Day 4

Interesting day!

 

We met A and her Dad in the restaurant as usual, and took off for our day. First stop was at another Baby Home. This one looked like it took care of kids of all ages, as there were all sorts of ages of them hanging around.

 

We took a woman from there to the passport office and back. Not really sure what the purpose of the visit was, but it didn't take too long and off we went to see the baby!

 

Today was just like the other two days. We hung out with the baby until he was exhausted, handed him back to the nurses and went to lunch. We went to the same place we went to the first day. Only this time, the food wasn't as good. Hmmm. Ordered the same thing, too.

 

Like I was saying before, first on the agenda when we get home is to learn a little bit of the language.

 

Accomplishment of the day was in getting him to spontaneously crawl from Point A to Point B. YAY! Go, baby!

 

More laughing, more smiles. We're so happy with him!

 

We haven't started calling him Connor yet, and I'm not sure why. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that he's not ours yet.  Just "Buddy" or "Baby".

 

A keeps suggesting that we should take him for a walk, but we just never seem to get around to it. Or the baby's tired. Or we're tired.

 

I did have the opportunity for our first snuggle. Towards the end of the afternoon, he was really starting to drag, so I just picked him up and cradled him in my arms. I just started coo'ing to him and he just looked at me with these big brown eyes. Yup, my heart is toast. :)

 

Its been really interesting to me how exhausted we are by the end of the day. Both of us are ready to collapse into bed by 8PM and sleep straight through until the morning. Hope this isn't a sign of things to come! LOL

 

The weather has been absolutely beautiful since we've been here. Sunny and warm every day.

 

Today's Observations :

• Napkins are small cocktail napkins folded in half into a triangle and are arranged in a holder on the table.
• Most music videos in Russia are remakes of American videos from the 80's and 90's. Very few are original concepts.
• We have passed a lot of abandoned buildings. Beautiful brickwork that was obviously done in the Soviet era, just crumbing to the ground.
• Paved roads are hit or miss. You can be driving along a main road and turn off into a dirt road or one paved with pot holes so big, you'll lose your car. Main roads seem to be well maintained, but any secondary road is iffy, and a tertiary road is the luck of the draw.
• We've seen a lot of stray dogs and cats. But interestingly enough, the dogs that we have seen with owners are usually off a leash but trained well enough to stay by their masters.
• Rotary's or Round Abouts are most often just lines drawn on the pavement. You need a spine of steel in order to get through one of these unscathed. The ones that have a true filled in center seem to be better for the average persons heart rate, but not by much. ;)