Second Day Visits

My sweet Denny was a little overwhelmed this morning.  He is not used to having quite so much attention; instead he is used to being with a group all day, and only having an hour of one-on-one time with his favorite caretaker.

We arrived at 9:30 this morning, to find a happy Denny playing on a big toy fish rocker, and you could tell that he recognized us from yesterday.  We moved into the next room to play alone with him, and got him to walk even more.  He will do just about anything for you if you are holding his hands or if he is trying to get to your hands.  But when he is done walking, he sticks out his bottom and refuses to move his feet or lets his body completely flop.  So, our time exercising sounded something like this: "I-dee, Denny, hup, hup, hup.  Bravo!" ("hup" comes with each footstep)

By the end of our visit, around 11:30, he was very tired and hungry, and started to cry.  We left our sleepy Denny with his favorite caretaker, and told him we would be back. 

After a quick nap (thank you, jet lag) and lunch downtown, we bumped into Denny's favorite caretaker, walking through the pedestrian area between all the restaurants.  She and our translator talked for a moment, and it was decided that we would go with Denny downtown tomorrow to see where he has therapy twice a week, and then go to take his Visa photo.

This afternoon, we were greeted by a still sleepy Denny, who just woke up from his nap.  (He has the biggest cowlick/mohawk I've ever seen, by the way, and it stands just a bit taller after his naps.)  He was a bit zoned out at first, but we turned on the radio and took care of that!  The boy loves music and loves to dance!  He was happy to work on walking, if that meant Scott moving him across the room and holding his hands while he practically ran to me, smiling and giggling the whole time.  Over and over, up the stairs, down the stairs, across the room, just not into the ball pit.  It's too much work for him, and he gets easily frustrated.  Plus, he knows that no matter what he does, he can never truly reach you, because he is IN the pit, and you are OUT of the pit.

We had a wonderful two hours together, and we love that we have so much time with him, but this afternoon, at 5:30, it was time to leave, and I carried Denny back to the part of the orphanage where he eats and sleeps.  When the caretaker came out to take him, he started crying, knowing it meant we were leaving, and he tried to twist out of her arms to get back to me.

I had no choice but to leave him with a "ciao" and a promise to be back in the morning, and it just ripped at my heart to leave him crying like that.  I am hoping our last visit tomorrow is easier, since his favorite caretaker will be with him.  Then we go to meet our girl, "Katrin."

Oh, I cannot wait until I am able to share pictures... his smile makes his whole face light up, and he has the best giggle.