He's All That....And More!!

We met the sweetest little guy today! Our day began by ordering breakfast at the hotel restaurant, which opened at 7:30, and wasn’t put on our table until 8:00, which is when our facilitator was arriving. We didn’t think it would take very long for breakfast since we were the only ones in the restaurant. So, the day began with us being a little nervous about being late. We left the hotel at 8:05 and headed to the Ministry of Education to get the official referral. We ended up waiting in the hallway for the director to show up, so it didn’t matter if we had been late. Our translator warned us that we’d be asked some personal questions and to be prepared. She asked us about three questions total. I think we were in there about 5 minutes, if even that. Then we were off on an hour and a half ride to the baby home. The ride was great and Mike and I were surprisingly calm. Then we pulled into the orphanage parking lot and saw some little ones playing outside. Our translator walked us through the hallways (that were all being redone) and upstairs to the director’s office. The social worker, director, caretaker, translator, facilitator, Mike and I were all in a room that was about 6X8. Things moved very quickly at this point. Everyone was talking Russian and the translator said to get out our notebook and take notes. The Social Worker started rattling off information and I couldn’t find my pen!! Panic!! Soon enough I had the pen in my hand and was trying frantically to take notes on the birth mother’s history. Meanwhile, people were walking in and out. I guess the translator told us that they were going to go get our little guy and bring him in. Luckily Mike knows me and knew that I didn’t hear her, so he told me what they said. So, the social worker is still talking and I’m still writing…panicked that I’m going to miss the little guys entrance. All of a sudden our Russian-speaking facilitator yells “Look! Look!” and little guy was walking in the room towards us with the help of his caretaker. Love at first sight. He seemed rather confident and proud walking into a tiny room filled with lots of people. The caretaker walked him over to us and I think I said “Privyet” (hi) several times. I held out my hands and next thing I know he is in my arms. The translator had to remind us to give him some toys to play with as Mike and I were just sitting there in awe staring at him. Mike grabbed the stuffed Sabaka (dog) and he got very excited and started making “ba” noises. Next thing I know everyone is leaving the room. We were told to go into another room that they were remodeling and to bring chairs. I had little guy in my arms and that was all I was thinking about. (I think all of the above transpired in about 3 minutes, not sure, it was all such a blur.) The translator, Mike, and I were all alone in the room with little guy and he went readily to Mike, while I got out his other toys. He was very interested in the stacking cups and liked banging them and then discovered that these crazy Americans would pick them up if he threw them on the floor. He seemed a little timid, but didn’t cry once. He didn’t like that I kept trying to take pictures of him. We kept calling his name to look at the camera, but he wasn’t that interested. He just sat on Dad’s lap and was rather comfortable playing with the toys. He even tried kissing Sabaka, which was very cute. We think he wanted to get on the floor, but when I tried to put him down, the translator said the floor was cold and the caretakers would not be happy to see him on the floor (even though he was really warm and we were sweating in the hot room). Of course, we did not want to press our luck so we kept him from getting on the floor, even though he kept making head dives for the floor. We spent a good time playing with him and he even gave his Dad a little snuggle. He was very interested in my lips and kept staring at them and trying to grab them. Not sure if it was my lips or my teeth. It was so precious to see his little hands, which are not so little…actually, rather chunky. He did have several “mosquito” bites on his face and they put the purple paste on them, but he appeared perfect to us. I actually wondered if he had chicken pox, because he looked like he wasn’t feeling well. He seems really strong, too. Next thing we know, the caretaker came and told us that it was time for his nap, so we had to say paka (bye bye). We spent about an hour and fifteen minutes with him. As he was walking away from us he looked back and gave a little tiny smirk of a smile. Then the doctor came and gave us his medical history. It seems like he has some very minor things that he will get checked out, but we don’t have any concerns at all. He’s even grown from the measurements that we were given from before. Once we got in the car, the facilitator asked if we had any questions…our only one was “when can we take him home?” We made it back to our hotel and are looking forward to our visit with him tomorrow…we are thinking we will get about 2 hours with him. Now, we are resting from our emotionally exciting day.