Tuesday Morning

We visited the baby house this morning. Symbat was a bit tired and we had to work hard to keep her awake. One thing we’ve discovered for sure is that she is stubborn, and once she has her mind set on something it’s hard to get her to think about anything else. Part of that is probably a function of her age, but we think it’s part of her personality too. It’s part of her charm.

Today was a special day at Umit. The Robey’s son Anton has a best friend named Sasha, and his new parents came today to take him out of the baby house for the last time. He gets to go home to his new family in Spain! Apparently all of the nannies and his friends said goodbye to him inside the baby house and he got scared and sad. He got so nervous that he even threw up. We didn’t see him until he was outside with his parents, and he did look pretty sad. I can imagine that all he remembers is the baby house, his friends, and his nannies, so all of this must be pretty overwhelming to him. We tend to think of things from our adult perspective; that the kids are overjoyed to go home with a family and life will be so much better for them, and all of that is true. But in the moment of separation, the children must feel a ton of anxiety that we can’t begin to understand. They won’t have their friends or caretakers or routine that has been ingrained in them, and won’t understand anything that anyone is saying. It has to be overwhelming. All we can do is help them through it, give them love, and over the course of the next several hours, days, and weeks show them that things will be better with mama and papa. It won’t happen overnight and we can’t get frustrated with the children. It will just take some time and effort.

We’re not totally sure how Symbat will react when we come to pick her up the final time. In fact, we aren’t even sure she’ll remember us when we come back. We will have left pictures, but she’s so young that I am not sure she understands too much of what is going on. My guess is that she too will feel some anxiety, and it may even be more of a challenge for her because she doesn’t have the language skills to communicate her feelings. Seeing Sasha today put things into a good perspective. I’m sure that the whole of his journey will be good, but that isn’t to say there won’t be bumps in the road.

Lunch today was at Aral; nothing special to report there. We will leave in about an hour to head to Guardianship Council. We’ve been told that this isn’t as serious as court, so we’re not too nervous. Still, we want things to go well, and we’ll be relieved when it’s over. I think we’re going to dinner tonight at Sakartvela to celebrate. More to come later!