Last Day of the Waiting Period

Today is the last day of the official waiting period. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will go back to court to sign some more papers and get the final decree and permission to take custody of Alex. If all goes as planned, I will be picking up Alex at the end of the day and taking him to the apartment for his first night away from the baby house. I am very excited to get on with everything and have Alex with me full time. In addition to court, we will need to drive to the small town where Alex is from in order to get his new birth certificate. This birth certificate will have his new name (Alexander Scott) and have our names as the parents. Once we obtain the birth certificate, then we can go to the passport agency on Wednesday and apply for his Ukrainian passport. It will take a few days to get the passport so we will be in Simferopol through the end of the week or Monday. I am very anxious to get back to Kyiv and finalize everything so we can go home.

Yesterday afternoon, Alex and I went outside and ran around together. Had fun. Played ball, found some new bugs (ants and a box elder beetle). Before the crowd came, we whistled at the birds and learned the word "bird". He wants to call them "ipka" which is fish. He laughed because I would mimic the bird's call, and the bird would do it and then I would... etc. He thought that was a hoot and tried whistling at the birds as well.

Went shopping at the central market which is a huge outdoor market where all of Simferopol turns out to buy any and every manner of goods. A beautiful day. Warm and sunny. The place was packed! Lots of fun people watching and shopping. I bought Alex a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a pair of PJ's for about 100 Hrv ($20). Then came the big find..... a new training potty for Alex! Cost 11 Hrv ($2.10). A steal! It is a little one with a lid. I figured for the price, I would buy it and use it while in the Ukrain. I will throw it out before I come home. Alex can use it to eliminate some of the stress of transitioning from the bucket he uses at the baby house to the full size toilet. You read about these stresses, but don't know if it will be a big deal for him. For the price, what the heck. Someone can use it as a planter.

Headed this afternoon to stock the refrigerator for Alex's arrival. Once Alex is with me, I will probably not have as much of an opportunity to post until back in Kyiv where I will hopefully have internet access in my apartment. The next post will be photos of Alex.