Jordan Watch – Tuesday

Wednesday post coming this afternoon. Don’t forget to donate to Valenz! (No new donations this week yet! $380 donated, $620 to go.)

I told you I would make up for yesterday! I have videos for you all!
Eating breakfast! He ate two whole little peaches, some bananas and yogurt. Then drank 4 ounces of peach juice from a bottle. He didn’t know what to do with food on his tongue in June… couldn’t maneuver it at all. But now! Look! Spoon feeding! Swallowing! Yippee!

Drinking juice from a bottle: (for those wondering – we got a haberman nipple and took out the valve. It was an experiment. Probably wasn’t worth the $20!)

Hanging out – playing with his keys:

Crawling! (methinks they need more than one toy… Brian gave him his watch to play with but then had to take it back, because it was getting slobbered on so badly!)

Full and tired…

Brian – 29 November:
Time is sort of running together in my head. Today we woke up happy all. Mom and Jordan slept in, I woke up, took a shower and skyped with Rachel. Jordan has been eating great today until Dinner time, more on that in a second. We fed him yogurt with bananas and oatmeal and peaches for breakfast with a spoon! Then peach juice from a bottle. For lunch he ate peach yogurt from a bottle and some bread fed birdy style (very messy, I had no idea you could make such a mess with bread). He slept from 2-4 (naptime) and then had a snack of ground up pear with water and bits of bread mixed up from the bottle. We’ve been using old coke bottles with lamb teats for anything with body to it. The hole in the teat two slits crossed. I was able to easily tear the slits a little wider in both directions and this has allowed us to give him chunkier stuff, although the peach bits in the yogurt wouldn’t come through all the time so when they got stuck I had to help him. Dinner was a bit of a fiasco. We went downstairs and ordered some pureed soup and gave them the coke bottle to fill up which they did happily. But Jordan was fussy while we waited so I fed him more bread (again huge mess). And when the soup finally came he ate it but cried the entire time he was eating. Then there was a lot of trying to figure what he needed, eventually we decided he had eaten enough, I paced with him screaming for a while (him screaming not me), then decided to just bathe him and put he in the crib. He settled down almost immediately when I put him in the crib. It’s a bit early for his bedtime and he doesn’t really look tired but the contained space without interaction seems to be what he needed. It hurts me to not be able to comfort him but I know that there is plenty of time for him and me to figure that one out.

Let’s see. That was today’s food. Today’s activities involved going for a passport picture at 9, it was very nearby and Jordan hated every minute of it. His picture is so pathetic. I took a little nap after we got back and Jordan chilled out on the floor. Then we took him out to the grocery and he hated that too. We bought yogurt, cheese, bread, meat, water, and mustard. Yes mustard. I had a hankering for a proper sandwich. The yogurt we bought was the most western looking stuff I could find. It looks and tastes like something from home. It’s called Aktubua. I’m wary of the more local yogurt because I seem to remember something called Mlyako is closer to sour cream than yogurt. Then we went back to the hotel and lunched, mom ordered a salad from which I poached lettuce and tomato. Then Jordan went down for a nap and so did mom and read my book. Is was a very nice and quiet time. After nap, there was snack, and dinner. We tried to get a hold of Shelly and Meredith and they ended up coming to our room for minute. We were in the midst of feeding Jordan dinner so we didn’t talk long.

Now Jordan is in his crib and playing with mom. I’m sure glad he is happy now and will take some video.

Observations from Rachel:
Because he’s always sucking on his fingers, he always kinda smells yucky… like dried spit. Brian put some toothpaste on a washrag to “brush” his teeth. We didn’t bring a toothbrush for him and figured a gentle approach first would be best anyway until we are more sure of the condition of his gums. I am told that Brian got bit three times. (sorry Brian, I”m laughing!) Guess he doesn’t smell much better.

Also, while we were video chatting, Jordan was standing holding onto Brian’s hand. THEN HE WALKED TO HIS CRIB, which was 3-4 steps! Not holding on! AHHH! He’s going to learn to walk without me there! I’m so excited and eager to get him home!

Two things that drive Brian crazy: He claps his teeth and grinds them. Yuck!

Something we’ve all noticed… when Jordan is playing, he will often sit up and turn his back to whoever is in the room. I think he would spend all of his time that way if Brian let him. Looking forward to seeing Jordan come out of his shell.

We had a list of questions that we wanted to ask a caretaker when we picked up Jordan. We were able to ask the questions, but only to the director… Most of the answers were very terse. He doesn’t like anything. He plays with any toy or child. He cries when he’s upset. He does not like to be held. He notices when there is food coming and reaches for it… what a bleak description of our son’s life! Hope to share more of this with you later… wondering if I will be able to contact one of his caretakers somehow.

Observations from Tamera:
Funny things in Bulgaria –
The music in most of the places that we have been is sang in English. But most of the people don’t understand English.
You have to put your room key in a slot by the door to get heat and lights.
The street lights go red, yellow, green.

Pictures!
Here is Nina’s home. The top floor is where her family lives. Two floors down is where her mother lives:

On the way to the orphanage. (Kinda between Varna proper and Vinitsa)

The Makao supermarket by Nina’s house. The orphanage is about a mile down this road:

Down that road – getting closer to the orphanage. You turn left on a little road to get into the orphanage’s parking lot.

From the parking lot looking at the orphanage. The doors are down below under the little roof you see. It’s a tall building!

Selling onions on the side of the road:

Shepherd and sheep. There were lots of goats, sheep, and cows with their herder person. I thought it was cool. Also there were several horses and carts.

City/village along the way back to Sofia:

Breakfast Tuesday morning! Yogurt with bananas and oatmeal mixed in. He eats from a spoon very well. Oh and he had 4 peaches or apricot pieces.

Grammie’s breakfast. I love the yogurt over the eggs. Yum! (that’s so strange! I will have to try it)

On the was to the passport office on Tuesday, we drove down an old cobblestone road with old buildings. So cool!! (this is what I remember Vinnie’s city looking like)

Tuesday – Snack – peach juice – he will make it very clear that there is a peach stuck in the nipple or that he is not done!!!

Halfway up:

Grammie’s lunch – Shopska salad and bread from the market. We went to the market and bought water, pears, cheese, meat, mustard, yogurt and bread. Jordan will eat little bites of bread but he mostly just swallows it.

Lunch – peach yogurt in Grammie’s coke bottle. He would get very mad if a peach got stuck in the nipple and fuss until Brian took it out.

This is Jordan not taking a nap. (nap is supposed to be 12-3 or something. He was in his crib at 1 and fell asleep around 2.