Wednesday was another beautiful sunny day.  So much different than our previous trips to Russia when we traveled in November, January and February.  In the winter months in R's region, it was dark until 9 or 9:30AM, grey all day and started to get dark by 4PM.  On this trip, I needed my sunglasses and only a light sweater.

Our coordinator picked us up at 9AM and we made our way to the orphanage.  We were able to start the morning with 1.5 hours with K.  We started with putting a couple of puzzles together.  K was very clever identifying the pieces to start with (the outer edges) and also putting together the pieces with the same color.  She didn't want our help putting the puzzle together and slowly positioned herself (and the puzzle) from our reach.  It was nice to see her determination and independence to complete the puzzles.

K was a magnet to the iPads in the room (our coordinator's and Michael's).  Once we were able to pull her away from playing piano or puzzles on the iPad, the next thing we did was play with a balloon.  The previous day, the balloon was a hit so K was happy to see another one come out of our bag of toys.  Today, she was very directive.  She told us where to stand and what direction she wanted us to hit the balloon to each other.

The next part of our day was spent reviewing K's medical file.  We had a doctor from Moscow drive to our region to visit with us.  (She also traveled with us to R's orphanage in 2007.)  She spent the next hour or so with K, and she was very shy with the doctor, and sometimes scared.  So we took things slow and easy.  The doctor asked her to count (she could count to six without help - which is age appropriate in Russia), identify shapes, and identify animals and the sounds that they make.

She also performed a brief exam (it was difficult to get K to stand still).  We asked the speech therapist about her ability to sing songs and remember poems (she does and she can).  Based on K's measurements, she's exactly 50% on height, and about 80% on weight.  She is a solid, strong girl!  At the end of the exam, the doctor declared her a girl, with two arms, two legs, body and a head.  LOL

Next our doctor sat down with the orphanage director, orphanage doctor/nurse, and our coordinator.  They spent the next couple of hours going through each and every document in the medical file.  Compared to R, K has a very extensive file.  Some of it very straight forward, some of the information conflicting, and some information not adding up.  There was a lot of back and forth.  Every once in a while I would get a translation of the current discussion but for the most part I just let our doctor get the story knowing that her written report will have all the details.

K left for lunch and her afternoon nap around noon.

At 2PM, we decided to take a break and go for lunch together at an Italian/Sushi restaurant.  Since the doctor knew R, we shared photos of the last few years.  She was so happy to be a part of our family journey.  She was amazed at how much R had grown.  We connected on some of the other families she has helped and she was so happy to hear that everyone is doing well (Ronda! e!).

Back at the orphanage, our doctor was able to go through the medical file herself and she was able to point out things, translate and answer my questions.  So different that our experience with R, where we had 10 minutes of discussion and there was not any other information to consider.

In the meantime, K spent the afternoon with us in the room.  I really can't remember what we did.  In between medical discussions, I think we played with a ball, did some coloring, played with a sticker book and played with the iPad.

We left the orphanage around 6PM.  Just as we were driving home, a big thunderstorm rolled in.  We had hoped to walk around the town and go for dinner but that wasn't going to happen with the rain and wind.  We drove the orphanage director to a shop (the night before we drove her somewhere else on our way back to the hotel) and made our way back to the hotel.

We had another nice dinner: smoked salmon platter, borsht, pelmeni, and a pork & potato dish.  A quiet end to a busy, information-filled day.

Between Day #1, and talking all day about K's social background, and Day #2 and learning all of her medical information, it was a very emotionally draining couple of days.  This is why I haven't written sooner.  There was/is just so much information to process.  Again, comparing this experience to R's where I had wished I had more information, now having so much information about K's background, I'm not sure which one is better!  LOL

As much as this experience is an exciting and magical experience to become parents, it has come to be based on some unfortunate circumstances.  It's hard for me to balance those emotions at times.  Day #3 was much better - we were able to play and enjoy our last meeting with K before we signed the adoption petition and head back to Moscow.

Day #3 coming soon...