(Wednesday's post is below. Sorry, been a little...um...ok...lazy.)
My care package is stuck in customs in Almaty, Kazakhstan!! How stupid is that! It’s just some toys and clothes for Alina, over 70 knitted children’s hats that was going to be my donation to Alina’s orphanage, and some other random things but the best part….a jar of Jiff peanut butter! Why will customs not let it through? I don’t understand this country at all!
Today’s visit was good. Alina was in a good mood and it seems her cold has reached it’s end. There were a few sneezes and one cough but other than that, she seems to have recovered. Poor baby had underwear on today that was about three sizes to big for her. They actually feel down around her knees inside her pants. She kept complaining about it but I couldn’t do anything except to take them off and there was no way I was going to be able to do that so I just left them on her. We rode the tricycle for about two seconds. She still wanted to ride the red motorcycle but it is still broken and cannot be fixed. There’s another smaller jeep type riding toy that she can ride by herself. It’s low enough to the ground that she can use her own legs to push it along. That was ridden all but for two seconds as well. Then she wanted to ride the tricycle again. I had already put it back in its place which was not near the gazebo. I refused to go back and forth between the tricycle and jeep. She got upset with me for a minute but quickly got over it when I scooped her up and planted a raspberry on her neck. Obviously, she wasn’t too upset because that caused her to squeal and laugh. We moved on to a new toy that I bought her yesterday. It’s a ladybug that you pull and when you pull it, the wings go out to the side and back in. It seemed to be a hit! Good thing since this will probably be the only new toy she might be getting if my care package doesn’t clear customs. The pull string on it is a little short for her. Instead of the ladybug being flat to the ground and rolling on three wheels when she pulls it, there is only the back wheel that is on the ground and the wings don’t work quite like they should. So, I will try to come up with something this weekend to remedy that.
We walked around the orphanage a couple times today. We would pass by the large wooden crib that held the newborn babies and Alina would ooh and ahh right along with Mama. They are so tiny!! And there are about eight of them! Four have arrived since I’ve been here. We would pass other groups of children on our walk and they all would call out Alina’s name and say, “Alina’s mama!”. If they didn’t, Alina would be sure to tell them that I was her Mama by saying “Mein Mama” and pat me on the chest. All of the caretakers here seem to be so happy that Alina is getting a Mother. Every time we passed a group or the babies in the crib, they would ask Alina if I was her mother and if she had a good mother. She would always answer “yeah” and smile. They would then pat her on the back or tickle her belly. It seems the stories are true in that Alina is a favorite around Umit Baby House. She is a little charmer!
Janette, my coordinator, did not come with Shirin and me to the orphanage today. Only the driver showed up this morning to pick me up and 45 minutes earlier than usual. I expected her to be in the minivan for the trip back to the hotel but again, only the driver showed up to retrieve us from the orphanage. I asked Shirin if she was ok and not sick or anything. Shirin told me she probably was doing paperwork of some kind. I hope she was working on getting a court date for me. No news on that yet. I still expect it to be at least two weeks because today is the third week since the Guardianship Council meeting. I hope Janette can tell me something next week.
I will publish a post this weekend about Eva and Vicenti. They are a Spanish couple who are adopting their daughter Maria from Umit. I have so much to tell that I want to give them an entire post. They are so awesome and we have really come to know each other this week. So, look for “The Spanish Couple” post coming to your computer on Sunday.
That’s all for now. Until Sunday….
Cheers,
Kim and Alina Jean…the little charmer!
PS. All my not be lost with the care package. I just got off the phone with the wonderful people at Interlink and they are going to take care of it for me. Of course, it’s going to cost money (hey, it's only money, right?!!) to get it here but at least I will get it. Alina will have some more clothes and toys and I will get my peanut butter!!!
2 comments:
Your daughter is beautiful! We have a 6yr old from Kaz. Congratulations I hope they spring you soon!
Hi Kim,
When Sara Marina (then age 3 1/2) came with me to Kazakhstan for my adoption of Kate, it was that toilet-seat insert, that you set over the standard toilet seat to make it a small potty seat, that made ALL the difference. I had packed ours in my checked-luggage for travel, and that was a big mistake--the airplane toilets, Amsterday airport different-looking toilets, etc frightened her, and we had this scenario like you're having with Alina where Sara said she had to go potty, but then when we tried to use those toilets, she just couldn't do it. So if there's a way your parents could buy one (they're at Target, Walmart for about $10; I bought a Dora the Explorer one and the girls still use it all the time) it's worth the luggage space it will take up when they come to Kazakhstan. I think it's the reassurance of that smaller size and the padding of the insert-seat that make all the difference.
If that's not possible, then I'd just buy a potty chair at the Bazaar (about $2 US) and bring it along with you to visits, and then you'll have it for when you have Alina with you at the hotel, and for your travel home, etc---because even if, once she's with you at the hotel, you can get her to use the toilet at the hotel comfortably, the toilets in the airports and planes are different, so you'll need that potty chair to avoid a crisis.
Hope this helps a bit!
Marcia
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