December 25th, 2012. Christmas Morning came early in our hotel room. It started around 230 am. We had jet lag and had managed a 5 hour nap the day before which didn't help our cause, but after traveling for about 30 hours straight we couldn't help it. We watched Silence of the Lambs on our computer, read the Christmas story in Luke 2 and then settled back into a nap for another hour before we got up and headed down to the restaurant to have a traditional Russian Breakfast. It was interesting, looking back now, I should have taken a picture of our plates! It was an interesting assortment of vegetables, breads, porridge, and cold meats. I enjoyed a glass of beet juice, it was the only option for juice and I had no idea what it really was, but it tasted and looked like what beet juice would be. There was also no coffee, and those of you that spend any morning times with J or I you know that we drink at least a whole pot every morning. Thankfully I was prepared and had brought Starbucks Via Brews with us and we headed back to our room and boiled some water in a electric hot pot. Our day was starting with a 10 am visit to the orphanage.
As we arrived at the orphanage, the same pungent smell of the stew was present again and this time it was not so appetizing..not sure what changed or if it donned on me that the children were probably eating similar foods everyday. But the caregivers had decorated a big Christmas tree in the play room over night and greeted us with a Merry Christmas! It was a pleasant surprise and gave me reassurance they were in favor of the children finding forever families with Americans. The Russian Orthodox church celebrates Christmas on Jan 7th, according to the Orthodox calender so they didn't really need to put the tree up when we were there...maybe it was just incidental, but it felt more like a welcoming so I will always view it that way.
Alexey came around the corner within a minute of our arrival, he was dressed in a lime green short set with Spiderman on it. This was a change from the day before which also warmed my heart knowing he was getting clean clothes daily. He cried again today, but again it was brief and I whisked him over to the Christmas Tree to look at all the colorful ornaments. He was a little more open to us this visit. He was looking us in the eyes on occasion and he was climbing into our laps and just clinging to us. The day before he would cling and then start rocking, it was his coping mechanism and the rocking was a lot less this second day. We played with a train that we brought for him. It was a Thomas Train that was made of 4 LEGO pieces, he loved pulling it apart and putting it back together. We also introduced him to a Slinky, this dollart tree special took the cake. He loved that little slinky. Jeremy would hold one end, and he would hold the other and they would stretch it and walk around the room and occasionally let go of it and smile as it bounced to the other person. Such a simple toy, but yet it brought so much curiosity. We offered him a cracker from a snack pack we brought with us. He took a big bite and then made a face like he didn't know what to think. He then looked at the cracker and licked it! Stuck his tongue out and handed it back to me. He was not enjoying that snack. Katya told me as I threw it away that he hasn't had much salt so he probably wasn't sure what to think. We had to part for lunch and Alexey was ready to go without hesitation, either he was hunger or had already had enough of us. He did give us a both a quick hug, after the caregiver told him to give Mamma and Papa a hug. Then he was out the door.
We hopped in the car not knowing what else was in store for us for the day, and headed to lunch with Katya at a traditional Russian Restaurant. It was interesting, an assortment of food buffet style or more like cafeteria style but at least we got to view the food we were attempting to try. We also ordered a traditional Russian beer. We shoveled our food down and then in hurry, Katya swept us out the door so we could hit a local handcraft souvenir shop that apparently closed for lunch shortly. We bought a Christmas Nesting doll and book about the seasons in Chita, Russia that was narrated in both Russian and English. We then got dropped off at the hotel for about an hour, and then we were heading back to see Alexey for an afternoon visit.
Again, Alexey cried and really clung to his caregiver but settled after a few minutes. They told us they had woke him up from his nap so that is partially why he was not happy. He was in different short set from the morning, which I marveled at again, wondering if this was reality of if it was because he had visitors. When he decided to wake up and play, we had a great visit. Alexey and J learned to jump in the air and fly around the room like an airplane, which brought big smiles to his face and opened up this sweet boy's personality. He was still cuddly, but had a little fight in him. He was playing peek a boo with me with a train book that we brought, he would hold it over his face and giggle because he could see through some parts of the book. We also looked at the pictures in the book and he would slam the paperboard pages shut and smile in pride that he had slammed it shut. This visit brought about real hope that him and Little C would get along perfectly once we all got to join each other as a family.
I left feeling so encouraged that he was the right fit for our family and I would be a busy mommy of two boys. I wish I could post a picture of our little guy for you to see, but it is against the law and can put our Adoption in jeopardy, if we get to bring him home...We are still holding out a bit of hope.
He is beautiful. He has olive skin, and big brown eyes, and light brown hair that is fine and silky. He has a little button nose and beautiful little lips. His body is small but proportional, he is literately about the size of a normal 1 year old, except skinnier! But don't worry I will fatten him up a bit, and he will fit in perfectly with the Hatfields!
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