Six Days with Danielle

We are at day six of our ten day wait for court documents. There are currently eight adoption families here at Vlad Inn. Two are on their first trip and have accepted their referral s and will be leaving this weekend. They are both with other agencies. There are three families from CHI. Two of these families complete their ten day wait today and will get court documents tomorrow. One of these families will have a Gotcha Day tomorrow when they pick up the little brother of the two boys they have adopted. We are very excited to meet the new little guy. We are the third CHI family and will end our ten days on Monday and be able to get documents on Tuesday. There are three families from other agencies in various stages of the ten day wait. One family left today for Moscow to complete their adoption journey. We have had lots of company during our wait, which helps to make it more enjoyable.

It has been a very busy week here at the Vlad Inn. The restaurant was closed due to a wedding reception here on Saturday afternoon and evening. On Monday former President Putin and his staff were in Vladivostok. Some of his staff either stayed here or had business meetings here. There was security everywhere you could see. The restaurant was closed to guests in the afternoon, we could still order from the White Rabbit or from Room Service. There were helicopters overhead, it was a little exciting. We had hoped maybe former President, Prime Minister Putin would drop in but he apparently was hunting in the region for Siberian Tigers (with a tranquilizer gun). Tonight there is another event in the Restaurant. Seems like it is a birthday party, we can hear the music from our room, the singers are very talented.

Due to the number of families completing adoptions, the four suites and the one connecting double room suite here at the Vlad Inn were already taken. We are in a standard room with two double beds. We do have a small refrigerator, a microwave and a crib. We have two chairs pulled up under the dresser desk to make an eating area. We have borrowed a booster from the restaurant so Danielle can have her meals. For the sake of continuity, we have continued the baby home practice of using the oversized bib with the plate of food on top of the bib like a table cloth. She uses a spoon and feeds herself. She even wipes her lips with the spoon to clean up excess food. One of us sits with her to eat and one of us eats at the night stand. We brought several packaged meals from Nutri-system (they do not require any refrigeration some require water and microwave to eat, some only require hot water or microwave to heat) We also brought tuna in the plastic envelopes and mayonnaise packages acquired one at a time per each visit to Chick-fil-a with my son David. We brought some trail mix, oatmeal breakfast bars and nuts. We were able to buy Danielle the food she required at the Babies R Us right beside her baby house in Usserysk. We purchased bread and butter from the local store. We got extra hangers from the Inn to be able to hang all of our clothes, and use the three drawers in the dresser. We were able to put our empty luggage on the top shelf. We have one open suitcase with Danielle’s clothes sitting in the closet area on the luggage stand. We set up a play area between a bed and the outside window wall. We have managed very well and are just so grateful to have her here with us. Out of boredom with our room and packaged meals, we have had one restaurant lunch, three breakfasts and two White Rabbit meals. David can tell you how many screws are in each ceiling panel, how many panels are in our room. Today I noticed that the treads on the stairs to the second floor had been cleaned very very well last night. They look almost new. Are we a little bored with the Vlad Inn or what?

We did take Danielle to breakfast Monday morning at the restaurant for her first restaurant experience. We thought it would be quick and easy. Due to the Putin staff having a buffet breakfast; it took over an hour to get our food. Danielle was very good considering. We did go move our clothes from the washer to the dryer, go back to our room to encourage her to go peez-peez then back to sit in the restaurant to wait for breakfast. At that time we did not know about the government officials visiting. She was very good considering it was such a long wait for food. We had taken her breakfast with us, she did have trouble understanding that she needed to sit and wait for our food to arrive even though she had completed her food.

Irina came by on Tuesday and took the other two families and me to the baby store and grocery store. David chose to stay here at the hotel with Danielle to keep her on schedule with lunch and nap. He has been so wonderful with her. I am really glad he has had this bonding time with her. It is truly an opportunity every dad should be allowed, but in our society it is often impossible to do. At the store, I was able to supplement our food with some fresh fruit, yogurt, potatoes, sour cream and butter for baking in the microwave. Irina helped me pick out some meat and cheese for sandwiches. I borrowed a steak knife from the restaurant to cut up the meat. I did pick up four freezer microwavable dinners that just fit in the tiny freezer in the little refrigerator. At the baby store I was able to buy more food and juice for Danielle and some pull-ups. She was doing very well in the mornings with the potty, but in the afternoons she would go through three pair of underwear and pants. Not quite ready to be potty trained. Since I was able to buy enough to get us home, I will just keep her in pull-ups for now. I assume she was used to being in wet clothes often as the caretaker would have around twelve children in varying stages of potty training, they use diapers/pull-ups only for naps, night time and visitors due to cost. Perhaps the pull-ups will allow her to know the difference between dry and comfortable, and wet and uncomfortable.

Today we were able to visit the Vladivostok port areas. It was a real treat and unexpected. We were able to visit a World War II Memorial area with a Submarine that has been turned into a museum. We were also able to visit a bunker/fort up on a hill. David had a wonderful time looking at all the history. We are both history buffs. But I will admit he is more into the military history than I am. Danielle had her first car ride since Got-cha day. At first she was still and quiet. We asked Irina to reassure her that Mama and Papa would not leave her and she did not need to be afraid. We stopped at a lookout for pictures and took her out of the car to get some pictures with her. When we got back in the car she began to cry. We tried to calm her down. We quickly went to the next overlook for more pictures. We were trying to understand the crying. We figured maybe it was because she loves to be outside. The next stop was the Submarine. She stopped crying when she got out and was fine going to all the sites at the port. Back in the car and more crying till we got up to the fort. When we left the fort the crying had reduced to a soft moaning. It was time for lunch, but after the car sickness from the first car ride, I decided to allow her just a few puffed fruit pieces. She fell asleep on the ride back to the Inn. We put her in the crib and let her nap. We had purposely let her have a huge breakfast, followed by a large snack before our trip to town knowing she would probably fall asleep before we could feed her lunch. When she woke up, she had a late lunch, then outside to the playground for our afternoon play. She now loves the swings and can almost pull herself up to the swing seat. The weather has been beautiful. We do not know if she is afraid of cars, or was concerned that her life may change again as it did last week when we took her from the baby home. I know she is too young for her conscience thoughts to be that clear. The unconscious is still a big mystery to us all.

Danielle has been very quiet since Got-cha day. We can tickle her to get a quiet laugh. She smiles and is very happy. She seldom speaks and is very quiet when she does. She does sing to herself and likes to hear us sing. When she wakes up in the mornings, we start moving by playing a CD we bought which incorporates her name into several children’s songs. She has said papa, mama, koo-klah (doll), oh-boof (shoes), when looking at pictures of animals, sometimes she will say what they are, and sometimes she makes the sound of the animal. David determined she knows the names of all her clothing. She now answers to Danielle, she knows that she must hold a mama or papa finger when outside. She knows to hold the finger when requested. She goes to the potty when requested and gets her bib for us if she is hungry. She has been allowed unlimited juice and water, we have kept it on the dresser top and she gets it when she is thirsty. I am sure this is a new freedom for her. She gets out one toy at a time plays with it, puts it back and gets out another toy. If something is out of place she must put it back in place. She is very smart and is very quick to learn. She is just a little quiet and will take some time to overcome a couple of years of not having a mama or papa available to listen to her. At night our routine has been to give her a bath, bundle her in a towel and her blanket. She uncovers part of her body and we put baby lotion on that part as we dress her in PJ’s one part at a time. Then she snuggles into papa’s or mama’s arms and looks at the First 1000 Words in Russian picture book or a children’s video such as Baby Einstein. She points and speaks through the book or video. It is the time of the day she speaks the most. She gets excited to see the animals and tries to say the names of the animals sometimes in Russian if she knows them, or she tries in English when she hears us say the names.

Tonight after dinner we took the play-doh to the White Rabbit room to visit with any of the other adoption families. We did meet up with one other family. Danielle became anxious about something and papa interpreted it as a request to go potty. She was looking in the bathroom and was looking around and kept trying to go to the door of the room. Papa and Danielle left to go take care of the potty request. When they got back to the room, she began looking on the floor and in her suit case for something. She did not want to go potty, but something was bothering her. She found my shoes, picked them up, handed them to papa and said clear as a bell, mama oh-boofs. They brought them back upstairs to the White Rabbit room where David asked me as he entered the room if I had worn my shoes to the room. I had walked up to the White Rabbit in my socks. When Danielle had noticed, she had to find my shoes. Papa and I are very proud of our little shoe police.

We have been monitoring the weather back in the USA. We live on the hurricane dart board. Eventually we become the target. So far so good for South Florida, we all want to keep those in the path of Gustov, Hanna, Ike, etc. in our prayers.

We really miss our son David. We have a video clip of him saying goodnight and that he loves us. It was emailed to us by his guardians. We love the video, I wish we were home to tuck both our children into bed tonight. David, mama and daddy love you too, we will be home in less than two weeks to introduce you to your little sister. Thanks for being a good boy while we are away.

I know I get really detailed in these blogs, I consider them a two fold ministry. One purpose is a record for our daughter. We want her to always know how much we wanted her and chose to have her become part of our family. The other purpose is to help future families still planning their court trip to get ideas for their trip. Hope it helps and praying for you all to have quick returns.

Thank you all for your prayers.