It's a Boy!

After a 2-hour trip to the northwest side of Indianapolis today, we finally got to meet Ivan. He is even cuter in person! He's a little guy; he doesn't look much older than some of my first grade students. A young friend of ours gave us a stuffed rhinoceros to present to him, and Ivan grabbed on immediately. He really liked it!

After meeting him, we put him in our car and drove (literally) a 1/2 mile to pick up another child and some adults from Ivan's orphanage. In that very short time, he threw up twice!!!!!!!
Fortunately, we were warned that he did this last night from the airport to the home in which he spent the night. So, we were armed with plastic bags and paper towels. However, he didn't aim well the second time, and it was all over his shorts. Lesson learned very quickly? Always carry another set of clothes when we are in the car! And, after I post this, I'll be making the quick trip to the drug store for some motion sickness meds. We'll be traveling most days to a day camp on the other side of town, so hopefully he will get used to the car very soon. Thank goodness for leather seats! :-)

After mopping him up the best we could and picking up the other child (not for us) and the adults, the group (11 of us) headed to Bob Evans for a late lunch. We discovered that he likes potatoes, banana bread, sausage links, juice, and 7-Up. He did not want to try the yeast rolls (which we figured he wouldn't-- they tend to like darker breads) or my cinnamon pancakes. While we were waiting for the food, he was very content to hold onto his rhino and color in the coloring book the restaurant provided. He didn't squirm or mess around with anything. He seems VERY well behaved.

On the way home (2-hour trip) we were a little worried about the puking thing, but he went to sleep almost immediately and slept the entire way home. There are some cute pictures below of him sleeping in Tim's lap. When we got home, we introduced him to our dog, Teagan, and he was very good with her. He threw the ball a few times for her and then seemed to look at me with a pleading gesture. I mimicked sleep and he said "DA!" (yes!). We showed him his room, changed his clothes, and he was in bed asleep within about 15 minutes of arrival. We were impressed that when he took off his shoes, he immediately put them under the bed. He seems to have been trained very well. We realized later that we forgot to have him brush his teeth, but we'll just have to work on that tomorrow.

It's 8:30 P.M. now, and I am hoping he sleeps until at least 6:00 tomorrow morning. We put a baby monitor in his room so we can hear if he wakes up and is scared. Tomorrow morning he'll meet one of Tim's sisters and her husband as well as Tim's parents. In the afternoon we head over to a nearby church for a welcome party which will include all the children, hosting families, and orphanage officials. Should be a good time!

Feel free to check back frequently during the next 2-1/2 weeks!!