Orphanage visit

Today we went for a visit to the orphanage where B has spent all but two weeks (and the last two days) of his life so far. I must say that, in terms of orphanages, this is a pretty nice one. The orphanage director met us when we arrived and showed us the ward where B lived. According to her, this is the only ward that currently has babies in it. There were about 20 to 25 babies. She told us, though, that the orphanage has kids of all ages, but once they get a little older they are placed in foster families, which is why there were only babies there.

This is a picture of the front entrance of the orphanage building...














And here is a picture of the three of us outside the building...















We also were able to take a few pictures inside, even though we were told that we can't take pictures of the other babies. The reason for this, we were told, is that some of the other babies have already been lined up for adoptions so we couldn't take their pictures because the other families wouldn't like it. I have no idea why. Before getting B, I would have been thrilled if some other family had gotten a picture of him in the orphanage that I could have seen. But, given that we were guests there, and the director was so nice to us, I didn't think I should press it. We were allowed to take a picture of the crib B slept in, and there were babies all around it.

We asked the director about B's name and got the story behind it. Turns out there is a famous actor here with a name similar to the name the director gave B. B was given a name after this actor, but the name was changed slightly to mean that B will have an even better life than this famous actor. The director said that while some orphanages just give the kids names that include the orphanage name, or the city they were found in, this orphanage gives thought to the names, and gives each baby a unique name. She said that she believes that giving a good name is the first step in starting the child on a good life.

I was a bit worried about taking B back to the orphanage so soon after we had just gotten him, since I thought it might be really hard on him (and us). Turns out it was the best thing we could have done. We had a real turning point today. When we arrived at the orphanage, the director was excited to see B again and held out her arms to him, and he went to her. Oh oh, I thought, this is not going to be good when it comes time to leave. But then we went upstairs to B's old room and the minute we entered the room he started to cry. He only calmed down when DoT took him from the director and held him. Turns out he's adopted us too, and was crying because he thought he was going to be left behind.

When we left the room with him, he was a happy guy again. And since then he seems to really have opened up to us. He's teasing us, playing with us, laughing lots and, for the first time, when we got back to the hotel today he didn't start crying when we came into the room. And while for the last couple of days we haven't really been able to put him down or leave him on his own, tonight he is tottering around the hotel room on his own and checking everything out. (By the way, yes, he is walking on his own, although he still falls regularly.)

Another good thing that came out of today's visit to the orphanage was that they showed me how he drinks out of a bottle. When we first got B, we were told that he drinks out of a regular bottle (not a cleft bottle like we had brought with us). So, we went out and bought a couple of regular bottles. For the last couple of days, he's been drinking out of them, but I wasn't sure he was getting much liquid out of them. (Because of this I've also given him water out of a sippy cup with the valve removed. And while this seemed to work better than the bottle, it too wasn't a stellar success.) So, I pulled out one of the bottles when we got to the orphanage. The director and nannies there looked at it, smiled and said it was a good bottle. But then I said I wanted to compare it to their bottles since I didn't think he was getting a lot out of it. When they gave me his bottle from the orphanage, it was clear that the nipples in their bottles have much bigger holes than a regular bottle. So, I pointed this out and one of the nannies took the bottle I had brought, got out the scissors and made a big hole in that one too. So, now we're all set. They also showed me how to make the formula he is used to drinking. They add some rice powder to it, and serve it hot, hot, hot. Much hotter than I would think you would give a baby. But when we gave him a bottle of it there, he didn't even flinch, so I guess he's used to it that temperature. They were also nice enough to give me a package of the rice powder they use with their formula.

After the orphanage visit, we headed out to see if we could find the spot where B had been abandoned. We had directions from the orphanage director, but still had a lot of problems finding it. In the end we had to pay a guy on a motorcycle Y10 to take us to it. Turns out we were in the right area all along, but where the documents had said he was abandoned at a "tunnel", this was more like a big overpass. But, our guide Lily confirmed it was the right spot. She talked to people at a little store near there, and they agreed that this place was called the tunnel. (Although no one remembered a baby being abandoned there.)

Since it took about 1.5 hours each way to drive to the orphanage, and awhile to get to the town where B was abandoned, by the time we got back to Guangzhou it was mid-afternoon. We thought we would have some down time then for the rest of the day, but we were only back in the hotel room for about 30 minutes when our guide called and said she needed us to get to the "security office" right away. Because we are trying to push our paperwork through faster than normal, we needed to make a quick trip into the office for one of the many steps in the process. That took us through the rest of the day. We stopped at a little noodle shop near the hotel for supper tonight and now we are back in the hotel room for the night. DoT and I are exhausted and feel ready for bed, but B seems to be going strong. It's going to be a long night.

I'll end here, with a picture (us with the orphanage director), and a short video showing B in what hopefully is now his normal happy state. :-)

Oh yeah, one final thing. MJ asked about his size. DoT thinks he weighs about the same as E does, but he is a bit smaller than E and A. We don't have a tape measure with us, so are going by memory, but I'd say he is a couple of inches shorter than the girls. Not much though, given the difference in their ages.