Good morning to you!

As for us, we are now at the end of our first day. And contrary to how we thought the day would go, it really went quite well!

As expected, Little I was pretty fussy first thing this morning. I held him as he cried, and Nathan fed him some peaches & cream oatmeal. In between cries, he let Nathan feed him his oatmeal, and then I asked Nathan to lay a few toys out in the floor. We figured that it might be best to just hold him for a little while and let him survey the place…no forcing him to do anything on the first day.

I also tried to get him to drink some water out of his sippy cup, and it just wasn’t happening. He’s used to drinking from a regular cup…the orphanage doctor even hoped that we wouldn’t let him lose some of his “grownup” skills, like dressing himself…using the potty…and drinking from a regular cup (but since he’ll regress some, anyway, and I don’t mind having a 19 month old still drinks from a sippy cup, uses diapers, and needs help dressing himself…we’re just gonna let him ‘do his thing’ for a while). Anyway, the sippy cup was a bit difficult at first…but he figured it out pretty quickly (the Nuby kind…and, in my limited experience, one of the easiest to figure out). I also ended up unscrewing the lid from his cup and letting him drink that way. He’s actually quite good at it!

Once he was fed & comforted, we saw a completely new child. In fact, we actually saw the child that we saw on Trip One, when his caregivers were present. He tentatively explored, at first…peeking around corners and opening cabinet doors.

And then, he initiated his first game. He handed me one of his toys, and I responded with an animated “spasiba! thank you!” And once he found that I enjoyed this game, he brought me everything he could put his hands on.

He also found that he enjoyed getting into everything…especially if it has a cord. We definitely have our work cut out for us! And life will never be the same, running after a toddler.

But, oh, the eye contact. There’s nothing like it. He makes contact and holds it…if we’re playing…if we’re just sitting there…if he’s eating. I’m not really surprised that he’s making the contact, but that he is making it so soon. And if I go out of the room, he comes to find me. If Nathan goes out of the room, he searches for Nathan. When we encounter other people, he sticks his knuckle in his mouth and snuggles closer to whichever of us is holding him.

It’s really a neat thing. And was such an unexpected surprise!

We also ventured outside to walk around, and he seemed to enjoy it…he did fine, but it was pretty busy outside & eventually the sights & sounds of outside wore him out & we had to come in. Once that finger goes in the mouth…it’s time to take a break. We’ve only known him for such a short amount of time, but yet…we know him. It’s an amazing phenomenon.

Naptime was a little hard today. We played a little too hard & he got a little overstimulated, so it was hard to get him to sleep…but when he did go to sleep, he was OUT for 2 ½ hours. We sorta forgot about his second nap (thanks to the fact that it stays so light so late – it’s 10:00 and just now dusk outside), and by the time we remembered, it was too late, and he was cranky. So we kept him up till his ‘regular’ bedtime, and after a little bit of a struggle to get him to sleep, he’s out again. I hope this ‘good sleeping’ thing lasts.

One thing to end on…Iliya tried teaching us a new song today. Or at least that’s what it seemed like. And I know I’m his mom…I’m biased, but it really was precious. At various points during the day, he would start singing a couple bars of some song. Mostly, it was the same tune each time, and he really acted like he wanted us to sing with him. The closest we got was Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star…that seemed to appease him, but I sure wish I knew which song it was that he wanted us to sing. We got a little bit of this interaction on video. It was so sweet.

I know that we are in a sort of honeymoon phase. I know that this may not last exactly as it was today. But I also know that I am so thankful that today went better than we thought it would. We got smiles & laughter (and video to prove it!) that we did not really think we would get for at least a few weeks. So it was a really nice surprise…and a really good foot to get off on. Maybe he does sense that we are going to take care of him…and take care of him, we most certainly will.