Wednesday, August 24th

We visited Sweet pea today. She remembered us right away today. We were able to speak with her caregivers regarding her schedule. She gets up at 0630 and goes to bed at 9pm with various naps and meals in between. They had her all bundled up again. As we stood there talking about her schedule, I held her in my arms. It was so hot; She was in her usual 2 layers of clothes with a hat and all. I had sweat running down my back, she didn’t make a peep.

We got to take her outside again. The caregiver told us she could walk with assistance. Joe set her feet on the ground and held her up by her hands. She took a few cautious steps at first but then realized she could trust this guy to hold her and –and then she was off! She loved walking and would smile and laugh. We had a great time with her. I forgot to mention on Tuesday, Clarisse found her tickle spot. Every time Clarisse tickled her belly she would double over and giggle. It was so cute to watch and I wonder if anyone had ever done that before. Again the three of us took turns holding her and walking her around.

We had picked up the DOE social worker on the way here. We are driving her to her family members home in Vladivostok so she can be at court bright and early tomorrow morning. She will be the one who says it is in Sweet pea’s best interest to be adopted by us. Yesterday, we drove the social worker, her daughter and her grandson to the store. It was not really out of our way and as our interpreter said- you do not say “no” to the social worker.

Anyway, we found out later she told Ivan she was very impressed with how Clarisse interacted with Sweet pea and how Sweet pea responded to her after just meeting her yesterday for the first time. She also thought Clarisse was very pretty- just like her mother and I looked too young to have a daughter that old. Haha since my oldest is 24! Of course Joe teased- I may look to young to have them, but I look to old to have Sweet pea! He’ll pay for that!

After that we returned to the hotel where we ate at the Vlad Inn restaurant and then struggled not to fall asleep before 8pm. We failed, but at least we came close this time.