First we are so glad to know everyone is enjoying our blog and stories. Sometimes as we write it, we never know who is actually reading, so it is good to hear from those of you who have been enjoying the stories. . .
Yesterday's nap was a little short. Sam has now taken to testing the waters of how much we will let him get away with, and is now beginning to shake the crib, since the first few times he did this, we immediately picked him up, said "NO!" and then laid him back down. As much as he complained, he kept shaking, until one of us would stand up, and immediately he would dive to the bottom of the crib, and lay down. We know he is simply testing us, and seeing where our limits are. We have decided that the limits we are already going to start enforcing are safety (obviously) and no punching (he has hit each of us a couple time with good right crosses). When he does this stuff, we stop him, say "NO!" and then give him a short (30 second or so) time out. He has been getting the story, but is still testing to see if he can get away with something.
After his nap, and the daily fight that clean diapers and clothes are better then dirty ones or none at all, Sam had his dinner (there are some great pictures of this). It is so funny to watch him eat. Michelle calls it a "bird face". He opens his mouth very wide, and moves it toward the food, just like a baby bird waiting for the Mommy bird to feed him.
After this we went to the Starlite Diner for Mommy and Daddy's dinner. It is about 1 to 1.5 miles from the hotel, and literally looks like it came off of one of the circles in New Jersey. It is your typical metal diner plopped down in the middle of Moscow (less then 2 miles from the Kremlin). Sam enjoyed his usual desert of baby food, while Daddy enjoyed a Belgian Waffle and Mommy and Chicken Sandwich. For Daddy is was a nice change of pace, since while Daddy enjoys Salmon and potatoes, he has begun to grow gills and look like a French Fry. The fish choices are rather slim at most of the restaurants we have gone to, and they generally do not have Pasta with a non-meat of shell-fish topping, so the Waffle was a good change. (Despite this, the hotel does have Smoked Salmon and Philly Cheese (what we call cream cheese), so you can guess what Daddy has been eating for breakfast everyday. Now if only he could find a good Bagel.)
When we came back to the hotel, it was time for Sam's bath, which went over a little better then the previous night. He objected to being put into the tub, but when the toys and bubbles came out, he seemed to take to the idea. His big thing is to throw the toys into the water, and watch them splash. Due to the lack of any non-slip material on the bottom we do not let him move to much in the tub, so we have to get the toys that are out of reach. Sam still does not enjoy getting the water dumped over his head, but the bath is getting to be less of a battle each day. (We have some cute pictures of this, with even better video that will have to wait, that will be available to girlfriends / fiance in 25 or so years.)
After we got the PJ's on, it was still a little early for bed, so we went downstairs to Michelle's room. She had just gotten custody of her daughter, Ayden, that afternoon, and was just giving Ayden dinner. The kids looked at each other, with a kind of "I know you from somewhere" look. We compared notes and said our hellos, and then it was Sam's bed time. Sam once again did not want to go to sleep, but as we said on earlier post, we have taken to sitting outside our room (we are right across from a pair of sofas in the hall), and letting him cry himself to sleep. It usually takes about 20 minutes for him to figure out that we are not taking him out of the crib, until he quickly falls dead asleep.
We had to wake up a little earlier this morning, since Vladamir was picking both us and Michelle and Ayden up at 8:15am, to go to the doctors office for the Embassy medical clearance. First was breakfast, where we met Michelle and Ayden. We do not know how much the hotel will be enjoying having these two sharing a table for the next several days. To put it mildly the carpet under our table was a little messy.
We ate quickly and then met Vladamir in the lobby. The drive was usual for Moscow - a lot of traffic. It is still scary to us to think we had 2 toddlers sitting in the back seat, both on their Mommys' laps, while driving around. It the States this would get an immediate pull over and tickets. When we got to the clinic, we went in quickly and once again Vladamir knew someone, who made sure we were the first kids in and out. Also there was the Brown family that we had met on our first trip here and again a couple weeks ago. They had also gotten custody of their daughter (Tatyana) on Tuesday. This trip (they too went home for the 10 day wait) they brought their 5 year old daughter. The kids all looked at each other, and all the parents compared notes. When it was our turn to see the doctor, she quickly read the previous medical information (which we had already seen at the Baby Home) and then did a very basic physical of Sam. She listened to his heart and lungs, looked in his eyes and ears, weighed and measured him (length and head circumference). Then a couple clicks on her computer, and print out of the report, a few signatures and done. (It took less then 10 minutes). After all 3 kids were "checked out", we came back to the hotel.
Once we got back, Sam ran around a little, while Mommy and Daddy got their stuff put away and Sam's lunch ready. He is eating a little less today. We think he has finally figured out what it means to be full, also he is not "starving" all the time anymore, so he has figured out that there will be more food. The other interesting thing is that he now has figured out that he has to be seated to eat. As we were getting his food out, Sam ran right to the stroller and tried to climb in. He was not able to get in without assistance, but he knows that if he is eating in the room, he is in the stroller. We are just amazed how quickly he has adapted to the new routine. Little does he know how much the routine will change in one week.
After lunch, Sam enjoyed playing on Mommy and Daddy's bed. The room has a king size bed, that the first few times he was put down on, he freaked out and immediately crawled to the edge and backed him self down to the floor. This time however we dumped his toys on the bed, and he seemed okay to sit and play with Mommy on the bed, while Daddy took pictures.
Then it was nap time, with the usual 20 minutes of disagreement from Sam that he needs the nap, but now he is fast asleep. Mommy went downstairs to the "Atrium" to get some lunch for herself, as Daddy gets all of you caught up. . . Tomorrow we are picking up the Russian passports and then on Friday, it is US Embassy Day to start making our kids US citizens.
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