit, but also haven't had much opportunity to remedy it yet.  Breakfast is good/easy, we have been just snacking in our room for lunch but today, housekeeping took our bowls and spoons that were laid out to dry. That's a bummer. I've lost five pounds in four days (which is funny, because when we had our physicals... I told the nurse I planned to lose 5lb before China if she just wanted to go ahead and deduct it- and she did! But I never actually got around to it...). Because I'm a vegetarian, I'm having a little trouble getting the protein I need and it's showing up in my body. Our guide is meeting us for dinner tonight to help out a bit!

Cale bought their shirts :)

After breakfast, we went back to the office of civil affairs for our interviews and finalized the adoption! Roman Jude Zheng is officially, legally, and finally a West! I had to sign the papers and also provide my thumb print, he had to "sign" with his whole hand. He was very happy to do so!

He told everybody, "ZhengNing's Mommy!" and he told the officials "My Daddy is in America! I do not know where, but he is my daddy in America!".

He is a very brave boy.
He clearly has a very strong personality so I can't tell yet if he really is okay with everything or if he just has his wall up very high.  It could be either at this point.  He has let me hug him, but this afternoon, he gave me my first spontaneous hug :) Wrapped him arms all the way around and jumped in my lap.

Speaking of jumping... have I mentioned the energy?!  I asked our guide to translate a few things he keeps saying... she said they don't make sense bc he thinks he is speaking English LOL. We tried to hang in the hotel room this afternoon because it was pouring down rain. He played quietly with legos and the iPad for a while. Then he got more playful...and as we played, he got the opportunity to test me out a bit! He was getting pretty wild and the firmer I got, the wilder he got... so we headed out immediately to burn off some energy. We walked the whole park and let them wear themselves out on the exercise equipment. It sprinkled on us the whole time but the room was not going to cut it anymore. We already made plans to do something fun tomorrow, come rain or shine!

He loves to climb Cale. He loves to climb anything. That's pretty much what landed us at the park in the first place- climbing the furniture to jump on the beds!

Their "get ready, set, go" pose!

He is very sweet and helpful though. He is excited about the fei ji (airplane) on Friday. His nannies said their last goodbye to him today. They weren't sad- they were very happy for him! They gave me a thank you gift, a photo album FULL of pictures all the way back to when he was a baby. They filled up the jump drive we sent with even more pictures and also filled up the disposable camera we sent. We gave them thank you gifts, as well, and made our donation to the orphanage. I was excited to hear that they are going to by a heater with the money. Our guide says it is not customary in China to use a heating system in winter, just wear lots of layers. One of his friends made him a keepsake that says "family" and they had it framed for him. He was so clearly loved and I think they really knew that he would continue to be from here on out.

Boy, will he ever!