Shopping and Visit #2

Today was another very good day. Sasha picked us up and took us to a lovely souvenir shop. There was a young woman there who spoke English (very well) and helped us shop. It was wonderful to have her help. We had some very difficult decisions to make as everything was so beautifully crafted. Before we left the shop, Sasha bought us a small gift :) Bless his heart, he even put on a radio station in the car that played several songs in English for our long ride in the crazy traffic.

We were then off to get some lunch before our visit. Sasha took us to a three story mall that had a supermarket, movie theatre and fairly large food court (with both restaurants and "fast food" places). We had a bit of a challenge as the employees and menus here were all in Russian. We were, however, able to get 2 cheeseburges and waters (for only $14) with little difficulty. After lunch we stopped in the supermarket to try and get something for breafast tomorrow. It is very difficult to shop in a grocery store when you don't read the language on the packages. We thought everything would basically look the same but it really doesn't...

When we arrived at the baby home, Natasha was already there. We were taken into to a different room today that was much bigger, had a large carpet rug and many toys. They brought him in and again he didn't seem afraid. We were able to play with the toys we brought as well as the toys in the room. It was quickly apparent to us that he LOVED a truck they had in the room that he could both walk behind and ride. We made several circles around the room walking beside him as he pushed the truck and pushing him around as he rode on it. He was again fascinated with John - not being used to seeing men he seems not quite sure what to think of him yet. He did sit on his lap several times looking through books and playing with plastic balls though. He spit up a little on Laurie, the first of many to come for sure. Because this room had a carpet rug he was able to crawl around we we could see what he wanted to play with, not being limited to our laps and the toys we handed him like yesterday. Our visit today was longer - almost an hour and 1/2. When they came to get him we were playing with the truck again and he didn't seem to want to leave. Again, though he didn't cry the entire visit!! Oh, for those of your who are curious...Laurie was able to read the tag on his overalls today and they were size 12 mo - they needed rolled up a little on the bottom but fit well otherwise :)

The plan tomorrow is that we are going to spend the first part of the day walking around on our own. Most of our pictures are out of a car window so we want to try and get some better ones. It is very cold here so we are not sure how long our walk will last. Sasha is going to pick us up in the afternoon for our next visit at the baby home. We told Natasha today that yes, we officially want to adopt HIM and we signed a form. She is going to schedule a couple of appointments for Thursday and will therefore not be with us tomorrow - we will have Galina (a translator) with us at the home for our visit. On Thursday we must visit a notary for various required paperwork and also meet with a doctor for our Russian medical exams.

We are off to dinner now - we found a lovely little italian restaurant yesterday and have decided to return there tonight. We must take advantage of English speaking staff, a menu we can read, good prices and good food :)