Bonding Day 8

The picture to the left is the view from outside our hotel room window.


On Monday, we slept in, watched a DVD, and didn't go down for breakfast. We did eat lunch here at the hotel, though. We came back to the room and watch more DVDs. At our usual 2:45 we were picked up by our driver and Janet. They took us to the baby house. When Caleb came in he was all smiles. He was wearing his Spurs outfit again, but with only ONE layer underneath! Brad and I both said he looked so small! (He had only one layer on because it wasn't quite as cold of a day, well we guess anyway.) We did our usual routine...bounce, sing, play with the toys we brought, etc. His teeth began bothering him...he was fussy, chewing on everything, and drooling on everything. I brought out the BabyDent. He got all excited when he saw it. I put it on, and he acted like he felt better for all of five minutes. I'm not sure about this BabyDent stuff! It doesn't seem to last very long, and I'm not sure how often I can reapply since the directions aren't in English. I know that when Tyler and Ashley have had Orajel or that Ambesol, they get this awful look on their face at first (because it tastes nasty) and then this look of huge relief! This BabyDent stuff is sweet, so Caleb never makes a face, but he does seem to get some relief for a little bit. Tuesday if our translator is there, we can ask her to read the label to find out how often we can reapply. His fussiness continued, so we decided to feed him. I wish I would have brought his bottle to give him some juice instead (remember we are only allowed to feed him either some fruit baby food or juice each day after 4.) He kept biting the spoon, which hurt his teeth and made him cry. Yet, he didn't want us to stop feeding him. After we fed him, we tried to console him. Even rocking him back and forth would only help for a little while. We're ready to take him home and give him some Tylenol for his hurting teeth! It's hard to see him suffering, and you can't do anything about it. When it was 5pm we left the baby house, went to the Gros Market to get a few snacks, and came back to the hotel. We watched DVDs until we went to bed.

Several of you have asked questions about the Baby House. To tell you the truth, we don't know very much. We know that newborns through 3 year olds live there. After age 3, they move to another orphanage. It is a fairly large facility, but we have not been given a tour. We've only been to the director's office and to our little bonding room. We figured that if they wanted to show us around, they would have. However, we are a little braver this week, we may ask for a tour because I want to see where Caleb spends most of his time and see his friends. We may wait until after court, though, that way the director and social worker would have already testified in court on our behalf. We'll see!


So, we hear that it is cold and icy at home and may even snow. It's funny, it's cold, icy, and snowy here, but Brad and I are both like, "Aw, it may snow at home, and we're gonna miss it!"


Well, stay warm...drink some yummy hot chocolate!



Pictures:
1. Brad in back of our hotel, waiting to be picked up by our driver
2. Pet " "
3. Caleb sticking out his tongue
4. Caleb looking at his Longhorn he received for Christmas from his Gma and Gpa Aldridge
5. "Mmm. This food is yummy!"
6. Caleb walking (with a little help)