Day 7 & 8 - Is that snow??!!

So sorry for the delayed posts ... the hotel Internet is "down" the vast majority of the time. We will not give up, and we will post as often as we possibly can!

It occurs to us that while it is kitschy to talk about the Groundhog Day comparisons, the fact that one day is pretty much like the day before dramatically increases the chances that this blog will sink into blah, blah, blah relatively quickly. So, if there is anything in particular that you are wondering or that you hope we will blog about, feel free to post it in our comments and we will do our best to expound on your thoughts and questions.

As for our actual experiences, we can and do find something new and different at every visit with our dear little boy, but somehow words just don’t do justice. We cannot wait to post pictures in which you, too, will see the amazing development that is happening right before our eyes.

On Sunday, we only had one visit in the morning. Also, it was Easter Sunday in Kazakhstan, as if I understand correctly, they still follow the “old” Orthodox calendar. We asked our translator about Easter traditions as we hope to incorporate parts of ZM’s language and culture into our everyday lives. She stressed the importance of “Easter Cakes”, which explains why we saw so many people carrying bakery boxes around on Friday and Saturday. (Phew – it does appear acceptable to buy your Easter cake versus baking it yourself!) She also told us about an egg smashing game during which two people each have an egg and you slam them into one another and you try to be the person whose egg doesn’t break. We said, “Oh, and then the person whose egg doesn’t break receives good luck or something?” She said, “No, not really, it’s just fun to win.” We’ve got a lot of competitive spirit in our household, so that tradition will work into our repertoire quite nicely! HA!. She was so excited to report to us on Monday morning that she won 2 of her 3 egg smashing matches.

One of the highlights on Sunday was that we also got to meet Matt’s and Suzanne’s daughter, as she comes from her own orphanage to the baby house every Sunday so they can play as a family with her little brother. She is simply adorable, and we were all tickled to hear her count in her perfect English as we climbed the stairs. Both of their children are SO smart, and we hope that we can provide help (and served as additional play mates) as needed when they spring them from their respective orphanages.

After our visit Sunday morning, we went shopping to try to find more clothes for ZM. We brought a few things with us, but some of the clothes are too small (and have been donated to the baby house for the smaller children). If we bring our own clothes to the baby house, they will dress ZM in those clothes when we arrive, and then we strip him back down to his skivvies when we leave so that they can put him back into his shirt and tights. His clothes are then stored in his little locker. It is no easy task to find clothes for him, at least in the shops that are walking distance for us. First of all, we can’t quite figure out how the sizes work, and it seems like there are two systems – we suspect because the clothes are imported from a couple of different cultures. Second of all, everything is either too “baby” for our little guy, or too grown-up. We haven’t quite located the middle ground that seems logical for a 16-month old. We managed to find a couple of things, and we also figured out that he fits in the 12-month jeans that we brought from home. Suffice to say that he is going to be a three or four outfit kid until we get him home and we can wander the isles of Target to build his wardrobe.

We really had a nice afternoon, strolling through the city and going into several other shops -- although our hearts panged a bit when 3:30 rolled around and we were not on our way back to the baby house. We went into a music store, and with a little help from Matt and his Russian skills, we were able to find a CD of what we think is children’s music in Russian. We are going to download it to our ITunes and Ipod and our translator can then confirm if we indeed have children’s music (or a recording indicating that John Lennon is dead). Suz and Matt also bought some DVDs for the kids to help with the transition once they spring them from the baby house.

After all of our shopping, we had a great late lunch/early dinner at the Chinese restaurant in town. The menu has rough English translations, and I had a really good spicy beef (we can only hope) dish with some interesting soft dough shells into which to put the mix. Glenn had a chicken dish that he wasn’t quite as crazy about, but we will definitely go back. We had our first payment snafu when I so proudly gave the waiter exact change, only to have him come back and show me that some of the coins I used were some other currency (Euros? Who knows?!). Fortunately, he caught us before we left the restaurant so we were not chased down the street.

Monday, we woke up to SNOW! Are you kidding me?! Last week, there were days during which it was 80 degrees (and 100 degrees in the baby house), and we drove through a blizzard to get to the baby house on Monday. Nothing much was sticking to the ground, but it was cold and windy. The southern California and South Africa couples who are here thought it was exciting. Us – not so much. We are relatively certain it was a fluke, and we still think that Spring is before us.

We had two great visits with ZM on Monday. He really is just so fun to watch, and we just wish we could figure out what is going on in that serious little head of his. He will play with us for long periods of time, and then he will just let out one long exaggerated sigh and climb into one of our arms for snuggle time. If I had to say, I think he favors Glenn’s arms slightly over mine. I’ve decided it’s because ZM has never been up that high for long periods of time and he likes the air more at six feet than at five feet. J Seriously, I could spend the entire 90 minutes watching Glenn cuddle our son. We have some amazing pictures of father and son staring into one another’s eyes, and we cannot wait to share those moments with everyone!

We had another adorable cute milestone when we arrived for our afternoon visit (brag, brag, brag. Hee hee). When we walked into ZM’s room, all 12 of the adorable kiddos were seated at their tiny tables and chairs. I kid you not, these chairs are so tiny that their little feet touch the floor when they are seated. I marvel at the fact that these 12 little munchkins all sit there, waiting for their snack. The caretakers were cutting up apples and ZM wasn’t going to miss his snack. So, he looked at us, and started waving, as if to say, “Hey, I’ll be over in a minute, but this apple is way more important right now than play time with you guys.” We almost got a little smile, too … the corners of his little mouth turn up just a bit more each day when he sees us. We were crazy silly parents standing there waving back at him for what felt like five minutes as he munched on his apple with one hand and waved to us with the other. We captured some of it on film, although we have to be careful as we have been reminded sternly that we are not to take pictures of the other children.

We are saying good-bye today to Anne today, who will leave after her court hearing. We have assured her that we will keep loving on her little guy while we are here. We were also joined today by another mom from California, who is adopting a little boy who is exactly ZM’s age. Her little guy was moved into ZM’s room on Monday, so we think we will share the play room with them for the next few weeks. (They started their journey one day after we did).

We know there is a lot going on in the Kaz adoption world right now, and know that for those of you who are waiting, we are trying to follow your blogs as best as we can. We promise you that when we are home, we will be aggressively cheering you along just as you are supporting us now. We feel the love and prayers that are coming our way, and we are humbled and overwhelmingly appreciative. We know we are blessed, and we will be there for all of you when your call comes.

Miss you all!