Our time in Kiev

We have been very lucky to have been able to spend every day so far with Patrick. His caregivers are wonderful with him. He listens to them when they correst him and you can tell they all care about one another. Every visit, he calms down a little more, he is beginning to realize that we are there for him and when we leave, we come back. His caregivers have been working with him on learning the members of the family. Yesterday when I showed him the photo-album of us all (brothers, sisters, Bill and I) he said Jessie after me. He hasn't caught on to the other names yet, but he will! He does know that Bill is PaPa and I am MaMa, which will take some getting used to for Bill...he is used to dad or daddy, lol. Papa is the word right now that has meaning for Patrick, so it is what we will use until he hears the other kids, he'll catch on pretty quick I think.

All about him:
Things he likes to do:
color
build with the big blocks (like what you give a 2 or 3 year old)
play with balls
play with cars and trucks (chunkier ones will be easier)
music, singing, insruments, he loves music!

What size he wears:
He will be a comfortable 4T. We have seen him in 3T most often, but those are snug on his belly, so 4T is best. Elastic waist is also best!! He IS potty trained :) We are buying him shoes here, and I don't know that size yet, but I can tell you his foot is big and fat!!!!

He likes to play and cuddle. He loves to sit on my lap and me sing to him (those of you that have been priveledged to hear me sing before realize that this isn't something that is requested often by others!). He loves it when I kiss his hands, he just giggles so sweetly whenever I do it. I will kiss him on the cheek and he will grin and hand me his hands to kiss then. It's a game that I like to play too!! With daddy (papa) he likes to be wild. He wants Bill to tickle him and blow rasberries on his neck or belly. Those 2 are crazy together!

We have noticed something with his legs now that we have been able to watch him more. I'm not sure how to explain it either, and it may just be low muscle tone (which I doubt, cause this child is strong!), but his ankles turn in when he runs and he doesn't bend his knees to pick stuff up off the floor. A little therapy will help whatever it is. Either way, he walks and runs with no problem at all, but I think this is what the lady at the SDA was talking about.

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So, every day, we wake up, shower, eat breakfast and walk to meet our driver. It is about a 20 minute walk to where he picks us up, and it saves about an hour and a half in the car because of traffic, so we walk! We drive to Vorzel (the city where the orphanage is), which takes about 45 minutes or so (depending on traffic). We play with Patrick and all the other kids in the group (we have only had one visit with just him, usually we are with all the kids) until lunch time and then they take him in and we leave. We drive back to Kiev, have lunch, go back to the apartment to drop off our bags that we take to Vorzel with us and relax a little. Usually I read and Bill watches a movie at this time as all of you in the states aren't up yet and our day is half over, lol. We then either go shopping or do some site seeing. We still have to buy shoes, socks, and underwear for Patrick. other than that, I already found a few outfits for him. He has 3 outfits now (it is enough for our time here, we can get more at home). We usually go to our little market downstairs on the way home (you can only buy as many groceries as you can carry and they charge you for bags, so we just get one bag full at a time and reuse the same bag (yep, i am that cheap!, but isn't that being eco-friendly too, hahahaha). We either cook in the apartment (this is challenging because of archaic utensils and lack of space) or eat out with RR friends. I have been really bad about not taking pics of us with the families we are with. I need to better with that!

For now, here are some pics of Mr. Patrick, I will upload pics of Kiev later today. I think I like it here!!!



Here are some of his friends. Elizabeta (Liza) is beside me (she needs a family, NOW!!!!), and Masha is beside her (her family is here with me!)

Here, I was giving him a juive box (bad idea, he has never had a straw before and the sugar in the juice made him HYPER!) and he kept biting the straw, he though it was funny when he bit it and it popped out of the box to spray me!

Patrick had just walked in the room and went straight to Bill! (Aren't they sweet?!)

Daddy and Patrick playing bubbles!

This is the sign to Vorzel, the second word says "Vorzel", have no clue about the first!!