US Consulate, Smiles, and Laughter

This morning was our appointment at the US Consulate. We submitted our paperwork for Samuel's visa to enter the US. He is traveling to the US as a Chinese citizen, but once we land in the US he won't need that Chinese passport anymore! He'll be red, white, and blue! His visa will be ready tomorrow afternoon and then first thing Thursday morning . . . we head home! Amy and I have really enjoyed our time in China and the special bonding time we've had with Samuel, but we are ready to come home. We are anxious for Samuel to meet his brothers, family, and friends, and we know his brothers, family, and friends can't wait to meet him!

Seeing Samuel transform right before our very eyes has been amazing. Our little man is smiling and giggling! We found that he is ticklish under his chin. The belly laugh is priceless! Much to our surprise, he loves being tossed up over my head and even being held upside down! It's so much fun to watch him giggle that it's hard not to try it all the time. So in maximum moderation, we tickle and toss the daylights out of him :)

The dehydration issues are a thing of the past, but we still can't get him to eat any solid foods. So for now we cram as many calories in a bottle as possible. This ends up being a cocktail of formula, rice cereal, and milk drink (kinda like a Chinese Pediasure). We continue to try solids every day, but he has major tactile issues around his mouth. His medical reports said that he was eating rice and egg . . . but I am having a tough time believing that. I think it was one of those generic answers from the orphanage.

We have also noticed tactile defensiveness in his hands. Tactile defensiveness is something common in institutionalized children and a possibility we were anticipating. An orphanage is no place for a child. Just today he held his bottle on his own for the first time. This is something he surely had to do on his own in the orphanage, but probably with a smooth or familiar bottle. While trying to get him to carry his bottle over to Amy we noticed his hands were cinched tight. We realized our bottle has several types of texture and was probably overstimulating. With some hand-over-hand guidance he was able to overcome his defensiveness during that feeding. So the good news is that he is desensitizing, but tactile issues will be something that we will have to help with for awhile. We still have a lot of Micah's tactile toys, so we are anxious to get them out when we get home.

We are also anxious to get Samuel to his pediatrician. We want to get his blood work done to find out if he needs any additional immunizations or needs re-immunized on anything. But we are more anxious to get his ears checked out. He has pretty consistent drainage from one ear and we wonder how well he hears out of either ear. His ears aren't red and he doesn't have a fever, so we aren't too concerned about infection. But ear issues are common in cleft children. I am suspecting ear tubes in the near future, but we'll see what the doc says.

Anyway, we have started gathering our things and packing our luggage. Two more sleeps on this side of the world and then we start our journey home! Here are a few pics from the last two days.