Thursday's Orphanage Visit

Jill has a bad cold, so I ended up going to the orphanage alone. Svetlana accompanied me. Traffic was terrible, but we still made reasonable time... getting there about 11:45AM. The caregivers were curious about me, asking many questions through Violet, our translator, while they prepared Thomas for my visit. They asked about what I did, what our home was like, and why we were adopting. Thomas apparently had not been willing to eat, so they brought him out with a bottle of compote. He was cute in brown corduroy overalls and had on bright red shoes. Having just risen from a nap, he was quiet for a little bit, just looking around at everything. He is clearly very curious, appears to favor the color red, and can't get enough of feeling buttons, fabrics, and rings. Once his world grows a little larger, I'm sure he'll be busy.

I was showing Thomas a toy lion that had wheels. I spun the wheels several times as he watched. Eventually, he copied me and spun the wheels too. This kept him busy for a little bit, but soon we were in a walker. He had liked it from our previous visit, and this time was no exception. He took off and broke a broad smile as he walked toward me. Because the play room is under construction, we have been visiting Thomas in a small day room that unfortunately did not give him enough space to go before he had to turn around. Still, he went back and forth for some time. The bright red shoes kept coming off while we walked, so they brought a second pair. They lasted a little longer, but came off too. I let him keep going in his socks until he started to tire out. By then, I had no problem feeding him the bottle of compote.

Late in the visit, Svetlana and Violet joined me and they played with him as well... singing some Russian Children's rhymes to him. At the very end, he grew a little fussy but I got him to calm down by showing him his reflection in a mirror. The caregivers then took him for his afternoon nap. We headed back for Moscow, fighting bad traffic all the way to Svetlana's office. There we picked up papers needed for the notary that we will file next Tuesday.

If Jill is feeling better, we will try to go out tomorrow and see the Kremlin Museums.

--John