Yum-Yum

As much as I love Kairat’s smile, his giggles and squeals, and lately his oh so sweet babbling (did I mention I love his voice too?), what absolutely melts my heart is the moments when I hold him and feed him. I so completely understand now why this is one of the best things to do to promote bonding and attachment. Whether or not he is still on a bottle when I return in September, he will be again once we are home.

There is no such thing as high chairs in the orphanage. I have not witnessed the nannies feeding the kids, but I have heard they hold them on their laps, say yum-yum, and shovel the food in at a pretty rapid pace from behind. Sounds bad, but they do have a lot of kids to feed in a short amount of time. From Day One, I’ve been giving Kairat his late afternoon meal of juice and some sort of gruel. It varies from oatmeal, to cornmeal, to cream of wheat, to rice types of concoctions and occasionally I think I have spotted some bits of chicken.

The first couple of times he was wearing more than I managed to get in him, but he quickly got me trained. You really do shove that big spoon most of the way in that little mouth, you don’t stop to wipe the face, hands, clothes, my clothes, or anything else, and you don’t even think about slowing down until it is all gone. And he eats it all.

Cleaning up the face is not such a happy time. ;)

I was told I could bring him some juice and fruit puree. I remember that warm and fuzzy feeling when I fixed the first bottle and rummaged through the baby food display at the grocery store. The bottle is half apple and/or apricot juice and half water, with a dose of vitamins added. It took a little effort the first time. He definitely doesn’t like the apricot juice as much as the apple, and the nipple is much smaller than what he is used to. Now however, he is holding the bottle himself and trying to get it away from him is like trying to wrench a bone out of a dog’s mouth. He won’t give it up! Here’s the look from the first time we tried apple puree with a baby-sized spoon. The second time was classic. He scrunched up his face and shook his head. I so wish I would have had the camera ready. He gets pear or banana now instead.

Tomorrow is my last bonding day with Kairat. I am very sad to be leaving him. Yesterday he actually looked for me and whimpered or crawled towards me if I walked across the room. All of this will be lost during my 5-6 week absence from his life and we’ll have to start over in September. I am glad that he is recognizing me now though. That is a good sign.

On Friday, Regina, Milo, and I head to Almaty. She and Milo will stay there for a week or two as paperwork is finalized. I, however, will be on a 3:20am (yes, AM) flight to Frankfurt Saturday morning. From there I fly to Chicago, then to Denver. All the direct flights from Frankfurt to Denver are still sold out. Sigh.