Shopping, Shopping, and More Shopping

Today was a whirlwind day of shopping for the final items we needed. We had been gathering a few little things along the way...but still lacked the majority of items we desired to take. It has been a little difficult to complete the shopping earlier, as we were waiting on a size update of the children from our facilitator. However, due to Christmas Holidays, and our U.S Agency Director taking vacation, and our Magadan facilitator now on vacation, somehow the new sizes were never acquired. We only have their measurements from one year ago.....so we made the most of it and gave our best educated guess!! We made Remmy be the guinea pig today and he enthusiastically participated!! He was really a good sport about it. If the clothes were small on him, then we thought they would be a good fit for the older boy. After a full day of gathering coats, hats, mittens and play clothes, ( we did not even know where to begin to guess for shoes) we quickly redid some calculations of inches to metric centimeters......and....OOPS!!! I think everything we purchased will be too large!! What is it they say?? It is the thought that counts!! At least the pajamas have cuffs at the wrists and ankles, so they should work. The older boy is coming into town from where he goes to school (about 3 hours away) and will be staying a couple of nights in the hotel in Magadan with an orphanage staff member that is accompanying him. He will be in a unique situation, with no other children to engage in play, and minus the child-friendly environment he is used to. We had a blast today getting all sorts of activities together to keep him occupied while also getting to know him, despite the ever present language barrier. We have puzzles, play dough (complete with factory), paints, crayons, learning books for shapes, colors and animals, balls, electronic games, magna-doodle, tic tac toe, balls, bubbles, an adorable stuffed animal bear, and puppets!! I am not sure how much the older boy will enjoy all of this, but Wayne and I can hardly wait to start playing!! WooHoo!! Kidding aside, I know the three of us will have such a fun time!! Did I mention snacks? We have also packed goldfish crackers, juice, Teddy grahams, and Gerber baby puffs....whatever in the world those are.....but they looked good and sounded fun, so I am all for it!! We also have some baby toys and books for the toddler boy, and that should be fun as well. I do hope they allow the boys to see each other. That would be very special to see them reunited, as they have been apart for such a long time. Well, tonight and tomorrow my job will be translating the names of the colors, shapes and animals and writing the transliteration in the book, so we can read the stories to the boys. Funny thing though.....several months ago I was ordering a few story books from a Russian adoption bookstore online for a preschool age child ( the 3 to 4 year old we were anticipating coming into our family). I goofed and accidentally bought an entire book of stories (Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, The Three Little Pigs, etc.) written completely in Russian, with a short 2 page interpretation written in English. I remember thinking at the time....... "What will I ever do with this book??? I don't read Russian!!" Well, that is true, I do not read Russian. But I am about to meet someone who does....... and he shall be reading to ME!!