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Flying Diego
Author: Zach
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Getting to Know Each Other
One of the first things you do as an adoptive parent is buy shoes. We brought down a pair of Reds flip-flops but they barely fit his feet so we headed on over to the Carrefour and tried to figure out Colombian shoe sizes. The ladies in the shoe aisle thought us peculiar (“You don’t know his shoe size?”) until we explained that we’ve only been parents for a few hours. He wanted Spiderman genericcrocs, but they didn’t have his size. This didn’t faze him much and he was happy to get boring old white crocs (although we did return the next day to buy Spiderman sneakers).
And that’s the thing about Diego, he pretty much takes everything in stride.
Getting to know one another is fun. Diego is shy, slow to talk around new people. He does love to smile and when he gets excited (like when watching a movie), his whole body jumps with belly laughter. He doesn’t say his “S”s and “R”s, but we do alright communicating. He likes kicking the ball around in the park, coloring, blowing bubbles (Mami very wisely brought “spill proof” bubbles this time), and watching TV.
With a lot of adoptions you have this honeymoon period where things are wonderful and everyone gets along (followed by a hard work period where everyone figures out how to function as a family). We didn’t have a honeymoon period with the girls (it was all hands on deck from the first day), and it’s too early to tell with Diego. This is a long way of saying that I don’t want to read too much into these past days, but all in all, he’s a pretty easy kido.
Now our challenge is fighting the waiting and filling up the day. Just as I remembered it with the girls, this is one of the hardest parts of the trip. We live such packed lives in the states (between family, school, and work) that it feels very foreign (pun intended) to have so much time on our hands. We fill it getting to know each other, walking a lot, creating elaborate ways to obtain food (which supermercado today? which panderia looks safe enough to eat at?), walking to the park and playing futball (see below), and chilling out.
Tuesday will be here before we know it and then (hopefully) our paperwork enters the courts. On that note, please pray that we don’t get placed in Court 4 which, apparently, doesn’t move fast at all (Court 1 is the jackpot).
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Diego’s Gotcha Day
Our Diego is a little man with big brown eyes and expressive face. We met him at the entrance of the building, not content to wait in our apartment, and he walked up the steps carrying a rose and strawberry flavored bon bon bum. He didn’t talk for the first hour, but did give us big hugs. And smiles, lots and lots of smiles.
We ate cake. That’s what you do in Colombia for the first gotcha day. You sugar up the kids with cake and candy (and the social workers too) and then see what happens! In Diego’s case, it was a very fun game of hide and seek.
Our routine started today (I think). Playing in the apartment for an hour or so. Taking a walk. Visiting the supermarket’s cafeteria for lunch. Swimming. A bit of downtime TV (Diego picked Sponge Bob…I can hear Kelly and Monica laughing at that one). More walking. Dinner. Lots of Skype with family (which, I think, was a bit overwhelming for him by the end of the day).
This is only day one, but it seems like he was exceptionally well prepared by his foster mom. He knows all his siblings – even talks about them – and has daily habits down well (ie washing hands, brushing teeth, using utensils). With the girls I remember it being very chaotic. Diego was pretty calm and quiet for most of the day. Taking it all in I guess.
He laughs a lot.
Over the next few days we’ll post how we grow together. We’re just so happy that he’s finally with us (we’ve been praying for this day for nearly 3 years). It was a wonderful first day together.
Diego is adorable. We haven’t met him yet, but we went to Bienestar today and they told us all about him. His foster mom made us a photo album/scrapbook that goes all the way back to when Diego was 2 years old. So cute!!! I can’t wait to meet him tomorrow. They told us that Diego has taken special care of the photo album we sent to him and that he has watched the DVD of videos and pics from home every day since they gave it to him, right up until bedtime last night. They said that has really helped him get excited about becoming a part of our family, even though he doesn’t quite understand what adoption means because he’s only 6 after all.
At the end of the meeting, they told us that Diego got each of us a present. He is going to give Zach a bon bon bum and he’s going to give me a red rose. We are going to give him a forever family. It’s a good mix!
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Neiva: First Day
It was a clear day on the flight from Bogota to Nieva and this time I made sure to look out the window to try and get an understanding of the geography of Colombia. Here’s what I saw: mountains, mountains, coffee plantation (I think), muddy rivers, and some deserts. Basically it looked like west Texas with more hills. Nieva snuck up on us on a bend of the Rio Magdelena and then, just like that, we’ve landed in the heat.
Welcome back.
Olga Elana and Sorany met us with hugs. Olga Elena is our lawyer and Sorany is our translator. We catch up. Olga Elena is particularly happy to hear that all the kids are doing well in the United States.
We’re renting an apartment flat. It’s huge, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a pool on the 6th floor. Right across the street is a huge Carrefour (like having a Target in your front yard). There’s artwork – sculptures – that I’m trying to figure out where to hide because I’m pretty sure they’re going to break, given their current location, when Diego arrives. We’re about 9 blocks from the city center (actually pretty close to the BienEstar). Very cool.
The one downside about the apartment is that, while it does have internet, it’s maxing out at high dial up speeds (capped WiMAX). Won’t be doing Google Hangouts or Skype on those speeds. Oh well. Go with the flow.
We walked around Neiva a bit, visiting old sights. Next week starts the new school year, so the markets were packed with people and knickknacks. Two obvious gringos in a crowd!
This morning we went to the Bienestar to have our meeting. Ren wants to write about that, so I’m posting a few images of travels and will pass the computer to her. Today’s pretty much a hurry up and wait day (like many of them to come).
