Leaving Bishkek

I've been putting off writing this post for some time. It's hard to re-live the day I had to leave Bishkek. I knew before I even left for this trip that this would be one of the hardest things I will ever have to do. I am more than happy that I made this trip and got to spent what limited time I could with him. He is quite feisty and I have a feeling that he will settle in as soon as he gets home. He is definitely a child of mine!! I can't even begin to tell you how awesome he is and how much I love him.

On our last day we arrived at the BBH and I was greeted by his personal caregiver. I had some things that I wanted to put on his crib, and she walked me back to where he (and all the other babies) slept and allowed me to attach the toys to his crib. She put A in the crib and was pointing them out and having him play. She was all smiles when she picked him back up and gladly handed him over. Right away he reach for my face, and just held my cheeks...how could you not fall in love?? We went upstairs to the music room with Donna and her son. I couldn't hold back the tears, although at that point they were more happy tears that I had the opportunity to spend time with him during that week. I didn't take as many pictures because I just wanted to hold him in my arms. He's 1 though, and that didn't last long - he just wanted to play and crawl and slap books and throw my camera and rip apart the kleenexes.



I had to bring him back down to his room because it was time for him to eat. I asked (for the third day) if I would be allowed to feed him. Reluctantly his caregiver said yes. I felt very self concious while feeding him. They had me sit at a table in a folding chair. The table was to my left, so I had to sit A on my right leg and feed him left-handed. She brought over a giant bowl full of very liquid cereal and a metal spoon. I started to feed him, and of course, like any 1 year old, he started to grab the spoon. He was looking all around at the commotion going on around him. He burped once while I tried to feed him and the liquid cereal went everywhere. The caregivers in the room were watching and shaking their heads. After a while Kuba came in and they were telling him something. He smiled, but didn't translate. Of course I pushed for him to tell me. He said, "Well, they usually feed him that in two to three minutes." As you can imagine my jaw must've hit the floor. He laughed and then left the room. Those women totally thought I was incompetent. How in the world could you feed a child that much so fast? After a few more minutes they must've gotten impatient with me. The one caregiver took the bowl, heated it up, and then positioned him on my lap so that she could prop the bowl up under his chin and shovel the rest in. Wow!!!

We went back up to the music room for the remainder of my visit. I was rocking him back and forth while sitting on the floor (tears welling up of course). When I would stop for a second, he would push his head back so that I started again. Tears didn't stop then. He was just so fricken cute!!! He was babbling and yelling, so I put my fingers to his mouth and did the Indian call. Oh my - he loved that! He would yell louder and louder and then just laugh. You could tell he was so tired, but he must've known that it was the last day because he fought through it. When Kuba told us it 'was time'. I got him bundled back up to take him down to his room. I could not even compose myself at that time!!!



When I finally got to his room, I hesitated. I didn't want to give him back! I wondered if I could manage to run out the door with him under my coat. Would anyone notice? How far could I make it? A moment later, the door opened and his caregiver was standing there with a big bright smile. I walked into the room and just held him for a minute. She reached for him and he turned away. Oh boy!!! I was absolutely bawling by this point. She took him and then was standing about a foot away from me. She was making him wave and saying, "Do Svidaniya Mama." She must've said it at least 10 times, and all of a sudden he was reaching for me. She handed him back and right away he grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth to do the Indian call again. His caregiver was wiping away my tears and asking if I was leaving today (making an airplane with her hands). I nodded, but couldn't take my eyes of A. She finally reached for him and he went to her. She walked us to the door and kept repeating, "Do Svidaniya Mama." I almost had to run out of the door because an uncontrollable sobbing fit was coming on. I waited outside trying to compose myself before Donna and Kuba came out. I didn't talk the whole ride back to Asia Mountain. That night we had to pack up because we would be leaving at 2:30 a.m. I didn't sleep much and the entire plane ride(s) home were a complete blur. I miss him so bad already!

Ryan was waiting for me in Minneapolis and when we got to the hotel, the first thing we did was go through the pictures and watched the short videos I had.

Now we wait...