When He Was Called Ruslan

Look at my beautiful boy when he was a little baby back in Russia.

Some man who has something to do with some orphanages or baby homes (so vague, I know) in the Novosibirsk region posted a link to photos on a Russian adoption message board that I still check in on from time to time. I think the man is in some sort of management position at one of these homes and offered the link for parents who may have adopted children from the homes between certain dates to see if their child/children made it into any of the photos. Many of the photos were snapshot style color shots of visitors interacting with children who may have been putting on a show or volunteers who may have been putting on some sort of a show for the children. One black-and-white roll was called Daily Life 2006 and dubbed as being professional, and I believe it. Look how nice this photo is. All the b/w pics are sort of artsy looking.

As soon as I saw the photo I knew it was Alexander. However, before I allowed myself to say for sure it was him I had to study every aspect (even the way he tends to curl the end of his pinky) very carefully and compare it with his referral photo and others we took ourselves of him. I don't know how old he was here. It was sometime in 2006. But it was before September 2006, as that's when we first met him and he was definitely bigger/older looking than this photo shows. Born in July '05, he'd be at least 6 months old, probably more like 8, 9, 10, 11 months?

Isn't he a doll? I'm so grateful to have found this photo. I also included his very first photo, which was the referral photo we received of him from Russia, through our adoption agency. Again, I have no idea when this referral photo was taken. But you can see that they're the same little boy.

Unfortunately, none of the photos offered were from Anna's baby home. She lived about 2.5 hours away from the city where Alexander lived. Most of the pics offered up seemed to be from baby homes within the city of Novosibirsk.