China Trip: Meet Eddie

UPDATE:  I have the most wonderful news!  Little Eddie has been matched!  His family received pre-approval from China in January of 2016.  I'm so delighted for him!

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On my 3rd day in China last month, we walked into this big room full of people.  Honestly, it was a little overwhelming at first.  Lots of kids, lots of nannies.  I found a spot to sit down, and the most wonderful thing happened!

One of the nannies plopped a sweet baby in my lap!  Now, I'm a mama, and I've been mama-ing for a lot of years, and babies are a favorite of mine.  I could tell this little guy wasn't feeling all that great.  He had a cough, and was warm.

I flipped him around and he settled his head on my shoulder, and I patted his back, and... the little sweetheart went to sleep.  My heart was lost right then.  He snoozed through the whole opening ceremony, eventually slithering down into my lap.

This is Eddie with his advocate, Lynne.  He will turn 2 years old in February.

His special needs are bilateral deformity of hands, repaired hernia, arachanoid cyst, and torticolis.

Now, being sick while we were there, Eddie was pretty mellow and laid back.  The impression he gave me was that he was on strong cold medicine, but I don't know that to be the case.

Lynne describes him as an engaging toddler with a wonderful smile who loves attention and praise.  She writes, "Although his development is assessed to be at the 12 month level (C.A. at time of testing was 20 months old), I do believe that most of his delays are to due to lack of stimulation.  Although he has bilateral malformed arms, he is beginning to learn excellent compensation strategies for grasping and holding objects.  He can secure tiny cheerios and release small objects through small openings on a vial.  He is able to bang objects together, transfer objects from arm to arm, and insert pegs into a pegboard.   He can get in and out of sitting, creep on arms and knees, pull to stand, and cruise along a surface in both directions."  

He is very aware of his environment, loves to explore toys, and is very attached to the "Nanny" that cares for him  in the orphanage.  He is a fairly passive child and is not demanding of attention at all.  He "lights up" when others interact with him.  He is beginning to imitate a variety of sounds (ah, ooh, raspberries, lip smacks, blowing, bababa, mamama, dadada, papapa, ga, ya. la).  

He is also beginning to look for familiar people when named and follows a few simple requests such as "give to me," "yeah ' pat a cake," "peek a boo."  . Eddie is an excellent candidate for an early intervention community based program where he can receive physical therapy, occupational therapy, and special instruction/speech therapy.  He has a lot of potential provided he is given the appropriate stimulation and intervention."

Look at that sweet little face!  Isn't he precious?

Eddie at lunch on Shopping Day.  Eddie can self feed with his fingers, and holds his own bottle.  Lynne states that he seemed to like most foods he was offered.

Eddie needs a family willing to step up and take him from being one of many to treasured son.

Eddie with Leo, our guide.

Eddie and Lynne at the Farewell Ceremony.  Lynne is happy to talk to potential adoptive parents and answer whatever questions she can about Eddie for them.

There are videos available for families interested in adopting Eddie.  Although I don't have a picture of him standing, I'm told there is one.  There are grants available for all the Journey of Hope kids, to help with adoption fees.  Eddie's file is with Madison Adoption Associates.

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