We found out today that our court date will be either April 12 or April 13th. We are to be in KZ by April 10th. So we will push through our visa paperwork and get ready to see Ty and Maxx again.
We are getting mixed messages on what to expect when we arrive so we will take that as it comes.
Marcia
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Another Delay
Apparently, the judge is too busy to tell us when our court date will be. Our coordinator is hoping to learn on Monday or Tuesday.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
A Ty Sighting
We exchange a lot of e-mails with our Philly friends. Yesterday they were outside and saw Ty playing with the kids in his group. They were happy to report he was having fun and oblivious to all the stuff going on regarding the adoption.
As Randy pointed out yesterday (before we learned about the holiday delays). It is possible our date has been set and on the court calendar but none of our contacts have followed up on getting that information to us.
We'll post as soon as we know anything but it probably won't be until Friday.
Marcia
As Randy pointed out yesterday (before we learned about the holiday delays). It is possible our date has been set and on the court calendar but none of our contacts have followed up on getting that information to us.
We'll post as soon as we know anything but it probably won't be until Friday.
Marcia
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
No news yet
ETA: Just learned the courts are closed for a holiday and we won't hear anything until Friday (if then). Obviously, we are very frustrated that none of our adoption contacts could have told us before now that there is a holiday.
Randy called our Kazakhstan contact this AM (our time) and was told to call tomorrow morning Kazakh time. So we won't know anything until early evening at the earliest.
Randy is busy at work and I am working on painting our office closet and doing some touch up painting. Fun Fun.
We'll post as soon as we know something.
Marcia
Randy called our Kazakhstan contact this AM (our time) and was told to call tomorrow morning Kazakh time. So we won't know anything until early evening at the earliest.
Randy is busy at work and I am working on painting our office closet and doing some touch up painting. Fun Fun.
We'll post as soon as we know something.
Marcia
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Photos
I received these photos of the boys this morning. Our translator took our friend's camera to the boys' rooms to take them.
It is surprising that the TV in Maxx's room is off. You can see that it is on in Ty's.
Marcia
Monday, March 8, 2010
Trip Home
The trip back home went very well.
My car arrived on time. The driver was a police officer from Taraz and his wife. The wife spoke a little bit of English. We were stopped 4 times along our route and the driver usually left the car and showed his id to the police and we were on our way.
The roads were relatively good. There were some areas with a lot of potholes that required slowing down.
I got to see another section of Taraz that was not very pleasant. I often wonder when I see some of the poorer sections of the city, if this is where Ty and Maxx had lived.
There were a lot of small rural villages on the route and I saw sheep herders, donkey carts and other rural scenery.
We did encounter one stretch of very poor visibility just prior to reaching Almaty. The wife helped the driver by watching for parked vehicles and other obstructions. She also did a lot of the navigating when we got into the city center.
When we arrived at the Hotel Kazakhstan, Randy's friends met me and helped me with the check-in. The hotel clerk wanted me to pay a cash deposit in addition to taking my credit card number. We were able to get that resolved and off for a late snack and drinks.
It was nice to be closer to civilization again. The hotel had some English TV channels so for the first time in 3 months I was able to watch live TV in English. At the pub, there was an English menu and familar beers on tap.
When I arrived at the airport one of the locals tried to scam me for $20. He took my bag from the hotel shuttle put it on a cart and to the customs table where a guy gave me a pen and an English declaration form. I completed them and then they demanded $20 and I played dumb and asked why. It was for the help so I gave them closer to $2, took my bag and walked off to the KM counter.
Everything else went smoothly from there. My flights were early and even though my bag was one of the last off the plane, I still was out of customs very early.
Ace and Randy were both happy to see me and show me all the work they have done to prepare for Ty and Maxx's arrival.
Marcia
My car arrived on time. The driver was a police officer from Taraz and his wife. The wife spoke a little bit of English. We were stopped 4 times along our route and the driver usually left the car and showed his id to the police and we were on our way.
The roads were relatively good. There were some areas with a lot of potholes that required slowing down.
I got to see another section of Taraz that was not very pleasant. I often wonder when I see some of the poorer sections of the city, if this is where Ty and Maxx had lived.
There were a lot of small rural villages on the route and I saw sheep herders, donkey carts and other rural scenery.
We did encounter one stretch of very poor visibility just prior to reaching Almaty. The wife helped the driver by watching for parked vehicles and other obstructions. She also did a lot of the navigating when we got into the city center.
When we arrived at the Hotel Kazakhstan, Randy's friends met me and helped me with the check-in. The hotel clerk wanted me to pay a cash deposit in addition to taking my credit card number. We were able to get that resolved and off for a late snack and drinks.
It was nice to be closer to civilization again. The hotel had some English TV channels so for the first time in 3 months I was able to watch live TV in English. At the pub, there was an English menu and familar beers on tap.
When I arrived at the airport one of the locals tried to scam me for $20. He took my bag from the hotel shuttle put it on a cart and to the customs table where a guy gave me a pen and an English declaration form. I completed them and then they demanded $20 and I played dumb and asked why. It was for the help so I gave them closer to $2, took my bag and walked off to the KM counter.
Everything else went smoothly from there. My flights were early and even though my bag was one of the last off the plane, I still was out of customs very early.
Ace and Randy were both happy to see me and show me all the work they have done to prepare for Ty and Maxx's arrival.
Marcia
Good Bye for Now
It was very hard to get ready for this visit. I could not decide what toys to bring so I brought a lot of them and let the boys pick out what they wanted to play with which meant everything.
I picked up both boys as normal and they both were very excited and happy to see me. Neither boy liked waiting for Maxx to get changed. Ty kept trying to peek into his changing room.
We had our normal snacks of bananas, yogurt and cereal pieces. I showed Ty how I could throw a piece of cereal in the air and catch it in my mouth to eat it. He tried only once as he threw the cereal behind him and couldn't find it.
Most of the photos are of the boys playing with Maxx's juice and cereal bowl. It is very hard to get photos of them together and looking at the camera. I brought them cherry juice and decided I was not going to worry if they spilled or made a mess. I felt sorry for them as they don't get to put vokda in their cherry juice like their Mommy. When we first started bonding, Ty was the one who enjoyed pouring his juice into the bowl and making the mess.
I have joked a few times that I learned some things about parenting from Ace and today was a good example. Usually, dog owners are told not to make a big deal about leaving because it will cause anxiety for the dog. I decided some of that would hold true for the boys so after snacks I decided to tell Ty (Maxx wouldn't pay attention) that this would be the last time we would be playing together for a while. He looked heartbroken. I then told him I had to take a long trip to see Daddy but Daddy will come back with me so we could all play. I told him it would be several weeks but I don't know if he understands the concept of time. He did not seem to be concerned about it anymore.
We then did our usual playing and made a big mess of all the toys. There was a new, lower crib in the bonding room and Ty got out the babydoll and put her to bed with some toys. Both boys really enjoy playing Daddy for the doll.
Of course we had to have a bathroom visit and Maxx is definitely not afraid of the bathroom anymore. This time he learned more about how an echo works and that if he pounds on the door he can hear the echo. I have to hold Ty up to the sink to wash his hands and he loves to splash his face and drink under the faucet. I let Maxx do this today also.
Towards the end of the visit, the adoption coordinator came by to discuss some of the discussions we had with our adoption agency and the country coodinator (obviously no one is happy right now and there is a lot of fingerpointing between all parties). I told her that I was not interested in re-hashing the topic during my last 20 minutes with the boys. She still tried to push a conversation as I was playing with the boys. The boys decided it was fun to get louder everytime the adoption coordinator spoke. They would just laugh and this forced the coordinator and the translator to speak even louder which made the boys laugh even louder. I was glad the boys decided to act up as I said I didn't want to have the conversation at that time. They knew this time was to be about them.
I took the boys back to their rooms as we have done for the past few weeks.
I am supposed to get updates from the translator on the boys. Our friends are still staying in Taraz and they told me they will also keep an eye out for the boys and send us photos.
I will pass them along as we get them.
Marcia
Meeting with Judge
On Friday was our meeting with the judge regarding our court date. We (the Philly couple & I) understood we would find out our court dates at the meeting.
All 3 of us were escorted to a "courtroom" which was probably 25 ft by 25 ft with a bench, secretary's table and 4 benches for participants.
Since we were separate families, I was then asked to wait in the hallway. I felt like I was in grade school and misbehaved. After 15 or 20 minutes, the Philly couple came out and I could tell that the meeting did not go well.
I went in and was told that the judge (under KZ law) had suspended viewing all his adoption cases for a 2 week period and that he is not obligated to tell us our court date until March 23rd.
This was not consistent with information our Adoption Coordinator told us and let's just say there have been a lot of e-mails, phone calls and discussions on the matter with the Adoption Coordinator and our adoption agency.
On Thursday, I tried to extend the return date on my airline ticket and was told by Delta the fee for ticket changes have gone up on my ticket and I would be better off buying a new one if I wanted to extend my departure past Sunday March 7th. This was the date I thought we would have had the adoption finalized and would be heading back to the US.
Due to the uncertainty of when the court date will be assigned and having an airline ticket about to expire, Randy and I decided I should fly back to the US and wait to hear about the court date.
We decided this at 8:00PM on Friday so we had to push to get arrangements made to get from Taraz to Almaty. It was too late to get a train or plane so hiring a car was our only option.
Randy's Almaty friends/co-workers set up a car for me so I could see the boys on Saturday morning and then head to Almaty.
The only positive item to report is a couple who had finished their bonding in late November is scheduled to start their official court hearings this week. Hopefully this means the judge will issue court dates and is just being "bureaucratic" about the process.
All 3 of us were escorted to a "courtroom" which was probably 25 ft by 25 ft with a bench, secretary's table and 4 benches for participants.
Since we were separate families, I was then asked to wait in the hallway. I felt like I was in grade school and misbehaved. After 15 or 20 minutes, the Philly couple came out and I could tell that the meeting did not go well.
I went in and was told that the judge (under KZ law) had suspended viewing all his adoption cases for a 2 week period and that he is not obligated to tell us our court date until March 23rd.
This was not consistent with information our Adoption Coordinator told us and let's just say there have been a lot of e-mails, phone calls and discussions on the matter with the Adoption Coordinator and our adoption agency.
On Thursday, I tried to extend the return date on my airline ticket and was told by Delta the fee for ticket changes have gone up on my ticket and I would be better off buying a new one if I wanted to extend my departure past Sunday March 7th. This was the date I thought we would have had the adoption finalized and would be heading back to the US.
Due to the uncertainty of when the court date will be assigned and having an airline ticket about to expire, Randy and I decided I should fly back to the US and wait to hear about the court date.
We decided this at 8:00PM on Friday so we had to push to get arrangements made to get from Taraz to Almaty. It was too late to get a train or plane so hiring a car was our only option.
Randy's Almaty friends/co-workers set up a car for me so I could see the boys on Saturday morning and then head to Almaty.
The only positive item to report is a couple who had finished their bonding in late November is scheduled to start their official court hearings this week. Hopefully this means the judge will issue court dates and is just being "bureaucratic" about the process.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tick Tock the Almat Clock
Today I picked up Ty and then we went to get Maxx in his room. Maxx's teachers must now know our schedule as Maxx was not in the potty room with the rest of his class but dressed in the main room when we got him.
Both boys were very excited to see each other and go to the exercise room. I found yogurt with little cookies that can be poured in which fascinated the boys. Poor guys had to wait for the translator to get spoons for them. They ate their bananas while we waited. Getting a spoon is more difficult than just going to the kitchen. The translator needed to go to each boy's room and get their spoon. Ty didn't want to pour the cookies in his yogurt. It was more fun for him to pick them up with the spoon to eat. Maxx didn't care. He just makes a mess and probably only eats half of yogurt and wears the other half.
I brought the matchbox cars so we could let them roll down the slide. That was a fun little game.
The physical therapist arrived and "evicted" us from the exercise room to the medical room. The medical room had a large rug and plenty of room for all of us (the Philly family was sharing the room with us). We were told not to let the boys touch the equipment and they did a pretty good job. Ty once tried to dial some knobs on a machine.
Both boys wanted to sit at the desk in the room. There was a staff photo of all the babyhouse staff and Ty enjoyed pointing at some of his teachers.
We really didn't do anything unusual this visit. We looked out the windows and worked on words. Maxx did some extended babbling as he played with the carton from the yogurt.
For the first time, Ty told me "potty" when he needed to go. There is a "big button, little button" toilet in the exercise room. Ty doesn't understand that he is supposed to use the big button for "big jobs".
For a while Rustam was an airplane which meant that I held him sideways and we zoomed the room. Ty was a clock. I would hold him upside down by his shins and swing him and chant "tick tock, the Almat clock". He thought that was a great game.
When it was time to go, we passed the children that were working with the therapist. One boy does not have arms and the other two were not able to sit up on their own. They were happy and smiled when we said "hello".
I am not sure if I will have a babyhouse visit on Friday. I am going to get to meet the judge for our case. Since I am in Taraz, I can go to this preliminary meeting. There is a chance I will learn the court date at that meeting. I will let everyone know what I learn.
Marcia
Both boys were very excited to see each other and go to the exercise room. I found yogurt with little cookies that can be poured in which fascinated the boys. Poor guys had to wait for the translator to get spoons for them. They ate their bananas while we waited. Getting a spoon is more difficult than just going to the kitchen. The translator needed to go to each boy's room and get their spoon. Ty didn't want to pour the cookies in his yogurt. It was more fun for him to pick them up with the spoon to eat. Maxx didn't care. He just makes a mess and probably only eats half of yogurt and wears the other half.
I brought the matchbox cars so we could let them roll down the slide. That was a fun little game.
The physical therapist arrived and "evicted" us from the exercise room to the medical room. The medical room had a large rug and plenty of room for all of us (the Philly family was sharing the room with us). We were told not to let the boys touch the equipment and they did a pretty good job. Ty once tried to dial some knobs on a machine.
Both boys wanted to sit at the desk in the room. There was a staff photo of all the babyhouse staff and Ty enjoyed pointing at some of his teachers.
We really didn't do anything unusual this visit. We looked out the windows and worked on words. Maxx did some extended babbling as he played with the carton from the yogurt.
For the first time, Ty told me "potty" when he needed to go. There is a "big button, little button" toilet in the exercise room. Ty doesn't understand that he is supposed to use the big button for "big jobs".
For a while Rustam was an airplane which meant that I held him sideways and we zoomed the room. Ty was a clock. I would hold him upside down by his shins and swing him and chant "tick tock, the Almat clock". He thought that was a great game.
When it was time to go, we passed the children that were working with the therapist. One boy does not have arms and the other two were not able to sit up on their own. They were happy and smiled when we said "hello".
I am not sure if I will have a babyhouse visit on Friday. I am going to get to meet the judge for our case. Since I am in Taraz, I can go to this preliminary meeting. There is a chance I will learn the court date at that meeting. I will let everyone know what I learn.
Marcia
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Leader of the Pack
Maxx's class was in potty break when I went to pick him up. There are 8 little potty seats where each child sits on one in a circle as their teacher talks to them. I gave the teacher Maxx's diapers and signalled that I would wait outside. After 5 minutes I could hear Maxx crying. Apparently, he was getting impatient. I am not sure which parent he learned that trait from.
Ty is usually sent to the bathroom before getting to leave with me. His classmates like to walk up to me, say "hello" and I shake their hands. Ty sometimes gets a little jealous so I think it's good that he sees that I can be friendly with other children and that doesn't hurt him.
Today, we were back in the exercise room and a few of the nurses recognized Maxx. One of them told us (the adoption coordinator, the translator and me) that they are really surprised that Maxx can say "bye bye" clearly. The also mentioned he was a "leader" in his class. He was too busy eating his yogurt to care.
I added Maxx's baby picture to the powerpoint I do with the boys and they didn't recognize Maxx but referred to him as "lala" or "baby". Ty is starting to say some words without prompting. Today, when we walked past the bathroom he said "potty" without prompting. His current favorite word in the powerpoint is "toothbrush". We pretend to brush our teeth after we say it.
Ty likes the swingset in the room and spent a lot of time on it. Maxx's favorite activity was to put the plastic balls and his juice cup into a shopping bag. Both boys enjoyed putting the baskets on their heads and making monster noises.
We tooks turns rolling balls down the slide. Ty will climb the ladder to slide but he was more interested in unscrewing some of the bolts from the swingset. I tried to teach him "righty tighty, left loosey" but that was lost on him. Both boys had to show the baby how they can bounce on the hoppity hop. Maxx didn't quite get it at first but liked that everyone laughed at him.
Our friends and their baby shared the room with us. Maxx loves to watch them and the baby is fascinated by the boys running around.
Ty created a new game where he pretends to pout and after a minute then gets smiley and happy. He did get angry with me when I told him he couldn't play with some sticks but there wasn't any screaming or crying and the shoes stayed on. Everyone was bracing for a full blown tantrum and was relieved we didn't get one.
He also wanted to get some balls that were out of his reach and I would try to get him to say "please" and he would act silly and then try to get them on his own. Towards the end of the visit, I did get him to say "please" for some reason.
Maxx found a stuffed bear which he would hold and yell out the Kazakh word for bear. He really likes stuffed animals.
The boys were a little disappointed at the end of their visit. They were really good about saying "goodbye" and holding hands for the walk back. After Ty & I took Maxx to his room, Ty insisted on going back to the exercise room. It turns out he left a shoe in there and knew he needed to go back with 2 shoes.
Both boys made it to their rooms in time for lunch. It is really cute to see the kids sitting at their tables waiting for their soup.
Marcia
1,2,3, No and Baby
This is from Sunday's visit. Sorry for the posting delays.
Today, I was able to take the kids outside to play. Ty, the translator and I were outside Maxx's room as he was getting changed. Ty was eating some cereal I brought. When Maxx came out, he wanted some and was eating it while his teacher put on his boots. He held up a piece of cereal and said in Kazakh "tasty". The teacher told me that Maxx is the most advanced child in his group. I am sure that is something they tell all the parents but it was still good to hear. I told the teachers I was very happy when Maxx started to say "machina" and point at cars in his book. It was a very good start to the visit.
I think the teachers in both boys groups show interest in the boys and care about them. I know they worked with Ty on saying "please" (which he doesn't like to do) and have worked with Maxx to say "good bye" instead of "bye bye".
We couldn't get a room today so we found some space in a lobby area and I gave the boys their bananas and yogurt before going outside. There were some pictures of babies on the walls and the boys taught me "lala" which is the Kazakh word for baby. Eventually we were saying "lala baby, lala baby".
Taking the boys outside alone was quite the experience. They wanted to go in different directions at the same time and Ty thought running off for me to chase him was an excellent game. The babyhouse director parks her car right in front of the door and both boys tried to get into her car. Luckily, she locks the doors.
Ty went to the merry go round and I spun them for a few minutes. I could tell Maxx wanted to get off and he was dizzy when we stopped. We finally got to the playsets and neither boy was interested in them. Ty wanted to go to the open part of the fence so he could see a car drive by. He also liked picking up all the trash. Maxx just wanted to explore in the gazebo. The boys still like bugs and made a point to show me ones on the gazebo walls. Ty picked up a cigarette butt and learned the word "yucky".
Ty was interested in climbing a ladder to a platform and then I would hold him, count to three and he'd jump and I would spin him around. This was a game Randy played with him. He started to repeat "one, two, three". It was very interesting as we haven't worked on numbers and since we were face to face, I noticed he was watching and mimmicking my mouth movements to say the words.
After an hour the boys were trying to get toys out of my backpack so we headed back inside. On the walk back, Ty told the translator "we will now play inside with toys". Ty played with his loto game where he matches 36 game pieces to 6 game cards. It takes him a while and I tell him the names of the pieces. He is very good at concentrating on the game. One of the cards is a pacifier so I tried to show him that babies use a pacifier. Maxx has a pacifier in his baby photo. I should add that to the powerpoint.
Maxx still likes the blocks and crayons. He also discovered the stickers in some of the coloring books. Maxx tried to eat a crayon and I told him "no" and he giggled and tried again. I said "no" and then tried to get the crayon from him. After that Ty started to say "no" to Maxx. This is the first time he said "no". At least it was to his brother and not to me. I am sure that time will come soon enough.
Ty loved to check out all the doors near our area. All of them were locked but he still wanted to explore. I took some blocks and made a pretend key and when that didn't work on the doors he decided he would play blocks with us. He snapped together two blocks in his hair. I have seen the girls in his class do this but didn't think Ty had enough hair to do it. He can only do it with his bangs.
Maxx wasn't interested in putting blocks in anyone's hair so he played with his books. I got out two coins and when he got to the page with money I showed him the coins.
Another very good visit with minimal drama. At one point, it looked like Ty was going to throw a tantrum as he turned away from me and put his head in the sofa. Then he popped his head out and started smiling.
I tell the boys that "They must be the 2 silliest boys in Kazakhstan". Hopefully, they will soon be the silliest boys on Sunnyhill Lane.
Marcia
Today, I was able to take the kids outside to play. Ty, the translator and I were outside Maxx's room as he was getting changed. Ty was eating some cereal I brought. When Maxx came out, he wanted some and was eating it while his teacher put on his boots. He held up a piece of cereal and said in Kazakh "tasty". The teacher told me that Maxx is the most advanced child in his group. I am sure that is something they tell all the parents but it was still good to hear. I told the teachers I was very happy when Maxx started to say "machina" and point at cars in his book. It was a very good start to the visit.
I think the teachers in both boys groups show interest in the boys and care about them. I know they worked with Ty on saying "please" (which he doesn't like to do) and have worked with Maxx to say "good bye" instead of "bye bye".
We couldn't get a room today so we found some space in a lobby area and I gave the boys their bananas and yogurt before going outside. There were some pictures of babies on the walls and the boys taught me "lala" which is the Kazakh word for baby. Eventually we were saying "lala baby, lala baby".
Taking the boys outside alone was quite the experience. They wanted to go in different directions at the same time and Ty thought running off for me to chase him was an excellent game. The babyhouse director parks her car right in front of the door and both boys tried to get into her car. Luckily, she locks the doors.
Ty went to the merry go round and I spun them for a few minutes. I could tell Maxx wanted to get off and he was dizzy when we stopped. We finally got to the playsets and neither boy was interested in them. Ty wanted to go to the open part of the fence so he could see a car drive by. He also liked picking up all the trash. Maxx just wanted to explore in the gazebo. The boys still like bugs and made a point to show me ones on the gazebo walls. Ty picked up a cigarette butt and learned the word "yucky".
Ty was interested in climbing a ladder to a platform and then I would hold him, count to three and he'd jump and I would spin him around. This was a game Randy played with him. He started to repeat "one, two, three". It was very interesting as we haven't worked on numbers and since we were face to face, I noticed he was watching and mimmicking my mouth movements to say the words.
After an hour the boys were trying to get toys out of my backpack so we headed back inside. On the walk back, Ty told the translator "we will now play inside with toys". Ty played with his loto game where he matches 36 game pieces to 6 game cards. It takes him a while and I tell him the names of the pieces. He is very good at concentrating on the game. One of the cards is a pacifier so I tried to show him that babies use a pacifier. Maxx has a pacifier in his baby photo. I should add that to the powerpoint.
Maxx still likes the blocks and crayons. He also discovered the stickers in some of the coloring books. Maxx tried to eat a crayon and I told him "no" and he giggled and tried again. I said "no" and then tried to get the crayon from him. After that Ty started to say "no" to Maxx. This is the first time he said "no". At least it was to his brother and not to me. I am sure that time will come soon enough.
Ty loved to check out all the doors near our area. All of them were locked but he still wanted to explore. I took some blocks and made a pretend key and when that didn't work on the doors he decided he would play blocks with us. He snapped together two blocks in his hair. I have seen the girls in his class do this but didn't think Ty had enough hair to do it. He can only do it with his bangs.
Maxx wasn't interested in putting blocks in anyone's hair so he played with his books. I got out two coins and when he got to the page with money I showed him the coins.
Another very good visit with minimal drama. At one point, it looked like Ty was going to throw a tantrum as he turned away from me and put his head in the sofa. Then he popped his head out and started smiling.
I tell the boys that "They must be the 2 silliest boys in Kazakhstan". Hopefully, they will soon be the silliest boys on Sunnyhill Lane.
Marcia
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