Day 2

As you can see, we have a new addition. Thank you for being patient with us as we've had some technical issues getting on the 'net. We actually found a cool restaurant not too far from our apartment with a great wi-fi connection. Hopefully tonight, we won't have to go to anymore wi-fi spots but then again, the wi-fi is free and all we have to do is order a few drinks.

Arman seems to be feeling better today. We were told he has bronchitis. Not the greatest thing but we're hoping it clears up. You wouldn't know he was sick, other than green boogers and lots of congestions. He's a really happy kid who loves being held as much as laying down and playing with the toys we brought for him. He's mesmerized by a tag on the ball we brought him. Once he got his finger in it, he was content bouncing it off his head for a bit.

Here's the medical info we received from his doc: birthday is July 17, 2008 (4yrs and 6 days after Irina), his Apgar score was 8/9, he left the maternity hospital at 14 days to go to the baby house, he got his first tooth at 6 1/2 months, and he weighed a whopping 3kg900g at birth. We have no concerns at all. Hearing and sight seem to be pretty good. Muscular development in his legs needs to be improved like Irina. The doctors say he's quick to recognize people he's met before which we saw today as he immediately recognized our facilitator who hasn't seen him in a few days. And every day he sees us, he smiles and laughs.

The music teacher came to the room today and it was crazy. She comes every Mon/Wed/Fri. Many of the kids were so excited to hear the music. It was like a mini rock concert. She was singing and playing the piano. She took a stuffed cat out of her bag and went around to let all the kids in their walkers touch it before she sang the song about the cat. Then she sang other songs about things like drums, balls, and the zeitchik (which means rabbit). It was really funny and neat to hear her singing about the zeitchik (for those of you who don't know, that is Laura's maiden name). We're going to get her on video the next time she sings about it.

We bought some clothes for Arman that we thought would fit him (6-9 months) but they were too big. We're going to buy some smaller ones for him tonight or tomorrow. All of the babies wear little overall thingies (like pants with built-in suspenders that are connected). Only the babies that are being adopted wear diapers. When the babies are finished eating, they are immediately put into the two cribs in the playroom which have 4 little potties each. The babies are put on the potties and tied to the crib with a cloth. They don't seem to mind sitting there and it seems to be a very effective way of toilet training them. This is a common practice here. We haven't seen Arman on the pot yet.

Not sure if we already posted this, but Arman means "dream" in Kazakh, which we think is pretty neat. Off for our walk home...