Day 17 October 21, 2009

Today we woke up with Jack beside us for the first time! He went to bed around 8:10 last night and slept without any trouble until around 5:30 this morning. Michelle and I were up off and on through the night checking to make sure he was okay, which he always was. We woke up this morning when he was getting ready to wake up, and we just watched him until he was ready for us. When he finally woke up for good, he rolled into a sitting position with his arms crossed like he was waiting for a business meeting or something. We picked him up and started our day.

In the morning we kept to his usual routine per his caretakers. We fed him, played with him and put him down for his 9:30am nap. We kind of figured this nap was going to be his only real nap of the day as we were going to be out running errands during his afternoon nap time. After the morning nap, we fed him lunch and got ready for our errands. We went with Gloria, Kristina and John (as well as our driver and interpreter) to the passport office to pick up the kids’ passports. Jacks’ passport is a normal Russian passport, but it’s funny to see a little toddler’s picture on a passport. After this we went for the medical exams. Jack cried when the doctor checked him out. Maybe he was a little shy about being naked in front of someone, but maybe not because he was quite a little exhibitionist when he was naked before his bath tonight. Anyway, the doctor’s appointment went well, and we got a laugh when the doctor called Jack a “spoiled baby” when we were comforting him after the exam. It’s odd that “spoiling” a baby here means comforting them after a medical exam. After the medical exam we had a meeting at the US Consulate office in Vladivostok where we did a little interview with a US official who is in charge of helping us obtain Jacks visa.

Once the errands were done, we came back to the hotel where we made dinner and ate as a family for the first time (yesterday was a little hectic, so Michelle and I didn’t eat until after Jack was asleep). Bath time consisted of Jack and I in the tub while Michelle washed him. We are trying to ease him into the bath routine as a family because this can be one of the most traumatic events once a child is newly adopted from an orphanage. So far so good for us on the bath front, Jack has not shed a tear during the two baths we have given him.

As of now, Jack is slowly winding down from the day. He is overtired as he missed his afternoon nap except for a little catnap in the van on the way home from the Consulate office. He is just about asleep though, and Mommy and Daddy probably aren’t too far behind.

Tomorrow we don’t have anything scheduled which will be good. We can get Jack into a routine and spend some quality time with him without disrupting his nap or eating schedule like the last couple days.