June 9th visit: Mr. Chatterbox

You know, we didn't really get great pictures today!  Sorry everyone!  Maybe Jerry will disagree and post something later. :)

It's Saturday, so the entire institution was on low staff, and the busyness and structure of the week just isn't there (which is not to say things were going crazy at all.  Honestly, I suspect many of the residents spend a lot of the day indoors with their groupas?...much else would be speculation).  Alex was in bed when we arrived (10am), so the weekend nanny got him up and we played in the therapy room for about an hour.  The difference we noticed today...Alex was chatting up a storm in Russian.  Well, OK, he was communicating to us in simple sentences in Russian.  We SO wished we knew what he was saying.  But it was the most we've ever heard him try to communicate with us.  He was in a playful mood, and the game of the day was trying to escape the therapy room with a commando crawl.  I'm serious that this kid is STRONG (at least in his upper body).  And he can move.  We saw some "strategic directional rolling" as well.  We're considering what we have to do to make his bedroom safe.  This is absolutely not a "I'm lying around until someone carries me somewhere" child!



After second (?) breakfast, which he mostly insisted on feeding himself (but I brought wet wipes!), we went outside.  We spent a good amount of time on the bench swing, playing with a balloon on a ribbon.  Nothing major, but Jerry and I both mentioned afterward that it seems he is really getting more comfortable and accepting of us, as opposed to just the "human ticket to the swings outside": trying to communicate, accepting (with a little pushback, but not too much) redirection or correction, very happy to see us and be with us in different ways.

One thing we mused upon afterward: the nannies are very warm and affectionate with Alex, and I am grateful for that.  They clearly like him.  But we say to him at least once a visit "Ya tbya loobloo"-- which means "I love you"-- and he looks at us fairly blankly, not upset, not happy...its just not registering.  We don't think he has ever heard the phrase. So...I guess we'll have to teach him what that means.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we're taking a sabbath from blogging.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers, and especially pray for the court scheduled on Tuesday...for a positive decision, and that they waive the 10 day wait.  Many thanks!