First Meeting

We met Alihan today. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) we didn't get much time for pictures--we were too busy playing! He is very similar to Rauan--even down to taking things apart to see how they run! Heaven help us--I'm going to have to hide all the mechanicals and tools in our house otherwise I can see Rauan and Alihan putting their heads together and plotting on how to unassemble and reassemble things in our house. I think Julia is going to have her hands full.
Alihan's cleft isn't that bad. It looks like his palate is fine, but to my ear--which is ok but nowhere near a speech therapist's ear--he sounds hypernasal. His mid-face is depressed too, so I'm not sure what we will fine when he gets back to the states. His teeth are a mess. I can see he will probably have to be sedated for a good cleaning and whatever else the dentist might find. Personality wise--he is hilarious! The interpreter adores him--she told us he is very kind and generous with the other children--quite the gentleman. He loves cars and trucks and a dog ran past us and he was more curious then anything. That bodes well for Loki at least! Alihan is also neat--capped the markers and put everything back when he was done playing with it--Julia and Rauan will soon change that. Anyone who has been to our house knows it is well lived in and messy too. Kids, dogs and cats---fun, loud and noisy. It's too quiet here--I'm used to kids yelling and dogs barking.
We met some other adoptive moms today. Ted is the token male! I think he likes it but won't admit to it. They are all adopting babies--the babies are absolutely adorable! One of the moms missed the Turkish Air flight that we ran too in Chicago. O'Hare is terrible--I would suggest if people can bypass O'Hare--do it! They are still waiting for their luggage.
I'm hoping for pictures tomorrow. We had a blast with Alihan and the time flew.