This Morning: We Fly Home with the Kids! (Well, sort of…)

It’s Thursday afternoon. The thermometer indicates its 37C in the shade and the air has a sickly sweet smell of smoke from the steel factory that makes your eyes sting. So we are staying in the a/c apartment between our morning and afternoon visits with the kids.

So, whaddya want to know about the kids? Well, there will be no pictures until the weekend, but lets give them initials: E.V.R.L. (the seven year old boy) and V.A.M.L. (the two year old girl). Lets start with a posting that talks about what happened at our visit this morning.

Our morning visit began at 9:30 when we ask the receptionist to see the kids. A few minutes later EVR came bounding down the hallway and gives both of us a hug. A minute or two later, VAM came down the hall with her care giver, her short foot steps echoing “plop, plop, plop” on the lino. This morning our hour and a half visit started with going outside on the orphanage grounds. EVR and Murray brought out the soccer ball as usual and played for a half hour or so. We played on a small soccer “pitch” about half the size of a hockey rink. (I call it that not as usual reference to a true soccer pitch but because it is slanted down a bit of a hill). For a seven year old, EVR has pretty darn good hand-eye coordination and can drop-kick a soccer ball with the best of them. Meanwhile, VAM and mama went for a walk around the grounds and played a bit of soccer with their own small ball. Mama also tried blowing bubbles but VAM was a bit wary of that whole scene.

Then it was snack time. We all sat outside on a bench. VAM wolfed down her banana in no time flat and had juice from a cup. (BTW: If anyone has any tips on how to get a two year old to suck with a straw we’d be much obliged.). EVR had his banana, juice box and a yogurt. Both of the kids sure enjoy the snacks that Mama prepares.

Then we headed back inside the orphanage and gathered around a table where we played with large lego-style blocks. VAM likes to dump them out, pull them apart and put them back in the bag. After a while, she shifted over to her tea set, to bring stuff out of the bag and stack it. Based on what I have seen, I am confident I can have her cleaning out the dishwasher by September…

For EVR, this was his first go with the blocks as we usually have him working with Mama on numbers and ABC’s while VAM played with these blocks. So, EVR’s first project was going to work building a plane and telling us about his trip to Kyiv a couple of weeks ago with Mama to see the doctor. Then he built a bus that transfers passengers from the airport to the plane. And then we built an airport terminal. Yesterday, we brought in a small globe and explained to EVR how we would fly back home through Kyiv and Toronto. So today we decided to do the whole trip in his own plane around the room, with a flight from Kyiv to Toronto, a switch of planes at the airport, and then the flight to Saskatoon. He understands quite well that there will be a big distance between Ukraine and his new home in Canada. Then Papa’s (or “Pops” as I now tend to be referred) “machina” or car (which used to be the airport bus) drove us home and right into our garage (which used to be the airport) that EVR had seen in the pictures of our house. We can only hope it will be that easy when we actually do make the trip!

The entire time EVR was flying us all home, VAM was watching and taking in the whole trip in her own way. She sure likes to watch her brother. Other than their visits with us, our children have little chance to interact with each other because they are kept in separate groups at the orphanage depending on their ages. Actually, we are quite fortunate that they are in the same orphanage and we can have our visits with them together. In Ukraine, orphanages are usually set up separately for infants to 3 yrs old, then another for 3-7, and then another for 7 yrs +. The orphanage where our children are at includes all children from infants to 16 years old. Many of the older children are currently away at summer camp, so it is quiet here except for the infants and toddlers. In fact, when we first arrived, the orphanage staff had to pull EVR out of camp to see us. At first he thought he was being taken back to the orphanage because he had done something wrong, and protested having to leave the camp. However, when he learned that mama and papa were there to meet him, he was happy to return. And since then, he’s made no objection about being back at the orphanage.