A Very Special Day

After only sleeping few hours (while Mark was snoring) we had breakfast (oatmeal, juice, cheese, bread, and milch - we were told there was not going to be time for lunch!) and got ready to go to the MOE. Carol had told us to dress up nicely, to show the MOE and orphanage people how important of a day this was for us! So, I was wearing my black business jacket, nice black pants and made Mark to wear his suit and tie. We went first to the CSS office to meet Svetlana and the other two CSS families, and we were too dressed up!!! Oh well, we looked nice! :)

Svetlana talked to us a little about how things are going with the referrals and tried to give us an overview of how the day would go. Then we headed to the MOE building, which was nothing like what expected! The building was old looking, with narrow hallways and the tiniest elevator in the world!!! We waited along with the other two CSS families until they were ready to receive us. I thought that then each family would enter one by one and receive the referral information, but no, the MOE director or officer we met preferred that the three families come at the same time. We all received referrals for 11 to 12 months old babies. The Espositos and us got referrals from Podolsk, while Kathylen got a referral from Vinoye (spelling?). So then the next step: Hit the road for about an hour to meet our little ones!

Svetlana drove with us and she called Dr. Togoyev to have him meeting us at the orphanage and do the medical examination. When we got to Podolsk, the Espositos were meeting with the Director and when we entered in the room they were getting the weight of the kid at birth: 4,000 grams! They were like, how much is that?!? Then, the numbers starting clicking in Mark and mine head (we are engineers) and told them " he was more than 8 pounds at birth!!!". They were very pleased to hear that. They left after a bit and the director opened our referral's file. Something funny that happened is that at the MOE they told us that our referral, Ivan (that's his Russian name), was born in April 1, 2007. So, that meant he was barely out of the databank! I was already dreaming of his first birthday, with my mom coming from Ecuador and just having a lovely time! Then, when the director started reading the file, she said that his birthday was FEBRUARY 1, which means he will be 1 year old on this Friday! I made me a little sad that he would spend his birthday at the orphanage, but at least he may spend it with US!!

Ivan's medical history seem fine, he was premature (32 weeks at birth), but no red flags. I was surprised that the file contained a picture of his birth mother... I was not expecting that. She was 19 years old when he was born and the black and white picture showed a pretty young girl with huge dark eyes and long dark hair. Based on the social and medical history, there was no evidence of alcohol or drug use during the pregnancy, which was nice to hear.

We were trying to take notes as much as we can, but to be honest, we would be listening to them talking in Russian for a long time, and then we would just get a few sentences... It was kind of confusing what was going on... And then, suddenly, a care giver, wearing white dress and stockings, came with a little boy in her arms... We were like "Ok, is this Esposito's kid or ours or?" Yes, the little baby was our Ivan!

Ivan didn't cry when the care giver put him in my arms, but he kept looking at her when she was standing next to me... Yes, one good sign, he had some attachment to her! Then, we were taken to a small area with a couch and they brought a little walker for him. At the beginning, he seemed to be kind of confused, and kept looking around, like trying to find a familiar face... We were like "Hey Ivan, what's up little boy?".. and he would be like "what??!!??"... Our guide stopped by and started calling him "Hey Vanushka??!! Vanushka??!!??" , and suddenly, the whole room was lit up with a HUGE smile!!!! Vanushka is how the caregivers refer to him, and he does respond to his name when he is called! Yes, another good sign!!

As Dede suggested, we brought all the toys with us and started to try and see which one he liked better... We noticed he could grab two toys at the time, and kind of bat his arms. He would also grab my or Mark's fingers and start pulling!! He has 4 upper and 2 lower teeth, and he may be getting more because he started chewing the leg of the little duck we brought... We kept pressing the buttons of a toy that plays music and see his reaction, but he didn't seem to care too much... We were taking pictures and he seemed to looooove the camera!!! we got bunch of pictures with him looking right at the camera... And suddenly "Hon, I think he peed on me", showing a wet area on his sleeve...

Then, it was Ivan's turn for Dr. Togoyev examination. Dr Togoyev is a young doctor and I was able to read a loooooooot of good opinions on him, so we were very glad he was available to meet us. It also worked out well that the Espositos and us were at the same place, otherwise, I don't know how he would have made it to two places. He started his evaluation with some observations on Ivan's fine skills development. He would place two small toys in front of Ivan and observe his behavior: would he pick one, or two toys, or would he pass the toy from one hand to the other? Then he grab two small wood cubes, one on each of his hands and then presented the cubes to Ivan. Ivan took one cube, but the doctor seemed to be waiting for more... At that point, I was not too sure what he was expecting, and in my mind I was like "please, pick up the other one, please!!?". And Ivan did! But then he dropped it! Later, Dr Togoyev indicated that assuming that his biological age corresponds to a 10 month old baby, he was almost at the normal fine motor skills level. For the gross motor skills (crawling, walking, siting by himself) he is a bit behind, but nothing out of the "normal" for a kid in an orphanage. Anyways, the examination went almost an hour, and at the end we pretty much got a clean bill of health!!! YEAHHHHHH! We were absolutely sure we wanted a separate doctor for the medical examination, but we were a little afraid they would paint a picture all full with "high risks" and stuff like that... But, after having the opportunity to learn all the available details about his health history, we feel much more relieved and feel as if I know my little Ivan even better!!! In Ivan's case, for his short time of life, he had to endure quite a bit, but he has also managed to thrive and develop, and that just showed us he is a little fighter!!!

As you may notice at this point, we are falling in love with this little one! At the end of the day, we told Svetlana we want to proceed with the legal petition to adopt! I don't know if it is destiny or luck or what, but he looks like us, he has these HUGE brown eyes kind of like me and cute chicks and fare skin like Mark! No, we didn't cry today, but I am crying a little now! And yes, we have a name for our son: Diego Ivan U.