He did very well at the civil affairs office. I was worried that seeing the SWI folks would set him back some. He had such a great day, I hated to mess it up by reminding him of what/whom he had lost. He seemed to take it all in stride though. Of note, while we were waiting for our turn, we did have a funny experience. We had been told to bring 2 gifts the day before, one for the SWI director and one for his caregiver who would also be there. Well, they brought 3 people. I don't know who the 3rd was but he obviously cares for Jaden. I felt bad that we didn't have him a gift. We brought one for him yesterday, since we knew he would probably be there again. They all drove the 3-4 hours to be there and had stayed overnight since the civil affairs apointment was the next day. Anyway when we got there, he was standing by the wall but didn't really acknowledge us. We waited and few minutes and I sent Tim over to give it to him. He speaks no English and our Chinese is limited and so Tim told him Jaden slept well and gave him the gift. He gave Tim a perplexed smile and laughingly took the gift. About 15 minutes later, the SWI directed, the caregiver and the other man all 3 came in from the parking lot. Oops, we had given a random man a gift. What do you do at that point? I got tickled about it everytime I saw him over the next hour or so and in fact am giggling again thinking about it.
After civil affairs, we went to the mall and he wanted some books (he chose mostly animal books, I think his room will be a big hit!) and some Mickey Mouse crocs. Then we wandered around an 8 level mall trying to find a Papa John's we had seen previously. I had a thought as we wandered lost, this must be how guys feel all the time, genetically being unable to ask for directions.
He did pretty well being told "no" when he wanted things at the mall. He seems very content with what he has.
Last night, I had a wonderful glimpse into the sweet side of his nature. We had dinner in the executive lounge with our friends and their just adopted daughter who is just 23 months old. We had Jadens favorite toys in my backpack because of our trip to the mall and when the kids were done eating, I broke out the toys so the adults could continue to eat and the kiddos wouldn't be bored. Jaden was awesome with Emmi! Even when she beaned him on the head with his car, he picked it up and handed it back to her. No muss, no fuss. He shared his much loved toys in a sweet way, not in an "adults are watching, I have to share" kind of way. It was awesome to see.
I know he knew something was different, he went to bed and sang "mama, baba" in his precious little-boy voice for about 30 minutes.
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