Day 2: An Emotional Day--They are Ours Part II

What a day yesterday was. FYI--Breakfast: Traci--nothing, too nervous, Matt--coffee, Luke--poptart from US. : ) We were all pretty nervous and couldn't eat. Our attorney, Oscar, arrived a few minutes early, which is against the norm from what we understand. So we weren't totally ready but quickly gathered our stuff. The ride to Ubate was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, there were poverished areas, but the green mountains and incredible countryside was awesome! I so wished we could stop at various places and take pictures but obviously that was not our intent of the ride. : ) Some interesting things we saw: 1) rocks painted on the sides of the streets. These rocks are painted by political figures running for office. It actually looks like a memorial because it has the persons name and the years for which they are running for office. Kind of funny, but I do have to say it looks better than all of the plastic signs that we see. 2) Cows just randomly on th side of the road tied up. We saw this in Jamiaca, too, but never knew what the deal was. Apparently, if the owners don't have enouh land or enough money, they tie them up on the side of the road so that the cow can eat. Fortunately, they are milk cows not meat cows! When we arrived in Ubate, it was a VERY small, quaint town. The streets were quite narrow, barely large enough for two cars. If I remember correctly, all the buildings were painted in a light yellow. It kind of reminded me of an Italian village but dirtier. The ICBF office was squeezed in amongst other businesses, and very small. First, we went into a sterile-feeling office and signed a bunch of paperwork, updated records, etc. While doing that, the kids walked into ICBF. We couldn't see them but we could hear their vibrant voices and Andres' wonderful laugh. Finally, we finished paperwork and walked into the room (office) that they were in. I saw Maria first and she was quite shy and a little withdrawn. Matt saw Andres who went running immediately to him. Fortunately, I turned around just in time to see it and it was something I will forever remember. After 20 minutes or so, Maria never warmed up to me. She appears to have had a very close bond with her foster mom (which I am grateful for) so eventually, Matt and I switched places and he went over with Maria and I went to Andres and got my hugs. The whole time, Maria kept backing herself into a little corner, and Andres was all over the place, smiling, laughing and showing his incredible personality. (Shawn and Cindy--watch out. I think he will turn on the charm with Crissy!) After 45 minutes or so, it was decided that we would not meet with the foster mom--which was better since Maria was not doing well, but we were disappointed not to be able to see her and tell her thank you--and we left. Maria cried for about the first 10 minutes in the car until we got out a DVD player and she watched Dora. When we got back to El Refugio, we had lunch and the kids ate great. We had hamburgers and potatoes (no, Luke didn't eat any of it) and the B&B always makes "sopa"/soup for the kids to eat while the rest of the food is cooking. After lunch, I brought Andres up for a nap and Matt, Luke and Maria went to la ienda/the store to get diapers. Yes, we are back in the diaper market with Andres. : ) He slept for over an hour and then we hung out at the B&B the rest of the day. I have to say that the day got kind of long and difficult for me as Maria wanted nothing to do with me. I just let her have her space and watched as I saw her with Matt. As awesome of a "boy" dad as Matt is, he was meant to have a girl. He is sooooo good with Maria and she didn't leave his side the whole night. He even got his fingernail painted. At dinner (chicken or beef in some kind of breading, a cucumber dish of some sort and salad--no, once again, Luke did not eat and had a PB&J and popcorn) Matt got up to go get something and Maria looked at me and spoke some of her first words to me (besides "no") and said, "Mi Papi?" It was so cute! Again, Maria and Andres ate well. She occasionally stared at me but mostly conversed with Luke (who she also adores) and Papi. Andres loves to make the Home Alone face where his hands go on each of cheeks and he opens his mouth really wide. Too cute, quite dramatic. Matt and I have yet to eat a full meal--first nerves, now craziness of three kids at the dinner table. But we are loving it! Bedtime was interesting. We were told that Andres went to bed at 7:30 and Maria at 8/8:30. Needless to say, there was a lot of energy in the room--sadness and happiness-and we didn't get them to sleep until a little before 10pm. Both had some periods of crying. Andres has to sleep in a small crib-like bed that I think it is smaller than what he is used to so that was tough. Funny story for the day. . . Andres would not lay down in his bed. He kept standing up and looking around. I finally figured out that instead of telling him to lay down in Spanish, I was telling him to stand up. The poor kid was probably so confused! Then, Maria went to bed fairly easily. But just as she would start drifting to sleep, she would get up and get her backpack that we gave her and pull out her make-up and jewelry. The bonding moment I had with her last night was when she wanted to put lipstick on my lips at 9:30pm. Normally, we'd handle this situation differently, but I had to capitalize on the moment! We are still trying to figure out the pictures. I will download them as soon as I can get it to work. And I will try to post again tonight is time permits. Until then, adios!