NYET! NYET! NYET!

Anelya was awake when we got to the baby house this morning, so I got to take her straight up to the bonding room. Anelya is becoming much more engaged with the other babies and friends of ours who share the bonding room. As you can see below, we had a nice little playful exchange with Kalumkas and her family. Anelya was intrigued by the squeaky blocks and stacking cups for the first time. Throughout the two bonding sessions she would go back to her lion rattle, but only for a couple of shakes and then she wanted to play with the bigger girl toys.

We jumped with the stacking cups for a while. She was very smiley and fun to play with.

Mom waved her up in the air a couple of times.

She smiled and laughed, but kept a close eye on me the whole time.

Baba and Anelya had a moment by the window.

Anelya told me when bonding time was over and it was time to eat. The caregivers offered me a highchair for the first time. It went well at first, as you can see below, but after a while she got fussy so I put her right back into our usual Kazakh baby house feeding straight jacket position and we finished our meal. She also fell asleep again while I was feeding her, which I will post the video of in a few minutes. It's just SO CUTE.

After we were done feeding her our bonding group went to bazaar one last time with Danile, who is fabulous at haggling. We were on the hunt for those table cloths they had at that Kazakh restaurant the other night and some mini yurts which we have been acquiring as gifts. We are really so punchy now and at one point we all just lost it when Danile translated the stand owner's question, "How many mini yurts do you want?" and Tammy, Bob and I all simultaneously answered, "How many do you have?" Oh my lord it was so funny. There are no more mini yurts in this town, so you might find us standing on the street corner with one flap of a trench coat open offering mini yurts "at very good price".

We are still having a blast, but are neck deep in the Groundhog Day phenomenon. I can't remember what happened this morning or yesterday and I have no idea what day it is. We are literally cracking up at nothing right now.

Today was Danile's last day of interpreting for us, as he has to go back to university in Almaty this weekend. That must mean it's near the weekend. All of the families held a goodbye lunch for him today at Istanbul Picnic, along with Pasha and his son Danile, who also drives for us sometimes since there are so many of us here. We have all chipped in a bought a nice cake and we had a really great time. Danile was very sweet and asked discretely if the waitress would please give my mother the biggest piece and with the rose on it, because she is everyone's grandmother here and it's a sign of respect. He didn't think I understood, but I did and I thanked him.

We will miss Danile so much.

After lunch, I asked Pasha to take Mom home so she could rest this afternoon and I would bond alone with Anelya. He said, "Yes, of course! Mama, Pasha DISCOBAR!" This is his shtick. So I sent Mom off with Pasha to God knows where, but knew she would be just fine. I asked Mom what they talked about in the car and she said, "His phone rang twice, thank God. We talked a little but i have no idea what we said to each other." Ahhhh the beauty of speaking Pasha.

I got to the baby room for the second visit just in time for lunch. I didn't bother with the highchair because it's just easier doing it the way we are both used to, at least until she comes home. Anelya thought the menu was B-O-R-I-N-G today. It was just mashed potatoes and plum compote. No meat. No beets. Just potatoes. Apparently her palate is more sophisticated than that because half way through the bowl she, for the first time, CLEARLY shook her head "NYET NYET NYET". I tried again and she did it again. The caregivers laughed and said she has never done that before, so we all decided she was done and we went to play.

Much to my delight, they asked me to dress her in another layer when we got up to the bonding room and so, back by popular demand, is the red Hanna Andersson romper that you have all been writing to me about! I don't blame you. I love it to.

I think Anelya's legs are a little tired from all of this jumping because she was more than happy to play from a sitting position on the mama's lap for most of the day. Here she is banding on the inflatable tube with bells in it with Sarah and Mama.

Up in the bonding room, I tried to give her the lion rattle and once again got a "NYET NYET NYET" shake of the head. Oh it made me laugh and then she laughed. So, I faced her between my legs looking toward me and and did it myself and said "No No No" and she did it back and smiled. Then, when I got out the camera she decided she would make a fool out of me and stare at the video like she had no idea what I was talking about. I will post that in a few.

In other exciting adoptive family news, Bob is brave enough to get his hair cut tonight at a Kazakh barber shop. Let's all have a moment of silence... Thank you. Much to my delight, he allowed me to take a before picture and I will take an after picture tomorrow to post so that we can all see what kind of adventures are instore for him in the Kazakh beauty department. I'm kind of hoping they will shave a yurt into the side of his head, but I think I'm just dreaming.

We are staying in tonight. Honestly, we are exhausted and probably a little overstimulated. We were on such a high for the last 10 days that it feels quite nice to be down at a human level again. I am sure we will get our second wind once we start talking about court!

Do zaftra - Until tomorrow!