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| [10:03 am] |
| Subject: V-Day |
| Mood |
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 rejuvenated |
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Victory Day! And a victory of sorts for us here as well. Today was a really good day. Asella slept until almost 5 am without any sort of intervention required. We let her cry herself to sleep in the playpen, saving our backs and only damaging our eardrums for about 10 minutes. She slept in my arms until about 6:15, and then we had breakfast. After that she promptly fell back asleep, without any tantrum whatsoever, and in the playpen. Woo-hoo! We boiled water on the stove most of the night (thanks Nina!) and we think that helped with her cold. She definitely breathed easier all night. The only problem is that our apartment can now double as a Russian sauna. There was a fat guy at the door asking if I’d beat him with some leaves at around 3 am. Weird.
The rest of the day followed suit, with Asella being very content and cheerful. At about 2 we decided to take a walk in the park, so Eugene’s mom picked us up and dropped us at the central park, which was absolutely mobbed. It’s Victory Day here in the former USSR (did I mention that?) so it seemed the entire town was out enjoying the beautiful weather and the festivities. There was a loudspeaker truck blaring nationalistic parump-a-dumps and everyone was dressed up to the hilt for a day in the park. Asella remained very calm, taking it all in, and we’re sure we over stimulated her.
Breaking News!!! We just put her down for the night without hearing a peep! We’re so awesome at this. Parents of the year, right here, oh yeah. Oh, here’s a late entry from yesterday. It’s only been three days and Asella is already walking all over me.
Back to the day… The park was filled with beer vendors, ice cream carts, karaoke booths, and stores selling inflatable stuff… toys… children’s toys. Sheesh. We bought Asella a little inflatable squeaky mallet with tigger and pooh and flowers and dollar signs. She loves it and spent most of the afternoon whacking everything in sight with it. Why do we bother with expensive toys when the 57 cent variety work just as well?
The fountains are in full bloom, though sadly it’s still too early for the flowers to be in bloom. The statues are statuey. The resident swans and a pelican are now in residence as well, having successfully passed their checkup for avian flu and hernias. We would have liked to spend more time, but it was nap time so back to the apartment we went for another successful go at the sleeping thing.
Since the day went so well we decided to go out for dinner with her again. We met up with Kim and Ed and Joan at Dolce Vita and had a nice somewhat Italian dinner. Ed and Joan held Asella while we ate (hey, that works pretty well) and to avoid jealousy Asella ate some cherrios through her mesh strainer gnawy thing. The rising comfort level is becoming very evident, since tonight she tried to grab silverware and napkins and food off the table, where last night she was mostly wide-eyed and sedate.
Tomorrow Grant gets paroled and will join Kim for a quick 3 days in Kostanai before heading to Almaty where Kim’s dad is waiting to help escort the little guy home. We’re going to head over there tomorrow for a little orphanage reunion and what else, laundry.
That’s about it. A great day. Sarah and I are going to sleep in the same bed tonight, go to bed at the same time, and hopefully wake up after the sun rises. We hope you have a good day too.
One final note… We want to wish a big fat bon voyage to my parents, who leave for an African adventure tomorrow, possibly never to be seen again. Hope you guys have a great trip!!! You can keep track of the trip on their blog site:
www.eatenbyhippos.com
Happy trails! |
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