Meeting Daniel!!!

I slept pretty well, except when John was up again at 3 AM with a headache. Not sure how much was caffeine withdrawal and how much was awkward head/neck position. We both did get back to sleep, though.

The alarm went off at 7 AM and we worked through the first of our mornings in our temporary new “home”. Eventually figured out how to get water from the shower head rather than the faucet. Used shampoo to wash with since I hadn’t managed to dig out our bar of soap. Did remember my washcloth - an item still very foreign in this culture. Breakfast was a peanut butter sandwich, Multivitamin juice and a cup of French press coffee. Matches went on the shopping list for the day.

Sergei picked us up at 8:15 and our first stop, by our request, was to pick up flowers for the inspector and the orphanage director. We arrived at the inspector’s office with 15 minutes to spare (they open promptly at 9 AM and not one minute sooner), waiting between the doors in the entryway. Our meeting with the inspector was very pleasant and the wait for documents to be made not very long. A change from the last adoption is the new regulation that the inspector must be present a the first meeting between prospective adopters and the child. Fortunately she was available to come with us as soon as the documents were ready. We waited outside the orphanage director’s office just as we did nearly three years ago. Presently (eventually) the director arrived and after some time we were invited into her office. With great pleasure we presented her with the flowers and a couple of small gifts from home. When Sergei returned from moving his car she read through all the regulations regarding the meeting of prospective adoptive parents and an prospective adoptive child. This was a new step to us and to Sergei, and may have been prompted by the presence of the inspector. This was followed by the legal documents regarding Daniel’s placement in the orphanage and removal of parental rights. Then the Deputy Director in charge of Medical Affairs read through his medical information. He was premature and weighed only 1200 grams at birth. He has intracranial injuries (as would be expected) causing development delays and cerebral palsy. He does not have Down syndrome. We gave this doctor a mug with pictures of Dennis dressed in a doctor’s costume (www.Walgreens.com). She never smiled during our appointment for Nick and Dennis, nor this one - until the gift, and then she kept on smiling.

And then his primary caregiver, Natalya brought him in!

He was brave enough for all of us new people while in her arms and even consented to let me hold him for a few minutes - long enough for John to take a photo. Natalya told us more about his personality, abilities and limitations, and the psychologist also came in to give us more information, and then even took us down to the dark therapy room (they have a ‘light’ one, too) to show us the equipment and even demonstrate some of the ways they are working with Daniel. He was taken off for lunch and a nap while we went back to the director’s office. There they said they would look forward to our decision, and we immediately assured them we definitely wished to proceed with the adoption. Everyone seemed quite pleased. Everyone seemed very happy with the photo albums of Nick and Dennis, too, and the director promised to show them to their caregivers.

We will be allowed to visit him twice daily: 9 - noon, and 4 - 7 PM. Next stop - returned the inspector back to work, taking a quick picture and obtaining some piece of documentation. Then off to a notary. Notaries are quite different here. They have to go to school for five years because they are actually lawyers and prepare legal documents, as well as witness signatures. Sergei uses the same notary office as did Sasha on the last round, but no resident cat was in sight. They did complete some nice renovations, however. By then John and I were starved, caffeine-deprived and I was just thoroughly wiped out. We made a quick stop at McDonalds (only because it was quick), ordered three “Big Mac Menu’s with Coke” and soon felt much refreshed. Back to the Inspector, then to the orphanage - but the director would not supply the next piece of documentation because she needs something from Daniel’s home town. Sergei may be able to obtain this tomorrow.

It was only 3:00, so Sergei dropped us off at the Billa. We stopped in for water, yogurt, dish towels and ‘speachkey’ - matches - but they didn’t have any so we bought a lighter instead). Then stopped at home to quickly call Nick and Dennis and our parents.

When we arrived back at the orphanage we learned that Daniel’s group is in the same room that Dennis used. He was just finishing up a snack but was brought out before long. It was Tanya, Dennis’ favored caregiver, who took Sergei’s passport for security (since she wouldn’t be able to read anything in ours anyway). Then we headed off down the hall to a lounge area in a stairway. He didn’t accept a cookie right away - probably because he had just finished his snack), but did enjoy the wooden puzzles we brought. He was still quite leery of John, but did sit on his lap briefly a couple of times. He wasn’t as fascinated with the bubbles as Nick and Dennis had been, but we found out his belly button is quite ticklish and found other ways to make him laugh. He also knows how to tease and got a kick out of pretending to eat the puzzles pieces when we would tell him “ne kushi”: don’t eat it. He did eventually eat a whole cookie, too, and never let John take it out of his hand. He did not, however, like flash photography. We took a walk through the corridors at some point and found two other couples each with a young child. They may have been Ukrainian. It was a good visit, and shortly before 7 PM he seemed to be tired (it had been quite a long day) and we took him back to his group. He gave us a cheerful grin and waved good-bye and we promised to return ‘zahftra’: tomorrow.

John successfully lit the stove, cooking pasta and the red sauce for supper. The red sauce had tomatoes and garlic on the label, but smelled more like barbecue sauce when we opened it up. John added Frontier Italian seasoning and dried garlic and made a fair marinara. I washed up the dishes. I may be a bit too cautious, but Nick and
Dennis both arrived home with Giarrdia, so I boil the wash and rinse water just to be safe.
And so another day draws to an end. Sergei plans to pick us up at 8:55 tomorrow before he and a representative from the orphanage head to Nick, Dennis and Daniel’s home town for that document.