03/25/2007

Our third visit - typically visits aren’t allowed on Sundays, but since Thursday was a holiday it somehow shifted their work week. They tried to ask us if we wanted a “break”, which we didn’t; we stated we came all this way to spend time with our daughter. As we arrived we could see Olivia in the window of her room waiting for us to come, when she saw us she yelled mama, papa. You could see her jumping up and down she was so happy.

They escort us to the “music room” and then they get the children. We can always hear Olivia coming down the hall. Today two of the doctors came in to meet us and tell us that Olivia is very happy to have a family. We asked her when she knew that we were coming; they told us that they did not tell her until we arrived in the country since they didn’t want her to be disappointed if we did not end up coming for her. Which was not the same story we received the first day?? We brought more apple/cherry juice and a apple/mango, she wolfed those both down and had a yogurt. She doesn’t feed herself well, but she can hold her juice box, but we have to feed her the yogurt. She is definitely independent. In fact she would often push papa away when he was helping and would say in Russian that she would do it herself. She only asks for help when she can’t do it on her own. It is actually rare for children with her condition to her severity to be able to walk. So the fact that she walks so well and gets around is a testimate to her independent spirit. We were also told that no one helped her learn to walk, that she did it all on her own.

We also learned they had another child with her condition, that never learned to move and died last year. We were also told to get photos of her arms and legs, to send the doctor so that we could get a letter to attempt rush her adoption stating that she needed immediate medical care. (which she really does) So we brought fingernail polish and painted her fingernails and toenails (like mamas) so that we could ask her to take photos of her pretty fingernails and toenails. We didn’t want her to feel that we were focusing on her deformities. We want her to have a healthy self esteem. We played outside today, and as it was getting time to go, she stated that she didn’t want us to leave and stated that she would cry. Once we were inside she kept asking us if we would return tomorrow. We kept reassuring her that we would return. We let her take a little ball with her to her group, and we had dressed her in American clothing. She then hopped out of the room.