Bonding Days #13 and #14

We have had some internet connection issues, so we are posting for the last two days combined from a nearby café Kemer that offers free wi-fi.

Bonding Day #13: When Max’s caregiver brought him in (with a cookie) on Tuesday, we took a quick picture since she is one of the friendlier ones (although you would not be able to tell from the expression on her face…apparently, Kazakhs rarely smile for photos).

It was a hot day in Aktobe and thankfully, they had him dressed without a hat, and with only two layers on. We were brave and removed his sweatshirt, so he was wearing only a T-shirt and then two layers on the bottom. He was very happy with being more comfortable.

One new thing Max did today was to walk while only holding on to one hand as opposed to two. He did not seem to enjoy it, but it is progress nonetheless.

We also got to feed Max again and we hadn’t done that since our first day of bonding. He’s still very skillful with that spoon. And here’s one final picture from Tuesday that we had to share (especially for Jenny’s family). It’s not the best picture, but you can see how he sticks his tongue out when concentrating, just like his new Mommy.







Bonding Day #14: We were moved to a different play room today because the usual room was being used for something else today. It was a smaller room with a big “crib/playpen” in the middle. The caregiver brought him in and told us that we could take him outside (for the first time ever…yay!) and that we could remove his jacket (but not his hat) if he was too hot. Since it was in the upper 80’s today, we took his jacket off immediately. Of course, he was still wearing three layers, so we think he was fine. Ugh. We are thinking this may be his first time being outside since he has been in the orphanage, so that was nice. We even got to give him a plate full of apple as his midday snack. We did that on the front steps of the baby house. After a while, we went back inside to play. Here’s a short video.

After our bonding session (our penultimate one), we returned to the apartment to meet the computer tech guy who was sadly unable to rectify the internet issues, even after working on it for an hour and a half. We did have a nice visit with Natasha our translator while he was working on it. Here’s a photo of Natasha with Jenny.

So we have another tech guy coming tomorrow morning, but it seems as though we might be visiting Kemer tomorrow evening to update everyone and have some beers and shashlik. We had chechel the last time we were here, but we only liked it ok.

We finally have the details of our return trip! We finish bonding tomorrow, but Natasha suggested we stay an extra day in case there is any last minute things to take care of. So that will give us one bonus visit with Max and we will leave on Saturday morning. Our flight from Aktobe to Almaty will be from 10am to 1:30pm. Then we will spend the day in Almaty because our flight to Frankfurt doesn't leave until 3am. After layovers in Frankfurt and Chicago, we will finally get back to Cincinnati around 3pm on Sunday afternoon. Thank you, Barb, for offering to pick us up at the airport.