Rough Few Days

The last few days have been tough! We are not too proud to admit that!

Jonathan was having some tummy issues & diarrhea on Saturday afternoon & evening after we picked him up from the orphanage. That lasted all night & then Sunday morning he started vomiting...ALL DAY!! He had a low grade fever & was vomiting mucus as well. At first we thought it was probably just anxiety, especially since we stuck to exactly the kinds of foods on his schedule from the orphanage. As the day went on, we started to get worried that it might be something more serious. We called our facilitator Y to ask about a pharmacy so we could try to find something like Pedialyte, but she didn't understand & just came over. She & S grilled us about what he had eaten, etc....we told them we had only given him foods on the list from the orphanage. They basically told us we were feeding him everything wrong & should only be giving him baby food. They meant well, but it was a little frustrating they didn't understand that we knew it wasn't the food. I tried to tell them I thought it was a stomach virus, but that didn't get through....so, they took Andrew to the store so they could show him the "proper food for babies." It's so frustrating trying to communicate & then being told their way is better. We got through the day with many more vomit messes to clean up & he finally went to sleep around 10:30 last night.

Today he has been doing much better. He threw up a little after breakfast and has slept a lot. he had an appetite at lunch & we've just been trying to keep fluids in him. We actually made it to the little "playground" that's right across from the apartment building & that perked him up a little. He took a long nap & woke up very cranky!!! He has been extremely clingy to me & screams if Andrew tries to hold him or play with him. It's normal for bonding to happen faster with one parent & he is used to women taking care of him, so we're not surprised. He does need to learn to trust his dad & I have removed myself from the room a few times today so Andrew could have some time alone. He would scream for awhile & then calm down. We saw his first huge temper tantrum this morning when I closed the door to the bathroom so I could take a shower & get dressed. He threw himself down face first, pounded his fists, & screamed!! Andrew just let him ride it out & then picked him up which made him scream more. Eventually he calmed down & was fine. We have learned the difference between his "I need attention because I'm scared" cry & his "I'm not getting my way so I'm going to throw a fit" cry. Part of bonding is establishing boundaries & we are not afraid to tell him "no." He now knows that word in 2 languages :)

There are a few things we have learned about Jonathan in the last few days.....

He HATES taking a bath!!!!! We think they probably just sponged him down at the orphanage. He'll get used to it :)

H has a good appetite when he's not sick. He's very scrawny & needs some fattening up!!

He has learned the game of throwing his cup & food off of the high chair tray. He has also learned that it gets taken away when he does that :)

He puts himself to sleep by rocking back & forth on hishands & knees in the crib. Even if I get him to sleep before I put him down, he usually wakes up & cries. Within about 5-10 minutes he soothes himself back to sleep.

He is definitely soaking up all of the attention & testing the boundaries. The naughty little smirk he gets on his face when he's about to find trouble is so funny...but that ends when he's told "NO!" We are 9 days from home...I'm getting very homesick & starting to have a hard time being here. The kids are doing well over all, but they miss us. It's good to be missed :) Only one more day in Kras then we are headed to Moscow for our last week. We can't wait to get HOME!!!!!!