Day 9

Another visiting day at the orphanage today!  Valentin picked us up today and we went straight to the orphanage. Danila wasn't in his groupa, but Valentin told us that he was out with his Babushka and Dedushka- Grandma and Grandpa!

We knew we would be meeting them soon, so we weren't really surprised.  Also, after such a positive meeting with his birth parents, we were looking forward to meeting them.  The only drawback was that Tatiana wasn't with us today, and that means that we don't have a translator :(

We found Danila and his grandparents in this covered play area, where an inflatable bounce house was set up.  Danila was wearing nothing but a pair of underwear (it's HOT here!), a baseball hat, and some small, worn, pink crocs.  He was LOVING his time with his grandparents, and they immediately knew who we were.  Valentin introduced us and we shook their hands.  He (I think) told them about us, giving them the background information that he knew.  We gave them some photo books of our family, and Valentin suggested that we take Danila to go play while they talked for a while.  Danila did NOT want to go with us.  Dedushka pulled a new toy (like a crossbow dart gun thing) out of a bag and gave it to Bryan, and when Danila saw that Bryan had this, he came with us, though a bit unwilling to leave his beloved grandparents.  We didn't go far, but Danila played with us for a while and we convinced him to stay longer by offering him some snacks again.  The boy likes to eat.  He again scarfed up the Cheerios and the small cookies, but wouldn't try the orange that I peeled for him.  Wonder if he doesn't like them or if he hasn't tried them before?

We gave him a party horn today, and after I showed him how to blow it, he paraded around the bench blowing it LOUD for all to hear.  He went back to the pavilion to show his grandparents- he's so cute, putting his hands on his waist and leaning forward to make the loudest noise possible.  Lori Overland would be proud.

We sat on the benches for a bit with his grandparents and Valentin, while Valentin tried his hardest to translate a bit for us.  The one treasure that we understood was that "Babushka and Dadushka, I love you, Danila.  Babushka and Dedushka, I love you, YOU" and we told them that "WE loved Danila, too".  Absolutely.

While we were doing this bad translation work, Danila was joined in the pavilion by a nanny and a little boy and a little girl.  The boy was Sasha, but I didn't get the little girl's name.  Danila shared his party horn with both of them, and you could tell that he was happy to let them play with his new toy.  They all jumped in the bounce house for a while...he has as much energy as Chase does.

Valentin left us, and we all followed Danila to the swing.  He was ok with Bryan pushing him for a bit, but then deferred to Dedushka and Babushka.  He LOVES them so.  They kept trying to get him to play with Mama and Papa (us!!), but he really wanted their attention- which is TOTALLY ok with us.  We definitely don't want to take him away from them now, and we don't want him to associate spending time with us as negative because we take his grandparents away.  We were happy to participate from the sidelines and watch him interact with them.

Dedushka was trying to tell me about how Danila was going to cry when they left, and that they wanted to leave so that we had some time alone with him.  They wanted to be sure that we would stay and take him back to his groupa.  Again- all broken English/Russian and pantomiming!  We are going to RULE the next time we play charades.

After a while, Babushka convinced him to get off the swing (we must have been standing by the swing for 20 minutes in the sun) and sit at a table to color.  Danila walked with Bryan and I to the table, and we sat down and got everything out.  He climbed onto my lap to reach better- and how nice that was, to have him all cuddled close to me as he very carefully selected his colors and drew a picture with Bryan and I.  While we were coloring, his grandparents slipped away unnoticed.

Soon, Valentin came over to tell us that it was time for lunch.  Danila didn't want to go (probably full of Cheerios), but willingly rode back to the groupa on Bryan's shoulders.  We said goodbye, got hugs, and Danila walked in on his own.  He seems to be happy to be in his groupa with his friends...seems like he is well taken care of there, and thrives on the structure.

No promises to see him zaftra, though (tomorrow) because it is Sunday, and we are going to try to make it to church.  We'll be back for more Danila adventures on Monday.  We rode back to the city with his grandparents (Valentin was giving them a ride to the main bus station), and wished again that we had someone who could translate for us.  They really are very lovely people.  It will be hard to take Danila away from the relationship that he has with them, as well as with his birth parents.  We are so thankful that he has these relationships with them, that their love and attention has helped him grow and learn, made him happy and well-adjusted despite the turmoil of orphanage living...but it is still heartbreaking, even if we know that he will be loved and taken care of as a part of our own family, heartbreaking to know that he will be missing his brith family here for a while.