September 25, 2006
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Last Day of the Bonding Period
Today was the last day of the official bonding period and my adoption petition will be filed with the court tomorrow. I’m hopeful that I will get a court date on or before this Friday and that I will not have to wait until Monday. I should know in the next day or two when my court date will be.
I have also chosen a name for Alma. Her name is Allison Faith Lockhart. I have included Alma as a second middle name in case she wants to be called Alma when she is older. I think Allison fits her personality better than any of the other names I was considering including Alma. I know my Mom will be slightly disappointed that I didn’t keep her name as Alma because Mom had an aunt whose name was Alma with whom she was very close. I appreciated the email Mom sent saying she was ok with any name I chose. Thanks Mom.
The orphanage still doesn’t have any heat. This meant Allison and I had to meet in the baby room again today. The main drawback on meeting in the baby room is that Allison is constantly distracted by what the other babies and caregivers are doing, which makes it difficult to impossible for her to focus one-on-one with me. I’m resigned to not being able to meet with her by myself for the rest of my trip and that we will not make any progress on attachment until I return to pick her up.
The one good thing about spending so much time in the baby room is that I have had an opportunity to observe the care provided to the babies and it has been reassuring to see how responsive they usually are to a baby’s cries and that they do spend some time interacting with each baby one-on-one. The caregivers do have a favorite baby and his name is Alesho. His mom can’t take care of him right now and has placed him in the orphanage temporarily. He is a very happy and outgoing baby.
Allison still has a slightly runny nose, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any worse nor have any of the other babies become sicker. While she is not worse, I think she is still fighting a cold because she isn’t as perky as she was the first 10 days I was here. She continues to make progress with sitting up and pulling herself into a standing position, but she still doesn’t “talk” much. I’m hoping that will improve once she comes home with me.
I started distributing the gifts I brought with me to the care givers since I may not see the ones who worked today again before I leave. I walked to the mall during lunch to buy wrapping paper, scissors, and tape. I was able to buy the paper and scissors without any assistance, but I was having problems locating tape when a very nice man came to my rescue. He was able to interpret for me and helped me locate a kiosk that sold tape. As I’ve said previously, everyone I’ve met in Kazakhstan has been nice and helpful.
The hotel I’m staying at provides breakfast each morning and I checked it out for the second time this morning. A clerk at the front desk who speaks some English was able to order boiled eggs for me. They were great! I also met a couple from New Jersey who arrived over the weekend. They are hoping to adopt two older siblings and will be visiting one or two different orphanages depending upon the age of the children. Children are placed in different orphanages in Kazakhstan based upon age. Allison’s Baby House doesn’t keep any children who are older than 4 or 5.
I also spoke with Lana, my U.S. coordinator, for the first time today since I’ve been in Ust. She was on vacation in Russia the first two weeks I was here. She is going to contact Galina about talking to the orphanage doctors regarding Allison’s diet and hiring one or two caregivers to spend some extra time with Allison after I leave. Allison continues to spit-up during every visit. I know babies spit-up, but I don’t think babies spit-up as much as Allison does. This afternoon’s spit-up was pretty gross. I have no idea what they fed her that caused her spit-up to be grey and black, but that is what it looked like. Sorry to be so graphic, but I guess Moms sort of fixate on these type of things!
I uploaded a picture of Allison and me taken on Saturday. I wasn’t able to take any good pictures today.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
As promised, Ahz took us sight seeing in the mountains surrounding Ust. The roads outside of the city remind me somewhat of the country roads in West Virginia that are unmarked and where you have to hug the side of the road when you pass another car. While the mountains are barren, they are still beautiful. The road we were on followed a river and the scenery was very picturesque.
Our final destination was a pedestrian swing bridge that crossed the river. On our way there, we drove through three little villages. Most of the houses in the villages were built before Kazakhstan became part of the Soviet Union and most of the residents are elderly. The older houses are modest and usually have shutters and ornate wood work above the windows. I also noticed that almost every house we passed had beautiful vegetable and flower gardens. I’ve uploaded a picture of a typical house.
While driving, we also saw several cows walking along side of the road. It doesn’t look like they fence cows in like they do in the U.S. We also saw a lady herding 3 very pretty goats along side of the road as well.
After returning to Ust, I walked to the restaurant that serves pizza and has an English menu. I was longing for something that reminded me of home so I ordered French fries and chicken cutlets. In Kazakhstan, French fries are served with both mayonnaise and ketchup. The chicken cutlets were very tasty and consisted of ground chicken mixed with herbs and rice.
The weather was nice and I was able to sit outside and people watch. One observation I made is that most Kazak’s dress-up when they go out. The big fashion items here appear to be fitted jeans with embellishments worn with high heels or boots for women along with a very nice jacket or coat. The men also wear fitted jeans (without the embellishments) with pointed leather shoes and a nice leather jacket or coat. The baggy casual style you see a lot in the U.S. is not popular here. A lot of men also carry a man’s purse that is small and has a handle. Ahz has one and after learning he carries 3 cell phones (one for his wife, one for business and one for Galina), I can understand why a man would need a purse. I guess they may call them something more manly than a purse, but they function as a purse.
