3/24 Shamian island, One week with Chu

We went to the island today which was gorgeous. I did a little shopping. Shane did a lot! True story. 

But most importantly, It's been one week sense we met Chu! 

I'm going to be very honest...

Chu came to us very much like a newborn. Yes, he could sit up and he could walk about 5 steps but he was like having a doll that you could position. 

If you sit him up, he stayed. If you layed him down he stayed.

 He wouldn't look right at us either. Kind of passed us. I even asked another adoptive parent if they thought Chu was drugged. 

You would be standing holding him and he would all of a sudden go back like he didn't have energy to sit any longer.  And we didn't hear one sound out of him for hours. If we sat him down he would cry silently. 

Until I bathed him. Or totally left the room. (Bath room break) Then he whimpered a low quiet cry. So for his first bath, I rushed and dressed him in his Jammie's. I handed him a block and he fell asleep with it in his hand. 

He would cry silently if we sat down with him. He would wake up at 3:00 and cry for two hours. 

Just yesterday, Shane admitted he had been worried on Gotcha. 

But there were things we KNEW. God sent us. He was ours. He would die without a family. 

We knew that this was no different then giving birth. If I gave birth to a child with delays we would love and take care of that child. We knew God expected the same for this boy and expected us to step up. We expected the same of ourselves. 

So he became an official Atwood. 

The next night after his bath he rolled to his tummy after I layed him on the bed. Ahh... He moved without being told! 

He decided that if mom put him down this look would get him picked up. He was totally right! 

We got our first smile the next morning. Just an itty bitty one. 

Little by little we've started to see more of the true Chu. 

We gave him Chocolate. He observed where we hid the chocolate. (Little smarty) He knows what suitcase these are stored in and if that suitcase is unzipped he gets to it and pulls out the chocolate bag. He empties the bag one by one and then fills it again. Until there's just one left. He packs that one chocolate all day long. Has gone to sleep with it in his hand. 

We bought him a package of cars and he  put some under his arms. I don't know if he was worried they would be taken away but it was so cute. He feel asleep that night with a car in his hand. 

He plays peek a boo. He likes to unpack things and repack them. He's very tidy. 

He makes hats look good! 

He's the cutest monkey ever! 

He sucks one finger when he's tired and while he sleeps. 

Here's the chocolate again. 

Questen and Chu hiave become brothers. He obviously looks at us! 

He doesn't like giant stickers on his shirt. 

He has the cutest smile. The cutest giggles! We've seen a touch of mischief too. Like he reached over and took a peice of sausage off of my plate. And when I said Hey. He giggled and laughed. 

At one week we have went from Laying all the time and no eye contact to this. 

-He's up to 10 steps with no help. 

-Can go from sitting to standing without help. 

-He has started taking off clothing. Today he took off his socks and shoes and thew them on the ground. Lol

-He will put his arms in when you dress him. 

-He's still drinking a bottle and can down it in 60 seconds or less. 

- He turns his head to the side if he doesn't like what your feeding him. And he remembers it. He studies the food for his approval before opening his mouth

- He points to things he wants or likes. 

- He copied my clapping at the Shaolin temple. 

- We say Babba and he looks at Shane. We say Questen or ga ga and he looks at Questen.  He looks at me for momma. 

- He has mimicked three words, mine, Chu, and Ma ma. (Aww...be still my heart... Precious boy) 

I have to ask myself...

What if we let money stop us? 

The paperwork was so overwhelming at times, what if I had thrown my hands up and said no more?

What if I would have let Satin convince me that I wasn't a good enough mother? 

Because he sure tried! 

What if we let the fear of travel and leaving our children stop us? 

What if we let the unknowns consume us? 

What is we hadn't been patient enough and gave up on the wait?

What if we hadn't already decided to stay faithfull and except what ever we got on gotcha day? 

What if we would have panicked and said no? 

We would have missed this!

"I never said it would be easy I said it would be worth it." 

THIS IS SO WORTH IT!!! 

We still have a long road ahead of us. 

I'm sure he will grieve more. 

Transitioning home will not be easy. We may have sibling rivalries. 

We still need to know what all were up against medically. 

We have to live through jet lag! And that's no joke! Lol

He's worth it! 

There are millions and millions of children worth it!