We leave Wuhan tonight at 6:40pm and fly to Guangzhou which is less than 2 hrs flight. Today we will go to some office to get papers notarized. At the office, we should also receive his birth certificate, abandonment decree and adoption decree. We will head to the registration office as well to pick up his passport. We need to provide his birth certificate, abandonment decree and adoption decree to the American consulate in Guangzhou. Once we arrive at Guangzhou, we will meet with a new guide and driver. Then head to the Garden Hotel. Some families who are also adopting children from different provinces in China have already arrived at the Garden Hotel. I read their blog about the Garden Hotel and they said that the hotel is really beautiful. We can’t wait to see it for ourselves. One family we talk to on occasion will also fly to Guangzhou tonight with their adopted 20 months old daughter.
Today is Nathan’s last day in his home city. He may not be back here until he is older. As soon as he understands us, we will eventually tell him that he is adopted. Our adoption agency and the adoption community feels that we should tell our children that they are adopted. I guess being honest is the best way to go. Plus I would not want our son to find out that he is adopted by someone else. We would rather tell him ourselves. The adoption community gave us pointers on how we should tell our children. One recommendation would be to create an album or scrapbook with pictures of the child and child’s home town. Plus bring some items back from their home town. Then every year, show this album on their anniversary date (Gotcha Day). Plus there are books out there that talks about this subject.
On Gotcha Day (Nov 29), his orphanage gave us his album. They included pictures of when he was much younger and before he got his lip repaired. I will show him this album as well when that time comes for us to tell him that he is adopted. His orphanage gave us lots of other things like a bag of snacks and fruit, pictures of the orphanage and his immunization booklet. The orphanage got a new facility about 10 years ago. Back in 1928, the orphanage was called Wuchang Garden Hill Baby Nursery. In 1951, it was renamed to Wuhan Infant School. Currently, it is called Wuhan Children’s Welfare Institution. If we wanted to visit his orphanage, we can not just drive over there and go inside. We would have to apply or sign some papers to go there. We didn’t see his orphanage up close but we did see it while we were at the top of the Yellow Crane Tower. The building kinda reminds me of the Grand Floridian in Orlando Disneyworld due to the white paint and red rooftop. 
These are pictures of him when we first met him on Gotcha Day.
I thought he was abandoned at the orphanage. But he was actually abandoned in front of this children’s hospital.
After having a big breakfast, we walked to the nearby park for Nathan’s last stroll in Wuhan City. He actually doesn’t mind having his pictures taken. He doesn’t smile often for pictures but he doesn’t make a fuss about it.
On our way back from the park, I decided to check out some bakery. The store has cakes, buns, egg custards and other stuff. I bought this 4 pack buns for 5 Yuan which is less than $1 US. We will save it for our snack later.
It is almost time for me to feed our son’s lunch. It is past 12pm. At 2pm, we get picked up by our guide. One of the things I find cute in Nathan is that he knows how to clean his mouth. If he feels something on his mouth, he uses his whole right arm to wipe his mouth.
So far, his diaper change is 4 – 5 times a day. When changing his diaper, he normally lays still and allows us to clean him, put his diaper on and re-dress him. But once in a while he would move around. If he poops, we usually just give him a nice bath instead of using the baby wipes. He really loves his bath. When he is inside the baby tub, he loves to splash water everywhere.
He sleeps pretty good in the middle of the night though. I would hear him cry for a bit then falls back to sleep quickly. But he is very active while sleeping. We lay him down one way in his crib and in the next morning he is facing the other way. At first I thought he was awake whenever I hear him move around in his crib, but his eyes are still closed. Plus, it is nice he can sleep through the night in the dark. There is no need for us to have a night light on. Plus I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night with a night light on anyway unless I have nightmares. 🙂
Did I mention he cries a lot? 🙂 When he cries and to get our attention, he claps his hands. And I do hear him say ‘ma ma’. Not sure if he is actually calling me ‘ma ma’ because that is what he mumbles all the time. Whenever he sees the cars, he says ‘ma ma ma’. When he sees other things, he goes ‘ma ma ma’.