Two Quick Visits

Saturday and Sunday we made two brief (~2 hour) visits with the boys. We decided to keep our visits before the court date relatively short. We want to see the boys of course.

However, this particular orphanage is very protective of the children. That means that we are confined to a relatively small area (one we have been in for a week now), though with each step we are allowed more latitude. We are kind of running out of things to do with them in that area given 1) the language barrier, 2) their attention span, and 3) since there is a classroom adjacent, we have to keep the noise down.

So our thought is let's be conservative so nothing goes wrong before the court date. I understand some may disagree with that approach, but we don't want to get delayed an additional 2 weeks (over the holidays) if one of the boys gets jealous or something. Besides, we are spending a good amount of time anyway and will have even more very soon.

Anyway, we did more of the same. More Stop / Go (i.e., red light / green light), more Duck Duck Goose, and more Hide and Seek. We also let the boys take a few pictures.

Nearby is a picture of the road to Lutigino. I think somehow Hope and Crosby overlooked that sure-fire blockbuster.

We brought Colin yesterday and Claire today. The boys are really taking to both of them well. Nearby is a shot of Nancy and Claire waiting for the boys today. This is in the building where they sleep.

Today, Nancy did a little more mime, as did V. I did a little juggling for them, but then they wanted to try. Not so good an idea in a small classroom when you are using oranges. We tried reading a story, but there was too much going on. We showed the boys the pictures from home again. They can't get enough of that. We were in the classroom again today instead of the big waiting room. That's where we had trouble with V last week. I think the small size of the room is not good, as most of the fun games we play require more space.

We played outside for about 45 minutes, pulling the boys on sled, and letting them take more pictures. It was really cold today though (about 15 degrees), especially after I loaned my gloves to R.

The pictures are a bit of a problem. Just like when we were in Nicaragua, the kids are fascinated by cameras, and want to take pictures of everything. That's ok, until it is time to share or to put the camera away. They push back on that one.

We did get some good pictures. I'll post them once we are able. But that's still a few days away. It seems that the older boys like to flip the bird in pictures though. And these kids have picked that up. Every time they did, I put the camera down and said "Nyet" firmly. They thought that was terribly funny. We told them that was ugly and they should not do it. Believe me, we will be working on that one, since that is about the most obscene gesture there is in my opinion.

We got the boys some little plastic glow in the dark bugs. They loved that. They kept putting my coat over their head so they could watch them glow.

They also really like soap bubbles. I'm not sure they had seen them before. V used up about 1/2 a bottle, though most of it I think is on the classroom floor.

One interesting thing has happened. I think it is caused by a combination of things. 1) Boys are more comfortable with us and so are not on best behavior, 2) the language barrier as we try to do more without Natasha (picture nearby), 3) each boy responding to how we react to the other boy.

Anyway, to a small degree, the boys are behaving somewhat like the other. V is calmer than last week, and is more verbal. He still can get wired, but overall is better behaved. R is acting more childishly and sort of quacks when he is playing (though he is still quite verbal most of the time). He is misbehaving a bit more too. I think he saw that V was getting more attention last week and is emulating him a bit. Also, we hear that orphans often regress somewhat as they bond with new parents, so that may be part of it too. I think the language barrier is part of the issue. We are trying to step up our efforts on language.

I don't want this to sound concerned, or that either boy is acting badly. It's just that we see this change on the margin. Both boys are still really great, and we continue to have lots of fun.