There are times in life when the littlest things come to mean so very much. Like finding oatmeal on the buffet this morning - real, creamy, perfectly sweetened oatmeal. (Suzannah and I each gobbled it down.) Or opening my email this morning to find a photo sent by a friend, of Miri in her Halloween costume. I held my breath while the picture loaded and had to blink back tears when I saw my girl grinning on the screen, all decked out as a ladybug princess.
Damn, I miss being home.
Anyway, we made it through another day, woohoo! Tomorrow will make one week since Suzannah left the baby home. Tonight, as we were climbing the stairs to our floor, I realized that she's now taking them one foot at a time, instead of two-footing each step as she did last week. She's also FAR more communicative. Today she let me know that she had to pee! She chatters more, and is getting better at letting me know what she wants: when she' hungry, she brings me her plate or goes to the fridge, when she wants Barney she says "La la la," etc. It's still far from saying, Mommy, I want to watch Barney," but it's still a big leap in just a week.
She had s hard time with transitions today. Every time we needed to switch gears and do something else, she had a meltdown. Only the intensity wavered. I wish I knew how to say, "5 minutes until ..." because I think that helps. I do what I can to warn her that we're about to change activities, but the message doesn't always get across.
We went for a long walk in the Demon Stroller, up to the Astor Mall (first escalator ride, oh yeah!), then over to a park that runs along the canal. She had a grand time blowing bubbles and walking back and forth on the bench, over and over. And of course there was a goldfish break. On the way home we stopped at the playground, where she watched the other kids very intently to see what they were doing. She's still not approaching other kids, but she loves to watch them.
(Side note: Oh, lovely. There's some very off-tune, very drunken singing going on out on the riverwalk. Monday and Tuesday are holidays here, and I guess some folks decided to make the most of it :-)
I'm kind of annoyed with housekeeping. We were gone for 2 1/2 hours this morning, but when we came back, they still had not made it to our room. When did she knock? Five minutes before naptime. Of course I sent her away then, and so of course, we never got service today. Which I wouldn't mind so much if I could remember which towel got peed on last night ...
It was a treat to call home today without needing to stay up until ridiculous hours to talk to everyone. I might even make it to bed before 11:30 tonight!
I wanted to try eating in the hotel restaurant tonight, but someone couldn't do it. She was too hungry to wait for the leisurely service that happens there. We gave it a valiant effort, but finally had to give up when we'd been waiting 10 minutes, run out of distractions, and still hadn;t had anyone come to take our order. So much for having a real meal. If only the pizza place delivered!
For excitement after bath tonight we went down to the lobby to test out the money exchange machine & get Mommy a bottle of fizzy Bon Aqua. The machine was NOT a hit: she didn't like the noises and lights, and kept backing away. The drink purchase was pretty easy. She surprised me by running back into the restaurant, and since I'd just changed money, I decided to go wild and order us some ice cream. Oh, how I wished I'd brought the Flip camera! The look on her face after that first bite ...
the only way to describe it is that she looked like someone had just dropped an ice cube down her back. Total stunned bewilderment, topped by a shiver that ran through her entire body. She actually tried to get out of the chair when I offered her more. Then I gave her some of the melty bits, and she decided that was far more acceptable. By the end she was matching me bite for bite. That's my girl :-)
Before bed tonight, we abandoned Animal Planet in favor of watching the videos I;ve made of her during this trip. Total attention. She loved every one of them.
Sorry this is kind of a lame post, but I'm really beat tonight. I promise more pictures, etc. tomorrow.
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4 comments:
Does that mean you get your passport Tuesday?!
Moscow gets easier...the end is in sight, it's more interesting, there is something to do each day that means you're making progress toward going home, etc.
Sunday is over there in Astrakhan. You are in the home stretch!
They DO have pizza delivery to the hotel! I don't know where it came from (I don't think it was Sans Pizza)but they DO deliver. Just ask at the front desk for help. I forgot the name of the pizza we ordered (a few times as we stayed from our court date thru the 10 day wait)but the pizza had their version of peperoni which was more like ham) And, if you haven't noticed yet, the Russian put dill on EVERYTHING including pizza, but despite that, it was actually pretty good. It was even good cold for a lunch the next day.
Also, our coordinator wrote down (in Russian) how to order mashed potatoes so that we could order them at the restaurant. They did do room service for us. We just showed them the slip of paper and told them our room number (which was the same as yours). That made life easier too. Also, it was nice on a couple of nights to feed our daughter earlier, put her to bed and then my husband and I would have a late night meal delivered to our room. (They would also heat up things that we bought at the store for us too) God luck with all that.
But, I must say that after spending almost a month in Astrakhan, it felt like I died and went to heaven when I had a burger at TGIFridays in Moscow! Like Sara said, Moscow gets easier. It almost feels homey after playing "Survivor: Russia" in Astrakhan. :-)
Regardless, you'll look back on this time with fondness. Enjoy!
I enjoyed the pictures you posted around the Kremlin. Are there still some leaves on the trees? V had told our youngest that we would be back around the time the leaves start to fall. I have been so worried that they would all be down already. We have been delayed getting back there and I thought I saw some actual leaves on some trees behind your daughter sitting on the park bench. I probably should be making notes on the comments you are receiving about all the interesting sights there. Hope your next several days pass quickly and with wonderful memory makers with your daughter.
Kris, this sounds like writing/publishing. And as you know, if you hang in there, eventually ...
LOL on the ice cream.
It's 6:15am Monday morning as I type this, and your Monday is almost over. So that's a GOOD thing. Only 1 more day until Moscow.
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