What's in a Name? and other Ramblings of a New Mom

We have learned that our son's favorite game is hide-and-seek and he loves to play with plastic cars.  He runs really fast and the other kids can't keep up with him.  He is talkative, active, and an extrovert.  He sounds like your average four year old boy.

He is tall for his age and can do many things for himself, like brush his teeth, wash his hands, and fold up his own quilt each morning.  He was found in early May, 2004 and his birth was estimated at April 28.  He lived for about 20 days in police custody before going to foster care/group home where he has been since.

Today we sent off the letter of acceptance.  Thought we'd encountered a slight snag with the name, because forms asked for the name we would give him.  We haven't decided on a name because we didn't know if our child would be a boy or girl, what his/her face looked like, or what the existing name was.  So we checked with the China specialist at our agency and they called back to say that we could leave it blank.  One of my brothers says that we have to give him an all-American name so that he doesn't have the stigma of being completely different from the rest of his family/neighborhood.  I think that was a good point, though the name will probably be more Gaelic than American, in keeping with our other children.

I also spoke to our Chinese teacher (each year our school hosts a different teacher from China) and she told me that I was pronouncing his Chinese name correctly and that it was a good name.  She said he was a very handsome boy (I agree).  So we'll have to give this some thought and decide what we like and how/if we are going to use Yan in the name.  People often use the original name as a middle name and for a while call their child by both the first and middle names, eventually just using the new first name.

Also, travel to China is unlikely this summer since the Olympic games are in Beijing and Yan lives there.  So I have asked our agency if we can send a care package to him during the ensuing wait.  It would be awesome if we could send pictures, video, letters, anything.