Our First Shamrock Day

Some people call it Gotcha Day. I was planning on calling it Adoption Day. But I think we're going to call it Shamrock Day instead. It's the day we took our son Jonas out of the orphanage forever to become part of our family, and we'll celebrate every year on St. Patrick's Day.

When we first showed up to the orphanage yesterday afternoon, Jonas seemed to recognize us after a bit and be happy to see us. Everyone there told us he had worn his shirt with our pictures on it lots of times and always pointed at it saying "Mama" and "Papa."

After changing his clothes (into a shamrock shirt of course) and getting and giving kisses to his caretakers and friends, it was time to go! It was important to me (symbolically) that he walk out himself versus us carrying him. So we each held a hand of his, and he happily headed out into his new life.

Once outside the orphanage gate, Jonas started to get a little scared. I don't blame him. There were cars whizzing by, people he didn't know, stray dogs, and he wasn't sure what was happening to him.

He cried a bit, squirmed a lot, sucked his thumb, and generally wanted cuddled and held tightly. And no, there are no car seats in Kyrgyzstan! At times he seemed interested in what was going on outside the car, carefully watching the animals and people we passed. But then you could see his expression change as he seemed to realize that we weren't just playing some game that would end at lunchtime. He looked like a sad, lost little boy.

Once we got to the hotel, everything changed. Our happy little Jonas was back to stay. He loved getting airplane rides from Daddy. Actually, he loves anything to do with Daddy. Zack's iPhone and iPad are now two of his favorite toys. Jonas kept putting on the huge hotel slippers once he saw Zack put some on, and it was pretty cute watching him try to walk in them.

Jonas liked reading some of the books we brought. He really liked the sheep in his St. Patrick's Day book. He makes all sorts of noises and says some words in Russian, but we've already got him saying "uh oh" in English. Check out that shamrock shirt!

We ordered in some lagman and a samsa from Faiza for dinner, while our hotel made Jonas some porridge with bread and green tea. We tried to keep his diet the same as it was at the orphanage for his first day, and he normally had that meal for dinner.

This kid loves his stacking cups. He'll stack them over and over again, and he likes moving things out of the way to line them all up in a row. I'm pretty glad I packed those! He's also so good about putting them away when he's done.

After putting Jonas in his Notre Dame pajamas (Go Irish!) and brushing his teeth, it was time for bed.

We read one more book, Happy Adoption Day!, and then we all passed out. I think we were all exhausted after such an emotional day.

Jonas slept pretty well. He was kind of squirmy, sometimes ending up completely sideways, but he cuddled close to us with his blanket and doggy. Several times during the night he would reach out and rest a hand on me, almost as if to make sure I was still there and not leaving. We're not leaving you buddy-not ever again!