Baby House Day 2

Not long after I posted last night, I received a phone call, today's schedule had changed. We had to go to the baby house today after lunch and nap time so I didn't get to feed baby boy (BB) today, I think I'll have that opportunity tomorrow because we're going in the morning.

Today's visit went very well, I gave BB a toy, he immediately picked one of the pieces up, had a really good grip on it and tried to put it into his mouth. That's pretty much where it stayed the entire time. He's got two bottom teeth in already and two top teeth coming in so after my visit today I went and got him a teething ring. I'll see tomorrow if he still wants the toy or the teething ring.

On Thursday the doctor is coming from the SOS clinic. These are doctors who are trained in Western medicine and understand the Kazakh diagnosis. He will review BB’s medical records, discuss them with the baby house doctor, let me know what he finds in them then do a full evaluation and discuss everything with me. I will have plenty of opportunity to talk to the doctor because we will be picking him up and driving him back to the clinic. At least my fee includes a house call, ha ha ha. I spoke to an International Adoption doctor at home and read a lot about what to look for when you meet your child. Right now BB is showing a lot of signs that he is a very healthy little boy. He makes great eye-contact, he smiles and laughs, he can pick up a toy and hold onto it tightly, he responds to his name, and he gets very excited and happy when he sees his caregivers. I’ll see what the doctor says on Thursday, hopefully all is well.

This morning I went for a walk and made a couple of observations, one is that Kazakh people have an innate ability to walk on ice. There can be anywhere from a sheet to a couple of inches of ice on many of the sidewalks here in the city. They walk along as if the ground is dry, today I saw a man in dress shoes running on the ice, show-off!! When I mentioned it to my translator, Asiya, she was surprised that I even observed it, they just do it. Let’s hope I learn to do it before I take a fall, so far so good! Another observation is that most cars are driven by men; I saw only a handful of women driving. Asiya told me that in the younger generation more women are driving but in the older generation women just don’t drive as much as men. Last observation for the day, a large part of the population here smokes, they smoke a lot and they smoke everywhere. It is not uncommon to see someone with a cigarette in one hand and a fork in the other. Asiya was very surprised when I told her that we are not allowed to smoke in public places but she liked the idea.

I’m going to end this now; I’m hoping that I finally get some sleep tonight. Talk to you all tomorrow. Chris