Tuesday, August 4, 2009

July 7, 2009 - Meetcha Day!


Since we had just traveled through a time warp, we woke up very early this morning. We were excited about Meetcha Day, but also very, very cautious. We separated out toys for him and for other children (compliments of Aunt Carolyn - thanks!), and some snacks in hopes they would allow us to give him a treat or two.

At 10:45am, we met Vladimir the Driver, and Elana the Interpreter in the hotel lobby. On the way to the baby home, we spoke to Elana about what to expect. She explained the process, and it put us at ease. We pulled up to the baby home just before noon and went in to meet the Director. She was an energetic, upbeat lady that seemed very welcoming. We asked if we could bring some fruit and diapers during the week and she suggested we save some funds on fruit, and instead buy some traditional Russian toys for the children. She explained they were very short on these toys. Then.......we went down to meet the little guy.

They brought him out all dressed up for our visit. He was in a Gymboree outfit, with 2 layers of clothing underneath. He had on a little bear hat and lamb socks. He was beautiful. Then, they handed him to me.....

Luckily, Bill had the recorder going because this is a moment that was really cute. When I spoke to him, he looked at me in sheer disbelief and started crying. He buried his head in my chest and must have been able to pretend that this stranger went away - because he quit crying for a few seconds. He then raised his head up and looked at me (in disbelief) again, and started crying again! Poor little guy! It was the cutest cry ever! He did seem somewhat attached to his caregiver, which made us pretty happy. The caretaker came out of the room and took him from me and played with him for a minute. He calmed down and she handed him back to me. Of course, he started crying again! The caretaker came back out again and calmed him. She put him in a little car after he was content, and I kept pulling him closer to me, inch by inch - until he didn't seem afraid any longer. Bill would talk to him on and off and the little guy would bury his head in my chest, but didn't cry at the sound of a male voice.

The car trick worked, he finally let me hold him! We went to the gym because the visiting room smelled like paint. We put down some mats and he calmly sat with us and kept looking at us in disbelief. Occasionally he acted like he would cry, but seemed to really like to snuggle. Within 30 minutes he had warmed up to Bill and was making eye contact with him. By the end of our 1st visit, which ended up being 2 hours, he allowed us to carry him around and love on him.

We spoke to the Director, Social Worker, Caretaker and Neurologist on this day. We felt we had gathered enough information to send to our IA Doc when we got back to the hotel.

Leaving the baby home was sad. Our 2 hours flew by, but we had a lot to talk about.

2 comments:

  1. Hi! I'm wondering if we went to the same baby home? Email me, I can't find your email. Now that things have settled down, thanks for recapping your visit :o)

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  2. How wonderful!!! I hope you enjoy your visits!!!

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