Hello, Moscow, Part Two: First Blood

So. The plan was that when nap was finished, we would go outside and explore the area. And that's how it began. We put on the coat and the snowpants (it's cold here in Moscow, especially after the tropic of Astrakhan) and the hat and the mitts, and off we went. There was lots of activity on the street, so she was happy for a while, even in the demon stroller.

But then she started to fuss. I was right at the spot where I wanted to get across the street anyway, so no big deal, right? Because to cross this very busy street, you have to go down a flight of stairs and use a tunnel to get across. Pretty good idea. So I took her out of the stroller and folded it up so we could walk down the stairs. Unfortunately, Suzannah wanted to push the stroller. She didn't like Mommy folding it up. So she fought and cried all the way down the stairs. Then she fought some more when we got to the tunnel. Then she lunged forward, tripped over something, and fell onto the tunnel floor, cutting her lip but good.

Oh, the poor baby. I have not yet seen the cut itself, but it bled a LOT, for a long time. It was probably 20 minutes before it stopped. I was getting worried that she needed a stitch. And of course we were 10 minutes from the apartment, so I had to carry/stroller push this wailing. bleeding child through the streets of Moscow, trying to soothe her while dodging all the people on the sidewalk ... it was awful. Worse for her, obviously, and so scary, but neither of us were in great shape by the time we got back into the apartment. She wanted nothing to do with me and threw herself onto the bed to rock. It was so pitiful. Finally, she let me lie down beside her, and cuddle her a bit, and clean her little face and hands.

Thus far, her lip looks only a bit puffy. I hope it doesn't swell overnight. Not only would she be miserable, but I can just imagine how lovely it would be to show up at the consulate tomorrow with a child who's lip is the size of Idaho.

Once everything was calm I made some homemade chicken noodle soup. Either the trauma made her hungry or she just really likes pasta, because she ate her whole bowl, plus a second helping, plus ate more out of the pot when I tried to put the rest away for her lunch tomorrow! It was the most I've ever seen her eat. I'm so glad I was able to do something right for her tonight, poor bunny.

She;d been begging for a bath since she woke up this morning, so I made sure she had a good long time in the tub. (I swear sometimes she forces herself to poop because she's knows that's the fastest way to get Mommy to start the water running.) But for the first time, we had a tub that actually had a working stopper, so she finally had a real, regular, the-water-stays-in-the-tub bath!

We were both pretty tired so we had a very quiet evening. I still can't make the TV work (there are TWO remotes, and I need to use them both, and even with the directions I can't get it right), so we watched Barney on the computer and had a ticklefest and told stories and watched the lights on the street below.

My camera is going to lose power any minute, but I did get some shots of the apartment tonight. This is a very poor attempt at shooting the view from our window to the street:



This is our door. It is SO cool. I feel like I'm in a castle every time I look at it.



Our living room, complete with little girl helping to squeeze the air out of our space bags by sitting on them:



Our kitchen!!!!



And also from our window, a great view of one of the buildings known as the Seven Sisters (this pic is FAR from as awesome as the reality):



We're free all morning tomorrow. There's a Metro station a couple of blocks from here. I don;t plan on actually riding the subway, but I understand that the stations themselves are supposed to be fabulous. I hope we can make it there without any more problems!