Part 2 of 4: First Contact

Once we arrived in Kirov, we were ready to go straight to the orphanage. However, there was other business to take care of. First we went to the hotel, dropping off our bags. The hotel was an interesting hodge podge; some rooms had been recently renovated (like ours), others were extremely dated (Gene & Cara received one of those rooms). From the hotel, we were driven to the Ministry of Education. Andre, the coordinator, needed to drop off some paperwork. Finally, we were on our way to the orphanage.

We arrived at the building and were shown to a big open room where we would wait to meet the children. Maura and Michael (an English couple that were also adopting), were already in the room playing with a little girl. We introduced ourselves and soon found out that they were completing the adoption process that day. They were picking up their little girl and would be departing that afternoon for Moscow. Maura and Michael were extremely helpful in filling us in on details of what to expect over the next hours, days, and weeks. They also gave us good information about the food and drink options in Kirov.

At this time, we also met a wonderful lady named Olga who would be our translator over the next couple of days. After verifying our name and the name of the child we were adopting, she left to go get our son. Both of our families nervously awaited Olga’s return, anxious to see who would meet their child first.

Finally, the moment arrived. Our little boy was brought in first, a wonderful, beautiful, happy little boy. He is so big now, and looks nothing like the picture we received for the referral. Our first thought was, “Did they bring us the right child?” He is as blond as can be with beautiful blue eyes. Later, we found out that Gene used his video recorder to capture the moment that we met little A.

Our boy is so good natured, and so big; we had a number of 9 month old outfits, but we don’t think any are going to be big enough for him. He crawls all over the place, and loves walking when he is hanging on to our hands. He can also pull himself up. Kathy was lying on her side, and he crawled over to her, and pulled himself up. Alan of course had him laughing and giggling within the first 15 minutes we were playing with him.

After soaking in the enjoyment of meeting the chap, we did the basic medical checks that were suggested by our adoption doctor. He has a really strong grip, and can hold items in either hand. We put a rattle on either side of his head and shook it to make sure he could hear it. There is definitely nothing wrong with his hearing. We did the same type of thing for his eyes, moving the rattle from side-to-side. He passed all of the tests with flying colors, and surpassed our expectations of his development.

After an exciting morning, the three families left the orphanage to have some lunch. We went to a local café in Kirov, that had excellent food. It was very enjoyable getting to know the other couples, but each of us were distracted thinking about the children waiting for us at the orphanage.

In the afternoon, we met the orphanage director. She spent a lot of time trying to sell us on A being “a good healthy boy, worthy of adoption”. She didn’t need to do that though; we were hooked on him from the first moment we saw him. When they brought us paperwork to sign stating that we officially wanted to petition the court, we couldn’t sign it fast enough.

Once the paperwork was done, we spent more time with A. Alan used his “Uncle Al-Pal” powers to discover what A enjoyed doing most. He enjoyed chewing and drooling on the soft toys we brought, and had some interest in a little truck that stacked up with blocks. But A’s true favorite activity was bouncing. He absolutely loves to bounce, never taking a rest. Alan would hold on to him, lift him into the air, and the giggling permeated the room. When his feet touched the ground again, he would bounce 3 times, and then gaze expectantly at Alan, waiting to be lifted into the air again. Over and over, he was a bouncing maniac. We decided that one of his nicknames was definitely going to be Tigger, because bouncing was absolutely his thing.

Eventually, it was time to leave. None of us wanted to leave the children there, but there had been so much time spent playing and bouncing, that all of us (including the children) needed to rest. Maura and Michael departed early to catch the train to Moscow, while the rest of us returned to the hotel. That night, we had dinner and drinks with Cara and Gene at the hotel restaurant (pectopaHt in Cyrillic).

On the second day, we spent more time playing with the chap. We had about a 45 minute wait to start the day, as our little guy hadn’t slept well overnight. He was still recovering from the pneumonia that developed while he was in the hospital, and we had worn him out! Later on the 2^nd day, Olga took us up to the baby room. We got to see where he sleeps, and each got to help feed him. We also saw all of the other babies in his room (all adorable).

During the afternoon of the second day, A started to get a little fussy. He was very tired, due to the exertion from the first day, and the changes in his schedule on the second. Otherwise, A never seemed to get upset. Once, he dropped a plastic block on his head, and started to cry. It only took 5 seconds of Alan blowing bubbles on his belly, and he was giggling again like nothing had happened.

Finally, it was time to leave. Taking A back up to his room was heart wrenching for us, because we knew this was the last time we’d get to see him for at least a month. It was a somber ride to the train station that night, but we knew we would be back soon. Luckily the dining cart had good beer and good vodka. Soon we celebrating our good fortune at the opportunity to adopt such wonderful children.

The whole experience was amazing. We feel blessed and so grateful for the opportunity to be parents to this beautiful little boy. We are expecting to receive an official court date soon, and are hopeful that court and the 10 day waiting period will pass without incident. We are not able to post any pictures of him yet, as we need to wait until both of those events occur.

Tomorrow: The 8 Doctor Medical (insert dramatic music)