Women's Day and Vodka!

Today was a difficult day for parenting. We are not sure if Maksim was mad about not having an afternoon visit yesterday, but it sure seemed that way. From the moment we arrived, he was cranky and would not complete our routine. He was just plain agitated. We took some cute pictures and got ready for submitting our papers to the court. He is as cute as a button. But very stubborn, indeed.

During the last 10 mintues, Maksim had the worst temper tantrum we have seen yet. He screamed at the top of his lungs and hit us both in the face. We tried our best to communicate that this was not okay behavior. Normally the tone in our voice is effective. Today it was lost on a sad and angry little boy. As angry as he was he was still the most wonderful, handsome, fiesty little guy that we have ever seen. But our visit was at an end and we had to leave. Lena did not come up to the visiting room - so she couldn't help us communicate with Maksim.


We had lunch at the Russian Kitchen. The Gaines family arrived there shortly after we did. I think that we should just plan to have lunch with them daily. We enjoy talking with them.

After lunch, we returned to the baby house for the afternoon visit. We fed Maksim some crackers and some apple juice. Lena talked with him about making better choices - but in Russian in came out more like be a good boy or Mama and Papa won't bring you yogurt. I tried to tell Lena that we will bring yougurt even if Maksim has temper tantrums but it didn't quite register.

We spent the afternoon reading books and eating crackers until Tanya and Goolyia(sp?) came to find us. They asked us to have some tea and cakes with them to help them celebrate Woman's Day. We came into a room and there it was! We had heard about the prolific Vodka (not really prolific at all). We toasted Woman's Day and talked about how much Maksim looks like Mama and Papa. We all laughed and drank and ate some crazy foods. Auntie Elizabeth - I was very brave and ate fish with mayonnaise with bread and pickles (ickkk!) and vodka. Maksim was fed cookies he was very content.

Then, they took us into a room with VERY loud Russian music and dancing and more vodka. We drank and danced. I left the room to find the camera and Jason was frisked and humped by the over drunk Russian women. Poor guy! Lol It was very gracious and funny and fun! We felt happy that they would invite us to their party. Maksim was whisked to a table with lots of cookies and the women fed him and made us dance. Very strange. Kinda like peer pressure, I think. After a few minutes - we wanted back with our sweet pea and quiet, so we excused ourselvses (Mama had 3 shots of vodka and Papa had 2) and went back to end our visit with Maksim.

He again was very upset and cried and snuggled into his Momma. We HATE leaving him each day. We know that he is upset because his toys, food, and tenderness leave. Sigh..... One day soon, pumpkin.

We love you so much, Masya ( a nickname that the caregivers and Maksim use. We only learned of it yesterday.) We got only sobs in return.

Da Svidyana. : (