Meeting Our Youngest

Yesterday morning we arrived in Odessa about 9am after a 9-10 hour train ride from Kiev.  Zhenia found our driver, and we set off for Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyy.  The car was a Chevy Aveo for six people.  This is a very little car.  So the four of us crammed in the back seat with Vivian sitting on Cliff's lap for the 1-1/2 hour drive.  She ended up lying across all of us. What an adventure!

I wanted to take some pictures along the way, but it is tough to get anything recognizable at 100-120km/hr. while dodging potholes.  Our route took us across a bridge with a view of the Black Sea (something I've wanted to see).  By 10:45 we were waiting for the inspector to give permission for us to visit the orphanage (without her, as she had a court appearance to make).  Then by about 11:45 we were sitting in the orphanage director's office.

The director is a lovely woman who has been director for 16 years.  She also has experience as speech therapist.  She asked us a few questions about ourselves, commented on our lovely girls, and commenced to tell us about "Thumbelina." (not her real name, obviously, but we can't post that yet.  Besides, it is similar to a Ukrainian nickname that they gave her).

Thumbelina had a VERY rough start in life.  She arrived prematurely and suffered great neglect on the part of her mother.  She was removed from the mother's custody and returned only to be removed again and hospitalized.  She came to this orphanage in January of 2010 and since that time has progressed dramatically.

She is small due to her premature birth and the privation she suffered early on.  She walks, runs, climbs, talks, repeats words, follows directions, has chosen her hand preference (right-handed), holds a pen well (not totally correctly, but well), colors, shows great ability to focus on her chosen activity, and even threw a (totally age-appropriate) tantrum for us when we tried to redirect her away from the books on the Director's bookcase.

Also because she is small and had such a rough start, she is spoiled.  The Director mentioned that the other children in her groupa treat her like a little baby doll, and the staff spoil her as well.  Clearly we will have some work to do on boundaries and acceptable behavior.

When Thumbelina entered the room, she bounded in and said, "Privet!" (pronounced "pree Vyet", meaning "Hi!") and ran straight to Cliff (he was sitting closest to the door).  She was wearing a cream colored swing top and leggings that were actually knit (like knit 1, purl 1), multi-color socks and black cloth mary janes.  Her blond curls were in 2 little ponytails held by white scrunchies that looked like clusters of white flowers.  Her cheeks and nose were flushed from being brought in from the playground.  Her blue eyes surveyed the room.  She clearly understood that she was the subject of the meeting and the center of attention.

Cliff picked her up, and she smiled as she touched his nose, eyes, mouth.  Then he took her over to the couch where our girls were sitting.  Thumbelina climbed into Vivian's lap and inspected her.  Then she crossed over Cliff to Emma and stood on her lap.  She repeated their names when Cliff said them to her.

Finally, it was my turn.  She came right to me.  I picked her up (she's so tiny!) and put her on my lap.  She saw my pen and picked it up and started coloring on my paper.  She held the pen more or less correctly and was so engrossed in her work that we almost could not get her attention for anything else.  The Director demonstrated Thumbelina's vocabulary by having her name a few objects.  Then she showed her ability for language acquisition by having her repeat words she did not know.  The Director, a former speech therapist, asked her to repeat the word for "turtle", and Thumbelina did so perfectly.  Apparently it is a very difficult word in Russian.  Both the Director and Zhenia were impressed.  Zhenia also tested some English words. She did quite well repeating, and seemed willing to play the game.

That's when she went after the bookshelf.  She saw a statue of a lamb and wanted it.  We moved it, and she got upset.  She was quite persistent, "screamed", refused to be distracted by the little teddy bear we had brought for her, ran around the room and finally let me distract her with the pen and paper again.  By then it was lunch time for her, so we said good-bye.  As she was leaving, she said, "Paka!" (Bye-Bye!)

Next we spoke with the orphanage doctor.  She confirmed all the information we had gotten from the Director.  The usual concerns with preemies (vision, hearing, heart, lungs, etc.) are normal, but she is delayed from lack of attention.  Even though she is small, she has no neurological issues.  She feeds herself, eats everything they offer, has no food allergies, and toilets by herself but still uses a diaper at night (orphanage convenience).  Additionally, she handles medical exams and shots well and has had chicken pox (Zhenia called it "chicken pie") and handled that illness well, too.

After the doctor left, the Director called the orphanage director where the older kids are living.  We had mentioned to the Director that we were planning to meet with the other kids today (3 hour drive away), she informed us that she was good friends with the other Director and would make a call on our behalf.  She found out that both kids have participated in a hosting program (orphans go to the U.S. for a few weeks to experience American culture) and both children want to be adopted.  Both kids are smart, healthy and well liked, and the Director is eagerly awaiting our visit.  Additionally, the boy remembers his baby sister.  The girl was too young when they were removed from the home to remember the baby.

This information was important to us.  We were concerned that given his age the boy might refuse the opportunity for adoption.  We also now know that the older two may have some English language understanding/speaking ability.  And it is good that at least the boy remembers the little one.  And because of the call and the information she received, we didn't have to spend an extra 6 hours in that itty bitty car. (Zhenia is trying to arrange a larger car when we return next week).

By 1:30 we finished at the orphanage, got lunch, did some paperwork (until 4:30) and headed back to Odessa to catch a train back to Kiev.  As the train did not leave until 11:25pm, we got burgers at McD's and found a warm place to wait the 5 hours or so for the train.