Who Loves His Blue SnowSuit?

August 21

I wonder at what point on a trip one begins to refer to home as “The States”. That happened for Ethan and I this past weekend. Not Chattanooga but “The States” as if we have been living in Kaz for years. Funny. This morning we looked through the glass into Caleb’s room and saw he was asleep. We both quietly walked in and decided not to wake him. We were hoping that he could sleep and avoid yesterday’s scenario with waiting for his bottle. We made it approximately 3 minutes without waking him. Ethan “accidentally” rustled our bag and Caleb’s little eyes popped open. You could tell it took him a couple of seconds to figure out who are these Americans were staring at him. But then he broke into a sleepy smile and began to crawl towards us. Oh heavens, I cannot wait until we are there for every peaceful wakening he has (Yes, all you parents out there we understand that all awakening are not that precious). He was in a great mood, his bottle came on time and then he spent about 30 minutes just playing peacefully with Ethan on the bed. We then had some music and dancing time, Van Morrison was on the agenda for today, which he loved. Then we got him bundled up for his 11:30 walk and off we went. He was even more interested today, did not get sleepy at all as we walked around for 45 minutes. He still loves all the trucks and Soviet cars he sees. He also likes the walks because our interpreter goes with us. He loves her, especially when she speaks Russian to him. Just to remind you, she has been playing with him on a daily basis since he came to the Children’s Hospital in April. So, the little guy is just in heaven with us and her (I have attached a picture of the three of us). Tomorrow is pre-court, that is at 9 am. I’m sure it will go fine. Last night we started our evening with some Big Bon noodles for Ethan and a bowl of oatmeal for me. We then went to play some pool here in the hotel, and then back up here for a couple more episodes of King of Queens. Tonight we are going out to dinner with our interpreter and Kathy (a lady who is here adopting as well). It will be beyond a blessing to have an interpreter help us with the menu and ordering. I hope the food is good! For those of you who were wondering, each day we are picked up at 10 am by our driver Oleg and interpreter Inna. They drive us and Kathy to the Children’s Hospital. It is a short drive, like maybe 5 minutes. Even after going for two weeks, if you put me in the driver’s seat I would have no idea how to get there. It is a little off the beaten path, down a couple of dirt roads with huge pot holes that the driver has to drive around. Inna stays at the hospital during our visits in case we need help communicating with others. A couple of hours later Oleg picks us up in his Toyota minivan and our day is basically done. Take care all! Thank you for all your prayers and kind words.