By BECKY THOMAS
Staff Reporter
Two weeks after coming home to Cheney, 4-year-old Tai Long Long Dotson was running around, playing with everything in sight, calling out the names of his brand new family members.
He seemed totally at home, despite experiencing constant firsts, from having a yard to having a family, since he first set foot on American soil just weeks ago.
Sean and Cortney Dotson adopted Tai from China in a months-long process that ended May 13, when they returned to Cheney after a three-week trip to bring their newest child home. He is the fourth Dotson child, after 11-year-old Colton, 9-year-old Abigail and 4-year-old Meilyn.
The whole family traveled to China to adopt Tai (his American name) Long Long (his Chinese name). Though most families just send the parents to complete the adoption, the Dotsons took their other three children, since one of them is also from China.
“We wanted to expose them to the culture,” Sean said. “[Meilyn] knows very well she's adopted from China. She was excited to go and see it.”
Tai and Meilyn are about the same age, and though Meilyn is a bit taller than Tai and speaks English, they're both vocal, energetic and constantly smiling. The Dotsons adopted Meilyn in 2007.
“We just always wanted to adopt,” Cortney said. “It was always a first choice for us. We had our two children, Colton and Abby, and we just always wanted to adopt too.”
The Dotsons adopted both Tai and Meilyn from China's “Waiting Child” program, which lists children with special needs who are available for adoption.
Adopting a “Waiting Child” eliminates an average three-year waiting period for families adopting a Chinese child, and also allows the family to select their child.
“As quickly as your paperwork is done, you can travel and bring your child home,” Sean said.
Meilyn was born with a cleft lip and palate, which was corrected with several surgeries both before and after her adoption, and Tai has amniotic banding syndrome, causing him to be born without a right hand. The Dotsons said they often forget that the energetic child is considered disabled. Since he was born with just one hand, it's normal for him, they said. He carries toys under his right arm and is learning to write with his left hand. He recently learned to ride a bike in just a few minutes.
“It's really kind of silly even calling it a special need,” Cortney said. “We just call him left handed, like his dad.”
The Dotsons are currently working with Tai to teach him English and introduce him to all the things he's never experienced, things most American kids take for granted. They said he was amazed when he realized the family owned their own car, and he marveled at the grass and trees in the yard behind the family's large home in the Golden Hills neighborhood of Cheney. At the orphanage where Tai grew up, the playground didn't have grass and there weren't as many toys as most American children have.
“He's into everything,” Sean said as Tai pulled open a drawer and grabbed a white Wii controller. “He loves buttons. It's interesting because having spent his first years in an orphanage for the most part, he really wasn't exposed to all the things in a home that you're not supposed to get into.”
Tai seems so comfortable with his new parents and siblings; it's remarkable that just about a month ago, Sean, Cortney, Colton and Abby were meeting him for the first time. They were in a hotel room in Jinan, China, and Tai arrived with his orphanage director to spend the night with his new family, people he had only seen in pictures.
Sean and Cortney wrote about the moment on the family's blog.
“Long Long looked very nervous and had a somber look on his face. They introduced us to Director Wu and two orphanage staff members who accompanied him on the trip…After introductions and some coaxing, Long Long told the director he had been a good boy, and he went to a box that they had brought with him and grabbed a bag of candy. Clearly they had cut a deal to get him to come along politely!”
The blog, http://www.dotsonshome.net, was a tool for the family to share their journey with friends and family. Sean said it's common for adoptive families to blog their adoptions.
“For me, I like to look back on it now, kind of like a scrapbook,” he said.
Colton and Abby wrote their own blogs during the trip as part of their homework, and their classes at school followed the family's trip. When they came back to school, their classmates had endless questions, and Colton and Abby both brought their new brother to class for show and tell.
They told their classmates what they tell anyone who asks: their little brother and sister may not look like them, but that doesn't matter.
“They argue like regular siblings do and they love you like regular siblings do,” Colton said. “There's no real difference.”
The Dotsons also share their experiences with international adoption with other interested families through workshops. Cortney works for Great Wall Adoptions, and the couple hosts workshops about once a month for families interested in adopting. They go over the basics of the process, breaking down the months of paperwork, applications for various approvals, and finances. Cortney said many families want to adopt but don't know where to start.
“There's a lot of people who have an interest in doing an adoption but have never really met anyone. They just kind of have a wish to do it and don't know how to start,” she said. “It's a confusing process. The important thing to me is just to give them the information and see if they want to do it.”
The workshops are currently on hiatus, “while we get back to a routine,” Courtney said.
They're working on Tai's English and hope to enroll him in preschool with Meilyn in the fall if he's ready. So far it's going well, they said.
In the meantime, Tai will continue to explore this brand new world of stickers and bikes, of home and family.
Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].
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