Wednesday's Post

Today is Wednesday, and, considering the pretty but brutal snow yesterday, warm (maybe 38 degrees?) and partly sunny. The snow is melting which makes road travel easier but icy sidewalks and steps a little treacherous.

We had an uneventful day in the good sort of way. Aidan is used to us and we think looks forward to our visits. Typically, he is in his walker each morning when we arrive for our visit. Once he sees us, after a second of recognition, smiles and waves his arms and scoots over to us to be picked up. If he starts moving backwards or sideways out of excitement his caregivers laugh and push him towards us. He’s definitely a pretty happy kid. After we pick him up, we carry him downstairs to the playroom. He grabs on to our shirts but looks around to see everything he can see as we’re carrying him. He particularly likes to be carried facing front, like a football, so he’s not missing out on any of the action.

This morning he again played with his favorite toys, but despite the many objects of entertainment we bring each day, he has decided the past few days that he’d really like to play with the cameras. Our digital has a hand strap that dangles, and he loves to reach for that and also look around for it on the blanket. The 35 mm has a longer string, and he thinks that’s fun to try to put it in his mouth (mom and dad don’t let him, which of course is a bummer). When we put him down on the blanket to crawl around, he beelines for the cameras, wherever they are. That makes us laugh, of course – why bother with all the fancy stuff? It’s mom and dad’s things that are the most interesting. Aidan also played on the hanging rings again today. Scott held his body weight while he grabbed the rings, and Scott “swung” him back and forth. He thought that was neat and pedaled his legs in the air for effect. The playroom crowd thought that was funny so he decided to up the attention factor by making his sucking/talking “look at me” noises. He sure knows how to play a crowd.

We hit the self-service grocery at lunchtime and bought some ramen noodle soups and instant mashed potatoes. They tasted pretty good and hit the spot for a little light lunch. Our interpreter had some dental work done yesterday so wasn’t feeling well enough to escort us for some souvenir shopping, but we’ll find time in the next few days.

The afternoon visit in the music room was crazy baby time. All 3 of the kids were happy crawlers and thought that everything on everyone else’s blanket looked the most attractive. Aidan made a move for Clara’s rainbow ring toy, Shaylen beelined for Aidan’s crinkle book and Clara motored over to Shaylen’s musical piano. It was a riot. We all thought that probably because they are comfortable with each of us now that they feel relaxed enough to explore. Near the end of each afternoon visit, though, we can tell Aidan gets sleepy. He fusses just a little, yawns, and lets me walk around with him on my shoulder. Hopefully by the end of the week we’ll find out exactly what his day’s schedule is.

For dinner, we all decided to go to another Kazakh restaurant, and chose the “Golden Century” which was recommended by Aliya, Assia’s sister, our interpreter yesterday. While we had a very nice time, and talked a lot and each had a few Kazakh beers, we realized after the fact that we had made two mistakes: 1) we had gone into the restaurant’s bar area, which had a separate entrance, not the actual restaurant, and 2) an hour and 45 minutes (which is what we had told our drivers) is not sufficient time for dinner. We don’t know if it was the particular food we had ordered, if the restaurant was busy (the bar wasn’t particularly) or if it’s just the Kazakh way of preparing and serving food, but it took 2 hours and 15 minutes for our food to arrive. Once we finally ate, the food was good – I had “tabak chicken” which tasted like marinated rotisserie chicken, curry rice and stewed vegetables. Scott had a beef and potato dish (although he’d ordered a pork and banana dish, but that’s ok) and everyone enjoyed their meals, but we ate quickly so as to not to make the drivers wait in the cold any longer than necessary. I think at the next restaurant we may call and order our food ahead of time, just so we can manage our driver’s schedules a little better.

When we got back to the hotel, after the beers (which are stronger here!) we read a little and then had an early night. I started a new book today that I am really enjoying called “The Center of Everything” which is about a ten year old girl and her mom in the early eighties. She’s already talked about friendship pins on sneakers and her science fair triptych posters, which brings me back. Scott’s on puzzle #6 on Sudoku – he says, crossword puzzle lovers, you should check it out!

Tomorrow’s Thursday and the 15th! Hard to believe! See you then!