Last visit with Vasa

Today has been a different day for a few reasons.  First of all, as we mentioned we have been tired, secondly Claire and I are quite homesick for our little ladies, lastly we had to say bacca to our little Vasa this afternoon.  The fun part was we were able to take him outside this afternoon for about 45 minutes.  We were excited about this outing because everyday in the play room Vasa looked outside and wanted to out and play.  I was pretty pumped about seeing him all dressed up for the snow (they are very particular about how warmly everyone is dressed to be outside) and he didn't disappoint!  When we arrived he started scurrying around to get dressed.  He came out a few moments later with a huge jacket, boots, a scull cap that covered his ears and mittens that were attached to his little wrists.  He looked like the Michelin Man!  We went outside and he got a shovel and we worked in the snow together.  We walked around the entire campus where he lives, which is the normal route when they are out, twice.  He made the sounds of the animals that he saw.  We saw a kitten (meow) and birds (caw) not chirp - and he held our hands so he wouldn't slip on the ice.  

We could tell that Vasa was tired when we got back this afternoon and later as we came in from outside he continued to be sleepy.  We weren't able to go to the "exercise room" because another couple Amy and Corey were playing with their little man.  The other students were having music and there are no other open rooms.  So we played in the foyer to his room.  His room consists of a decent sized play room with tables, toys and a tv and then behind another set of doors in the back is the bedroom where you can see regular beds lined up against the wall.

Back to our play time, the fact that Nadia was looking for a room for us to play and the fact that he heard his caretakers and friends in the room behind us, Vasa had a difficult time concentrating on just us.  We showed him all the family pictures in the book, fed him a few treats and then showed pictures of our Disney trip for him to see the girls.  I think he was confused because he kept asking for "Vasa" as most of the pictures we have been showing him were of him.  We made the best of our last visit with him.

The caretakers were very sweet as we left.  They took the bag of gifts we left for Vasa including the picture book with everyone's name, a ball, building blocks and a Mickey Mouse.  We also left two disposable cameras for the caretakers to take pictures of him over the next couple of months.  They wished us all the best and thanked us for becoming Vasa's parents.  They also brought him back out and asked him to kiss us one more time.  He will kiss Claire but is still a bit watchful of me (Josh).  He started the week calling me "Dadda" which means man.  Just any man.  He then started calling me "Popa" which is a term reserved for a man that he knows well.  Today he called me "babusket" (we're not quite sure) but Nadia took a breath and said that is the Russia word for "Daddy"!  He has taken to his "Mommy" quite well and likes to have her hold him.  They are two beautiful blondes as they sit together!

We ended our exciting Kalugan adventure as any great American would...we ate at McDonald's!  We are so hopeful that we will soon sleep that we wanted something to take back to the room.  We have now packed and checked out for tomorrow morning.  Vasily - our Moscow transporter is picking us up at 9:00 AM.  We are soon to take two PM pills and hopefully sleep!  Thanks to everyone for the prayers and love!  We are excited to be getting closer to Vasa and  sooner getting home to all of you.  Please hug our little turkeys for us and tell them we will be home very soon...wearing shorts!