Day 44

Erlan awoke this morning with a big smile. He was so happy to see us. We were equally happy to see him. While Erlan was well rested, neither Mama nor Papa were. Erlan is an active sleeper. Not only was he all over the bed, he was all over the room.

Last night, Ben discovered Erlan on the floor. We figured that he’d fall out of bed, so being pro-active parents we placed pillows on the ground to break the fall. We didn’t hear a thud, so we were pleased with our pillow placement. Congratulations all around!

It turns out, though, that Erlan sits up in his sleep and crawls off the bed. He didn’t fall of the bed, he carefully crawled out of the bed and sprawled out on the floor. Not on the pallet on the floor, just on the wood floor. We tried several times during the night to keep him in bed, or at least on the pallet, but he always returned to the wood. (During his two naps though, he hasn’t moved.)

In part, he may have slept on the wood b/c it was the coolest place in the room. Our room was a toasty 82 degrees, which is only 20 degrees higher than Ben and I are used to.
We had to keep the windows closed, because the dust here is very bad and Erlan seems to be allergic to it. Even though we are on the sixth floor, the dust accumulates very quickly--to the point you can feel it blow across you when you sleep.

Erlan was so good today. He ate the food we gave him, even the carrots that we mashed into his mashed potatoes. He really enjoys carrying around books. His favorite is one about Delta Force that our friend Joel gave to us. He especially likes to take that book to the toilet with him, which makes me giggle every time I see him do it.

We are fearful that Erlan is coming down with the chicken pox. He has some of the symptoms, but they could also be symptoms of something else. He’s running a fever of 102 with a runny nose and watery eyes. At this point, we’re waiting to see if the red dots appear.

We did get some very disappointing news today. We will have to be in Kaz for a week longer than we planned. Something slowed down in regards to paperwork for Erlan’s passport. We really have no clue why the process slowed down, just that it has.

We have decided to return to Almaty as quickly as we can. Even though the apartment rent will be more expensive there, it will be cheaper for us to stay in Almaty than in Aktobe. We would like to take the train to Almaty. We would have our own private cabin, and we could see the country-side. It’s a 42-hour trip, but we think it would be worth it so that we can experience something of this country besides city life. This is, of course, completely contingent on Erlan’s health. Our international adoption Dr gave us the green light to make the trip.

(A note on our IA doctor for those of you preparing to travel. We used Dr. Skurkovich out of RI. He has been AWESOME. He is super responsive. I have emailed him twice about Erlan since we brought him home. Dr. Skurkovich returned both emails very quickly… the last email was returned within 30 minutes. He was also very easy to reach and responded very quickly following the initial medical report. I would use him again, and I recommend him highly.)

I didn’t take many pictures today (n=2). Ben was gone most of the day, and Erlan and I were busy hanging out. We did get a cute video of the boys playing.