September 21, 2002
This morning at roughly 9:00am, we got off the train and were met by a new driver,
Victor, and drove directly to the orphanage. We met the director, and then we finally got
to meet our new son.
Dimitriy (nicknamed "Dima") was really cute! He's small for 15 months (only about 16 pounds),
and he had light brown hair and dark brown eyes. His hair stuck up all over because
it was naturally
a bit curly and the orphanage staff had cut it to help keep it under control. He was very serious and
a bit nervous, but interested in the caterpillar toy that we brought with us.
He seemed particularly
nervous when we were left alone with him briefly, and he couldn't understand anything we were saying
except his name. He perked up a bit when Inna spoke to him in Russian. We learned soon that his usual
naptime was 10am, which explained why he was so terribly interested in stretching out on his back
on the floor.
Dima was born on June 6, 2001, at about 32 weeks. He weighed about four and a
half pounds when
he was born. He was brought to the orphanage when he was two months old. The doctor, who spoke to us throughout the first moments of our visit with Dima, told
us that he eats anything, usually by himself, and that he drinks from a regular cup. He walks a little
(with help), and he crawls a lot!
We left the orphanage after about an hour and a half (about an hour with Dima), and drove to the
apartment where we'll be staying while in Donetsk. Our hosts are Galena and Aleksander. We rested for
a few hours, and then Galena served us a hearty meal including borscht: the first time we'd had it on
this trip (we think).
Inna picked us up again around 2pm, and we visited a couple of Internet cafes (looking for one
where we could connect our laptop--still unsuccessfully), and a grocery store, where we picked up
some cookies and juice for our next visit at the orphanage. Around 3:30pm, we returned to the orphanage
for a longer visit.
From 3:45 to 6pm, we joined two other couples in a common room, visiting with our prospective
children. Dima was much more awake this time, and we got him to smile many times, including an
especially big one when Lee lifted him high in the air with a "whoosh!" He
really enjoyed the
cookies we'd brought. They were a lot like biscuits: very little sugar, so we gave him two, which
he ate up slowly but deliberately. He loved the apple juice we brought him, and drank it out
of the juice box through the straw. (It only took him a few tries to figure out how the straw worked.)
He was unhappy when it was gone, but then he enjoyed playing with the box, so it was ok. We
were quickly falling in love with the little fellow!
He got a
little cranky after the first hour and a half or so, but with some help from one of
the other visitors, we learned to soothe him by walking and bouncing. He soon became very
cuddly for both Lee and Kristin, and by 6pm he was ready to go back to his group for a nap.
We visited very briefly with the group, and then returned to Alexsander and Galena's for dinner
(another big meal), and rest.
We were so happy that Dimitriy would be our child. He was cute,
he was clever, and he was quickly capturing our hearts. What an amazing day!!!
