He is ours!

I have to say it was not anything I expected. I was so excited I could not sleep and even with the long flight and all the walking we did Sunday I was up by 4:30 AM Monday morning. Jay had to get up also because the hotel lights are so confusing... if I need a light.. ALL the lights go on...not sure what we are doing wrong!! LOL
So after getting my paper done for my psychology class we got in the shower and dressed and then headed out to explore this area.
Mia was meeting us at 9 AM and she had arranged a car to take us to Cathwel. Jay and I spent our few hours walking around, trying to order breakfast and talking to a cute young boy that I tried to hook up for Mia!! LOL
At 9 Mia and our taxi showed up.
It was about a 20 minute drive to Cathwel where we were greeted at the door by ... my head was spinning but I think it was one of the directors..she said something about one of the babies having the flu so we would meet Cooper...that is all I remember... so we went upstairs, took off our shoes in the hallway and a woman was holding the hand of a little boy... it was him!!!
The woman holding his hand was his Nannie that cared for him all the time.. I could tell she was very upset. She did not speak English but another woman, who told us she was our helper (she did all our paperwork, went to the court, will meet us at AIT on Wednesday..etc)said that the Nannie was sad. I can understand the mixed emotions a caregiver for a child goes through. The Nannie had a bag packed for him with all his stuff and they included this beautiful book about Taiwan so that he could see where he came from when he gets older. They also returned all the toys that we had sent him and his clothes. The kept telling Cooper, that is your mommy and your daddy and he kept telling them no!! LOL
He warmed up to Jay right away, after Jay bribed him with a toy car that had a button that made noise! But he really didn't want anything to do with me at first.
After talking to our helper lady for about 20 minutes I asked if we needed to fill out any paperwork.. she said no so we packed up and left.
We had sent the taxi driver away as we thought we would be there for a few hours, like our adoption in China, so we found another taxi and headed to the zoo.
The Taiwan zoo was given two panda bears as a gift from China and I was told by Jeb, Mia's dad, that these panda bears came from the county that Ali came from... which made me think that when we were in China at the zoo they had two baby pandas... they could be the same!!
Well the zoo was wonderful and beautiful and I bribed Cooper with a panda ice cream!! He drank from a straw (he was still on a bottle but I did not give it to him but had him drinking from cups!) which was cute as he didn't quite understand it but within a few tries he had it completely figured out!!
Then we took the subway back to our hotel!! It was such a neat experience!!
We came up to the room and changed his pants, put all the stuff from Cathwel and then headed out to McDonald's for our first meal together! This is when Cooper decided I wasn't so bad.. I had to bribe him with a cheeseburger and fries!!
After this Li Ling picked us up and took us to some shops so we could buy the baby some stuff. Li Ling had already bought him a jacket and a hat (it is a bit cold here right now)so we just walked and looked around at the many items and shops.
We had Cooper in his stroller, which is low to the ground and many shop owners have dogs in their stores.. COOPER HATES DOGS!! He is so scared of them, screaming when they are within ten feet! So Mia and I had to keep on the lookout for animals while Jay would steer him away!! It was a game!!
After HOURS of walking and looking, Li Ling and Jeb came back to get us and took us to the most unique place for dinner. I will have to have Jeb tell me the name and address so that families that come after us can go to this place... it was great food. For those of you that live in Florida we have a restaurant called The Melting Pot were you cook your fondue at the table. This place was along that line only you "BBQ'd" at the table. They had small fire pits and they cooked all the meat you could eat, pork, beef, shrimp, fish... right there. I am not sure if the "waiter" usually stayed to help but our guy stood at the table the whole time talking to us and helping us cook our food!! IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD! Cooper ate like a champ. He favors his right arm very much and does not try to use it at all. I put a plate in front of him to see if he would feed himself but he didn't. So between Jay, LiLing and I we filled his little belly full!! He ate everything we gave him except Li Ling gave him a bit of her fish jaws and that stayed in his mouth for long time.. in fact I had to use my finger to pull it out.. he didn't want to swallow!! LOL
By now it was 9:30 PM and every one's eyes were so heavy.. but our tour guides had one last wonderful plan for us.. another foot massage!! These foot massages are very cheap here and they have cards for certain places around their home.. so Jeb dropped Mia, Jay, Cooper and I off and we sat in chairs while our feet were brought back to life. Cooper sat on my lap and started to snuggle- I know he was tired but I felt like he was starting to trust me also!!
Then back to our hotel where we put on PJ's and hit the bed. We laid him between us where we don't have a crib.. and he held my hand for comfort.. I think I fell asleep first as the last I looked at him his big brown eyes were still very big!!
So now it is almost 4:30 AM again and here I sit watching him sleep!