Our visit with Harry

We spent the morning with Harry & the rest of his group this morning. We were warned he would cry & run the other way when we visited, and he did. We expected it, and to be honest, I'm not sure I'd want him to come running to us and beg us to take him away. He is happy & safe in the only living environment he knows. Our last visit was when he was just 2 years & 3 months, and he doesn't remember us! They are good to him and that's the only life he knows....

The rest of the group was quite animated, and starving for attention, while Harry stayed as far from us as possible the first hour. When we went outside with the whole group he slowly warmed, and by the end of our visit, just as they were finishing lunch and headed for naps, he was fine, and basking in the attention. He'd excitedly see something he likes and say "Momma (pronounced mom-Ah) and then talk a mile a minute telling me all about it.

He has grown very tall, and thinned out since we last saw him, and as cute as ever. He is still obsessed with every machina (car) and sabaka (dog) that he sees, only now you get a mouthful. He no longer just points and says what it is excitedly, he tells you the WHOLE story.

Skip had a tough time today though with Harry. He was SO excited to see his brother, but Harry wanted nothing to do with ANY of us. Skip didn't understand why Harry wasn't as happy to see us as we were to see him. We explained as best we could, but he is still asking if Harry will be "very happy" to see us tomorrow. It's tough being 5.5 ya know!

After the visit Irina & Vova took us shopping, and now we're left with unpacking our bags & the groceries. Gonna rest the remainder of the day, we're just beat - in every way imagineable. We have a 10:00 meeting with the Head Doctor at the Baby Home tomorrow, then a visit with Harry again, then lunch and a trip to Irkutsk to drop off the rest of our papers at the court house. 

Heres a few pics from our day...

Mike, Irina, Skipp Harry & "Dima" playing with the resident turtle

Momma & Harry playing with a broken train set out in the dirt play area...

Playing with some wooden dog figures

Skip trying to get Harry to smile

Poppa & Harry on the swing

And lastly, Mike & Skip a few minutes ago - I thought they were watching a DVD together, but turned around and found them fast asleep on the couches:

What a pair!