Praying for Ansley

Friday, March 14, 2008

Poltergeist

We got to see my Maia today! We took the new shoes and they fit great! If anything they are a little big, but I’ll deal with that. She was quite proud of her new kicks and walked and walked and walked (with help) and stomped and stomped and stomped around the room to show them off and try them out! The funny part was, she walked with her toes pointed out (like a ballet dancer!) and also walked very 'heavy' and stomped her foot down. She’s still not used to them, and they are clunkier shoes than I’m sure she’s used to really trying to walk in.

The other difference today was they had her dressed in more spring like clothes! She still had her tights on under the outfit, and two pair of socks on top of that… but she had on short sleeves and a plaid set of overalls that were great. It was just so different to actually see her arms, for example. I loved it! Now, to walk down the hallway to the play room, we still had to put on a cardigan – but the music room was warm enough that we could take that off when we got there. You're getting more and more - here is the sneak peek for today, a moment when she decided to play rather than stomp around:


She ate very little lunch. More than on Wednesday, but still very little overall. I’ll feel better when I know what she is eating 24/7. Perhaps she eats well at the other meals? Perhaps she never eats very well? It will be so much easier to know what she has gotten and what she likes and doesn’t like when I’m with her all the time. When I’m feeding her lunch, I feed her what she’ll eat… but if I knew she didn’t eat any other vegetables the rest of the day, I might push those harder, for example. So, very soon I’ll be able to see what see likes and doesn’t and introduce her to something new as well. I can’t wait!

We came home from lunch before heading out with Masha and Sasha for some more shopping. We had a good time, and went a bit out from the center of town. We went to a new place too with freshly baked bread! Yum! We bought a few things there and headed home for the day about 5 or so.

We had something new for dinner tonight! We bought some Salmon at the Iceberg the other day and mom cooked it, with a side of rice (flavored) and a cucumber. It was so good. We’ve eaten a lot of roaster chicken for the meals we eat here in the apartment, and although we both really enjoy them, I was ready for something different – for at least one meal! It was yummy!

OK, I woke up this morning thinking that we were going to make it through the week without losing any light bulbs…. (really, this is what I was thinking when I woke up.) Well, I thought too soon. The bathroom light (which is one fixture with one bulb, which just blew last week, remember?) was out again today. Now, yesterday it was acting up. We would turn on the switch and it wouldn’t come on right away, but maybe 10 seconds later it would decide to come on. Today, it never decided to come on, but we never heard it blow. Oh well, all we knew was it was totally dark in the bathroom again and we needed a light change, again! I felt so bad…
So, when I told Masha, she laughed and said, we call this a Poltergeist. What do you all call it? We laughed and said, yup, that’s what we call it too! So, literally, she called the maintenance man and told him we had a Poltergeist in the bathroom light. When he came, since he speaks only Russian, and I do not, I opened the door, and let him in. Then it’s like awkward and we were like... what do we say? So I just motioned to the bathroom door and shrugged my shoulders like, I have no idea what’s going on… He just laughed and said, Poltergeist. It was hysterical. Anyway, the good news is, we have light again in the bathroom. The even better news is, it is a MUCH brighter bulb than before! Now, let’s wait and see how long it lasts this week! LOL.

I’m too afraid to try my bedside lamp again. It remains unplugged. I supposed the Poltergeist needed somewhere else to visit, so it’s moved in to the bathroom.

Right now we are watching american cartoons that are dubbed in Russian. You can sort of hear the English in the background, but not really enough to make it easy to understand. It still beats Euro News which I am very tired of. (Mom on the other hand enjoys watching the same stories, in Russian, every 30 minutes.) Again, just time for a change of pace, at least for a little while.

Tomorrow is our bonus day to visit Maia. I’m excited we’ll get to see her again. Of course, Sunday will be a day off, but then back for Monday and Wednesday. The plan is still to get her after lunch on Thursday. I’m getting E.X.C.I.T.E.D. (but it is tainted with slight F.E.A.R. until Tuesday is all over and my last recission day has passed!) Oh - Wednesday will be SO SWEET!

On Sunday, we plan to go out to dinner with Susan who arrived this week to meet her son, and with Catalina and Calin who continue bonding with both of their new children. We are looking forward to getting to know Susan better and really spend some time with them all! We have a few days left to live it up before Maia is with us all the time, and I’m sure we won’t head out for dinner, or anything like that. I’m not complaining, but I’ll go visit with my buddies before I no longer can!

5 comments:

Catalina said...

This is so fun, to communicate through blog and see you tomorrow and talk face to face! Well, we are alll ready for Sunday! We also can`t wait to meet with Susan and you to celebrate your last few days of freedom in Kaz! I guess you are going to be very busy after Thursday!

Jennifer said...

The title of your post made me laugh out loud. I thought, "Ok, I can't wait to see how she ties 'Poltergeist' with bonding time!!" I have to say I was relieved to find out it was in reference to the lights. Which then made me laugh all the harder at your statement that since you unplugged the lamp, the poltergeist had to move to the bathroom. Too funny!

The shoes are great! They look so sturdy, and I love the sneak peak of her arms too.

Unknown said...

I just caught up with your last 3 posts. Just think when you have Maia f/t the first thing you think of when you wake up will NOT be light issues. I had to giggle a little about that. Eventhough it is hard to be away from her it is nice you have this time for yourself. It is good that you did this blog so you can remember all these details.

I was teared up too reading about the things you will miss there. Of course you love the place that your child was born and the fact that she has been so well cared for makes it that much more endearing. If you ever do a reunion with some of the other parents, I would love to go along with my family just for the experience. In any event, I hope some of you do it when your kids are teenagers. That age can be tough and for some that sense of unity and belonging matters.

Love the shoes and the latest picture. She is so cute the way she is sitting. I think it is wonderful that you are gathering things for her to reflect on her birthplace. It will not be where her heart and home is, but it will bring her in touch with where she came from. I am getting EXCITED about seeing the post when she is all yours and then about when you arrive home and reunite with Matthew and the kids meet for the first time. I hope you have time to post these events on your blog. I am tearing up again. My 2 kids did not behave very well to each other tonight and I just wish I could figure out a way for them to really understand how lucky they are to have each other and even to appreciate one another. Since Matthew has been waiting with you, I hope the relationship is easy and they develop a strong sibling bond. You will need to take lots of pictures when they first meet if you can see through your tears to take the pictures.

Have a wonderful visit tomorrow!

Matthew Ruley said...

I rarely comment on your blog and I appologize but I'm following along.

Soo cool to see bloggers that I'm reading meet up. Say hello to Catlin for me. Glad things are progressing nicely. Your last post about missing home and what you will miss in Petro was very moving.

We went to Japan and Hong Kong once for a few weeks and I had homesickness - I missed things I never thought about. And knowing thta your child is from Petro I am sure that even the experiences you may have there that are uncomfortable are bittersweet. Thank you for sharing.

Kim said...

She is so cute! Do you think we might be in Almaty at the same time? We'll be there Wed. night and there about a week. Would love to meet face to face and have the babies meet each other. If not now maybe at an America World reunion or something.

Best wishes to you on Thursday- what a special day!