Feeling Better and Offroad Adventures - Sunday a.m.

Anelya was great this morning. When I walked into the baby room, she was being changed and was looking up at her caregiver. Then the care giver said in Kazakh, "Aneyla, your mama is here!" and she immediately turned her head and looked in the direction she knows I come from and gave me a smile. She held my finger as they changed her and had an impressive grip! Then they gave me a fleece lined corduroy jacket and matching pants to put over the 3 layers of clothes she already had on, just to walk in the corridors. You just do as you are told here and smile about it.

Anelya was in a great mood this morning and is getting very attached to her mama. She loves to look out the window and listen to stories about how we are going to bust her out of here someday very soon. When I am holding her she usually has a rattle in one hand and either strokes my neck or has a fistful of hair in the other. She is sitting up like you wouldn't believe, although it will be a while before she can pull herself into a sitting position. She is extremly mobile though and rolls all over the place to get her toys, my camera, whatever she wants. I have been giving her a pacifier to help her eercise her mouth muscles, which is really crucial. She loves her binky, as you will see in many pictures/videos. We've also seen her suck her tiny little thumb a couple of times.

One thing that has shocked me is that she LOVES to stand up and while she is playing with the toy you saw yesterday, the "Tower of Joy," as I have learned it is called by other Semey adoptive parents, she is actually able to stay standing for several minutes with me barely touching her! Uh oh... One thing she LOVES to do is dance. She bounces and bounces and it is just a joy to watch. I can never get enough.

The Caesar girls all having tummy time!

Always keeping tabs on where the mama is


Showing off her snazzy binky

I don't know what that lion was saying but it must have been interesting!

Aneyla has caught on to the fact that the mama does not stop kissing her. She likes it now and when I do stop or when we are looking at something out the window, she often presses her cheeks or forehead against my lips and just leaves it there for kisses. It just makes me tickle inside. Today, when i was lying on my back with Anelya on my tummy, she put her forehead on my lips for a kiss and stayed there for quite a while. It's our thing, ya know.

As you can see, she has a pretty firm grasp on me!

She loooves her Baba and goes to her for short stints, several times during each visit. She often reaches for her and then after a bit reaches back to me.

Good girl, share the wealth!

Both Baba and Mama love to sing to Anelya.

I wonder what the Kazakh version of The Partridge Family is?

Our morning visit was sensational and, as always, way too short. I was able to feed Anelya her breakfast again, but she is so over how I feed her. I was prepared to shove food in her mouth like the other adoptive parents have told me they do over there, but I got a baby who is as young as it gets and their style of feeding her is much different. Today I just felt sorry for Anelya and put my tail between my legs and said to th caregiver in Russian, "Anelya tells me I am no good at feeding her and wants me to ask you to teach me." The caregiver thought it was really cute showed me that I should ie her down more, with one of her armsblocked by my body and her other arm held by my left hand. I then put a marginal amount of food on the spoon and let her suck it off the spoon. If she doesn't open her mouth, just rest it there until she does. She reaches for her tea when she wants it (after 4 bites).

The GREAT news is that, although she thinks I am a loser at feeding her, she reached for me when I gave her back to the caregiver. She didn't cry, but she clearly reached for me. It broke my heart and made me so happy all at the same time. I guess I should get used to that.

Pasha had decided yesterday that our break between visits today would mean a trip outside the city to the Irtysh River, a mineral spring, and the forest. It was very beautiful and the weather was astonishing. We had gone back to Istanbul Picnic at 10:30a.m. to buy lunch, which we took with us for the excursion.

Andrea, Pasha, and Suzy overlooking a sea of dachas, which are country cottages

Wedding parties come out her after the wedding for a traditional event in which the best man ties two bottles around his neck and climbs to the very top of the tree to tie the bottles up there for good luck. We were lucky to have a bit of wind today, which made all of the bottle chime together. I took a video to share with you which I will probably post tomorrow. (It's getting late to post videos which take forever to upload).

The wedding bottles at the top of the tree are to bring good luck to the couple.

Danile (our interpreter), Suzy, and Sarah (daughter of our Massachusetts friends) Danile climbed this tree last year, when he was the best man at his friend's wedding. Poor guy. He's afraid of heights.

Mom picking at me while she was supposed to be smiling for a picture halfway across the world at the Irtysh River.

Sign at the top of the springs asking people to watch their mouths, take their litter, and respect the sacred ground they are about to enter.

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Pasha insisted we take a picture together here. We stayed outside and were promptly ushered inside. What Pasha wants, Pasha gets. This is not an Old Russian Proverb, but an Old Pasha Proverb.

In here you can get naked and plunk into a freezing cold natural spring.

I thought this sounded right up Mom's alley.

Imagine my surprise when she declined!

On the way back to Semey, we stopped in a small village where Danile's grandparents have their home. There was some impressive farming going on on very small properties. As you can see below, this house was clearly owned by Russians, which we know both because of the style of the house, but also because the entire yard was planted with very well organized and cared for potato plants.

Kazakh Scarecrow = can on a stick. Smart!

Typical Russian house

Typical Kazakh house

rural neighborhood

After the excursion, we had a bit of extra time before our next visit, so I asked if we could go somewhere to buy a cd of Kazakh children's music and lullabies. We ended up buying Russian children's music because apparently there are no Kazakh children's cds (?) We might try again next week ;-) We also bought a great book of animals identified in Russian, Kazakh, and English, as well as a touchy book for babies about dogs called "Our Friends". I like.

Again, our interpreter is amaizng. We have started joking with him that he is a magician. We mention that we would like to do some and POOF it happens. "I would like to buy a tradtional Kazakh dress for Anelya," I say, and within 15 minutes a woman is sewing one for me for $17. WHAT? I need a Danile at home.