Monday, July 31, 2006

Day 3

What a day! Today, our goal was to make him laugh. And boy, did we!! We even managed to get it on video. You can see the progress that has been made … even in the two days.

We’re thrilled!

We started the day off in the hotel restaurant. We meet A and her dad, or driver, V for breakfast and it was really good. I think tomorrow I’m going to have the pancakes that everyone else ordered. I had bacon and fried eggs, and it just wasn’t the same as what you get in the States. Their version of a fried egg is one side fried, the other side left alone ... in other words, the equivilent of our sunny side up.

We exchanged some money, and got a really good exchange rate. We got 13,250 rubles for $500. The line at the bank was long, but it was worth the wait to actually get some cash in our hands.

Next, we went to the plumbing supply shop. We bought a toilet, two faucets, and the necessities to hook it all up. Cost? Under 3,000 rubles. This was another gift for the baby home. Once we were done, we picked up the social worker and brought her with us to the baby home. She was a wealth of information.

I did let them know that if any of his brothers or sisters become available for adoption, we would like to be contacted because we strongly believe in keeping a family together is possible.

We hung out with him for a few hours, took him for a walk around the baby home, and then went to lunch with A, V, and the director of the Baby Home, O.

Today, we also brought the pictures of DH's family with us. As both A & O were looking at them, they made the same observation even though they’d made it a few hours apart. K (DH’s mom) looks like a “Movie Star” and got the universal thumbs up symbol. It was funny! We’ll have to pass that along to his mom. She’ll get a kick out of it!! They also noted that everyone in the family has “big eyes”. They seemed to enjoy the pictures that we brought. I was really upset with myself that I didn’t have the pictures of my family to bring, too. I realized half way over the Pacific i'd left them on the dining room table. Next trip.

We went to lunch at the local Chinese restaurant. The food was great. We had Shrimp (with the heads, legs, and tails, so DH wouldn’t eat them), Sweet & Sour Pork, and Fried Chicken along with steamed rice and our usual Coca Cola. It was the first big meal Jon had eaten since we got here, and his demeanor improved exponentially after that.

We really enjoyed lunch. The conversation was much better than it has been, especially since A was talking with us more and translating for the rest of the table.

After lunch, we went back to the Baby Home and waited for the baby to wake up from his nap. DH napped on the little bed in the room, and I cracked out my book and read for a little while. A stayed with us. She did some work on our paperwork and on her laptop and then napped on the other little bed.

When they brought him in to us, he was dressed in a little girls outfit. Poor thing. We vowed not to take any pictures in the afternoon. Boy, were we wrong about that! He was really quiet for the first little while that we were there and then all of a sudden, DH made him laugh! He wouldn’t stop once he got going, and it was a full-on belly laugh! It was music to our ears!! We whipped out the camera and took pictures and video of the whole thing. So much for our vow!

He was SUCH a happy baby!!

He’s so obviously well taken care of there. He still has issues that we’ll work on once we get him home. Right now he’s using them as coping mechanisms, and that’s OK. He’s loving the one on one attention he’s getting from the two of us. Yesterday he was pretty reserved, but today, he really opened up with the smiles and laughs. We really did get some amazing pictures.

I really worked on eye contact today. We made some good contact, and he reacted back. He looked right into my eyes and smiled at a couple of points. Very cool.

When we were done for the day … we really over stimulated him. He kept grabbing his head and his ears and we couldn’t calm him. So I brought him back to his room that he shares with two other babies and put him in his crib. I didn’t want to do it, but he was pretty wiped and ready to end the day.

We were back at the hotel by 5:30, had dinner in the hotel at 6. Note to self: do not order the meat rolls. They are wrapped in fish. I had to send it back as it made me nauseous. So DH and I ended up splitting his dinner, and topped it off with some ice cream and a coke to bring back to our room. Much better ending!

We went back to the room and I took a bath and washed my hair. Felt good, but I hated to loose the flat-ironed look I’d arrived with. The rest of the trip I’ll just be curly.

DH got his jeans back from the laundry and they look great. It was $2 to wash them, and totally worth it. They were really stinky from the trip.

We’ll put the room and all the hotel charges on the credit card when we go. I’m so glad we’re using the card that has no foreign fee.

A did say that we’ll go sight seeing and shopping one day this weekend, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to pick up some really cool things to bring home.

Lights out at 9, and I was up by 7. Much better sleep than I’d been having. Took a sleeping pill though, to help sleep through the night. I’m still a little lethargic, but that should be taken care of at breakfast.

DH is sleeping quietly beside me as I type. He’s got another 10 minutes before our alarm clock goes off.

Today’s Observations

• Meat rolls are wrapped in fish. Note to self: do not order!
• Unless you keep an eye on your place in line, people will cut in front of you (like at the bank!).
• The Chinese food we had tasted just like the Chinese food at home.
• Same with the ice cream. Only it was better here!
• The country side is so pretty! There are mountains that remind me of Colorado, but the green lushness of it all reminds me of Vermont.
• Cows have the right of way when crossing the street.
• Deodorant is optional.
• Bring your own alarm clock. It was a last minute addition to the carry on luggage, and we’re so glad we brought it! The hotel we’re in right now has no clocks in our room. We’d be completely lost without it.
• Leave your watches at home. You really don’t want to be a clock watcher over here. Your coordinator will take you where you need to be at any given time.

1 comment:

Yeah So said...

Chinese food tastes the same? Who knew! So glad things are going well, I smiled when I read that you made him laugh alot.