I'm Mama!!

This morning was spent doing paperwork at the notary's office.  The notary is a lawyer that prepares legal documents.  There were several sets of documents prepared, so we were there a whopping 2 hours.  I can't remember what all the papers were, but I know that some were applications for the kids passports and some of it had to be approved  by the wonderful social worker from yesterday.  Remember, the one who loved us so much?  Moving on.  I'm not going to worry about her right now.

It was interesting trying to keep the baby entertained for 2 hours in a boring notary office, so Josh and I had to tag team it and take turns playing with him outside.  The difficult thing about that was that it isn't all that cold outside, but the people here expect children to be bundled up in snow suits, and they must, must, MUST have a hat on at all times(when outside).  Kellen isn't hot natured, but it is rather ridiculous how they expect him to dress.  But since we are here for an adoption and all, it is probably best that we comply with their standards of their culture.  Any way, we survived, and hopefully won't be having to do that again any time soon.

This is a photo of the outside of the notary's office.  Kinda looks like it says "hot topic", right?

Kellen played in this little area for over 2 hours this morning.  Besides being expected to bundle him up like it's negative 2 degrees outside, there are also other cultural expectations.  Like:  Don't let your kids sit on the cement.  And heaven forbid we let Kellen climb stairs by himself while we hold his hand.  Different culture.  I wouldn't be terribly concerned with what the norms are here if I weren't trying to adopt 3 children from their country.  I do NOT want to offend anyone by not abiding by their child care standards.

Since the whole morning was spent doing paperwork, we only had one visitation time today.  We had to pick which orphanage we were going to go to.  Since Parker wasn't feeling well yesterday, we thought we would give him an extra day to recover, so we chose to go see Daniel and Josslyn this afternoon.  I hated to have to choose, but what can you do?

When we got to the orphanage for our visitation time, Josh and Kellen went to the visitation room with all our stuff and I went to get Daniel and Josslyn.  I went to Josslyn's room first because it was closest.  They said that she was finishing her snack and they would bring her to me in one minute.  So I headed to Daniel's room to get him.  When I got there the nanny told him that his mama was there.  He came up to me and we walked out of the room hand in hand.  We had a couple of minutes visiting with him before Josslyn got there.  Yesterday the orphanage director told us that he loves music, so we brought a toy that plays music today.

He loved the little muscial computer.  He would press the buttons and dance around. 

Yep, he is in tights and pink shoes.  ALL the kids wear tights.  When they go outside they put many layers over those tights. 

Pressing the buttons.  He liked to yell back at the computer every time it said something. 

He is a little dynamo!!

After a few minutes they brought Josslyn in.  She didn't want to stay, but she obeyed the nanny.  She played with some toys and slowly started to warm up a little bit.

This is Josh showing her how to erase the magnadoodle. 

She liked it.

We QUICKLY learned the Daniel is a ham, a firecracker, and has endless amounts of energy.  I think that he could have run the entire two hours that we were there non-stop.

After a while I just couldn't stand it any longer, so I picked Josslyn up onto my lap. 

Much to my surprise she let me.

(Note Kellen in the background trying to play with that little cardboard figure.)

In the visitation house there is a little play house.  Kellen loved it!  In and out.  In and out.  In and out.

For two hours straight.

The playhouse was a big hit.

Josslyn slowly warmed up.  She got up and started playing quietly with toys around the room.(Daniel made sure that I had emptied the contents of the toy bag in the first 5 minutes we were there.)

When I brought out the cookies(which are really more like animal crackers), she came up to me and asked for one.  A little while later she walked over and plopped down in my lap.

It was over from there, folks!  She barely left my side after that.  I don't know what changed that little girl's mind, but I was suddenly "mama"!!

She loved looking at the pictures on the computer.

She likes to point out herself.  She also likes to point at pictures of Josh and I and say, "mama" and "papa".

It will just melt your heart.

By the end of the visit, that girl was stuck to me like glue!  She loves me.  She liked to play with my earrings.  She would take them out and then put them back in.  One time she dropped one on the ground and before I could grab it, Daniel had it and was off.  He ran over to the play house, tossed it in, shut the doors, and then blocked the entrance so that nobody could get in.  Like I said, he's a firecracker! 

(Kellen in the background playing with the cardboard thing again.  He ended up tearing it down.  Oops.)

I think this was his only relatively still moment of the day.  Still and quiet are not his modes of operation.  I'm guessing he was just talking a moment to contemplate his next move.

Cute little feller, isn't he?



When it came time to bring the kids back to their rooms, we brought Daniel first.  I think he was ready to get back to his familar surroundings and his friends.  When we got back to his room he ran right back over to his friends.  A couple of the kids yelled out, "papa!", "mama!"  Daniel turned around and waved at us and yelled, "Paka, Papa!!"(Bye Daddy, in Russian)  It was precious.

Then we brought Josslyn back to her room.  When we got to her room I started to open the door.  She wrapped her legs around me as tight as she could, clung to my neck with one arm and tried to push the door shut with the other arm.  She was yelling, "NO! NO!", and shaking her head.  She did not want to go back to her group.  She wanted to stay with us.  That made me feel good and bad at the same time.  I felt bad that we had to leave her, but I was glad that she wanted to be with us.  I am completely shocked at how that girl has suddenly taken to me.  It is unbelievable!!  I have been grinning from ear to ear ever since this afternoon.

Tomorrow we should be able to see all of the kids.  We are going to see Daniel and Josslyn in the morning, and Parker in the afternoon.  I will post more pictures tomorrow!  I also have some video that I will post, if I can figure out how to download it. 

Dos vi danya!! (See you later!)