Once again our day began with an early breakfast, followed by Max picking us up promptly at 8:40am for the drive to the Baby Home. It takes about 30 minutes to drive out there. Our hotel is in the center part of Moscow (about 1 mile NW of the Kremlin, which is the center of the city), while the Baby Home is in the South East corner. Traffic is pretty heavy in the morning, until we get out of the center of town, when it opens up leaving town (you should see it going the other way). Much like Philadelphia, most of the streets in Moscow go one way, and as anyone who has driven through Philly can tell you, all the streets go One Way the wrong way from where you want to go. Once we arrive at the Baby Home, officially we have to sign in with the security guard there. This is selectively enforced, and with some of the guards we are now known, and we pass with a simple wave.
As has happened the last few days, we arrived before Sam was ready. We really don't know what they are doing with him, but we have had to wait about 5 minutes each day for him to be lead out of his room. One thing that has happened, which has Sam a little confused is that the Baby Home is now "renovating" the room that he was living in. He now has been moved upstairs to a different room, along with a shuffle of the caregivers. I think several of the kids are a little confused, since they don't know where they belong. One other thing, while some of the clothing he has been wearing was perhaps a little borderline whether it was boys or girls clothes, today's outfit was definitely girls clothing: a bright pink outfit. Well in a few days, we will be clothing him, so I don't think he will be wearing anything like again.
We brought a different book today. It was about airplanes and the airport. It seemed to be a little advanced for him and he got bored with it very quickly. He again was drawn to the Alphabet book we have been using for the last week. Sam is definitely learning some of the words. He would first grab the book and say "Bu" or sometimes "Book", and he would point to the picture of the dog, and mimic our "Woof". He also enjoyed sitting on Daddy's lap and pointing to the frog. Daddy would say "Gribbit" and bounce Sam on his lap. This would get a good laugh or giggle, then he would point to the frog again, and look to be bounced. Eventually he would bounce himself if Daddy did not do it fast enough.
Sam seemed very thirsty over the last few days, however he refuses to drink from the sippy cup if it has the lid on it. We think he has not figured out that he has to suck on the mouth piece, and therefore has not been getting water out if it if we have the top on. When we remove the top, he drinks the water like a typical glass / cup, but does not pause to swallow what he has in his mouth. What we have taken to doing is only partially filling the cup with a little water, so he does not choke, and refilling it after he finishes the little bit. We have some other cups, but we are going to wait until next week, when he is with us exclusively to try these out.
We got a little more "physical" with Sam today, doing even more tickling, cuddling, and kissing. Daddy also played "airplane" with Sam, flying him around the room and landing him on Mommy's lap. We also "dipped" him between our legs as we were sitting on the sofa, until he was almost upside down, and then picking him up again. Finally Daddy played "baby elevator", with him. Sam would be sitting on Daddy's hands and Daddy would pick him up and lower him straight down (like an elevator). He seemed to enjoy all of these and would smile and giggle as we did them. (For much of this, you will have to wait for the video).
Sam has figured out what the diaper bag is being used for. We "stock" it everyday with his toys and food and water. He now reaches for the bag, and if the top is open, he will reach in and grab the toys or food he wants. His favorite food is the Cheerios. They come in a small 1 oz. container, that we refill everyday. He can not open the containers lid, but he will hand it to one of us, to open and pour out some into one of our hands or a smaller container / cup we have been using to serve them. He also today figured out that it makes a nice noise maker / rattle when shaking it, so that has become a toy too.
Around 11am, a Russian woman came to our "play area" and got her 2 1/2 year old daughter (or daughter-to-be - we aren't sure). The interesting thing to us was that Sam became more vocal and engaged with us, while the other girl was in the room. We think that part of the issue is that he is not used to being in a room without any other children. Obviously this is something he will get used to, but it was interesting to see.
The other game we continue to play with him is pressing his nose and making different farm animal sounds. He will also press our noses and we make sounds then too. Each time he touches our nose we change the sounds, so he keeps pressing not sure what sound he will hear. Sometimes he gets a little rough, but we think he just doesn't know what his own strength is, so we just try to gently back him away. He also likes grabbing our glasses, and it has become a game with Daddy. Whenever he reaches for Daddy's glasses, Daddy tickles him under his arm. Occasionally he will get the glasses, but he does it carefully so as not to raise his arm where Daddy can reach to tickle.
We also was given his passport and visa pictures today. He has such a serious face on the pictures, but considering how long it took to get one where he was looking at the camera, it was not to bad. It is good to get them, since to us this is one more sign we are getting closer to coming home.
A funny thing we have been seeing all week is the repainting of the curbs, fences, and manhole covers around Moscow. Work crews have been painting all of these with a very smelly epoxy type paint. They do this every Spring, after the harsh Winter takes it's toll. The very funny thing was when we were walking around Red Square a couple days ago, they were doing the Manhole covers. They did not put any cones around the ones that were freshly painted, so if you were not careful, you could easily step on the wet paint.
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