Bonding Day 11!

We went to the babyhouse today from 4-6 pm. We woke up this morning to COLD and rain/sleet. It rained/sleeted off and on all day long. We arrived at the girls group to big smiles from both of them... and LOTS of tight hugs! The caregiver told Symbat that they were waiting for us ALL DAY. They didn't even want to go swimming this morning, because "Mama and Papa will be coming soon!" AWE!!!! The caregiver said that for them to 'not' want to swim is HUGE... they LOVE swimming! It warms our hearts to hear the caregivers say that they can see such a change in them. She asked Symbat what we were changing their names to, and told her that she wanted to start calling them by their new names as well. I was very touched by this... and happy that they will hear their new names from a caregiver as well. That will have to help with the transition later.
We initially went to the Music Room for bonding. We'd been in that room about 10 minutes when a group of smaller children came in for music. (You should see all the kids... :( )We then started picking up and told the girls we were going to the PE room. Faith immediately starts whimpering and throws herself into the floor. I pick her up and am trying to tell her that we are going to another room... she HANGS ON TIGHT to my neck and starts saying, "NYET PAKA Mama NYET PAKA!" This is NO bye bye... no bye bye!!!! She continues to say it over and over and CLING to me... I'm trying to get Symbat's attention to tell her in Russian that we are NOT leaving yet.... and before I can get her to understand she is crying REAL tears! I have NEVER been so thrilled to see one of my daughters cry... it was the best thing EVER... and she was CLINGING to me. :) I love her, wipe her tears and Symbat then explains what is happening. It's all better when we get to the PE room! She even cried a 2nd time tonight... while playing she and Grace ran into each other HARD... Faith took the hit straight on her nose. She looks at me and whimpers and starts crying again... 2 tears down her cheek! :) They fall and hit and run and bang ALL the time... and have neither acted like they were ever hurt before. Symbat, Phil, and I have talked about how hard they hit and never seen to notice. It was like a breakthrough with Faith tonight! I was thrilled! I see bits and pieces like this and continue to know that these babies are going to thrive with love and attention.
Tonight I taught the girls to whisper "secrets". I showed them that I whisper quietly in their ear, then they whisper in mine... Of course I whispered... I LOVE YOU Violetta Faith!

and YES... here she is whispering really quietly back, I LOVE YOU! Look at that precious baby hand?! awe...


We can't figure out what the deal is with Papa... every time we turn around he's falling asleep. Hummm... do you think he might like our wake-up technique? :) Here Grace was the first to RACE to his rescue and wake him up with gentle kisses on the face! (Note: Papa is even able to wear his glasses now... days ago they grabbed at them any chance they got! They are making SUCH progress!)


Here we are working on some simple string cards. I found these in a small shop here and was SO thrilled. Fine motor tasks.. wahoo! Grace LOVED playing with these and she and I finished the entire card. She figured it out very quickly... and we were even able to stop turning it over. She was able to find the correct hole and thread it though! I was VERY impressed. Faith and Papa worked on hers, but she didn't like any help at all... The picture on the right was when we had just taken these out of the bag. They LOVE new things and will come and sit immediately in our laps to see what we have in the bag!

Here Papa is getting in on the secret game. I told Grace to go tell Papa a secret. She's whispering, "I love you" in his ear! :)

Faith was SO tired from all the playing that she fell asleep too.. (ha ha)! I love it when they do something for love and kisses! LOVE IT!

We found some cute barrettes at a little shop here... and bought 12! The girls were SO excited. Notice their hair in this picture. They were trying to put some in Papas hair in this one... ;) Isn't he the best Papa to girls in the world? Someone knew what they were doing when he decided we needed 4 girls! :) (Thank you Lord!)

These are some fun attempts at family pictures. We have to have a couple pictures from each day of bonding for court. We keep trying and trying to get another good one with all 4 of us smiling... whew! Here you have - smiling Grace!

and then you have - smiling Faith!

and then you have one where they are both smiling.. but, Faith is looking at her toy! (Yes, those are light sticks... Papa found these in a small shop. They were about $1.00 each! He's such a softy for cool toys!)

...and then you have us... CRACKING UP! I have NO idea why we were laughing.. we think that I had gotten hit in the face with a light up toy, but we have no idea! LOL!! I loved it when I found this picture when looking through them... and I just have to say that I love that guy SO much! I know that we are SO blessed! We love you SO much Papa.... thanks for just being you and loving all 5 of us! (Love you so much ~ your girls ~Mama, Bay, Brook, Faith and Grace!)

I taught another class for Symbat tonight after the babyhouse visit from 6:30 - 7:30. It was interesting. The students were both very nice, however there English is VERY elementary. It was VERY difficult to explain to them what I meant when they understood little/no English. Symbat took our picture before she left us... Their names are Igor and Merueta. Igor told me that he is in business here in Pavlodar, but I never could figure out what kind of business. He is married and has a 1 year old son. Merueta went to the university at Astana and now teaches in the labatory here at the high school in Pavodar. They both want to speak English and have always dreamed of visiting America one day. That seems to be EVERY ONES dream here!
Just fyi.. Igor's shirt had LAPD on the pocket! Then under that it said, Los Angles, Calif. police department. I asked him about his shirt and he excitedly says... "DO YOU LIVE THERE?" lol! They had neither one ever heard of Oklahoma!

This is one of my students from yesterday - Darina! She is 12 years old and lives in the apartment building next to us! Her English is quite well.. and we had a GREAT time talking about America and Kazakhstan! She is a sweetheart! :)