Tha Anelya Show

Anelya had just woken up when we got to the baby house this morning and she was all smiles. She started laughing out loud when she saw me from he changing table. Here she is getting changed. They wash their faces and bums right when they wake up. The caregivers were laughing at how excited she was to see me.

They put a reasonable amount of clothes on her today and we were off to the bonding room. Let me tell you - today was the Aneyla Show. She was laughing and smiling and jumping and kissing through the whole session. She didn't even really want her toys today. The caregivers asked me if she has been active this week because they were amazed at how mobile she has become since I got. I explained to the that yes, she is all over the place and only wants to jump.

Here's Miss Smiley

This is about as much as we see of her theses days -

a blurry smile because she's always bouncing!

She was completely entranced by the tower of joy again.

After a while, she got pretty worn out and we went to have a seat. I bought her a sippy cup here and, after looking at it like it's a weird foreigner object, she figured out she can drink from it. A couple of tries and she had it down pat!

They let me feed her again and I was surprised that I am getting so much better at it. They are so particular about how they feed her and now I am catching on. She fell asleep again while eating, but still ate while sleeping. It's so funny. She just opens her little rosebud mouth and sucks it in off the spoon, little by little. Today she actually ate the whole bowl.

After she was done eating they asked me to take her outside. My bonding time was WAY over, but the Clark/Gilpatricks were meeting with the Baby House Director, so we actually had some time anyway. Anelya and Baba and I set out on a new adventure around the baby house.

We were delighted to see that all of the toddlers were out and about walking and holding hands, getting some fresh air. Hopefully when we go to get her this afternoon we will be able to walk her outside for a longer stint. After our first lap, we found everybody waiting for us, so I returned Anelya to her room, gave her a kiss and she went on her way, probably to take a nap.

During the break we went for a walk by the river and then to Semey-net, so Tammy and Bob could buy more internet access for their dial up. Then we went to the bakery and bought our usual roll ups and a box full of pastries for dessert tonight. Mom told me to order what i wanted and then proceeded to tell me exactly what to get. Sigh.

Pasha should be here in about 20 minutes to take us back to the baby house, so now we are waking up from our naps and I am giving you something to tide you over until after our dinner excursion, although now it seems we will have about 1.5 hours between our visit and dinner, so we may be able to post about visit #2 before dinner, after all!

Today is Day #8 of bonding, so we are more than halfway there. We should find out about our court date after the last day of bonding, which is next Wednesday. Here's to praying for a quick court date!