Passport pics and progress with kids

August 5, 2004 Thursday

Big day today. We took the children to the studio to get their passport pictures taken. They were all washed up, and dressed to the nines. The pictures turned out reallllly cute. No scanner, so I can’t post them, but just trust me, my kids are adorable! ;O) (I can say that because I had absolutely nothing to do with that!)

Anyway, Adam got a new pair of shoes today too. His sandals blew out completely, so after stopping at the studio, we got him some shoes and a pair for another child in his groupa. Actually, our taxi driver took Adam for the shoes. She knew better than to throw us into the depths of the market solo. (She’s a sweetie, I’m telling you!)

While we were waiting for Katya and Adam to come back from their shopping, John and I played with Liana and Aleksa in the back seat of the car. I got a short video of the girls, but it is mostly of Aleksa, who steals the show most of the time with her pouts, cute singing, and jabbering on about every little thing.

After visiting them a little bit at the orphanage, we went to the fortress again. I wanted more pictures and a few more trinkets. (Can’t have too many trinkets, can you?) Katya read our Russian phrase book while we were there. She likes it a lot. One of the vendors spoke a little English and asked us if we were from England or USA. When we told him we were from the US, he broke out into a *very* Russianized version of “Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies.” We all laughed. It was fun. It was neat to see all the archaeologists digging around the fortress. The vendors take broken shards of pots that are dug up and paint pictures of the castle on them to sell.

Next we went to the grocery store. We were pretty much out of everything back here at the hotel. So, we took a deep breath and decided to brave it. (This is the same place where the shopkeepers hollered at me on our first day here.) BUT! Katya to the rescue again! She went in with us! Even though all she knows how to say is “Ok” in English, it was a comfort to have someone read our body language and tell the shopkeepers what we wanted. We LOVE her! We got some bread, sausages, cheese, two large bottles of water, two bags of milk, (they have more varieties of milk than we do. Skim, 1%, 1 Ѕ%, 2, 2 Ѕ%) juice (3 or 4 kinds), plus some of that ravioli stuff that is so popular here… is that called perogi or something like that? We also got a bunch of fruit for the children, (oranges, bananas, apricots and raisins), as well as two boxes of cereal. All for 95 grivna, which is a little less than $19. Plus a personal body guard from the Big Bad Shopkeepers. (We tipped Katya BIG today.)

The evening visit with the children was wonderful. *contented sigh* It started out a little scary because little Nadia met us at the front of the orphanage again, and I just so happened to have my camera, so I asked her if she wanted me to take her picture. When I did, Adam about had a heart attack. I’m supposed to only take pictures of Adam and Co., so he ran off in a tiff. By the time I found him back at his groupa, he was happy as a lark, and telling everyone about his passport pics, and asked me to take his picture with one of his caregivers. He held my hand all the way back to where Papa, Liana and Aleksa were already playing. They were all really good, and we had a good time of holding all the kids, playing, eating, etc. Everyone made really good eye contact today, and lots of hugs and kisses all around. Just a suggestion for future travelers: Bring lots and lots of bandaids. The kids LOVE them, and they are great for bonding with the kids. They now know that before they can have a bandaid, Mama hasta kiss it and wipe it off with a wet-wipe (which they also LOVE, btw). Adam’s new shoes really did a number on his heels, so he got two tonight. (He’s so proud of his shoes though, he asked me to take his picture with them.)

Speaking of him asking me stuff, I spoke to him in English about something or other, and he replied correctly in Russian to my question to him. I was sooo tickled that he is understanding us already! He was so proud when we told him he was becoming an American Boy. He is so excited to be adopted. Of the three, he is the most “giddy” about it. Probably because he better understands what is going on than the little girls do.

I got a little wake-up call from Aleksa today. All the children are taught to call their caregivers “mamas” so when she called Katya “mama” today, I about cried. She’ll also ask any warm body to pick her up (it’s amazing this girl ever learned to walk… she demands to be carried everywhere she goes). But, she’s warming up beautifully with John. She even ran to him today and in the car, she wanted him to hold her and not me. They’re progressing really well. (For a little bit there it was Mama Only).

There is another family here from the States who are adopting through an agency. Vica had met their facilitator while getting some paperwork the other day, and she said that he is staying an hour away at a resort on the sea while the family is here. The family is Not Happy with the way things are going. I guess their facilitator keeps telling them one thing, and then doesn’t follow through, and then when they do do something, they come from the seaside into town to do their thing and then go back. They have been here a solid week without any progress at all. They are VERY upset. Apparently their agency had promised them that they’d be home in TEN DAYS. (WHAT????)

Anyway, until tomorrow!

Love, John, Shelly, Adam, Liana and Aleksa