2.17.2005
Day 3
Gulnara picked us up again at 7:00 am and we headed out to Ecik. When they brought Justin in he looked just as cute as can be! We offered him the sippy cup filled with apple juice, and he scrunched up his face and began to cry. Apparently he didn’t want the cover on because it was too frustrating for him to get the juice out, so we took it off and he stopped his crying and had some juice. We spent the next couple of hours sitting on the blanket playing with an assortment of toys. He likes the set of stacking cups we brought, and when we offered him a bowl of Cheerios, he carefully took one at a time and placed them into each cup. Every single thing we hand to him, he must look it over very carefully, turning it over and over and taking in every detail. A caretaker brought in his 10 am snack, a glass tea cup filled with hot milk and three cookies. We transferred the milk to his sippy cup and he had a little, but he’s so congested we didn’t push it with the milk. Awhile later they took Justin back to his group and brought in little Paige.
Today Paige was a tiny bit fussy, but still a dream to see. The caretakers told us she didn’t sleep well because of her anticipation of seeing us. We don’t know how true that is, but we kissed and hugged her for some time, and even got her to laugh . . . A funny little belly laugh with all her gums exposed! Before long she fell asleep as we gave her a bottle of apple/carrot juice. She’s got the biggest cheeks, and we can’t wait to dress her up in some of the cute outfits we brought.
Today they wanted us to feed Justin his lunch. So at 12:00 noon a caretaker brought him back in to the music room. Wish we could say he was glad to see we were still there, but no such luck. His caretaker started to feed him a nice bowl of soup served in a china bowl with a full-sized soup spoon! As the babyhouse director, the caretaker, and Gulnara looked on, Chris took over. The director commented that she had no worries because Chris looked like she knew what she was doing. The soup was followed by some sort of pressed meat and a helping of a grain. He was full before he finished, and we gave him one more sippy cup full of apple juice. This time he seemed to figure out how to drink from it and drank every last drop before we had to say goodbye! Because they know how concerned we are about his demeanor, they say we can watch him in his playgroup to see how he interacts with the other children. That will be good to see. Also, we learned that Paige may have been exposed to Rubella, which, according to what we read on the Internet, is not good, but not terribly serious.
We headed back into Almaty where we met with Emil, who had been busy driving another family until they left for home this morning. He took us to the Ram Store and we did a little grocery shopping. We came back to the apartment and as you can see, resolved our technical issues and are back online! Tomorrow we are going to feed Paige her morning meal as well as meet with the director to go over any questions we have about the children. Until then . . .
Today Paige was a tiny bit fussy, but still a dream to see. The caretakers told us she didn’t sleep well because of her anticipation of seeing us. We don’t know how true that is, but we kissed and hugged her for some time, and even got her to laugh . . . A funny little belly laugh with all her gums exposed! Before long she fell asleep as we gave her a bottle of apple/carrot juice. She’s got the biggest cheeks, and we can’t wait to dress her up in some of the cute outfits we brought.
Today they wanted us to feed Justin his lunch. So at 12:00 noon a caretaker brought him back in to the music room. Wish we could say he was glad to see we were still there, but no such luck. His caretaker started to feed him a nice bowl of soup served in a china bowl with a full-sized soup spoon! As the babyhouse director, the caretaker, and Gulnara looked on, Chris took over. The director commented that she had no worries because Chris looked like she knew what she was doing. The soup was followed by some sort of pressed meat and a helping of a grain. He was full before he finished, and we gave him one more sippy cup full of apple juice. This time he seemed to figure out how to drink from it and drank every last drop before we had to say goodbye! Because they know how concerned we are about his demeanor, they say we can watch him in his playgroup to see how he interacts with the other children. That will be good to see. Also, we learned that Paige may have been exposed to Rubella, which, according to what we read on the Internet, is not good, but not terribly serious.
We headed back into Almaty where we met with Emil, who had been busy driving another family until they left for home this morning. He took us to the Ram Store and we did a little grocery shopping. We came back to the apartment and as you can see, resolved our technical issues and are back online! Tomorrow we are going to feed Paige her morning meal as well as meet with the director to go over any questions we have about the children. Until then . . .
# posted by kaztree @ 11:45 PM 
The road in front of the babyhouse. It's cold, but really not so bad.
# posted by kaztree @ 11:29 AM
%20of%20100_0006.jpg)
