Ren Li Walter W.

Tonight at last, we named our son. We have decided to call him Ren Li Walter W.

Ren is part of his Chinese name (Zhengren), Li has special historical significance for him and Walter is in honour of Paul's dad.

We were conflicted about settling on this name despite loving the sound of it. These are the Mandarin pronunciations of the Chinese characters for his names, the names we saw on his proposal and immediately took to. However, once it occurred to us that the names he was actually called would be pronounced differently in his Cantonese-speaking orphanage, we fell into indecision. We like the Cantonese pronounciations and knew that they would be more accurate for him, but we were already hooked on Ren Li. Finally, after a lot of grade-school scribbling on notepads and pondering, we decided to go with what felt right to us.

We had a little celebration tonight in honour of our son. When Paul, Claire and I were in the Okanagan last fall, we bought a special bottle of wine from Red Rooster Winery in Naramata, with the intention of sharing it when we received the referral for our second child. This week was so hectic that today was our first opportunity to celebrate with this wine. As it turned out, I'm glad we waited until tonight because it was nice to be able to toast him using the name we had decided upon. To Ren!

It's a boy!

Paul and I are overjoyed to announce that we have a son! We accepted the proposal yesterday, October 1, for this exceptionally beautiful little boy: Yes, real men do wear pink ... and argyll sweaters!

Our son's Chinese name in Mandarin is Zhu Zheng Ren (Zhu being his surname). We've been told his nickname is Renren. His name in Cantonese (the more common language where he lives) is actually a fair bit different and it is likely that it is the Cantonese pronunciation of his name that he is familiar with. The main difference in the names is that instead of "Ren" it is "Jan" (pronounced something like "Yun") in Cantonese. Anyway, we won't know for certain what his caregivers call him until we're actually there but we're quite certain that it's Yunyun.

As for what we'll call him, we're still floating around various ideas. Once we decide, I'll be changing the address of this blog. If you don't receive an email from me about the new address, contact me and I'll send it to you.

Other details about our boy:

• he was born on December 3, 2006 which makes him 8 months younger than Claire;
  
• he currently resides in the Zhuhai Social Welfare Institute in Guangdong Province (southern China);
  
• the last measurements we have of him were at 18 months but he sounds like a good-sized lunker if they are at all accurate: 25 lbs and 81 cm tall (yes, heavier and taller than his big sister, Claire); and
  
• he is described as an active kid, with a ready smile who likes others to tease him for fun. He often shows his caregivers a "brilliant smile" in order for them to take him out to play.

Claire is really excited about her new younger brother (notice how I say "younger brother" rather than "little" brother ). Yesterday morning when we showed her his pictures, she let out a gentle little "awww" with each photograph. I know she'll be a loving big sis.

I should note that we already think of this child as our son but he is not officially "ours" yet. The process for adopting a Waiting Child is different from the one we experienced with Claire. Instead of the Chinese government matching us like they did with Claire, our coordinator matched us with him. The Chinese government still has to approve us as a family for him. We'll know he's ours when we receive a Letter Seeking Confirmation from them, in the next 4-6 months. Although there is always a very, very small chance they may not approve us for him, I'm not holding back. He's our son and we're already crazy about him!

We expect to travel to China anywhere between February and May of 2009.

Uh oh, the shopping has begun

Okay, we don't even have a child matched with us but I'm in shopping mode. I really did hold off as long as I could. And I'm still exercising major restraint as you'll see from the fact that there are only two items shown below for our second child.

I bought this panda Blabla doll for our second child and the orange monkey Blabla doll for Claire.

An acquaintance has one of these for her daughter and Claire immediately fell in love with it. These dolls are sooooo soft and cuddly. I hope it will be a nice tactile comfort toy for our new little one.

I have no idea if we will be referred a boy, but I had to get this boy's t-shirt. It was on sale, after all! I'm finding that shopping for a boy's clothes CAN be fun (I always thought it wasn't as fun as shopping for girls), especially with some cool Asian-themed stuff out right now. However, since we don't know for sure if we'll get a boy, and his size is anyone's guess, I'll stick to this one clothing purchase for now.

A family for a year and a half

One and a half years ago today, Paul and I received our little girl. It's unbelievable that time has flown so fast since then. Here we are on the long weekend.

We still don't have a good idea of how long it'll take for a referral for our second child but we are now quite sure it won't be as fast as a month. I'm remarkably zen about the whole thing but I guess that's because any way you slice it, our wait shouldn't be too long. It was exciting to contemplate a referral within a month, though. Oh well, it'll just give us something great to look forward to in the fall, winter, or spring.

Another step closer

We learned today that we received provincial approval of our switch to the Waiting Child program! We're another step closer!

The timeframe for receiving a child proposal is really up in the air right now, due to some new procedures the Chinese government is piloting. More children are now available to our coordinator to match with waiting parents - seemingly great news! - but with that comes a very short time during which our provincial government has to review and approve the child proposal and share it with us. At this point, it looks like we could receive a proposal in as short a time as a month but on the other hand, it could be a year from now. Only time will tell. I do know that everyone we're working with is in our corner and wants the best for us, so I'm remaining cautiously optimistic and hopeful.

With the possibilility of a relatively short wait time, nesting instincts have really kicked in for us. (But especially for me!) We've now decided on a name if it is a boy, as well as a new name for this blog. If one day you open this blog and see an entirely different name, don't be surprised!

Pablo

One of our friends queried on the previous post whether Claire has a name picked out for our new (unofficial) addition. Well, the answer is yes. But I'm so glad we have veto power on this one!

When we ask her what we should call the baby if we are referred a boy, she instantly responds, "Pablo". Pablo happens to be her favourite character from the Backyardigans. We always follow her response by suggesting other names but she is adamant: he is to be named Pablo.

Not that there is anything wrong with the name itself. But I do think the combination of Paul's Ukrainian last name, a Spanish first name and our child's Chinese features may be a little odd. Perhaps if we had a special connection to the name it would be okay but really, the only "connection" is Claire's absolute adoration of that silly blue penguin.

A baby boy?

A recurring conversation Claire and I have goes something like this:

Claire: (Makes flying sounds with arms spread out.) "Airplane."
Monica: "You're an airplane."
Claire: "Yep. Fly China."
Monica: "You're flying to China. What will you do there?"
Claire: "Baby Boy. Hug Baby Boy."

Various things trigger this conversation. Sometimes it's the second child seat in a grocery cart, sometimes it's the second seat in her wagon. Quite often the conversation includes a suggestion from me that it might be a baby girl, at which point Claire shakes her head from side to side and says firmly, "Baby boy."

Claire is right: our second child could be a boy. We recently switched from China's non-special needs program to its Waiting Child program, through which children with minor medical needs are available for international adoption. Our coordinator tells us that their list of children usually has an equal number of boys and girls, and we're definitely open to either. But we already know Claire's preference ...