Anyway, as I seem to have recently written, we have been busy these last few days, but not at anything specific. It has been a very comfortable temperature as well.
Life in the baby house is good. Matthew is doing well. He is rolling like mad (this is the fastest mode of transportation right now!) He is also scooting on his belly but he does not like to sit! He will sit for about 20 seconds before laughing and pitching himself backwards. Daddy even bought him a "sitting hippo" to encourage him, but he wants no part of it! He will probably be walking before he sits as he loves to stand and bounce, as well.
Yesterday, we got in trouble for not having enough clothes on Matthew. The doctor caught us with him only in a onesie, no socks! ooops. She spoke crossly to the translator in Russian, but we caught the gist of it ... she indicated a fever, said Milat, said Kate and pointed to her all nicely dressed in jeans and long sleeve shirt and then to Matthew in his onesie! We quickly put his socks back on (I had taken them off since it is actually quite warm in the play room and Matthew like to dig his toes in to scoot easier) and pulled them up to his knees as knee-highs (like his big cousin Shawn!)
I got to put him in his bed after the visit! He had just dozed off in my arms as we made our way back to his room and when I laid him in his crib, he started to cry and reached for me! Of course I had to pick him back up! We cuddled for a minute and then he was fine. He is starting to bond!!
We went to the "Baby Mall" last evening to get him some pants that fit - several of them have feet and are actually a little big even though we thought they would be small! We also got some socks that are more his size. We still need to get him a sweater since we keep having to borrow one from the baby house and they always give us pink ones! Michael is not to impressed, but I keep telling him Matthew is being Belgian because I am sure someone told me that in Belgium, it is perfectly appropriate to dress baby boys in pink. (Is that right, Evelyn?) He looks cute none the less!
Today we enjoyed a walk outside. Matthew was busy looking around, taking everything in from trees to vehicles. When we had to take him back for his nap, the really nice caregiver (who lets us wash him up after breakfast as opposed to the other one who never lets us wash him and reluctantly lets us change his diaper and dress him) tried to take him but he just smiled at her, turned his back and cuddled into to Michael's arms!!! She laughed, tickled him (Matthew, not Michael) and tried again. But he still wouldn't go to her!!! Michael's heart melted into a puddle at this!
Also, we (all the parents) are pretty much banned from the main room while the children are being fed. We distract them from the job at hand (eating) with our smiling and waving! Of course we all have to go in for a minute, just to let them know we are there and to see how close we are to getting our children (meaning who is eating, who is done eating and who is still waiting to eat!) Matthew recognises us and gives us big smiles when he sees us come in!
Here are some things that we have found interesting about like in Kazakhstan:
- You are allowed to drink beer while walking down the street! Of course Michael had to try this out!
- Goods have no tax! This is very easy to get used to!
- Women are expected to drink their beer and other fizzy drinks through straws! It is very funny to see bendy straws sticking out of big beer mugs!
- Movies come out on DVD much earlier and cheaper here. We found Spider Man III here, in English as well for only 950 tenge or $7.79USD! Movies are dubbed into not only Russian but Hungarian as well and have between 7 & 20 different subtitle languages!
- Restaurant checks include the gratuities.
- Apparently when you ask for the check, never, never, never say "check, check" because you will get a dessert - which apparently is not to North American tastes! (This tip from Meaghan -sorry about the name spelling again & Tony, and Annette & Marwan!!!)
- Our driver speaks mainly to Michael (pretty much the only time he has spoken to me was to comment on the fact that I wore glasses instead of contacts!) and he keeps catching Michael yawning! Then he laughs as he mimics him!
We went out for supper with our new friends again and as usual, had lots of fun! We were supposed to have pasta but couldn't find the right place at the mall. It turns out I actually knew where it was but only clued in when we walked past it on our way out. Ooops. Oh well, next time. At least our pizza supper was cheap. It was about 1700 tenge per couple which was about $14 USD including beer!
That's all for now folks! I am tired after all my blog problems! It is 10:47pm here and and we are going to watch a movie! No pictures today because they take forever to upload and our time card is almost empty!
6 comments:
Always glad to hear about your day. So glad little Matthew is better and getting to know you . Michael will hate to get on that plane and I'm sure Matthew will be looking for him and wondering where he has gone. You will have to show Matthew "Daddy's" picture. Sounds as though he is a busy little person. He is smart to figure out his fastest method of travel. Do you get to play with him longer each day?
G & I went out to pick raspberries today and that little bit of rain has really helped them. Not quite as hot today but it is to be hotter by Sunday. I could get along without that heat. Take care. Love Uncle G & Aunt K
Sorry to hear aout your blog problems. If you can wait till Aunty Sarah comes out there is a sweater & jacket in the clothes I sent you. I bet you can hardly wait to have custody so you can dress, feed and do all the normal daily routines without people watching over you. Take it easy and as always give the man a hug and kiss for us. Keep safe and we look forward to hearing about your adventures.
Tracy
So delighted to find your BLOG and to see another little Kazakh come home to Canuck land! We adopted our son Orin Matthew from Almaty region in 2006 and we brought him home to Toronto in June 2006. Congrats again, we will peek into your BLOG again to see how things are going. Below is a link to ours.
http://keoghclan.multiply.com/
The Keogh's in Toronto (Irish/Kazakh/Canadians)
We got scolded too for not having enough clothes on our baby, Berik, even though he was burning up. and... they put PINK panties on him over his diaper underneath 4 layers of clothes. Imagine how alarming that was when we found that! We lived through all that though. We adopted too from Astana, with CAI. www.berikjames.blogspot.com You'll sound like you are having fun with your new little one. We are enjoying following along from Texas. Sincerely, James and Gena and Berik of course.
My name is Tracy. My husband and are are also in the process of adopting from Kaz. Our dossier was accepted in Astana on July 20th. We have truely enjoyed reading your Blog. We were also reading Jila's faithfully while she was in Kaz. We have so many questions that we would love to ask you. If you are open to 'chatting', out email is tgb@mts.net. Thanks again for sharing you journey for the rest of us to learn from. We look forward to your continued posts.
Tracy
Good to hear from you again and yes
pink is for boys in Europe. Sure dont need sweaters these days as it
is very hot here again. Supposed to be 37oC by Monday!!! Yes.computers can be very frustating at times but I wouldn't do without mine. Matthew is a very busy boy and quite happy. Great!!!
Gotta go now, Bye Mom
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