Friday

I made it through my first day alone. Yay me!

Larry left bright & early this morning. All his flights are proceeding according to schedule thus far. Everyone cross your fingers & pray that he has safe and easy travel.

Once he left, I crawled back into bed for a luxurious sleep-in, not waking again until 9. I think that was the best sleep I've had since leaving home! After breakfast I took my first solo walk, up and down the riverwalk in front of the hotel, and then into town. It was much colder today, only in the 50's, and quite windy, but it felt GOOD.

Once back in the room I spent a lot of time catching up on email. I also caught Josh online and we were able to IM for a long time, which was a wonderful bonus treat.

I decided to do something different with LS today. Thus far we've been carrying our treats in Larry's pack & my purse, and I decided it probably wasn't a good plan to have her associate my purse with goodies. So today I took the very sturdy shoebox that came with my court shoes & decided that would be the toy box. There were 2 shoebags in there two, roomy and black. I put a few toys in each of the bags - a plastic cell phone, a comb, a few blocks, a small purse, and an apple. The bags went into the box and I was set.

In the afternoon Vala took me back to the store today to get another pair of casual pants and a sweater. The pants aren't anything I would buy at home, but it's even harder to find plus-sized clothes in Russian than at home. Everyone here is so skinny! So when I found a pair that were comfy, roomy, and not horrendously overpriced, I grabbed them. Then we found a lovely warm cream colored sweater and my wardrobe was complete.

After that it was time to visit. We were there for almost 2 hours, and I think it was our best visit yet. She loved the toy box, loved reaching into the bags to find what was hidden within. When I took my sweater off, she insisted that I put it on her. So we rolled up the sleeves and buttoned her into it. She spent the next hour walking around with this giant sweater dragging behind her, just like a tsarina with her robes. It was too adorable.

The apple was a HUGE hit. That lasted the whole visit. She had trouble with the peel & kept spitting it into my hand, but would she let me peel it for her? Not for a long time. That was HER apple and she wasn't letting go of it for anything. I thought it was a very good sign when she finally let me have it long enough to remove the remaining peel.

She;s always been very active, running and bouncing from one activity to another, but today she was almost mellow (at least by her standards :-) She explored everything very carefully, and stuck her cell phone into the purse & paraded around the room, and was fascinated by wet wipes. I used one to wipe the apple juice from her hands and she wouldn't let it out of her sight. She would very carefully spread it on the sofa, then have me lift her so her tiny butt was firmly planted on it. Not sure what that was all about, but she got a ton of pleasure from it, that's for sure!

At 6 we packed up & returned her to the caregiver, crying all the way :-( Vala took me took the grocery store and I grabbed some of the essentials for my extended stay: diet Coke, Cadbury chocolate, and Pringles. Okay, I also got some bread & cheese & apples, but let's be honest - those are great, but they won't get me through on their own.

I'm very happy because I figured out why the music wasn't playing on the laptop, so now I can have music. Yay! Tonight's plan: wash some clothes, catch up on email, maybe do some writing, then to bed. We're leaving at 9:45 tomorrow for the baby home, so I have to be up & ready in plenty of time.

Das aftra - see you tomorrow!