Good news bad news

Bad news first. Rob wasn't taken to the airport on time and has missed his flight home. He is a little flustered but has actually taken it in stride as long as the other pieces fall into place for him to leave tomorrow and get home. I think I'll use a different pair of ruby slippers. The ones he had must have been defective. There are 2 other couples we know who are in Kyiv so I have called them to see if they could cheer him up and maybe get together with him for dinner or something. We have made some great friends here and hope to keep in touch with them. I know they will make every effort to connect with him today and we hope to stay connected when we all get home. (whenever that may be!)

Good news next. Great day of visits with the boys. Vanya continues to ask about papa when I pick him up. One of the caregivers asked him who I was and he said in his very matter of fact voice "Mama" and then he added "and Papa". The lady must have said "Well I don't see a papa" to which he replied "America". So I think he gets it but I can't really be sure. I continue to try to be consistant with him and correct him and he is starting to understand when mama "means business". He only fussed a little bit today when I made him put down the stick that he hit the wall with that broke off with pieces flying everywhere. And ,yes papa, he got a little pop on the behind and had to sit with mama at the picnic table instead of continuing to play with the "machi" (ball) with Babushka. In his most pitiful voice he kept repeating "babushka, babushka" as if she could come save him from the mean mama. Once he settled down I let him get back up and he was just as happy as before and continued to play with babushka. His laugh is contagious and it solicited lots of smile from everyone around, including mama. For the first time he let me walk him inside his room to wash his hands and sit on "his" pot. Yes I literally mean a "pot" not a toilet. He pointed out which one was his and he proceeded to sit on it. While he was sitting was the best part. He tilted his head a bit and reached his arms out a little and rubbed both of my arms and said very sweetly with a great big smile "Mama, Mama". Yep, I almost cried yet again. Is this normal, you other moms out there? I feel like I have shed more tears during this trip than I have my whole life. Maybe it's my age showing but these little guys just choke me up all the time with the simplest sweetest things they do and say.
When we went to visit with Yuri we took him to the river with his new bathing suit from babushka. He didn't understand that he didn't need underwear too so he kept his underwear on and his bathing suit on top just like he would regular shorts. Maybe he really wanted board shorts, I don't know. Just kidding. He was thrilled to just have something new so I let him keep them on when we got back. It was pretty cold there so we bundled up after we had gone swimming for that 4 minutes and just enjoyed sitting on the blanket together. Andrey was, of course, with us and he kept all the other kids straight about what they could play with and what they couldn't. One of the older boys took one of the small soccer balls we had and Andrey promptly went down the hill and retreived it from the boys shorts that were on the shore. He is such a big help. We then went to get ice cream and ended up with croissants and sugarless chewing gum instead. Better choice, I think. Then the highlight of Yuri's day was getting to ride in the car with Roman, our driver. He was all smiles and was so excited to tell everyone that he almost forgot to say goodbye to me. He did forget babushka but she will give him hugs and kisses on tomorrows visit enough to last if he forgets again I'm sure. He continues to be very happy and he is talking up a storm and loves to take pictures. He gave papas picture a hug today when he saw it on the camera but didn't want to take the printed picture back with him because he thought it might get taken away from him. He definitely wants me to bring it each time though. The coolest thing happened while he was scrolling through the pictures on the camera. He found the one of Papa, Yuri, and Victor and hugged it to his chest and then he found the one of Mama, Yuri, and Victor and hugged that one and then he found the one of just himself with Victor and he looked up at me with a smile on his face and gave that one a big hug too. Priceless, just priceless. He isn't quite sure about Vanya yet but I think it is because he hasn't met him yet. He is going to make a great big brother.
Igor rejoined us today and had great news about finding a house and some property to purchase so he can start organizing things to make some money and have enough to adopt 2 little girls. Congrats, Igor.
That's it for now. I continue to love all the comments and prayers and feel very fortunate that God has chosen us to be the parents of these little boys. What a priviledge!
Blessings to all,
Laura
I'll post more pictures tomorrow