Getting the hang of it

Yesterday when we visited Charlie, we had a room all to ourselves, which was really nice for the three of us to get to know each other. It's strange when all the nannies are watching you, and they can communicate with your child but you can't. So it was nice to be alone! He took a few minutes to get used to us again. We brought a touch-and-feel book for him, and he LOVED it. There are two pages that are scratchy textures, and he liked those the best. We showed him how to feel them and his little fingers went crazy! Then he figured out how to turn the pages too. He could have played with that all day! When he is with us, he has to do a lot more work than he is used to, so he got pretty tired out! At one point he just wanted me to stand and rock him, so we did that for awhile. Charlie is so curious, he checks out everything in the room and wants to touch everything!

Yesterday I got homesick for the first time. The first few days we were here, we were so busy, and everything was so new, that I never really felt homesick - besides missing Brennan. But now our days are very slow. I wanted so many things - to kiss Brennan, to speak in English, popsicles, to be able to go to the store and find what I need, to not be so dependent on other people. But today was a better day. We did great going all over the city on our own, and I even found Tide at the store! It's the little things that help. :)

Today we tried going to the orphanage on our own. Our facilitator had shown us how to use the buses yesterday. So, today we went down to the bus stop to try it out. There are 4 buses we can take, and we got on the first one that came. We paid, got comfortable, and the bus turned down the wrong road! We were quite worried, but figured the worst that could happen is we'd ride the whole circle and get back off at our original stop. The bus did eventually get to our stop, but we were coming from a different angle so I didn't notice until we were past. So we got off on the next stop and walked back. When we left the orphanage, we decided just to walk back. We stopped at a market on the way and got a bag full of snacks! We had plenty of food at our apartment, but we're really snack people. (We've been eating more chocolate than either of our mothers care to know about!) We got a large bag full of things - milk, popcorn, pop, cookies, pastries, etc. - for only about $12! This is one thing about Ukraine that I love! We made it home with no problems. At one point we were worried because nothing looked familiar, but I found a street sign and we were on the right road!

Charlie seemed excited to see us today! As far as we could tell, anyway! We got a bunch of real smiles today, which was wonderful. He's warming up to us! We brought his favorite book, which he liked, and he loves our camera. A lot! He is really interested when we play with his feet! He has good upper body strength, but his legs pretty much just dangle. He doesn't put weight on them at all. We'll be trying out a few foot/leg games with Charlie to see if we can start building some muscle!