Once the kids name the puppy, you can’t take it back…- Bonding Day 3

Major events of the day: Shopping, Bonding Day 3, a choice of names, and some measurements

The real name of today’s entry should be (as Cathe says): “Once you name the pookies, you have to take them home.”

This morning was a shopping adventure. First we went looking for some DVDs and CDs in Russian, preferable with English or at least English subtitles. We saw many familiar titles at reasonable prices. We also made use of Masha’s familiarity of popular musical groups so we could pick up a few CDs to help the children feel more at home. Probably not necessary, though since American music is heard everywhere. We picked up a few kid-friendly reference books on animals and geography as well. Then we were off to another store to look at jackets, clothes, and shoes, the basic supplies we will need for the few days between the day we get custody and the day we head home. Tomorrow we will be taking the children shopping, so we wanted to get a feel for styles and prices. It’s “Back-to-school” shopping time except there aren’t any big sales at the moment. Where’s Target when you need it?

Yesterday Masha explained the importance of working on names so that all the documents can be prepared before court. Both children understood and were eager to begin. We had talked briefly yesterday, made some preliminary picks, then we all thought about it over night. It is important to us that the children retain their heritage, so their current names will be part of their full names. We also want them to be comfortable, so we went through all of the pictures, naming family members and listing off names of other cousins, etc. Yesterday Masha asked me about “having a different last name than Cathe,” and what the “II” after my name means. I explained about the family history and how a lot of people have “Junior” instead of the 2nd. LB heard “Junior” and announced he wanted that to be his first name. We explained as delicately as possible that Junior wasn’t a family name and he dropped the matter. Clicking through the tv channels this morning I figured that one out: There’s a tv personality/he-man named Junior who reminds me of The Rock (from pro wrestling).

Today we went over name choices. Cathe and I made notes yesterday then spent a couple hours looking up the meanings of names, both their current names and the possible choices. LG has her mind set on a beautiful name that is quite flattering. It was apparent that LG thought about this meeting before we thought about it. On the other hand, LB looked over the list and Masha translated the meanings. It took him about a nanosecond to point to one and say, “That’s me.” After several rounds of, “Are you sure?” we had that one nailed as well.

Next order of business was to pull out the measuring tape to work on clothing sizes. Although we will be doing some shopping tomorrow, Cathe brought along a JC Penny size chart so we can figure out US sizes. She will be hitting the stores so the closets will be full by the time the children are home. It was another fun project and got more than a few giggles. I had drawn out a little diagram of where we needed to measure, so all I had to do was operate the measuring tape while the children wrote down the measurements. Two major tasks down in short order.

Then the fun really began. A few other children wandered in to play along. First there was a little girl whose family is now in the post-court waiting period. Soon her younger sister wandered in. All of the girls ran upstairs to get their photo albums, complete with all the happy little girl sounds of giggling and chattering. Soon the girls were all coloring and taking a lot of pictures while the guys and mom were playing Uno. A 10 year old boy came in to sit and talk with LB and play along too. I was amazed with his English. He has an older sister, 14, and is looking forward to a time when his family will come. Keep him in your prayers because he really wants a family.

We finally got some quiet “us time” when one of the teachers shooed away the other children. I didn’t really mind though, since we had a great opportunity to see how the children socialize and were well pleased. LB could hardly wait for the computer to come out of the bag. He is really excited to show us what he has learned in Informatics class. He seems to have a good grasp of Word and did pretty good with PowerPoint too. LG was quietly drawing with mom while I was helping drive the mouse.

Another great visit came to an end much too soon.

After getting back to the apartment, Cathe and I headed over to a nice restaurant on Constitution Avenue, close to the Kazakh museum (thanks again to Jim for all the work he put into the Google Map shared on the PVPK Links page, it’s a great reference). Dinner was very good and the prices reasonable. One interesting note is that although beer is on the menu, you can’t get it at most restaurants. Masha told us earlier in the week that there are some new rules/law going onto place limiting availability of beer. However, you can still get a bottle of wine or Vodka and a pitcher of Orange Juice delivered to your table…