Day 5 in Tomsk

We got to attend little man’s speech / physical therapy session this morning in addition to playing with him. The doctor explained (through our interpreter) what she has bee working on with him. They combine a bunch of “learnings” in the various exercises. For example she lays out small discs of various colors then gives him even smaller ones of the same colors to match up and stack on top of the original discs – teaching the ideas of same and different, the words for the colors and working on fine motor skills all at once. They do similar exercises with blocks – arranging them in different shapes and matching puzzle pieces etc. They also practice making different sounds clicking the tongue, etc. it was interesting and useful. As we walked into the class there were several people all in the small space at once, which little man did not like at all. He got quite upset – tried to bolt out of the room and did the dishrag thing when she tried to bring him back. It took a couple of minutes for her to soothe him so he would pay attention and begin the lesson. I think the airport and plane may be a real problem for him. Poor little guy is going to be traumatized. I know we are going to have tons of people who want to see him but folks are going to have to be patient while he gets used to his new life.

After his lesson we went back to the play room to play a little while longer. He is one determined little bugger when he wants something let me tell you. Daddy and I played keep away with the bag for a good five minutes – distracted him with the ball and with daddy swooping him up in the air but the minute we set him down he was back after that bag. I took him back to his room for lunch and for the first time he did not want me to leave him there. I know the nanny was probably annoyed with the fuss but I was glad to see it – it’s the beginnings of an attachment. It’s a good sign for him to be starting to show a preference for us. And to do so over food – well for this little guy – amazing!!

We are starting to see more of his personality and the beginnings of his temper when things don’t go his way. No serious melt downs yet but I’m betting he will be capable of some spectacular ones once he gets going!! Hopefully he’ll learn some self control as fast as he is picking up on other things. He is already starting to associate DaDa with Edward. If I say Dada he looks around for him and will go to him – if Edward has something he wants of course. He’s good at ignoring us both if he’s busy and does not want to be disturbed thought. For now his temper has been mostly “crying” which is really just noise and no tears and of course the dishrag routine all kids seem to know when he doesn’t want to go where you are trying to take him. That’s about it for now. We’ll see him again this afternoon and then once on Saturday and Sunday. We may be able to bring him home with us from the baby home during the day Monday or Tuesday. He will have to go back for the night. I’m looking forward to that.

We got great news with our afternoon visit – we can bring little man back to the hotel with us for the day Sunday. He has to go back for the night but Dr. Nina said if things go well they can consider letting us have him more. She asked – through our interpreter of course, that we be careful to feed him only familiar foods so as not to upset his stomach. The café here at the hotel has potatoes, cucumber, fresh fruit, yogurt, plain grilled chicken or pork all on the menu so we should be able to accommodate that with no trouble. She also asked us to keep him away from others as much as possible since they worry very much about him picking up some kind of more serious flu bug beyond his little cold. I have no problem with that either. We’ve waited so long to have him with us that I’m happy to keep him all to ourselves for now.

Speaking of his cold, little man was still a little subdued and feverish this afternoon. Mama let him drink as much water as he wanted because of that. And so – since he was in big boy pants and drank nearly a half liter of water – we had the predictable accident. No big deal but I think we will be a little more careful next time so that we don’t get on the nannies bad side. He did go back to his room without a fuss this time – but that is because he had just had his accident and I do not believe he likes being wet. So he was eager to have his clothes changed. Potty training here does not focus much on them knowing or understanding that they need to go so much as keeping them on a very set eating and drinking schedule and thus on a pretty set potty schedule too. That’s going to be an interesting challenge once we are home. I think we will probably not rush into potty training. That’s about it for today.