a Toby a day...week 1

OK, so i began this post over a week ago!

in lieu of having my baby Toby here with me, i've decided to post a photo for each day that we were with Toby.  it will be a fun way for me to recap the progress and to get to show others the photos we didn't dare post before it was official...

monday, november 29

here's our little tear-stained baby Rasul within minutes after our first introduction, only slightly comforted by the bright blue tigger ball we brought for him. i remember a few of my very first thoughts when i saw him: 1) his cheeks are so cute! 2)his hair is so short! and, 3) what a cute little jacket.  it's weird what runs through your mind at such a momentous occasion as meeting your child for the first time...

ok, sorry, this is two photos. we saw just the corner of a smile that day...just remember thinking, what an adorable, beautiful little boy...

tuesday, november 30 

toby was still pretty uncertain and whimpered when he first came to us, but he soon started to enjoy finger puppets. i include the one below this one, with Marziya the social worker, b/c we will see a marked difference in Toby's reaction to her down the road...

i think it was also the day we discovered the dimple. :-) (discovered, and fell in love with, that is...)

and i call the last shot "mad baby".  just too cute.

wednesday, december 1

on the third day Tobes arrived to us screaming absolute bloody murder. any doubts we may have had about his vocal abilities were dismissed. but the nice thing was that he settled down just as fast.  i think this was also the first time he cuddled into me. :-] looking at the photo again now i just want to grab those cheeks and squish them.

thursday december 2

this was the second day of blood curdling screams - and this time it only started once we met him out in the hall! (it was even LOUDER than the day before; the whole baby home heard him: "oh, that was your kid??" ;-p) -- but again, he got over it quickly when we started playing, and he actually gave us more smiles than we'd seen so far. he loved the musical/noisy toy, and i think he looks markedly more at ease on this day's photos. 

friday december 3 (and there's just no way i'm sticking to "one" photo per day. no way.)

we weren't sure what to expect on the fifth day, after the bouts of screaming the two previous days--but he came in holding our translator's hand and not crying at all! yay Rasul! 

 look at this face. i just adore it.

this was also the day Toby met "Leo the lion" and incidentally the first time we heard him laugh. :-)

 (i love the hat-head.)

 he really got into playing with Leo on his hand, even though he couldn't pick things up. very cute. ;-p

saturday december 4

no crying, and Toby even had a faint smile on his face when Aya led him in! we weren't expecting that - but how encouraging. 

i call this the toby-squat. sometimes he'd squat so low that his butt would touch the ground, at which point he'd realize it and sit. so funny! and how about that prize-winning sweater?!!

 mommy can't help herself. poor kiddo, he has a lot of this sorta thing coming.

the day before we had gotten some nice verbal oohs and ahs when we took Toby out to look at the fish tank, i think he even repeated "bolluck" softly, the kazakh word for fish. we were hoping for the same on this day, and rob had the video camera poised--but not to be! Toby doesn't vocalize on demand, that's for sure!

sunday december 5

a-ha! the beginnings of a strained smile! back then, it seemed like Rasul wasn't quite sure he could let himself enjoy things - his smile would be a little strained, and he'd often look away. we saw so much progress in that area by the end.

in his pink girlie outfit!  playing with cute little mateo, who will soon be going to live in Spain.

he was kind of intrigued by mirrors, not that you can tell that here!

 funny face!

 with rasul's doctor out by the bird cage. he liked the bird cage, and he seemed pretty comfortable with his doc too.

monday december 6

this was the eighth day, and a really good day b/c there were several firsts! it was the first time we put him in some of the clothes we had brought. he managed it well and didn't seem stressed out at all letting me change him. i also found out that he had horribly dry skin on his legs! --a condition that all the little kiddos seem to have, unfortunately. i suppose lotion would be considered a luxury in a baby home.. 

 

even now when i see this photo on our fridge, he just looks like such a big boy rather than a baby. :-)

here was another first - and this one was HUGE for me. remember the the photo from day 2, where the social worker was standing next to us and Rasul was interacting nicely with her? well, she continued to come every other day or so, and on day 8 when she tried to hold him or interact with her, i was completely surprised when he freaked out and literally CLUNG to me for dear life!  
"no, mommy, no! don't give me to her!!"

 on this second photo he's slightly comforted, but still kinda like "Ok,mommy..but she's STILL there!"

now i have to admit, i looked at these two photos OVER and OVER when we got back to our room. i mean, he looks just pathetic here and i felt so sorry for him--but it was the first time that he preferred us over someone else, and that just felt FANTASTIC!! and even though we really liked the social worker - she was a very vivacious person, contrary to how this photo depicts her - he NEVER saw her again without crying and lowering his face, breaking down, or clinging to me. 

overall, he just seemed to be one notch more comfortable with us by day 8. 

here he's looking at books with Daddy.

it was also the day we got to go take some photos in his music room, which was usually locked. he seemed to really like it in there and was really comfortable with me, and when i saw a baby doll and mentioned something about a baby, he just kept whispering "bebe, bebe!" soooooo cute!the bottom photos is with the gal who leads exercises with the kids.

so that was the end of wonderful week one. we were already falling in love with little Rasul, and we wondered how it was that we were being so blessed by getting to bond with him. :-)