Stavropol - Trip 2

We made it to Stavropol last night without any problems. We arrived at the San Francisco airport so early (3:15am) that we were the first in line to check in. We also opened the security line, as well as the breakfast cafe (by now 5am). By 6 we were on our way to Atlanta, and then on to Moscow. We had a nice lunch in Moscow at a hotel close to the airport and met our driver who took us to Vnukovo Airport on the other side of Moscow. Our coordinator met us there and flew with us to Stavropol. No sidetrips to Mineralnye Vody this time! We are staying at the Eurohotel again. It's quite warm in Stavropol (high 80's to low 90's) with some humidity. So the air conditioner in our room is a wonderful luxury.

On to the important stuff...

Wet met with our translator this morning and went to the orphanage to meet with the director there and to see M. Our meeting with the director was a review of M's physical history, plus an update with her most recent medical examination report. She is healthy! The director and our translator wanted to make sure that we were prepared to have M examined by all the right physicians when we come home. I reassured them that we would provide for all of her medical needs. Here in Russia, the medical system has about 6-8 different physicians that examine the children on a normal basis... neurologists, cardiologists, surgeons, eye specialists, speech specialists, etc. I tried very hard to convey that even though we would only be seeing one or two doctors at home, that if we needed to see a specialist we definitely would.

After we signed the medical report we were taken to see M. Since we last saw her she was moved to the older baby room. She was in the playpen with the other babies when we arrived. She was standing, holding herself up by the rails of the playpen. They whisked her away and dressed her in a disposable diaper and a lightweight dress for our visit. She is still the happy baby that we met two months ago, except that in that period she broke through 5 (FIVE!) teeth! Her hair is a little longer, and is starting to get a wave to it. She looks so great!

The new baby room that she is in is the same size and layout as the previous room, but with only one large playpen. In this new room the babies are taught to feed themselves with a spoon (I watched them feed M a whole bowl of mashed potatoes, vegetables, and ground meat for lunch), they drink from a cup (no more bottles), and they sit for a long time on their little potties after eating. I can't believe that these little 10+ month babies will actually sit still on their potties, but they do. It's like a little potty party in the middle of the room. After the babies were fed, one of the caregivers joined them and entertained them while they sat. We didn't have to watch M on the potty, thankfully. It was already hard watching them hold her hand with a spoon and feed her with it. They don't waste any time between spoonfuls, either. I can't wait to bring her home and let her stay a baby for as long as she needs.

It was a wonderful visit, albeit short. We will get to visit with her for longer tomorrow. Tomorrow we also begin our preparations for court, which is two days, Thursday and Friday. We suspect that we will not have our 10-day waiting period waived, because our coordinator mentioned that the death of the adopted Russian baby boy in early July is on the minds of everyone here. But we are still hoping.