Past 2 days-Bonding period begins! Day 2 and 3 of BD

Between preparing for the BH, reviewing every day's videos and other things along with skype reports and discussions with mom, dad and my sister who are great with their tips and advice about what not to do and do based on a few short videos they get to see, and of course managing my FB account, the blog gets left to the back of the list.

First of....I love being here. I think I could totally live in Aktobe, as long as Deepak was here to translate for me. this place has everything you need and more. People drive 'normal' cars as well as the typical Russian style old Ladas. Saltanata drives Toyota Camry that her dad gifted her and looks like a model in Paris or New York doing it.

Yesterday instead of walking to the BH (a 15 min walk-response from locals-What! You walk from there! That's soooo far! :) ), but since it was raining a bit we took the cab. Dee did all the talking (of course!) and from one guy who wanted 500 Tenge ($3.25) we went with another guy who agreed to 300 Tenge ($2). It was great knowing we could travel for just that much. Its not far though like I said so its pretty appropriate too rather than pay $900 to the Driver for hire just for the 2 visits. And we're only doing 1 visit a day for 2 hrs each for now. The BH feels that he and K&J's son arent ready for more because of all the sensory overload we probably cause. ;) But see how much of a difference there is already in 3 days! :D

When I asked Liana to try and let them see us twice she sent this message to which Deepak laughed out loud. :D Show Dee this expression and he will explain what it means: "В чужой монастырь со своим уставом не ходят"...Its a Russian saying meaning that you can not enforce your rules on strange territory (sort of) literally it is you can not come to another monastery with your own set of rules. 

I think that's fair. Their home their rules. :) Im just glad to be here. 

Day 3: Today AV was all smiles when he came into the room-esp when we went to greet him with our ritual of head kisses and cheek kisses while I took him from the caregiver. He was very energetic from the moment he came in. He sat and crawled/sat-crawled, pulling himself backwards while sitting and moved around a bit at a faster pace than usual. grabbed the bottle of water and shook it vigorously. Discovered the thing around the mirror a bit. When Deepak removed his extra jacket as it was quite warm inside, he gave a loud sudden cry which was great to hear as it meant he does get upset and cry normally! I immediately picked him up and gave him loving and kisses and he quickly within a second stopped and was smiling again :) Then he wanted to stand a bit using his Daddy as back support. he was also very inquisitive about the family album we brought with us today along with his toothbrush that he chewed as well. but not as much as yesterday. today he was busy discovering more things around him, looking at us more. He had half a banana happily, had some water with the Vitamin supplements and also the juice and yes! He loved the Gerber baby biscuit we got for him! all these he munched on slowly, savoring their taste and enjoying it.

His eyes followed the big ball when Deepak tried to dunk it in the basketball net in the room, so that was good exercise.