Day 2 - the big thaw

Day two – the big thaw…

We had quite the busy day here today, and the fact that we are still not on Angarsk time, made the day even longer! Our first stop was Baby Home 1 where we met with the new Head Doctor – Dr. Boris. We loved his predecessor, Dr. Vladimir, and were unsure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised! Dr. Boris is young(er) and very welcoming. We spent a good hour with him, discussing Harry, his medical and biological background, and our upcoming court case. Skip was on his best behavior, and apparently impressed with how well he is doing, and his Russian. Skip was able to say “Hello”, “pleased to meet you”, “My name is Skip”, and various other phrases in Russian, which seemed to make the Dr. happy. He gave us both some good pointers for court, and an overall good impression of him, and the changes he is making in the Baby Home. When he learned that Harry was less than thrilled to see us yesterday, the Dr. indicated he thought the caregivers hadn’t prepared him adequately, and even decided to join us when we went there today, to speak to them about encouraging him more. THAT impressed US! When we left, he gave Skip a stuffed mouse as a gift from him. It was a nice gesture, and Skip, normally not a huge stuffed animal fan, loved it, so, everyone was happy.

From there we went to the Baby Home. The Dr. was the first to enter his group’s cluster, and as soon as he announced that Harry had visitors, a loud round of “Nee Hoche” (I don’t want to) began. I had already decided to cut to the chase with Harry today, and at that point, gave Skip a little toy cell phone to give to his brother. When we were here for Christmas/New Years 2007, that was Harry’s favorite toy, and had picked a similar one up when we went shopping yesterday. As soon as Harry saw it, his little face lit up and he started a Russian monologue that went on for five minutes. Cleary he was happy. Within 10 minutes he was interacting with us, calling Mom-MAH & Poppa again, and proudly showing off his phone to his roommates. At one point I called him over and kept telling him “Phone”, and after a few times, he looked at me, smiled and said “Phone” in his deep Russian accent.

When the caregiver asked who would help set the lunch table, Harry was first to volunteer, and then marched over, donned a blue chef’s hat, and RUFFLED (I could have lived without that one!) apron, and began to set the table perfectly. 5 on one table (the older kids) and the remaining 7 on the other. He placed cups, plates, and spoons and counted to be sure he had them all! When I told him “good job” in Russian, he beamed. The caregivers told us he LOVES to help. Well lets just hope THAT continues long after he comes home!

After lunch, as the kids prepared for naps, he was told that since his Momma & Poppa were there, he could spend a little extra time with us, then see us to the door. He nodded excitedly. We then spent about 20 minutes playing. Mike gave him a new Machina (car) and that really made him happy. He and Skip played with it for awhile, and he showed it to everyone who passed by. When it was time to leave, he gave all of us big hugs, and waved good-bye. When Irina told him we’d return tomorrow, he smiled and said “Da, Da” meaning Yes, Yes.

It was a wonderful visit for all of us. I know it will not take long for him to form that bond that one can only have with a family, but in the meantime, we’ll just take one day at a time. We all left the building, Skip included, with the proverbial warm & fuzzy feeling all over.

From the Baby Home we went to the Notary in Irkutsk, and after that we headed straight over to the courthouse to drop off our papers. As fate would have it, Irina met up with a woman named Olya, who works with another facilitator in the region, preparing cases for families from France, and she gave us a lot of tips on what to expect from court & the types of questions the judge asks. Court took over an hour and by the time we left there it was almost 2:30. Poor Skip has spent the entire day just having to sit quietly and making an effort to be best on his best behavior. We are really proud of how well he handled himself today and as a reward took him to a large toy store - large by Irkutsk Region standards that is (about 1/5 the size of a normal Toys ‘R Us) to pick out a toy. He settled on an airplane and :a small tub toy quickly, and from there we went to the Internet Café for a late lunch. We very much enjoyed our pizza & French Fries, while Irina & her husband ate sushi & pizza. Skip was less than impressed with his hot dog, saying it didn’t taste like the “real ones’ we have at home, so he shared some of our pizza and Mike ate the hot dog. From there we headed back here to the apartment, and within 5 minutes Skip was asleep in the car. He is still sleeping, but unlike yesterday, we are going to wake him up so he can try and get back to a normal sleep pattern. Yesterday he fell asleep around 4 p.m. and wouldn’t wake up so we let his sleep. Well guess what? Come 11pm he was up and not at all tired. He finally fell asleep again around 1, and was up at 5, which means I have been up since 5 too!

Tomorrow we have another morning visit, then will begin to prepare our speeches for court. Another long day I’m sure, but each long day is one day closer to Monday….

The only downside to today is the fact that we forgot our camera and don’t have any pictures to share, but we’ll make up for it tomorrow!