Site Seeing

I was up in time to exercise - only the second time since we left Oshkosh. Still no heat but nowhere close to seeing our breath. John guesses mid-60s. Warm showers and usual breakfast. Outside much like yesterday with bright sun and slushy walking.

Morning with Daniel was pretty routine. I brought lots of wool yarn along to Ukraine and hope to finish a few hats to leave behind at the orphanage. I’m altering the pattern so I made Daniel be my model this morning. He didn’t seem to object to the hat he wore to the clinic yesterday, but he never wants to keep Mama’s hats on. We took Daniel up to his room at 11:00 even though it would be another 15 minutes before Sergei picked us up. He didn’t seem interested in any of our toys or other ideas of play and indicated he wanted his group. When we arrived at the room the other little fellow who gets water therapy on a similar schedule was just leaving with the therapist and they said Daniel would go too. Happy boy! We think this is what he was expecting at that time.

It took quite awhile to get out of Kharkiv and then about an hour to reach the boys’ hometown. We took pictures of the city sign, any monument we saw, the hospital where all three were born (and the new one right next to it that opened since then) and stopped at the office of vital statistics (where the birth certificate is) to ask a question about me leaving early and we ate at the small café on the end of the same building. For less thatn two (US) dollars we had three coffees, John had a hot dog wrapped in dough and Sergei and I each had “meat in dough”. It was quite tasty (still is . . .). We purchased a plan of the city at a book store. Then it was the drive back into Kharkiv during which I finished Daniel‘s hat for the fourth time. Sergei checked it for me - looks like I finally got it right..

We were a little late calling Nick and Dennis but had a good phone visit. Dennis told us many, many times how much he loves us: “so much” and “bunches and bunches and bunches and bunches”. He wanted us to drive over and get him, and when we explained there is too much water to drive across he said he could fly. He also told us more than once he didn’t want to say good-bye. He kept thinking of just anything he could tell us (Christine said he was walking in circles with the phone trying to come up with more to say). Eventually he was able to give us a cheerful “good-bye” and hand it back of to Nick. Nick told us he missed us too and wants to know when I will come and take them home.

This afternoon we hung out in our second floor landing on the blankets. Daniel kept poking himself in the eye, and after repeatedly telling him “nyet” (no) and the Russian equivalent of “you are not allowed to do it”, and him grinning and doing it again I held his arms (gently) down at his sides so he couldn’t do it anymore. He was very mad about this and kept a loud cry up for a very long time (at least ten minutes). We told him he needed to say the Russian equivalent of “I’m sorry”, but he refused. Eventually one of the caregivers came up to make sure everything was okay. She noted he was pretty hot from crying so long and hard and helped me take his fleece jacket all the way off, I had only unzipped it. She also asked if we had some water for him, and went to get it when we didn’t. It gave us a chance to see how he drinks from a cup: different than any other kid I’ve seen except Dennis when we first met him. He was calm after that. I finally made him nod his head in agreement that he was sorry and gave him a big hug and told him I love him.
A ride on Daddy’s back signaled that all was well again and the rest of the visit was calm and pleasant. He found my comb and made himself very handsome. He also spent most of the rest of the visit playing with the jacket he always wears but never gets to investigate.

John cooked pasta for supper and the tomato sauce this time was much more familiar and Italian-tasting. We’ve asked Sergei to take us to the open market tomorrow between Daniel visits to look for a stroller, a sturdy plastic cup (Daniel crushes the disposable ones we have tried), and a few clothes. Anya called, she will be coming on Saturday.