Sleep vs. mobility

Steve here. For breakfast this morning we had baranki, a traditional Russian hard bread that is in the shape of little rings (like mini bagels). We spread cherry jam on them as recommended. It was a nice break from our usual pop tart breakfast. Apparently, the weather service lied to us as we rudely found out when leaving the apartment this morning. Instead of a predicted warming trend it was –24ºC! Ouch.

Today was a really good day with the boys. Before leaving we made sure we had no cookies with us, so that when Yan dug through our bag he would find none. It seemed to work as he took everything out, finding no treasured cookies. Instead, he pulled out the animal flash cards and Terri worked with him for a while getting some really good eye contact with him. Sergei joined us after having to be changed—having left a bit of a toxic mess for the caretakers this morning. Both boys were in good spirits. We were pleased that we were making progress with keeping Yan’s attention. We praised him often for success and he is becoming a pro at high fives. Sergei crawled around and pulled himself up, again we lavished him with praise. He has really changed since we first saw him. His face seems much more relaxed and he seems more calm and peaceful. He is making more sounds and best of all, he smiles a lot. Closer to the end of the visit I was holding Yan on my lap, rocking back and forth and to my surprise ‘energy boy’ fell asleep—snoring and making suckling sounds. Sergei started to cry towards the end, but I think he could hear the lunch roundup in the next room, that and all the other babies that were crying waiting for lunch.

Between visits we did some sightseeing. Our goal is to have a lot of video and pictures of Ust so that our boys can know about their hometown/country when they get older. We will always have a bond to this country and want to share it with our sons. We went to a park, named after a hero of the revolution—there are a lot of things named after heroes of the revolution. There were statues from Russian fairy tales lining the snow-covered footpaths. Also in the park was an old tractor from the time of Stalin, and some 1820’s era cannons. We next went to an impressive World War Two monument followed by a monument to those who fought in Afghanistan. This memorial seemed particularly somber as floral arrangements, dusted in snow, were placed around the monument. We went downtown and had a nice meal at the Turkish Café. We ended our sightseeing by visiting the local Mosque and walking through a Yurta, a traditional Kazak nomad home. Kaz is remarkable in the fact that Christians and Muslims live in harmony here.

The afternoon visit was our short visit. Sergei pulled himself up to the walker and I put him in it. Man, was that boy mobile! Terri was running around after him as he did laps around the room. He was having a blast. I played with Yan, tossing him around, playing airplane and letting him ride on my neck. The boys had a great time—so did mama and dada.

When we got back we spent a quiet evening at the apartment, watching 24, having some light snacks and sampling a couple of good regional beers, Baltica and Klinscoye. A fitting end to a good day.