Tick Tock

We went to the baby house this morning at our usual time. Yan showed up in his winter hat—it cracks me up. Both boys were in good spirits at the start of the morning. Terri and I played with both boys for quite some time our usual tropical hot spot. After a while Terri gave Yan a couple of cookies. When he did not receive any more cookies he showed his displeasure. At least today there were no toys to throw around like Godzilla strolling through Tokyo. Terri held him in her lap to reassure him—it looked like a WWE move to me. He calmed down a bit and was soon running around with toys—the moment quickly forgotten. We did have a nice little breakthrough with Yan this morning. He kept looking at our watches and we kept saying tick-tock as we showed the watch to him. Shortly before it was time for him to go—eureka, he said tick-tock!

Sergei was having a good time crawling around playing with a crab rattle and picking up crayons that Yan had scattered on the floor. He also seems taken with Terri's hair. It was only at the end of our time that he became unhappy. You could tell it was because he was hungry (as with all the other babies that we could hear in the background). He kept crying as he waited for his caregivers to come get him. It broke Terri’s heart to not be able to feed him at that moment. Before we left we saw him sitting in his chair with a bowl of food ever so slightly out of his reach (the caregiver was doing something else at that moment) as he desperately tried to get it.

We went downstairs to the director’s office and received medical histories for the boys. It appears March will be a busy month in our household as both boys have their birthdays about a week apart in that month. Both boys appear to be developing normally, although we found out that Yan can be a little bossy in his playgroup and occasionally jealous of other kids. I think this is what would be called foreshadowing in the literary world.

After we left the baby house we went to eat. We went to a place that was called Pizza East, yet we did not have pizza but rather Eastern dishes (Kazakh, Korean, Georgian). Terri wanted a salad to keep it light but what came back was a plate of ham, potatoes, boiled egg, cucumber and tomato in a generous supply of mayonnaise. It was tasty but so much for light! I had a Kazakh beef dish with rice and -Korean carrots that was really good. We all shared a Georgian dish that is a soft flat bread filled with cheese and garlic. Little Caesar’s should switch to this recipe for their crazy bread. We have really enjoyed the opportunity to try different foods while we are here.

Our afternoon visit was shorter but productive. What was really great on this visit is that we got to go up to Yan’s play group and bring him back to our bonding room. It was quite a hilarious sight to walk into the playroom and see potty time, no, not party time, potty time. Apparently that is the way it is done—group potty training—all the kiddos sitting quietly and patiently on little pots after lunch. When Yan came out from his constitutional he saw us and smiled. This is the first time he has done this when seeing us. Maybe he sees us more fondly with fresh bowels. No matter what the reason was it was a good start and we took him back down to the bonding room to be joined by Sergei moments later. The boys are officially brothers now as Sergei tried to grab hold of a coloring book Yan had. Yan remedied this by picking up the book as well as a couple of other toys and moving out of arms reach from Sergei. The first brotherly friction and we aren’t even out of Kaz yet! Sergei also pulled himself up to a standing position and we cheered him on. This produced a huge smile on his face. Let me tell you, this boy has some real soulful eyes. It was great to see him so happy. Yan and I played until we were dripping in sweat—honestly, you don’t have to play that hard to sweat in the playroom, but we were both pretty worn out.

After we left we stopped at the coffee house and then went to the supermarket where we picked up a few items and our translator and driver helped me select the best regional beers. Good times.