The day to day

hello all,
thanks for the comments. and to those that dont post comments; dont be scared, we like reading them.
Friday nite's visit was nice. i think erlan is doing very well for all the change that is and is about to take place. he doesnt just love to be held by karla he demands it. he starts to throw a fit everytime he doesnt feel he has enough surface area touching karla. of course, karla eats it up.

he doesnt like carrot juice or apple juice. when i say doesnt like, i mean, he looks into the cup and then smells it and then hands/throws the cup back to you. they dont have sippy cups here, so u have to be quick. wonder if carrot juice comes out of carpet? i'm trying plum juice tomorrow. the kids juice is $2.25 for approx. 6oz.
right now, we have to be slow with different foods. he is not used to sugar. so everything has to be bland. he likes rolls and these hard little hockey pucks they call cookies. i fed him a banana today and he loved it

Aktobe is the hottest place i have ever been to. for those that dont know me, i sometimes perspire (i sweat profusely all the time) i think the city has central hot water and every building i have been in is like 80 degrees. we can not regulate our radiators in the apartment , i have to open a window and walk around in my shorts. since we knew aktobe was super cold in the winter, we (karla) didnt pack any shorts. it is cold here like around 15 f during the day, but i have not needed my long underwear or a long sleeve shirt. i wear a t shirt, my down coat, and a hat. i didnt need a down coat. i am usually sweating outside. the wind can be really cold when you walk between buildings. so hopefully i wont get a cold, because the back of my neck is usually wet.

i will try to write about our day to day life here. you can ask questions to keep me on track.

have to go now. i cant get the dishwasher to work so i guess i'll have to handwash them myself. i also have to show my cook how to light the gas stove. Um, my pretty dishwasher just informed me that my cook might be doing other things today.

c u bye

Day 3, Visit 1

We have just returned from our first visit of the day. The caretaker brought Erlan to the room in a bright pink coat. (I know that my nephews would be completely jealous of the coat.) He did not want to take the coat off. He was sweating, but he was very resistant to taking the coat off. I finally got the coat off, but a small fit was thrown.

Erlan was all about Mommy for most of the visit. He clung to me for most of the visit. It took him an hour just to eat his cookie. He did gobble down the roll that we bought for him. We tried to give him apple juice today. He didn’t want any of it even after he ate his very, very dry cookie. He reached for the cup but then saw the juice and refused it. His caretaker tried to give him the juice at the end of the visit, but he still wasn’t having it.

Once he let go of me, he played with his stacking rings. He colored in his book. He tried to hold all of the crayons at once, so it was kind of hard to color. He did not want to share the crayons with Momma or Daddy. He gave us a few smiles, but we really had to work for them. Hopefully he’ll be happier to see us in the afternoon.

He was happy to see his caregiver. He smiled when he saw her, and he looked more relaxed around her than around us. She tried to get him to wave bye to us, but he wouldn’t do it (I’m not sure if he knows how to do it).

Yes, this is my sweet child sucking his thumb. I'm fighting my instinct to pull it out of his mouth since this is one of his ways to self-soothe. He does look pretty angelic in this picture.

We're off to walk around between visits! More later.

so happy (Day 2)

Well we got to see Erlan this afternoon, I dont think he had fun at his medical checkup. He was very clingy and didnt really want to play that much at first. He just wanted Karla to hold him.
It was like an hour before he finally smiled.

We get to visit twice a day (10-12 and 4-6). It doesnt seem like much, until you think about it. No t.v., no phones, and no distractions, just Karla and I and our new little guy rolling around on the carpet. I try not to set up or stand up so Erlan can feel more comfortable. The picture of Erlan and me is the only time I have been able to touch him without him being on Karla's lap. By the end of the two hours, we are all ready for a nap.

Today, he finally babbled!!! This,so far , is his biggest delay. It has nothing to do with intelligence, just lack of individual stimulus. The caregivers are overworked, yet the care we have observed is incredible. I dont know how they do it. It breaks my heart knowing that some of these children will never be adopted. The caregivers say Erlan is very serious and doesnt talk, but will jabber with the others. Well today , I was being goofy and he started mimicking me. He was vibrating his lips and cracking himself and me up. He then started parroting me with 'pa pa'. His sound came out has 'pop', so thats what we went with. This was very exciting for us. Erlan is like a little seed that has just been waiting for enough water and sunlight to grow. So far, he has surprised us every day.

If you haven't noticed; I like him alot!!!! I am overwhelmed with happiness knowing I get to be a part of this guy's life.

Here are the long-awaited pictures...

He giggled every time he knocked over the blocks. Guess who showed him how to knock the blocks over?


Erlan loves playing with his blocks!


Mom, Dad, and Erlan

Day 0 and Day 1 Visits

Erlan Visit: Day 0 & 1
We have now visited with Erlan three times. Since Erlan is in the children’s house (instead of the baby house), we are the only family in the playroom. All of the other families go to the baby house. I refer to "Day 0" b/c our first day of visits do not count toward our bonding time.

Day 0

During his first visit, we met with the doctor to discuss his health. I have typed up his medical records to send to our International Adoption MD in the States. Basically the Dr said that Erlan is a healthy boy. He has had coughs and colds but no major illness during his stay in the orphanage. Then she mentioned that he has prenatal encephalopathy, hypertension, and a heart murmer. There are several “illnesses” that are ascribed to children in the Russian medical system that we wouldn’t not call illnesses. We’re not very concerned, but we will still check with Dr. Skurkovich.

He really is an amazing little boy. He shows stranger anxiety. He fusses when I pick him up the first time. He is scared of Ben. He just doesn’t know what to make of us. We look funny, smell funny, and sound funny. The best thing about us seems to be the bag of toys that we bring with us everyday.

During our first visit, we showed Erlan his stacking blocks. I stacked them and he knocked them over. This made him giggle like crazy. He loved this game. He then made a tower of two blocks by himself and knocked them over, which was followed by more giggling. Hopefully I can figure out how to upload the video to show you.

We gave him a teething biscuit about midway through our visit. He wasn’t sure that he should take it from us, but he finally did. He easily grasped the cookie between his thumb and forefinger.

We spent most of our 2-hour visit stacking blocks, walking around the playroom. He did play peek-a-boo with us by hiding behind a corner and popping out. More giggling ensued.

I showed him the mirror book that his Aunt Debbie gave to him. He sat on my lap while I read it to him. Later he picked it up and practiced opening it and turning the pages. The mirror book seemed to be his favorite toy during this visit.

He was tired at the end of our visit. When the nurse came in at the end, she told him in Kazakh to go to Papa. He walked over to Ben and sat down beside him like a little trooper. This was the first and only time that he sat down by Ben during our visit. He just doesn’t know what to make of Ben.

Erlan is delayed in terms of language. He clearly understands Kazakh, but he does not talk yet. His nurse said that he will speak baby language with other children, but he has not talked to her. She said that he is a serious little boy. We’ve seen his serious side, but we’ve also seen his happy-go-lucky side. We are undoubtedly smitten with this child.

Day 1, Visit 1

We just finished our first visit on Day 2. He was still timid of me and frightened of Ben. He lets me hold him, but he is very unsure of Ben. We were told that we could bring food with us, so Ben went down to the market that is near our apartment to buy it. My husband is amazing. He can figure almost anything out, and he is brave enough to try it. If I were on my own, I’d probably hole in the apartment until the translator took me. Not Ben. He takes the electronic translator, his smile, and his pointing finger along with the 4 Russian words that he knows (prevyet, spaceba, da, nyet—hello, thank you, yes, no).

During today’s visit, I gave Erlan stacking cups. He LOVED them. He would have played with them for the entire visit if we hadn’t wanted some attention. He loved figuring out how to nest the cups appropriately. He was dexterous enough to move the cups around well and to nest and re-nest successfully. If he got the size wrong, he just moved things around. We showed him that the cups could also be stacked. He did this for awhile, but really preferred nest the cups.

We tried to feed him. We gave him some carrot juice in a sippee cup. He wanted nothing to do with it. He is used to drinking from a real glass, so maybe he was telling us that sippee cups are for babies! We tried to give him some baby food, but again he wasn’t having it. He did feed himself one bite, but that was it. He did eat the teething biscuit that we gave to him. [At the end of the visit, his nurse also tried to feed him but he didn’t want anything. Perhaps he just wasn’t hungry?]

I put the hat that I knit for him on his head. It is too small. When I tried to take it off, he started to cry. He wanted the hat on. I asked if he is used to wearing a hat, and our translator said no. He wore the hat for the rest of the visit. When his nurse tried to take off his cap, he again started to cry. He may still be wearing the hat when we return in a couple of hours for our next visit. (If he was trying to make his mom happy, it worked.)

All of the clothes that I brought with us are too small. The largest shirt that I brought is an 18 months, and I think that he is in a 2T. We will have to buy some clothes here.

Erlan is potty trained. I’m not sure how well potty trained though because we were told to bring some pull-ups for our next visit.

Day 1, Visit 2

When he walked in to the visiting room and saw us, he sat down and cried. He stopped pretty quickly, but it was clear that he wasn’t ready for us yet. I’m so happy that Kazakhstan has the process that it has. It will be so much better for Erlan to meet us slowly over several weeks rather than for us to take him immediately. This is a huge leap of faith for our little boy. Can you imagine if space aliens picked you up and held you, talked to you in some strange tongue, smiled expectantly at you, made strange laughing sounds, handed you toys? Some parts scare you and some parts you like… you probably wouldn’t know what to make of all of it. I don’t think Erlan knows what to make of all of it.

This afternoon we gave him stacking rings. He had a grand time. He even let Ben hand him some rings…it always takes Erlan a bit to warm up to Daddy. The caretakers brought us some food (a cookie and a roll) to give to him. We tried to give him some carrot baby food, but Erlan wasn’t having any part of it. Ben tried spreading the carrot food on his roll, but Erlan caught on to the ruse. He refused to take the roll. I flipped it over so he couldn’t see the carrot spread. He started to eat it, but then would flip the roll and see it again. He tried to wipe it off on his pants, but I stopped him. I think that he actually liked the way it tasted, but it was just different and he wasn’t sure about it. He also dug the raisins out of the roll when he was eating it and handed them to me. I thought that this was very clever, since I would do the exact same thing. BTW, he did eat the roll in the end.

He also spent a good deal of quality time with his mirror book. He took the mirror up as close as possible to his face as if to say, “Hey, who’s the kid in the book?” Ben got lots of pix of the action. I even heard Erlan mutter something when he had the mirror right up to his face. I have no clue what he said (probably something like “Mom rocks”) but I heard him say something for the first time. Happy day!

Other than that, we sang songs… Sis or Kathi, would you send me the lyrics to “Mister Froggy” and “Tap your sticks”? We walk around the play room. We try to get to know Daddy. Oh, my favorite thing that he does is when I take him off of my lap and put him on the floor, he invariable will get up walk over to me and then back up and sit on my lap. I’m sure you can imagine how happy this makes Mommy.

It’s just amazing to us that he wasn’t adopted before this. He is such a smart and healthy little boy. We feel very blessed that we found him and that he waited for us.

We went out for dinner tonight with some of the other folks that are here for adoption. We had a typical Kazakh meal. It was noodles and meat with broth on the side. It was very tasty. We had a bottle of wine with dinner. We ordered a bottle of wine afterwards. The waitress brought one over and showed us. We said ok, but she didn’t open it. Finally another patron told us that the wine was 2000 tenge (or approx $17). Our first bottle was only 800 tenge (or approx $6.50). So, we said we wanted a 800 tenge bottle. We were given some Kazakh wine. Let me just say that there is a reason that Kaz is not known for their wine. :-)

The first meeting

We think that we’ve met KK. First some vital stats on KK, then I’ll explain the way everything went down.

KK—The FACTS
Name: Erlan (pronounced Yerlan)
Age: 2 (with orphanage delays, he is probably more like a 16-month old)
B’day: 2/2/06
Sex: Male
Hair: brown
Eyes: brown
Ethnicity: Kazakh

The Airport Pickup
After our 30 hour plane delay in Almaty due to weather, our 12 hour stretch spent in the airport, our $200 hotel without hot water, loading up and checking out two times for false alarms(the airline wouldn’t post the next delay until 1 hour before the flight, so we would be in the car and have to turn around after the new delay), we finally headed to Aktobe. Thank goodness for our driver, Sam and cooridinator, Marina for their patience.

We were greeted at the Aktobe airport by Gulnara (regional coordinator), Aina (interpreter), and Ceric (driver). They thought Ben was crazy because he wasn’t wearing his coat, only a fleece. It was around -10 celius

Our luggage finally arrived on the back of a dumptruck and was unloaded outside on the ground. After finding our luggage,we started into Aqtobe. On our way into the city, Aina told us we would go directly to the orphanage. Did we mind? Of course we didn’t mind, but we were somewhat worried about our appearance. We had worn sweats on the plane, and we had been in the same clothes for 4 days. We had been told to wear the same clothes that we’d wear to court. I had even hand carried those clothes just in case our luggage was lost on the way or if we only had 30 minutes to prepare for the orphanage…ha! Aina said that she’d tell the orphanage staff that we had come directly from the plane.

The Orphanage
We were taken to the orphanage for 2 – 5 year olds. I wrote out some papers in long hand. My penmanship is terrible. I was nervous. It seemed to take forever. There were four documents: one said that we wanted to adopt, another said we’d write letters back to the orphanage about our child, another said we wanted to adopt a particular child (name to be filled in later), and I can’t remember the other document. Then Gulnara and Aina signed translated versions.

During this time, Gulnara & Aina asked if we wanted a boy or a girl. Apparently there were 3 children available: a one-year old girl, a 15-month old boy with a “squint” (aka lazy eye), and an 18-month old boy. We said that we thought we were coming for a boy, but we would like to see the girl first.

We then met with the head doctor and a representative from the Ministry of Education. As they were explaining their roles and doing introductions, another interpreter from a competing agency burst into the office with her client. Since they had filled out paperwork that morning, her client was to see the available children first. At that point, I knew that she’d choose the girl (mostly b/c she was a single woman).

Part of the reason that Gulnara had us go to the orphanage right away was to try to see the available children first. I think that Gulnara was hoping as much as we were that our flight would have gotten in on time. She knows that little girls are few and far between for adoption

Meeting the kids
After a short wait, we were taken to a room where Erlan was. I must admit that he melted my heart immediately. He actually reminded me of Ben and of my nephew Cole. Erlan has the same cheeks as Ben and the same pug nose. He is a chunk and a half (which made me think of Cole). Everyone commented that he looked like Ben.

When I took him from the caregiver, he immediately started crying. This actually made me happy. It showed me that he has some stranger anxiety. He was scared of Ben, which is typical since the children do not see very many men. The men that they do see are usually doctors. They poor kids probably think that men are just there to poke and prod you.

Next we were introduced to a 4-year old boy who is deaf. He was born deaf. He was adorable, and he was all over the place. I couldn’t even get him to stop to look at me.

We were then taken to the baby orphanage, across town in another building where we were introduced to the 15-month old boy. I’m not sure if the eye condition is correctable or not because we we’re told twice that it was correctable and once that it wasn’t. The baby girl had already been chosen by the time we got to the other orphanage. I’m not sure what was up with the 18-month old b/c he was never mentioned again. Perhaps they meant Erlan?

Choosing Erlan
It didn’t actually matter to us though. We had spent the drive worried that someone would pick Erlan while we were meeting other children. As we waited in the other orphanage, we were worried that the single woman would go back to get Erlan. He just seemed so perfect to us that we couldn’t believe he had spent his first two years in an orphanage.

Once we met all of the children, we said that we wanted Erlan. We don’t get to see him again until 4:00 pm today.

At today’s meeting, the doctor should give us Erlan’s history. We will send all of the information that we gather to our IA doctor. Once he confirms that Erlan is healthy, we’ll post pictures (we don’t have any yet to post anyway). Both Gulnara and the MOE representative said that Erlan was the healthiest of the children available.

Gulnara & Aina
I was impressed with Gulnara and Aina yesterday. Gulnara seemed concerned that we understand that Erlan will be delayed. She talked to us about these delays being typical for orphanage children. She told us about other children and how they flourished when they were given consistent attention. She was very pragmatic, but she seemed to care about the kids and that we made a good decision for us.

Aina translated for Gulnara, and Aina added her own thoughts too. She seems to be super nice. She showed me pictures of her girl (9 months) and boy (3.5 years). They are cuties. She said she lives with her in-laws b/c she married the youngest son and the youngest son always stays on to live with the parents. As the daughter-in-law, it is her job to cook for the family. She had stayed up until 1:00 am the night before to prepare meals for the family, b/c she knew that she’d be out with us the next day.

I’m sure if Ben and I moved in with his folks, everyone (including me) would want Janice to start cooking again after one meal from me. I will never be as good of a cook as my m-i-l, and I am completely ok with this. Over here, however, it’s important that the d-i-l is a good cook. I wouldn’t make it in Kazakhstan.

3 rd day

hi again
we didnt get to see erlan(pronouced ur-lan ;i think) this morning, because he had to have monthly medical checkup. so they finally took us to the grocery store. things are expensive here.
fyi pringles are $3.10.
sorry im not going to talk about erlan much, because i dont want to ruin karla's posts. she has been busy. we have lots of pics and evebn a video. he's pretty cool.

we slept last nite for aprox 12 hours on and off. we took a homeopathetic sleep aid. karla has been very tired. i have been sleeping like 4 hours and than getting up and roaming around in our apartment. karla really enjoys this. i thought she would want to watch 'arrested development' with me at 1 am. i was mistaken.

in about 8 hours , we are supposed to have an internet card. i got tired of hearing 'tomorrow' (this word must mean 'never' in kazak)and paid eric (another adoptee dad ) ot get me one. he is staying next to the place where you get them. so if he can make the handoff to carlos (adoptee dad from spain), we will be setup tonite.
until then ,you will just have to listen to my drivel
people who want invites will have to wait. i will do them 'tomorrow'.
hey mom those ice cleats you got me work awesome. we each wear one on each foot so when you hit the tile floors u dont bust your butt. i wish we would have brought those for gifts. i ahve seen lots of people fall.
talk to you all later.

computer geeks

if any one knows anything about this or can research, we would greatly appreciate.there are unsecured wireless networks at our apartment with good signal but we cant get on. do we have the wrong wireless cards or software. i have not a clue but would take any suggestions. karla is pretty good but she hasnt been succesful either

2 nd day

hey all,
wa are doing great. this is ben . and i willnot be spell checking. we still have not got our internet card. i am at a computer two blocks from aprtmnt.karla has like 6 blogs with pics and lots of info. we will post them soon
so here is what i know. YERLAN is 25 months and is very cute. he has a big head ,chubby cheeks ,squinty eyes, and a small flat nose. who wouldnt be cute with all those features! he could be my bbiological. he seems very smart. he also has a funny laugh. he does not like me ,but is warming to karla quickly. i keep telling him that someday we will both get to drive mom crazy and it is going to be a blast.
so far he is awesome..
again we apologize for lack of info. we use to get upset when people wouldnt post enough. hang in there karla will flood yuou later.
i was very anxious and scared about all this but after meeting yerlan , i know everything is going to be fine. i lucked out again.
love you all
karla and ben

We're in Aqtobe

We finally made it to Aqtobe yesterday. We think that we've met KK. We'll post more later. We're at an internet cafe b/c we haven't got our internet card yet. We're in a nice apartment. We're safe. We're happy.

The layover

Our layover in Almaty has been extended into a 13-hour layover.... the weather in Aqtobe has delayed our take off. In the interim period between our posts, we have learned a few things:

1.) The coffee shop at the Almaty airport takes Visa.
2.) The coffee shop charges .50 apiece for creamer.
3.) The airline appears to be giving away free food. There was a run on the ticket desk, followed by people walking away with food. Ben is standing in line now. We, of course, just purchased food at the aforementioned coffee shop but we always like free food (and who knows when we'll eat again).
4.) The weight limit is different (and lower) on Air Astana. Because we flew in "over the Atlantic," we were allowed a bit of extra weight but we still had to pay $40 for heavy baggage. It's hard to argue when you don't speak the language.

Food is here... gotta go. If only they'd pass out cots.

We're in Kaz!

We have made it to Almaty. It's 2:30 am. We have 5 more hours before we fly. It was a long, but uneventful flight. We both really like the Lufthansa flight. They plied us with free liquor and gave us free hot food, what more could we ask for?

Our 4-hour layover in DC was eventful. I remembered on our way to KC that I forgot the cord that transfers data from our camera to our PC. I wasn’t too worried b/c Ben’s computer has an integrated SD drive. When we got to KC, I thought I’d post a quick picture. The drive didn’t work. We dug through our carry-ons just in case I had packed the cord. I hadn’t. A panicked call to my nephew followed to see if he had any ideas. He suggested some drivers from the Dell website, but this would have taken 5 hours to download.

Once we got to DC, a very nice man at the Brookstone store helped us figure out the problem. My SD card was an HDSD card—the new, fangled SD card that does not work with our old-school drive. We bought an old-school SD card that is much smaller than my fancy 4Gb card, but it works and we can share pictures. Whew! Here’s Ben expressing his joy that the card worked!




Our 6-hour layover in Frankfurt was less drama filled. Ben took advantage of lounge type chairs in the resting area. We did not have to go through customs in Germany... we just hung out in the B concourse. (Mom & Dad, you will be delighted to know that there is casino in the Frankfurt airport. Now you can add this to your list of destinations!) The best part of the Frankfurt trip was the pug we met. Kazakh pugs are much like their American cousins. This little guy was as friendly as he could be. He was on our flight from Frankfurt to Almaty. He didn't make a peep.



We are now in our last 5-hour layover in Almaty enjoying hot tea (me) and fanta (Ben). The airport has wi-fi (yea!). I've already talked via skype to my parents and Amy. For the amount of worry that I put into going through Kaz customs, the process was straightforward and quick. We waited on our bags longer than we waited to go through customs.

Katya & Sam were waiting for us as we walked into the waiting area. Katya is even cuter than her picture. They made sure we were settled at the coffee shop, got us an English menu, explained how to get on our next flight to Aqtobe, gave us a cell phone. I felt like I was in very good, very competent hands.

We are happy to be this far. :-) Next stop, Aqtobe!

Ben said I'd give the details....

Detail #1: We were visiting my parents in Weslaco, TX when we got THE call--a mere 18-hour drive from home. I brought our documents with us so we were able to send for our Kaz visas that day.

Detail #2: We drove home in my dad's 1985 Jetta. (Ben & my dad have similar tastes in cars--this is not a good thing.) The car made the 18-hour drive seem like a 36-hour drive (with only one stop at Starbucks). I'll skip the list of grievances that I've compiled against the car. Suffice it to say that I stuck my sisters' post-its on the Jetta.

Detail #3: We are 95% packed in 3 suitcases and 3 carry-ons. I'm considering re-packing so that each suitcase contains a little bit of everything.

Detail #4: Our visas arrived on Monday. They would have been here on Saturday if I'd paid for Saturday delivery. The Kaz consulate turned the visas around in 1 day!

Detail #5: We leave on Friday. We have a 4-hour layover in DC and a 6-hour layover in Frankfurt. We arrive in Almaty, Kaz on Sunday morning at 1:30 am.

Forked out

Last night while hanging out with my nephews Kolton & Haydn, I snuck down the hall so I could pop out and scare them (I'm not being mean--this is an activity they enjoy).

Me: Boo!

Kolton gave me a mildly amused smile as if to say "Nice try."

Haydn: Karla, you really forked me out.

WE'RE GOING TO GET KK

GUESS WHAT. WE GOT OUR LOI . That means we are leaving Next Friday. Don't know all details,but Karla will post soon. YEE-HAW!!!!!

A boy or a girl?

Right now, we think that we are traveling to adopt a boy between 12 to 18 months. Aqtobe is a travel-blind region. Basically, this means that we should be shown 1, 2 or 3 boys in our age range after we arrive in Aqtobe. From what we've heard & read, we might be shown a child outside of our range or a child with special needs first.

It is understandable (although heart breaking) that these children are shown first. You just never know who will take a child they weren't expecting. Our hearts are open to these possibilities. So, when people ask, we say that we think we're adopting a 12-18 month old boy; however, we could come home with a 3-year old girl.

In my head, I picture us with a little boy; however, I pictured us with a girl for the longest time. When we started this odyssey to find KK, I thought we'd adopt a girl. When we were told that we could become parents faster (this is a relative term) if we adopted a boy, I didn't hesitate. At that moment, I realized that I just wanted to be a mom and I wanted to see Ben as a dad. I could also easily picture KK fitting right in with all of my nephews.

It is hard to say how the journey will unfold once we are there. I'm not sure how we'll react if we're shown children outside of our ranges. I do know that we are both more than ready to go.

Rubber ducky you're the one!

Meet Ducky Dude! This awesome little rubber ducky was given to me by my nephew Kolton. Ducky Dude is now sharing digs with his big sisters, Pinky and Peachy. All are happy in their new home.

Kolton, who is only 5, won Ducky Dude in one of those claw machines at Wal-mart. (Ok, it is one of those claw machines where you play until you win...) Kolton knew that I liked the duck, and he won it for me. Such sensitivity and awareness for a 5-year old, not to mention the dexterity it took to work the claw to win the duck. I'm just so proud.

This is one of the things that I like about living in our hometown. A trip to Wal-mart (aka local gathering spot) for laundry soap results in seeing a nephew and winning a duck!