Day 4, Visits 1 & 2

We had two great visits today. This morning, Erlan walked into the room and came over and gave me a hug. This afternoon, Bayana carried him into the room and he came right to me. He is starting to warm up to Ben, slowly but surely.

We were in a different room today, because the orphanage is working on a skit for Children’s Day on March 8 (or thereabouts). The room isn’t as colorful and doesn’t have toys, but we prefer it. The room is much cooler, so we are more comfortable in it. It also has a mirror along one wall. Erlan loves looking at himself in the mirror. He thinks that he’s the cutest thing ever. He really likes waving and pointing at himself.

His favorite game this morning was trying on the hat that I bought for him. He loved it when Ben or I put it on his head and then pulled it off. He also thought it was hilarious when Ben put it on my head. His favorite game this afternoon was playing with the teddy bear that Baba Janice bought for him. Unfortunately, we couldn't recharge our camera battery between visits so no pictures of Erlan with the teddy bear. :-(

He babbled more today. He said Papa and Mama! We were both elated. Of course, we’re elated when he makes any noise. He was much more giggly today than he was yesterday. Of course, we ate that up.

Ben is trying to bribe him with food to get Erlan to come to him. Erlan is happy to take the food (the boy LOVES bananas), but he will not let Ben touch him or hold him yet. Erlan did shake Ben’s hand.

We are having all sorts of problems getting Erlan to drink. He hasn’t had fruit juices in the orphanage. He drinks some sort of unsweetened yogurt. We have 6 weeks to work on this, but the kid needs to learn to drink something we give him!

Life in the City
In between orphanage visits, we visited the Business Center and the Mosque Mall with Bayana and Rosa y Carlos (a Spanish couple adopting a little girl). We went to a pizza place in the Business Center. I’m not sure why its called the Business Center, since I only saw very expensive shops there. We followed the pizza with cappuccino and cake in a coffee shop.

We then walked to the Mosque Mall. It is a mall that is attached to a mosque… sorry, our battery died so we’ll have to post pictures of the mall later. We finally found a store with cheap children’s clothes in the basement of the Mosque Mall. (The clothes being sold in this store are clothes that have been given to India from the US. India then sells those clothes to Kazakhstan.) We didn’t have time to look around very long, but at least I know where to go.

Rosa and Carlos are from the Canary Islands. They speak very little English. There is not a translator for them, so we are asked to translate for them (as are the other American couples). So I’ve been practicing my college Spanish. We manage. The electronic translator comes in very handy. I sometimes wonder if I’m saying the right thing. They are super nice, and I wish that I could communicate better. They hadn’t gone out with us on previous occasions, so Ben and I were happy to hang out with them this afternoon.

Last night we went out with the other adoptive parents. We had pizza at the bowling alley. The pizza was just ok, but the company was good. :-) Here’s a picture. From L to R: Karla & Ben, Joel & Gen (New Jersey), Agnes (Belgium), Bernadette (France), Kami & Eric (New Hampshire).