Night and Day

The last two days with Sam were like night and day. We went to the orphanage on Thursday and Friday for about an hour and a half each time. We'd like to stay longer but the orphanage is actually in the process of closing and I think we're really just in the way.

Thursday was pretty much a nightmare. Poor Sam had wound himself up pretty well and he didn't get to go outside that morning. Needless to say we spent the whole time trying to keep him calm, keep him from yelling, and saying "nyet" about a thousand times. By the time we were ready to leave we were all exhausted. Tim was convinced this was a symptom of a larger problem but Mom knew better. We hadn't been there for several days and he still doesn't fully understand why he can't just come with us. It doesn't help that his whole world at the orphanage is in chaos as well.

For yesterday we were better prepared. We took fewer toys since he was definately overstimulated and I put his snack away instead of putting it out first thing. Right off the bat it was much better. I think it helped that we came back. If Thursday was a nightmare, Friday was a dream. My Russian is getting better which also probably helps. We got him to say several words in English (as you can see below). We're not quite sure he understands what they all mean, but it's a work in progress. We also spent almost the entire hour playing with bubbles. The best part of the day in my opinion had to be Tim and Sam looking at this big book that had several activities in it. One of the pages was like a "Where's Waldo?" book and as they were looking at it Tim would do something like say "hmmm" or tap his mouth with his finger. As soon as he did Sam would do the same thing, wanting to be just like his daddy. I got it on video and we'll post it next week.

Other than that not much is going on. Doing anything in Russia is like 1000 times harder than doing it at home so we don't do much. The washing maching holds about 4 pieces of clothing, takes 2 and a half hours, and the clothes are still wet when they come out. Never thought I would miss my washing machine. The funniest thing that's happened to us is we went to the store on Wednesday and I was determined to make something for dinner that wasn't ham and cheese sandwiches. I bought pasta and what I thought was spaghetti sauce. It wasn't. Let me tell you, ketchup, salami, and spaghetti noodles is not good. It's really not. The container had garlic and spices on it. Who does that to ketchup? Oh well, spaghetti take 2 last night went much better.

Today we were planning on taking the metro to Nevsky Prospect but the weather's not looking so good, so we'll see.

Thank you all for your sweet emails and comments on facebook and here. They are very much appreciated when we're so far from home.