We were picked up at our hotel around 10 in the morning. We were very eager to get back and see Zac because our first day was such a whirlwind adventure. Already it seemed that we barely could remember him. (Now, we know every little detail about his face - but at the time, things were all still very new).
We waited outside the front of the baby home and I immediately began snapping pictures of the outside. We were not led into the home, but rather we were escorted around the building to the back where there was a playground.
The playground was much bigger than this picture shows. It was almost as if the playground was divided into 3 or 4 "sections" like this. I'm assuming it was for logistical reasons. (Allowing different aged kids out there at the same time, etc.)
We walked over to the particular area where Zac's "class" was playing and caught a glimpse of Zac. I was hoping to get a chance to "spy" on him for awhile, without him noticing us. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Zac saw us at the exact moment that we saw him and the tears began to flow.
"Oh good." I thought to myself. "He remembers us".
We gave him a cute little stuffed puppy. His extreme affection toward that puppy compensated for his lack us enthusiam toward us. This made us feel good considering we spent WAY too much money on that little puppy. (Remember that we endured our entire trip without luggage - therefore we paid MOSCOW prices for that little piece of synthetic fur)
The caretakers immediately suggested that we take Pasha on a walk in the stroller. Sounds good. He actually seemed to like this. Well, not really..... more like: He didn't HATE it.
We tooled around the back area for awhile. (Side note: It was June 19th - a perfectly GORGEOUS day in Southwest Siberia. Most the kids were wearing bulky fleece coats or even snow suits. "Weird" we thought to ourselves....
After a while, we couldn't take it anymore. We took him out of the stroller and held him. Ahhh..... we held him. It was a beautiful thing. The next 30 to 45 minutes were going back and forth between me holding him and Katie holding him. All the while, we were taking lots of pictures and video's. (in hindsight, not enough pictues though. You can never have enough... especially, if you have to wait 9 months to go back and get him)
During the holding, he certainly wasn't overly loving, BUT he was cuddly. He didn't push us away. He didn't try to get down and run off. He didn't look around as if he didn't care. He snuggled, and kept a very watchful eye on whoever was holding him. We have some precious videos of him looking at Katie out of the corner of his eye while she held him. At one point she kisses him on the forehead and you can actually see him let down his guard a little. It's as if he's saying, "I have no idea who you are or what your intentions are, but thank you for the kiss.... that was kinda nice"
We eventually put him down and let him play without us. We figured he needed a break. He tooled around with Puppy under his arm and in a very short amount of time, all the other kids wanted a piece of the "puppy action". Poor little Pasha couldn't go 10 feet without a kid grabbing at his new prized possesion. At one point, I saw Pasha throw an elbow at one of the kids who was reaching in.
"Yea!" I thought. "Kick his butt!"
This kid is not wimp that's for sure. How could you be in this environment?
At that point, it was time for lunch. We scooped him up and brought him back inside. We handed him off to a caretaker. It was time for our lunch too. We were set to return around 4:00 that afternoon.
1 comment:
Isn't it fun to look back and remember our little ones in those few hours each day we were able to be their family? It is amazing how quickly the time passes and how those memories become such a big part of your life as you wait. I have so enjoyed your posts on your first trip and hope to do an updated post of our little one before we travel for trip 2!
Post a Comment