Moscow-day 23

Here is a recount of our day thus far:
4:15am wake up, throw clothes on, and get boys up for their doctor visit
4:30am Doctor comes to complete document for our embassy papers. He spoke excellent English and was very reassuring to the boys. He picked them up to weigh them; I guess that is his secret power. According to his scientific method, Ruslan is about 30 pounds and Pasha is 40 pounds. He said Ruslan is skinny while Pasha is definitely not (if it would have been later in the day I would have laughed at this statement). I also would have asked him to pick me up too so I could see how much weight I have lost on this trip. Anyway, he asked about Ruslan's CP and had him walk about ten feet (really? you can tell in ten feet?) and said he had "very mild" CP. I didn't say anything as he had lots of other families to see today and this is all a formality anyway. I have learned so much about both boys in the last few days most of which has been a validation of my initial instincts on their personalities. It has been most interesting to see how amazed they are at things our girls would think trivial. The washing machine is quite a contraption of modern technology in their eyes. It is in the bathroom and Ruslan eyes it skeptically every time it is on and he has to go pee (which by the way is about three times per hour). I wonder if they allowed free usage of the restroom at the orphanage because I spend more time in the bathroom here than anywhere else. They will definitely learn some English vocabulary in the bathroom by the time we are home. Unlike our girls, they LOVE most fresh vegetables and fruits. We went to the market and then to an outdoor vendor where the produce looked amazing. The woman running the stand was very friendly and chatted with Pasha and Ruslan. I found out Ruslan loves tomatoes and both boys like carrots. They also wanted many other things too but we already had a lot of groceries to carry. The woman asked Pasha if we were his parents and he said yes (yea!) So, for the first time in my life, I peeled and sliced a carrot and cooked it in a butter/sugar/water mixture. They ate it all approvingly. They clean their plate every meal and snack unless they really don't like the item. If I ask them to take a bite/drink they will. Neither of them are big fans of milk but then again I don't think they had it that much. Supposedly they had tea with milk and sugar every morning but they have not asked for "chai" once. I am happy about that as I don't want my caffeine addiction passed on to them (Callie still doesn't drink pop except on rare occasions). We are doing pretty well sticking to the routine but the boys have gone with the flow pretty well too. Today while we walked through the market they were pretty typical in the sense they wanted to pick up a few things but didn't demand we buy them (as American born kids may). They held our hands the entire time and were great helpers as they took the food off the cashier stand and into the cart for us to bag. Whenever I drop something one of them automatically picks it up and brings it to me. They overall have excellent manners with the exception of being able to wait. I imagine they waited for things at the orphanage so they CAN, but I sure hope they learn the sign for wait quickly so that things will go smoothly at home (with four kids someone is going to have to wait at some point and I don't want it always to be Sam or Callie). On the walk back to the apartment from the market Chad walked ahead of the boys and I as he had heavy groceries to carry and Pasha yelled at him in Russian "Papa, wait for us". Ruslan really enjoys taking my cheeks and kissing me and hugs both of us a lot. He seems to check in with me often and if he doesn't think I am paying attention works hard to get it (by doing something he knows he isn't supposed to). Pasha has lots of bumps and bruises all over his body which we have begun to understand why. He wants to wrestle with Chad a lot and will get lots of hugs that way. I am really thrilled with how things seem to be going. Tomorrow we head the the US Embassy for our appointment at 10:30. I really don't know what exactly we will be doing there but I understand we will have some kind of an interview. On Saturday if the weather is nice we will check out the zoo or Red Square. Six more days until we get home!