Our First Full Day Together

Saturday, November 1st, 2008: Day 60 in Kostanai

For those of you that know where to go, new pictures have been posted on the picture site. I’ll be putting up some pictures here but I still feel a little cautious about putting it all out to the public.

This will be a quick post as it is almost 9 p.m. and I am ready for bed. Last evening was a long one and not because of Kairat. The Kostanai Halloween Revelers were out all hours of the night last night starting right when I put the little guy to bed up until around 4 or 5 a.m. this morning. The worst of it occurred around 2:30 a.m. when the car with the incredibly loud thumping music (Doug, you know which one I’m talking about) arrive home and continued his loud accost just long enough to wake up Kairat.

I decided to let him fuss for a few minutes in hopes that he would fall back to sleep but the Music Man was followed by a woman’s piercing scream and a drunken brawl outside my window until just past 3 a.m. There was no sleeping with that and Kairat was wide a wake. Hoping food would sooth the tired babe, I heated up his bottle, brought him into the kitchen, and watched his excited reaction. He gulped it down quickly and fell soundly back to sleep.

Lucky him, I was unable to fall back to sleep and whenever I managed to doze off, someone else would noisily arrive home from their night out partying. After some scattered rest, I finally got up around 6:30 a.m. and was soon followed by my son. He really is a happy riser and, as usual, was excited for his breakfast after his morning stop at on the potty.

Because I’m anxious to get to bed, I thought I would just list some highlights and areas of focus for the day:

• I’ve yet to change a “poopy” diaper as my son seems to save that for the potty. This is great except that I’ll probably be hauling his personal throne halfway across the world so that he can remain regular for our entire trip. (Yes, Susan, I am thinking of you and Leeza right now.) I’m actually hoping that he’ll “go” in the diaper so I don’t have to bring it.
• He only took two very short naps this afternoon and was very cranky. I put him to bed early and am hoping that he sleeps a little longer than yesterday.
• I think I need to adjust his baby house menu as it follows structured sleep times, which are not the times that he is now sleeping. Things change fast!
• I’m amazed at how many different positions I’ve found him sleeping in during just one sleep session. For someone who isn’t crawling yet, he can certainly move around…and around, and around.
• I put him to bed on his back and he promptly turns to his side so he can feel his blanket and falls asleep on his face. This facedown position is probably the reason he is finally starting to grow hair on the back of his head.
• During his nap times today and yesterday, I researched some sample menus for 8 and 9 month olds and found that he should probably be getting more formula than the baby house recommends. Sometimes, in place of the formula, they will feed the kids a very weak semolina mixture by bottle (5% semolina, 95% water). I also found more ideas on food variety for babies his age and will do what I can with what I can find. Tomorrow he tries peas and apples but I still need to find a place to buy chicken. (No, Doug, I’m not buying meat at the Green Market. Too much meat in one place grosses me out!)
• He seems incredibly hungry but I’m told this will be typical until he understands that he can get food whenever he needs it. Already, today, he seemed to tone down the speed of his formula intake. Trust me, these kids do not starve but they are fed only at certain times and only certain amounts. If you lose your food (or your mother-to-be knocks over your dish) you don’t get another serving until the next meal.
• Playing on the bed is a lot of fun and Kairat’s favorite new game is to lie on top of me, face down, and not know the direction in which I will quickly roll him off onto the bed. He thinks this, along with slapping the mattress and waving our arms at the same time towards the light above the bed are absolutely hilarious.
• We went for two walks today and I’m dying to get home. There is only so much you can do in this little apartment with a kid before boredom sets in. I can’t wait until we can walk to the library, visit neighbors and friends, let him cruise around the kitchen in a walker (look out Kineo and Emma), take the stroller around town, go for a swim lesson, go for a drive, etc. The next two weeks are going to be a challenge on finding ways to entertain the both of us.

And when will we be home? Our expected departure date is Friday, November 21st. We have about two more weeks here in Kostanai for Kairat’s passport processing and then a few days in Almaty. Kazakhstan’s Independence Day is November 16th and many people take Monday, the 17th as a holiday. With that, it looks like the 21st will definitely be the day we fly home.

I’m sure there is more to write (like my biting into a rock in my rice today) but I’m heading to bed and hopefully falling soundly asleep before the Saturday night rowdies begin to head home. Oops…and I just heard a bang coming from the baby’s bed. I guess he turned again and bumped his head. Time to be a mom!