Adventures in Babysitting

It is currently 9:52 pm.  Nina is finally getting a chance to eat some cold takeout.  Max?  He conked out a while ago.  And Lillian is amazingly asleep in her crib after one of most profound displays of two-year old energy we have ever seen.
And we love her as though she had been with us from her first moment.
Technically, we are not her parents.  We are babysitters.  Our agreement with the Chinese government is only for this night.  While we did sign the permanent adoption papers already, they do not become effective until tomorrow.
So here's how it all went.  We were ferried to a government office building for a 2 pm appointment.  We were 15 minutes early and expected to wait.  However, as we approached the office, we saw a sweet little girl in a blue and white dress and pink shoes sitting between two women sitting quietly drinking a box of milk.

 It was difficult to restrain ourselves from overwhelming her with affection, as we knew we needed to.  Our guide described the papers we were signing and served as our translator as we learned about her from the two orphanage staff who accompanied her.  We learned that she was smart, liked books and loved to dance - all things that we verified soon thereafter.

As the administrative chores took place, Max took on his new big brother role with aplomb.  He took out a pad of paper and box of crayons and showed Lillian how to draw.

 She was enthralled and sat happily dragging a pink crayon across many pages of the pad while Nina and I dragged a black pen across many pages, as well.
After about an hour, we departed as a family of four to our hotel and began to get to know each other.  Here are some things we learned.
1.  Lillian is a good eater.  To be clear, she was no emaciated waif to begin with.  She appears to be a hale and hearty little girl.  Our guide had touted us on a Chinese baby treat, so we filled a snack trap with those and another with goldfish.  She ate the Chinese treat continually for hours.  If one would drop to the floor, she knew to put it in the trash - or feed it to Mommy.  When the take out came into the room, she ate several dumplings and can handle a fork and spoon just fine,though she is unafraid to take matters into her own hands when necessary,

2.  Lillian is independent.  After Nina bathed her and put her in pajamas, we watched in amazement as she happened upon her socks, stopped, and put them on without any assistance.

3.  Lillian has A LOT of energy.  She walked up and down the length of the hotel room seemingly hundreds of times, ending up in the closet where she would drop whatever she was carrying in the slipper basket or handing a book or piece of coloring paper to me as I sat on a couch at the other side of the room.  Over and over again.

4.  Lillian is potty trained.  That's a nice feature.  We sat her on the toilet and she would pee.  We also learned that she has a signal to let us know when she needs to poo-poo.  Unfortunately, Nina did not know that was the sign while she was bathing her.  Nina thought she just wanted more water poured on her back.  So if your travel plans bring you to Nanjing, we do recommend you stay at the Mandarin Garden - however do not stay in Room 1006.
Most importantly, 5.  Lillian loves to laugh.  We heard a number of giggles, but Nina started to give her raspberries on her belly and that got the big laughs going.  It was the sweetest music we had ever heard.

I can't imagine the day going any better.  Of course, I didn't deal with the bathtub situation, so that's easy for me to say.  She did not cry.  At all.  She stayed in the mix with us the whole time, and in fact, could easily be considered the ring leader.  Now, she doesn't default to physical affection the way you expect from a child that's been with you since birth, but she'll learn and we'll all adjust.
And tomorrow, when the government officials sign the papers, the agreement that has already been made in our hearts will be made official.  Babysitters no more - parents.