Sunny, but colder!

It looked so nice and warm outside today that I ventured out without long underwear – big mistake! I put them on once back and might not take them off again until I hit Wisconsin, and maybe not even then!

Genya woke up at 7am today…which once we're home will be fine but since we're still here I was hoping for a little shorter day, but it is fine! He is hungry when he wakes up so requests banana and yogurt – surprised? Lol and then I usually give him an egg or some cereal and then he gets juice. He's not a big fan of the milk here anymore and I figure that's fine as I'm not either and he's getting a lot of yogurt! This morning he found the frog Justin had sent along with us and wanted it to be a mask. Dealing with limited supplies here I did manage to make it into one – tape holding it on his head! It was also laundry day (well about every other day is laundry day when you don't have many clothes!) so we did a load of jeans and then a load of mixed clothes. Have the towels to do yet but we have plenty extras of those and we're out of drying space right now! Genya and I also painted on some egg cartons that we found yesterday (otherwise our eggs come in plastic containers) and then he did some tracing of his name and JJ's again. We also worked with fuse beads (where you put the iron on them to hold together) but I actually did it about 99.9% more than he did but I was enjoying it more also!

Elena called again this morning to talk to Genya. He gave her a positive report and also told her he was really excited because he was going to the circus today! {okay, who told him??!} I had her tell him "no, it's tomorrow" and he didn't want to believe that at first. Now how did he know it was the circus we got tickets to?? Can he read more than we were told? Or just recognized the building we were in? Regardless it won't be a surprise but that's fine because he's never been to one before and he's very happy about it! Alex had called this morning to make sure the phone was working and I told him we were going to the circus tomorrow…he seemed slightly surprised (I think) that we had obtained tickets. Doesn't he realize that when you leave us alone in a city for 6-weeks we do manage to find things out on our own? Lol But yep, it's been 6-weeks today that we've been here. Sometimes it doesn't seem that long, often it seems much longer. I know, the end is in sight…but it can't come soon enough! One way to make one's-self realize how far we have come in the last six weeks is re-reading the blogs that I've posted. From our first days here when we didn't know what was going to happen, didn't know what we were eating and walking in circles to now having a little boy with us at all times, taking him to our favorite places and knowing shortcuts to the places we want to go…

Lunch was egg salad sandwiches and veggie salad for Brian and I and a hard-boiled egg, leftover potato thingy, pickles and chips for Genya. I am perfecting my hard-boiled egg cooking here and now most of them are peeling very well! Then we waited until 1pm to head outside for our walk. As previously mentioned, it was sunny but not a heat wave! We did walk for 2-hours tho with no breaks… we stopped at a little grocery store where I got some yogurt and two kiwi(!) and then went to the big market for eggs and soda. It's surprisingly hard to find eggs (except at the supermarket) – I must not be looking at the "egg stores"? Genya has some money Brian's been giving him that burns a hole in his pocket – it's like 2-3 rubles but he thinks he's hot stuff. So we told him he could get something at the store today with his money – it's a good motivator for walking (not listening? posh lee dom, nyet magazine!) (translation: let's go home, no store!) Nope, he doesn't like that so continues to be good. Anyway, he got a little Nesquick bar that was 10-rubles. He knew he couldn't eat it until home so he carried it or had it in his pocket and listened very well the whole way home. There is a man outside a store just up from the market who we see every day now – we are now on nodding and Genya and he on speaking terms. What he does we don't know, but now we get smiles as we pass by!

Back at the apartment we watched some afternoon cartoon and rested. Later Brian and Genya took a walk to the corner store to get "chocolate" – As soon as Brian said "you and me" to Genya – Genya said "shockolat?" He knows the routine already! Shortly after they got back we went across the street for pizza for supper – Genya's first official "restaurant" (not café'). He did very well! He didn't like the smell of the vinegar (thought it was juice) or the pepper! Funny story – I had a total blond moment when ordering the drinks – got Brian a Pepsi, me a beer and could NOT remember the Russian word for "juice" – HELLO, I only hear it about 20 times per day!! "Soak"!! We were able to get Nathan some "apple juice" (yablacki soak)

After dinner was Genya's bath – the length of them are getting a bit shorter as he tries to get away with more things that we tell him not to do. But after some struggles he relinquishes and gets the PJs on. Tonight we watched another Elmo DVD – they're in English but seem to keep his attention and he knows what they're about… tonight's was about Birthdays, Games and Pets. During the last segment he had a banana and yogurt… I told him we were going to limit him to two bananas per day until I realized they're under 50 cents each… As long as we can find them in the stores I guess he can keep eating them!

Last night's movie "Three Men and a Little Lady" played completely through without any shut-offs! Will we have such success with tonight's show "The Princess Bride"?