Settling in

I have a few minutes to type in the middle of the day as Brian just got back from a quick grocery store run and is playing with Nathan Genya. The day is going quickly! Nathan slept until almost 9am but he had been up a little later last night – last night he went to bed willingly and sleep wonderfully. He is a quiet sleeper but the pillow, his little blanket and stuffed bear all wound up on the floor around him. I think he's ready to have his bed moved back to the other room but we'll confirm when Alex comes by later – have a list of things to ask him!

Breakfast was oatmeal with jam for him (he eats the jam first and then the rest) and oatmeal with milk for me. Brian passed on oatmeal LOL. Also a banana and juice. Spilled his juice at breakfast but I've sense moved him from the plastic cup to a glass one with a wide base and also make sure he's using two hands and so far no more spillage! After we were done with breakfast he cleared his place and mine and put it all in the sink. Then Brian got him dressed while I did the dishes. Well after he was dressed he came into the kitchen and when he saw all the dishes were clean he said "oh mama" and gave me a BIG hug and kisses. I think he thought he had to do them?? Don't know but it was nice… Later we did a small load of laundry – (I should have brought one or two more pairs of sweats for him)and he sat and watched it for awhile with today's favorite things to hold – the Slinky Junior and of course the flashlight (the batteries are starting to die on that!). When the load was done he let me take it out of the machine but then took the big basket and started carrying it to hang them to dry! I told him mom or dad can do – Brian took over on that. I'm not sure if this is all what he had to do in the orphanage or what but he certainly tried to be helpful!

He loves talking on the phone whenever someone calls – we're just not always sure what he's saying but he's happy and telling a story about something we've done we think. We went outside for a little bit – the slide in the backyard here just doesn't cut it anymore for him – we had to go across to the bigger slide! It was cold this morning (-27c) so only were out about 45-minutes. We went to the small ice park near us but those slides are small also but he had fun – then we did a different walk back to the apartment – no muttering this time! He had a snack then of yogurt and juice. Lunch today were "BTM" sandwiches… bacon, tomato and mayonnaise. I thought this sounded better than BMT! Ha, ha. He ate the tomatoes first and then the bacon on bread. He loves the pickles (figure he and Rachel C can eat them together!), had a pear, chips and milk. He didn't want to finish the milk but when the chips were taken away until the milk was gone it was drunk quickly!! Then he and I watched some Tom and Jerry cartoons (in russian but you can hear the English) during "resting time" while Brian went shopping. He sat very well and even cuddled up to me a bit. Before lunch he and Brian were watching some TV – he totally relaxed and laid his head on the cushions and feet on the sides (see pictures) -- I think he's getting comfortable with us ?!?

Nathan Genya's picking up some English – not using it much but repeats very well – even takes Brian's tone a lot – quite funny to me anyway! At lunch tho we were doing some counting – 1,2,3,4 and he, on his own, counted backwards 4,3,2,1 in English! We told him what at "oom-nee-tsah" (smart little one) he was – he said "da"!

Later in the day we went outside again – this time we took some old bread to feed the pigeons by the river. Nathan Genya wasn't too excited about this at first as he thought he was going sledding again but once the birds flew for the bread he was happy! There was one little brown bird (see pixs) that came and stole some bread from the bigger birds and took it onto the steps of the statue.

Dinner tonight was a beef stew and bread. Turned out pretty well but Genya pretty much ate only the carrots out of it! Also ate some bread. He had had a pretty good sized snack at 5pm tho so maybe he finally got filled up! When Alex called later he told him everything we had done and that it was all good except he didn't like eating ?!? I said he's eating very well! Hmmm… maybe he meant he didn't like my cooking!!

So tonight is a repeat of last night – bath for Genya (Brian's supervising tonight), I'll rub him with the lavender lotion and help him with his pajamas. Then we'll watch a movie or some Tom and Jerry and then he'll go to bed.

Alex called about 7:30 and isn't coming tonight (surprised?) but tomorrow morning we go get to get Nathan's new birth certificate, citizenship stamp/certificate and apply for his passport. We're doing the passport application in Irkutsk (that is good tho). Only one of us, probably me, will go to Angarsk tho as Alex wants Genya to "not get confused going back to Angarsk"… I think Genya would understand but that's ok – this is easier overall!

So if we actually get the passport application processed tomorrow we have a better timeframe on returning home… and I still have to find out if we can expedite the application at all (on my list of questions if we'd ever see Alex! Well, tomorrow we should!)