Saturday to Sunday update...

Having an afternoon “off” – this is no doctors appointments, or letter chasing, was a welcomed change for us. I personally took a nap after lunch, and Mike, who was left to entertain Skip, eventually fell asleep too, leaving Skip to his new DVD – the Russian version of Tom & Jerry. We bought it to bring to the Baby Home for Harry to watch, but Skip decided he needed to give it a test drive. He approves, apparently, since we heard all about it later on.

After our naps we took a nice long walk, eventually ending up at a supermarket about a mile from the apt. We got some groceries we needed, and some we didn’t but looked good, and then made our slow trek back to the apt. Mike played with Skip on the outdoor playground for a little bit, and then we all went back up to the apt. to begin dinner. The availability of food has changed drastically in the 5 years since we were first here. Today we had animal shaped chicken fingers, frozen French fries, and fish sticks. Very much like the food we find in the frozen food aisle back home. We’ve actually been eating well – so this was a not so good treat.

We’ve cooked a pot of beef stew, roasted chicken & potatoes, chicken soup, vegetable beef soup, and boneless chicken breasts. The variety is great in the larger stores, and you can now buy just about anything. We’ve gotten good at finding the “normal” tasting milk, can find cream for coffee in just about any supermarket, and we even had some chocolate chip cookies. Progress, much progress. Of course we’ve had Varenecki, and Chocolate butter, but in small doses. My heart isn’t in it yet. I’m hoping to be in a celebratory mood soon, and begin to really enjoy my old favorites again!

Today Irina picked us up at 9:30 and we headed to the Baby Home again. Each time we pull into the driveway, and enter those old steel gates, I wonder how many more days we will do this. I so want to bring him home. Of course, we can’t yet, so we’ll keep visiting each day, arriving with magical bags filled with toys to play with, snacks to enjoy, and drinks in containers that are very intriguing to Harry.

When we arrived at the door to his group, Harry happened to be standing in our view, with playing with the other kids. He saw us, (I braced myself for the Ne-hochay), smiled broadly, and announced Momma! The caregiver instructed him to get the bag of toys we leave there, which he did, and then called for Igor. The caregiver, however, told him no, that today he should play with just his family. I again waited for the Ne-hochay, but instead he nodded and said “Da”. Yippee! He came to us, gave us hugs, and off we went to play.

We started with the new Russian “Tom & Jerry” DVD, hoping to keep his mind off the fact that Igor wasn’t there, and it worked. He sat for a few minutes, watched, touched the buttons, reset the player, turned it up, turned it off, etc. etc. etc. Each time he’s pop the door to the disc open, he’d start in on some long explanation that began with “Momma”, at one point I went to get up and get something else from the bag to play with and found the caregiver – a really sweet older woman who seems to really be encouraging to Harry, standing at the doorway watching, and smiling. I think she wanted to see how he was faring without his partner in crime, and satisfied, waved to us, smiled again, and left.

The time passed quickly, and without any requests to go the groupa. He now knows the brown cooler I bring is for drinks, and once he spotted it, asked for “banka” . For some reason that is what he calls water or juice bottles. I gave him the juice bottle, and he enjoyed the opportunity to just sit near me and drink it – all of it – all 12 ounces. Of course 5 minutes later he told us “something, something “pee-saat” meaning he had to pee, and off we went to the groupa. He peed, returned quickly, and ran back to play.
He is clearly turning a corner, and feeling more secure around us. We played with an airplane, bagoons (balloons) a new little flashlight, cars, and the etch-a-sketch. Skip’s V-tech Vsmile video game however was the hit. More buttons to press, and dials to turn, and cartridges to take out and slide back in. He’s look through the cartridges, pick one, put it in, touch buttons, watch to see what happened when he did, turn it loud, then soft, and start over. He HAS to know how everything works! His favorite snack today was Russian Fruit snacks. He sat and chewed, and smile, and when they were done, turned the bag upside down and looked inside, just in case! Satisfied it was truly empty, he gave it back to me. I guess I’ll be buying more of these for tomorrow!

Harry has also added two words to his vocabulary. “Bgo” (Blow) and DVD, which he says perfectly. A little each day!

We’re at home relaxing now, and at 5, Irina is taking us to what she describes as a children’s play area that costs 100 rubles for kids, nothing for adults (that’s $4.00 US). Not sure what it is, or where, but I’m sure Skip will enjoy. I just hope soon Harry can enjoy these places with him!