We had a short morning visit with Michael today. I think there was some miscommunication among the drivers, so no one picked us up this morning before our 10AM visit start time. At about 10:30AM Sean went back upstairs to our apartment to call Julia, one of the interpreters (we had been waiting outside). So, Julia said that she would contact Natasha, our coordinator, and Sean told her we would continue to wait outside. Actually, we learned yesterday that the Baby House is only a 15 minute walk from our apartment, but we didn't want to just walk over there and have a driver show up for us at the apartment without us there. A few minutes later Natasha arrived (she also drives families around sometimes) to pick us up, and we made it to the Baby House in time for the 11AM hour. Yes, things like this can happen, but we just basically go with the flow rather than get upset about it. After all, there's six families here going through bonding and having to share the drivers and interpreters. I'm sure that having to keep all of us and our different visit times to the different Baby Houses straight is no easy task!
So, we only have a few visit pics today, as we wanted to make the most of what was left of our morning visit with Michael. He was already fed by the time we got there and was in a walker, playing with a plastic stacking donut. The walker (there are several of them in the playroom) is one of Michael's favorite things to play in. I think he loves the sense of freedom to move whereever he wants to. The walker is one of the things he crawls towards, and when he gets close to another baby in a walker, he will pull himself up on his knees on the walker and play with whatever toy is attached to the walker tray. He is starting to recognize us, I think. I mean, he doesn't squeal with joy or anything when he sees us, but he doesn't just blankly look over and past us like he did on the first day. We did get smiles out of him that first day, but they were forced as we would lift him up in the air to get them - he absolutely loves that! We do everything we can to establish eye contact with Michael as much as possible, as that facilitates the bonding process. I was feeling under the weather this afternoon, so Sean went back to the Baby House while James and I returned to the apartment. I'm pretty sure Sean is getting some good bonding time with Michael on his solo visits yesterday and today, as this morning it appeared that Michael actually recognized Sean first. Of course, James is recognized by everyone, and one of the caregivers that was in the group room today who was also there on Monday has taken quite a liking to James. During the afternoon visit Sean took Michael outside, and they sat in a glider and watched the construction crews working on the road in front of the Baby House, putting down new blacktop and replacing missing pavers on the sidewalk. Michael was especially captivated by a huge, loud, truck/tractor as it drove by. Sounds like his older brother!
Oh, before I forget to mention - it looks like Michael has 8 teeth. The top two front teeth and bottom two front teeth are already out. The bottom teeth adjacent to those teeth have almost fully come out, and the top teeth adjacent to the front are making their way in. Explains why he's always looking for toys to stick into his mouth. Also, we don't have current length and weight measurements for Michael yet but the 9 month clothes I brought fit him just right, as well as some of James' previous 12-month outfits that I brought which James didn't get to wear but a couple of times before (so maybe they shrank a little bit), but Michael will probaby be wearing size 12-month clothes once it's time to return home. He will be turning 10 months old next week.
For lunch today we went to a place called MATE, which has free wi-fi, a varied menu with English translation, and also good food at even more reasonable prices. I think our total bill there today was only about $15 USD, which is not bad for eating out here. They had an extensive list of coffee/cappucino and desserts on the menu, too. Again, not everything on the menu is always available, as Sean and I both ordered different chicken dishes which ended up changing because there was no chicken today. It looked like a very trendy little place with flatscreen TVs showing music videos playing Eurotechno music. According to the menu it turns into a nightclub on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. It was a nice little lunch spot, so with the decent food and prices I'm sure we'll be returning there during our stay here in Karaganda.
So, here are a few pics from today. Enjoy!
