Day 2...

I meant to post this before the last post... the last post was actually from yesterday. We had a long day of walking around Kiev on Tuesday, a train ride Tuesday night into Wednesday morning and then we arrived and met Lena and Ilya. We just got the internet set up today, but I am almost totally caught up on blog posts. I have been trying to type everything up, even silly things. I am not sure if you really want the detailed account of our flights or the train ride, but I'll post what you demand! 


Thank you all for the super nice comments, emails, facebook posts, etc. Here is my post from today... I'll post the detailed account, then end it with some extra stuff...

Today, we got up and Sasha told us to be ready to go to the orphanage at 8:30. Ilya and Lena needed to go to the hospital to get their tests updated. While they were just done last month, it is a regional policy to have them done whenever a family wants to adopt the children. Sasha said that we could wait at the orphanage while they went to the hospital and then play with the kids for a bit when they got back.

Well, we got to the orphanage, and Sasha said that we could go to the hospital. She would stay back and we could accompany them. We walked down the stairs and there was Lena. Sasha asked her if I could hold her and she let me. She let me carry her outside. I put her down for a few minutes and she was pulling me all around. I think they told her that she was going to go in the car and she wanted to go back inside. This was both Ilya and Lena's first trip in a car. 

They brought Ilya out and he let Aaron pick him up. He was still being very shy, but he has no problems with us holding him. We went to get in the car and Lena started crying and screaming. One of the nurses came over and picked her up and got her in the car. I hopped in and Aaron handed me Ilya. He sat right down on my lap. Lena stopped crying not too far away from the orphanage. The nurse was talking to her a lot in Russian. I think she was telling her how Ilya liked the car and how it wasn't scary.

After driving and a few random stops, we got to the hospital. The nurse pretty much bossed us around the hospital, showing us where to go. She hand me carrying both of their coats and holding Lena's hand or carrying her. Not so easy. I am not sure that Lena had ever been up that many steps before and she still walks very slowly, so at one point, to keep up with the nurse I just wrapped my arm around her and pulled her up. I should add that they don't seem to carry their children like we do at home. The kids don't seem to know to wrap their legs around you. Most people seem to just put their arm around the kid and lift, unlike the hip carry we typically do in the US. We will have to teach them that, because it makes the child much harder to carry without balancing them on your hip. 

The hospital was uneventful. Aaron got to hold Lena for the first time. We also dug out this little train we brought, which lights up and makes noises. Wow, Ilya loved it. He had a big smile on his face. 

After the hospital, we walked up and down the block, waiting for the driver. Ilya enjoying seeing all of the trucks and cranes and cars. He was scared of the pigeons we saw... he hid behind Aaron. Hilarious. 

We drove back to the orphanage and got to play with them for twenty minutes. Out came the little train and the camera. Lena loved them both. Ilya wanted to play with the gigantic foam blocks. He was stacking them and then knocking them over. We started playing with him too, stacking and knocking them over. Lena joined in too. Wow, Ilya forgot that he was shy. He was running around laughing. He let us help him stack them. Aaron would pick him up to put the very top ones on. Lena seemed to enjoy the whole thing too. I think that she will be a tomboy and join Ilya in playing with trains and building and destroying. 

When Lena wasn't playing with the blocks, she was trying to grab the camera from me. She literally grabs it everytime I try to take a picture. The second it is out of my pocket, it is in her hand. Proof...

When the nanny came to get them, Ilya remembered that he was supposed to be shy and ducked his head down and ran over to her. Lena gave me a big hug. I am ready to take them both home! 

Here is something for a laugh today, we went to the store to get stuff to make something like Thanksgiving. I grabbed a bottle next to the olive oils. It was a bit cheaper than the olive oils, but I thought it was some kind of vegetable oil. Well, I went to make chicken and I poured the "oil" into the skillet and the second it hit the pan... vinegar. How do you make chicken with no oil, no butter, no salt or pepper? You poach it in milk with some garlic and hope it tastes okay...

This was my best attempt at Thanksgiving, chicken and mashed potatoes...