This is the continuation of my travel journal of our adoption of Dinara and Noah from Kazakhstan. Dinara was 2 1/2 and Noah was 7 months. If you are new to my blog, please check the JULY ARCHIVES and start reading with post titled *Detained in Moscow. Posts that start with an * are adoption journal posts. I hope you enjoy the story. I’ll be striving to share a bit of the story each day.

I needed to see my smiley man Noah after a hard morning with Dinara. I consider myself a “stoic” person, but even the most stoic would be worn down by the constant rejection of a stubborn two year old! Time with Noah was wonderful as always. We have yet to hear him cry. I’ve only a heard a slight whimper when we have wiped his sore nose.

When we walked into the Groupa room this afternoon, Dinara immediately started crying. We decided to go for a walk with the group around the building. This is always fun because they bundle the kids up like Eskimos and they all fight to hold our hands. Dinara of course, would rather swallow nails then hold our hand. She finally gave in after much coaxing and let “papa” hold her hand. We walked for a bit.. then they decided that we should get some time alone with Dinara. So they went the other way. Dinara through a full-blown temper tantrum. Complete with kicking, screaming and pinching. Lovely.

Our interpreter had shown up for the afternoon visit and we had a talk with her. We told her that we were parents of a very strong willed 3 year old, and could handle crying and tantrums…and that we would like to just let Dinara cry. No child ever died from a few tears. So I think the interpreter told the caretakers to just let us be.Dinara cried half way around the building. Full blown tantrum. Kicking and screaming. We offered Dinara chocolate… which she loves. Just to make her point, she wouldn’t take it. She just kept crying and not giving us any eye contact. So we just walked. When we “turned around” to go back, she stopped. The smart little girl realized that we were probably going back to her caretakers. Mommy held her for a little while too… and she came to me very easily. (She prefers papa!)

When we got to the place where her caretakers were when they left her with us, we turned around again. And again she started crying. This time though… she was getting tired and it didn’t last for very long. It gave us hope that once we have her alone in our apartment, we’ll be able to comfort her. She quieted down and seemed almost to go to sleep. She started whimpering again and the interpreter told her we were going to take her back into the baby house and this settled her down again.

Inside the baby house we went to the room where she sleeps. We gave her a dolly, which she seemed to like. We then played with the music block toy that plays Mozart. She likes this. Each time she presses a block, it plays part of “Night Music”. She doesn’t understand though that she can move the blocks around or turn them over to play different instruments.

The caretaker kept leaving the room, and Dinara would cry. Caretaker would come back and Dinara would be fine. We would get smiles… and an occasional laugh from her. She likes Legos! And she likes playing ball. At the end of the visit, they told her we were leaving and she smiled. I think these visits are as hard on her as they are on us! And she gave us hugs and kisses. She doesn’t understand “kissing” or how to give a kiss… but she will walk over to you and offer her cheek. I started kissing her playfully under her neck and she laughed and smiled. But you can tell she still a little scared.

In the evening we went to Mad Murphy’s with other parents who are adopting two children. I was too sick to eat. My stomach was upset.. I don’t know if it was all the emotion of all the trials with Dinara, or I ate something bad. I had a baked potato at the Ramstore… maybe something was wrong with the butter???

Dinara is a tough cookie– she’s going to fit in very well in our family!!! I know we’ll get through eventually. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Related posts:

  1. *Day Two with Kids - Getting to Know You
    2.    Here is another excerpt from our travel...
  2. *Day Seven - Lucky Seven
    3.    This is the continuation of my travel...
  3. *Day Nine - Morning Passport Pics
    4.    This is the continuation of my travel...