Last Full Day in Region

DD wrote about the first part of the day:

I am so proud of Alex because after every meal we put him on the potty and he goes poo poo and pee pee. He sits on there and sings while he goes. I leave him on there for about 10-15 minutes and then he is finished. Our daily routine has been great so far today and Alex has not really whined too much. He has been singing a lot today. Of course, I have no clue what he is singing, but we try to sing along with him.

Our room smells so bad and I can’t wait to get out of here. Between Brad’s feet and just poo poo smell, I’m about to die. I just sprayed some air freshener in Brad’s shoes b/c we have no baby powder. I’m about to stuff some tissue paper in them and pack them away so I don’t have to smell them anymore. He normally doesn’t have smelly feet at home, but I don’t know what the deal has been over here. Maybe all the wool socks that we wear…You know those are always kind of smelly.

Alex just went down for a nap, so Brad and I are going to start packing up b/c we have to catch our flight at 7am. That means we probably have to get up around 4:30am. Hopefully Alex sleeps on the way to the airport b/c I really don’t want another vomit incident. We have to meet the interpreter at 5:30pm today so that we can pick up Alex’s passport and then we are done with all the paperwork here. We have some more paperwork to complete at the Embassy in Moscow and then we are out of Russia on the 14th!!! You don’t know how happy we are to almost be done with this process and home with Alex for good!

Brad wrote about the second part of the day:

I must start off and defend my feet. Yes they smelled a little bit. Yes Dee Dee and I laughed so hard we almost woke Alex up last night. Yes they would have raised the dead. With that said. Wool socks and Nike shoes in constant workouts with no washing machine to fully wash your socks = really bad smelling shoes. It is not so much my feet as it is the shoes might need to be tossed. With that said I cannot defend my son’s bottom or this stinky hotel room.

About mid morning I went to the store again and bought a few last minute things for the flight tomorrow. We also needed a little more food for him since what I bought yesterday Alex has decided that he does not like today. I wanted to take him for a little walk before lunch to burn some energy before nap time. Off we went down the hallways. Every floor has book shelves and he always wants to stop and look at them. I finally gave in and sat down. He brought me and him a book and went through each one until we went finished the shelf. I had to stop there I have not idea what the books said and there were no pictures. I like pictures. I have also discovered that Alex is scared of plants, especially big ferns and leafy plants. (Mom clean them out) I finally got him to touch one of them and everything seemed ok. That is until we got the next one. I have to teach him that every plant is the same and not to be scared of every single different plant. There are a couple of billion plants on earth so this may be something we work on later. Good thing he likes water.

Well I thought about writing about the trip to get his passport but that is boring. So in closing I think I will say a few things about Siberia. It is cold. I mean real cold. No one hear speaks English and it is difficult to get around. On the positive side of things this place produced one of the greatest things in my life, a beautiful son. This place provided me the opportunity to be a father to this wonderful young child. I could not be any happier. What a wonderful opportunity this has been to share with so many people. I do look forward to telling him about his heritage. This is one of the most beautiful places in Russia during the summer and actually quite nice during the winter, when it is not -35c. There is a lot of history here and the people are very proud. They just want what everyone wants which is a better way of life. And very much like Americans they are not always happy with who is in charge but trust that it will get done better next time around. I am proud my son is from Russia and will tell him what a great culture he came from.

We are now packed and going to go to bed and get up at 4:30 for our flight back to Moscow. We should be in the hotel over there around noonish, depending on Moscow traffic. It is very much like New York City.