Home study visit - done!

Yesterday was our first home study visit. I was really nervous about it. I imagined the social worker sitting there with a checklist asking yes/no questions and writing comments about every wrong answer we gave. You know, like a job interview but a million times worse. ;) Thankfully, my mental images were completely wrong. We did have to answer questions about why we were adopting and how we chose China, about our family and children, and preferences for the child we are going to adopt. The social worker was very personable and put us at ease quickly. I think Buddy having Down syndrome was beneficial because we have already dealt with First Steps, we have therapists' names, and we know how to get started if the child we adopt needs any sort of PT/OT/ST services. Our social worker seemed relieved that we already had these resources and are already in the realm of having a child with special needs. Miss Bibs woke up from her nap during the question period, so she was dancing around the table and peppering the social worker with her own questions (ha!). He gave her a pen and piece of paper and she proceeded to draw a picture of herself (circles and scribbles). He then gave her another piece and asked her to draw a picture of her new brother. Instead she drew a fish and an "ock." We finally figured out it was supposed to be an ostrich and the ostrich was going to eat the fish she drew. Hm...so new brother is still an abstract concept for her.

After the questions, he had to check out our house. We tried to tidy up as much as possible with 2 toddlers who are bent on taking out every toy and piece of tupperware daily. He checked to make sure we had working faucets/plumbing/toilets, a working stove, a working refrigerator with food in it, child-proofing on outlets and cabinets with cleaners, all the bedrooms (I guess to make sure the kids had beds?). Miss Bibs got to flush the upstairs toilet in the kids' bathroom to show it worked and she said, "We like to flush the toilet because it makes the pee pee and poop go bye-bye!" Obviously, she's very shy around people she just met. ;)

We felt very good about the visit and are looking forward to the next (and final) visit in a couple of weeks!