Day 54- GOTCHA DAY!

September 28, 2011

Today you woke up in this bed, in the same room as 10 other orphans.

You gave us hugs and big smiles when we arrived, and the nannies helped change you into your new clothes.  Then you said goodbye to your friends, and to the nannies who have cared for you before we were here.

We had to hurry to see the main doctor of the orphanage before leaving...a warm man, who wished us well and thanked us, and gave Danya a very serious hand shake before we left.

We climbed into the car, still hurrying because we needed to make it to the passport office before 9:30am.  As we were leaving, Dedushka showed up, and after some words back and forth, ended up accompanying us to the passport office- it was Mommy, Daddy, Zeke, and Dedushka all piled in the back of the car for the ride.

We're so happy you had some more moments with Dedushka- you love him and he loves you.  It's going to be a hard transition for both of you, I'm afraid.  You didn't want to say goodbye when it was time for him to go.  No worries- we'll see him again tomorrow :)

We had lots of errands to do after that...here we are outside the bank (waiting!).

 

 ...and in the back of the car...waiting!  Valentin even got creative and showed you how to open and close the automatic trunk on the car- you thought that was WAY fun :)

 

 After all was said and done, we were all hungry, so Tatyana and Valentin dropped us off at McDonald's (where else??) for a quick lunch before nap.  You weren't thrilled with the burger or nuggets, but you definitely enjoyed the fries- especially with ketchup.

  

...but the ice cream sundae?  THAT was a different story.  Hands off!  No sharing!  Good til the last lick :)

 

We walked home (well, Daddy carried you on his shoulders for a good way) and made it to the apartment before the rain started.

We had time to Skype Ian before he went to school, and BOY did that put a smile on both your faces.  Ian was thrilled to meet you!

We laid you down for nap after this exciting morning, and Daddy laid next to you and watched you until you finally put your thumb in your mouth and closed your eyes.

When you woke up, you immediately wanted a bath- so we gave you one, bubbles and all.  You are so independent- making sure to scrub every part twice (and three and four times...!)

A healthy snack to supplementthe McDonald's french fries.

A little Signing Time with Daddy...you repeat ALL the signs and words :)

It cracks me up that you imitate Daddy so much.  He was sitting with his hands folded, and you looked over at him, and readjusted yourself so that you were sitting the same way.

It's time to start thinking about packing up the apartment.  And by packing, I mean "trying on all the clothes that you can pull out of our suitcases."

One last dinner with our friends here in Kharkov- homemade pizza at Nate and Diana's apartment, with Cara and Doug.  Zeke made fast friends with Diana (the only one that speaks his language!) and even volunteered to help her do the dishes :)  I was a little afraid of bringing you out on our first day together, but you were a total champ, charming, polite, and just an awesome little representative for all the little souls that need to be sprung from the orphanages here.

 

You decided that you love your lion, and danced around with him a bit before we convinced you to lay down in bed.

 Sleepyhead.  What a big day you just had. 

 

Happy first day of the rest of your life.  We love you so much.