"Astrakhan" Is Russian For "Land of No Curb Cuts "

Let me tell you, walking in this town is a challenge in itself, given the incredibly uneven streets, gouged-up sidewalks, and lack of street lights. But when you try to navigate it with a stroller - yeesh!

(And let me warn you right now that this is a loooooong post. If you don't have a lot of time, skip this & go down to the one called We're Talking Family. It's a far better investment of your minutes.)

However, despite the challenges, we ended up having a really good day today. I was a bit (okay, a LOT) worried, since this was our first day with no activity planned. It was wide, wide open. But it came together better than I anticipated, hooray!

I overslept this morning (thank you, 4:30 a.m.car alarms), so when I woke a few minutes before 7, Suzannah was already awake in her crib. I brought her into my bed to cuddle while I checked email & waited for Larry to call & tell me he'd made it home. She decided it would be more fun to wander the rooms and tug at everything that wasn;t nailed down. Oh well. I grabbed her clothes and set them on the sofa, then got distracted (Look! A bunny!) and walked into the bedroom. When I came back she had pulled the zipper down on her jammies and pulled them off her arms, so she was standing there in nothing but a diaper and ankle-warming jammies, proud as could be. Lucky for her, that was about when Daddy called. Otherwise there would have been a picture for sure.

I had to put her back into her crib while I had a shower. She was NOT pleased. the thumb went in the mouth and she immediately started the frantic rocking that she uses to put herself to sleep. Even though I'd popped Barney into the computer and had it playing where she could watch, the minute she goes into that crib, she starts rocking. Actually it's more like throwing herself back and forth. To watch her, you wouldn't think there was anything soothing or comforting about it. I'm really looking forward to the day when she realizes that a back rub and a kiss on the cheek are a much more peaceful way to fall asleep.

After breakfast, I had thought I would pop her in the stroller, walk to the Kremlin, and then let her run around in there. But she shook her head when I reached for the stroller and grabbed her koala harness. Okay, fine by me. I got her strapped in and off we went.

Well, what a morning we had! We spent two HOURS wandering the streets around the hotel. There's a lovely landscaped area not far from here, with grass and flowers and brick paths for walking on, and we ended up exploring around there. We meowed at kittens and stared at gulls and climbed steps and carried a stick and looked at flowers and pointed to water and gazed longingly at other kids :-( She tried to talk to one little girl, whose mom seemed very friendly, but the girl was shy and I wasn't able to facilitate a meeting. (Side note: when you've just said "I don't understand Russian" in Russian to someone, in an accent that makes it obvious you're telling the truth, why do they keep on talking? As in, FAST? I could understand it if they reverted to one-word phrases ("You ... are .... so .... North ... American"), but to nod and then burst forth with a long and convoluted sentence .... well, I don't get it.)

There was a break to sit on a park bench and eat animal crackers, but mostly, she walked and trotted and ran. She loved the grass. I tried to do the Good Citizen thing and keep her on the paths. Then I remembered the barren playground at the baby home and said, "You go, girl." I did hold firm on the water sprinklers, though. Even I have my limits.

Today;s lunch featured tomato cup-a-soup with goldfish crackers. Nothing but classic cuisine around here, I tell you.

After all that fresh air and walking I anticipated a long nap, but she woke up after just a little more than an hour. I barely had time to get through my emails! So I decided to make good use of the extra afternoon time & take her back to the playground. Interesting: remember last night, she got freaked out when I put the doll in the stroller? Well, when I pulled out the stroller this afternoon, she ran away and hid behind a chair. And she wasn't being coy or teasing: she was SCARED. Those little eyes were so full of fear and tears ... I have no idea what turned her. But I knew she had to readjust to the stroller or I'll never make it through the airports, so even though she was crying furiously, I had to put her in it. She screamed and arched and did everything she could to get out of there. I felt like Scum Mom 2008. But after about 5 minutes she spotted a cat, and she started to settle. But the whole thing was very odd.

The playground, however, was a HUGE hit. First she surprised me by pointing to our grocery store when we strolled past it. I didn't think she would recognize it after just 3 days stopping there, but apparently she did!

She also remembered the slide. As soon as we got to the playground she was out of the stroller and parking her butt on the bottom of the slide so I could lift her up and glide her down. We did that over and over and over. Then I made a tactical error. I thought she might be ready to try it on her own - not the whole way, just from part way up. But the answer was NO, as I found out a second later when she ended up doing a face plant onto the sand. Poor little thing. She cried as if her heart had been broken.

Sigh. Scum Mom strikes again.

She was finally distracted by a group of boys playing soccer beside the playground. She watched the game very intently. I had fun watching, too. Dan & Noah, one thing I noticed is that when a ball went out of bounds, they never did throw-ins - they always kicked the ball back into play. It was also very funny to hear the coach yell "Out" (in English) when the ball crossed the lines. And there were no parents watching. None. The only adult on the field was the coach.

Anyway, the game kept Suzannah very happy and intrigued, and then, much to my surprise, she started pushing the stroller. Yep, exactly what I tried to get her to do last night. She wasn't afraid at all this time. Maybe the doll I put in the stroller last night was, like, daughter of Chuckie? Anyway, she pushed it up and down, back and forth past the soccer game, stopping ever so often to check the brakes the way she must have seen her caregivers doing in the baby home. Then - oh, this was so cool - she took her koala backpack, gave the bear a kiss, and put that in the stroller. She fussed over it and kissed the nose and lifted it in and out of the seat, chattering away to it and showing me, plain as day, the kind of caring she'd seen in the baby home. I loved it. And then, to make things even more interesting, she pushed the stroller back over to the demon slide, lifted the koala out, and gave it rides on the slide just like I'd been doing with her! (Of course, she was a far better mommy and never let her bear do a face plant. But still.) I caught lots and lots of video of her fussing over her koala.



We finally had to leave so we could stop at the store and still amke it back before it got too dark. I messed up the money at the cash register once again, sigh. Maybe someday I'll learn ...

I picked up a jar of baby food fruit tonight, just to have something different, and it was a smashing success. It also became a game. She would run around the corner & hide. I would say, "Where's Suzannah Negina?" She would peer around the corner, I would say "peekaboo!" and she would run for a bit of fruit. We got through the whole jar that way!

We made it through bath without needing to be pulled out for drinking infractions. By the time I got her into her jammies, the day was catching up with her big time. I popped Sesame Street into the computer and we both vegged until 8:30, when I put her to bed. She barely had time to get into a full rock before she fell asleep.

Tomorrow we have an adventure. We need to have pictures taken for her visa. So we have a schedule of sorts, yippee!

(Yes, I am soooooo pathetic!)