The Big Chill

Today was our 10th day of bonding! I can’t believe the 14 day period is almost over. Unreal. It was another great day at the baby house. The baby definitely has a slight cold, but it really only presents in the form of a cough as far as cold symptoms go. Additionally, she is also more content to still sit and play in my lap or on Mom’s lap, rather than crawling all about. The last thing taken as a sign of not being 100% is that she is eating even less than before – but I know that is how I am when I have a cold, I’m not that hungry, so I’m not that worried about her not eating at this point. She gulped down her tea though – quite thirsty! And let me tell you – there was NO denying the fact that she didn’t want her food. No language barrier there. We totally understood. Really. Got it.

She is definitely babbling more and more too. When we first started our visits (way back when!!) she barely murmured any sounds at all during our two hour visits. A couple of days in, she was ‘saying’ little things, like la, ga, da, but again, not much noise at all. Now, she is really starting to find her voice. She let’s us know how she is feeling with sounds (sometimes shrieks of joy, or laughing, sometimes more like a moan or a moan shriek when she ‘isn’t happy’ which might consist simply of her dropping a toy or something that she wants us to pick up.) She is also trying to say some other sounds.. “F” is a big sound for her. She also likes to blow kisses which isn’t talking, but makes a cool noise which she likes hearing over and over. I said ‘fish’ today because there was a picture of one in a book I brought for her, and I swear, repeatedly, she said, Sssshhhh when I would say fish. Now, either that was her way of trying to say fish (no idea if that is possible at this age at this point) OR she is simply saying the SH sound. Either way I’m happy. It’s cute. We hope and pray she continues to be well enough to continue our visits. Of course, I want her to be well, but I also can’t imagine missing a day with her at this point. Making I could just rock her if she’s sick?? I hope so!

OK, she may kill me for this when she is older, but.... Sneak peek...

Yesterday, Mom and I had the pleasure of going to Masha’s house for lunch where her mother, Olga, had prepared a delicious lunch! So many things to choose from and each one better than the last. I am terrible at remembering all the details or names, but I’ll try to describe! We had meat filled dumpling type things (everything was homemade by the way!!) that were just wonderful. She also made a chicken and mushroom dish that was a first for her, but also great! She had made a corn, crab meat and egg salad mixed with mayonnaise. I’ve never had something like this in the states, but it was absolutely delicious. She also had shredded carrots with garlic and those were great too. I love carrots! Lastly, there were marinated tomatoes (from their summer garden) that were full of flavor and spice – yum! So, we were absolutely stuffed, and THEN came dessert. They brought out a dish of chocolate candies and also the prize of the day – a home made cake. I don’t know I can describe it but to say it was just out of this world. As soon as I finished a piece, she gave me another! Wow – I thought I was going to POP! I ate ½ of the second piece and just couldn’t finish the rest. She then sent us home with left over cake that we promply ate today dessert after lunch. We did not eat another thing the rest of the day yesterday, we were THAT full. We had tea for dinner last night. LOL. It was just so nice to have the delicious food as well as the great hospitality and company! It was great to meet Masha’s mom and see where she lives.

Today, after lunch, we did a little shopping. We had about an hour with Masha before she had to go prepare more paperwork, so we did what we could in the time we had! I think it was quite productive – I have to buy gifts for people here, like the caregivers at the Baby house, etc., and we started on getting all that completed. There are many people to buy for!

Now we are just back in the apartment, doing our evening routine. Some dvd’s, puzzles, emails, blog, Mom is cross-stitching at the moment. We had some soup and cheese and crackers for dinner. We bought mustard some time last week to try with the cheese and crackers…. WOW! It’s some HOT mustard, and the label says mild… I can not even begin to imagine what the hot is like. We love it, but we have to be careful or we’ll burn a hole in our nose or something. It certainly adds some flavor and spice – yum!

Oh yeah… did I say it wasn’t cold? Ha! Today was -20 (Celsius I think, but still!!) -20! Good grief. It was cold. You can’t be out of the house or car for more than like 5 feet without needing gloves and a hat and scarf. Luckily my boots I brought are just perfect. Haven’t been cold yet in those and I’ve walked through snow, etc. I’m not sure why the current day weather is always wrong on the weather portion of the blog. For instance it showed the temp as 41 F at one point here today… uh, no. That is not correct. Not even close.