Erlan's Laugh

We hope you find his laugh as infectious as we do. You can also hear him say "Papa Pa!" just before he chases Ben. :-D

Days 19 & 20

I cannot believe the weekend is over already! The time goes so quickly here. I thought that we’d have down time over here and be bored, but I can honestly say that has not happened.


We had three wonderful visits with Erlan this weekend, two on Saturday and one today. Yesterday, we brought yogurt for Erlan. He LOVED it. He cleaned the little container out. He even let Daddy help him so he could get more food out.

He continues to babble more each day. I am fairly certain that he starts singing whenever he gets tired (much like his cousin Brian).


We had to go to our afternoon visit an hour early yesterday. We went to a traditional Kazakh concert that started at the same time as our afternoon visit. Anyhoo, we showed up unannounced for our earlier visit. It turns out that Erlan was laying in bed awake, not taking his nap, so we got our visit! I think that Erlan is skipping naps b/c he is anticipating our visits. He has been tired through our last several visits. I’m glad he looks forward to seeing us though!

Today, he kept bringing me Ben’s shoes. He wanted to take me somewhere in the orphanage. I let him lead me down the hallway, but I brought him back to our playroom b/c I was worried that the nurses would get upset that we were roaming the halls. After we came back, he tried to get me to leave again. He was saying something, and he was trying to get me to put on Ben’s shoes. We thought he was bored with our playroom. Shortly thereafter he had an accident (nice orange poop—EE that description’s for you). I feel so bad that I didn’t understand him. I think he was trying to tell me that he had an imminent need. Poor kid. He looked so sad. The nanny came right after it happened. I was going to clean him up, but she took him (for all of those who’ve seen me with dirty diapers… yes, I was completely grossed out but figured I needed to get over it! I wasn’t sad that the nanny took care of it.)

We also tried out our backpack today. I bought a Kelty Kid backpack in which we can Erlan can ride. We totally bribed him the entire time he sat in the backpack. We had banana pieces ready before we put him in the backpack. As soon as I got him in the backpack, we had the banana ready as soon as he started to fuss. I think he kind of liked the ride. He really liked walking around the room and looking out the window. I can’t wait to get him outside. He is so ready to try the outdoors!

I hope all of you had a great weekend too!

Day 18

Well today was uneventful. We just hung out, sang songs, ate bananas, and had fun. No accidents.(YEA!!!)
We are going to have to install some full length mirrors in Erlan’s bedroom when we get home. He likes looking at himself. He is fascinating. It doesn’t matter if he is eating, making funny faces or just strolling by, there is always time to stop and look at himself and then look at mommy or daddy and grin.

Karla enjoyed it when he first came in today and was all smiles. He was very happy to see her.

He has come up with this celebration where he raises his arms and points his index fingers up in the air while clicking his cheek like he is telling a horse to move along. We did not show him this, but it is really hilarious. When I started cracking up, he was like ‘what you haven’t seen this’, here I’ll do it again. We got it on video.

He found a yellow and blue stool and played with it all day. If he wasn’t climbing on it, he was dragging it
around. He even put his sippee cup down, so he could have at least one hand free.
He has also started swinging an arm when he walks. I thinks he is either very happy or just knows he’s super cool. It could be both.

Ben about questions

Hello all,
This is to try and answer some of the questions people have been asking.
- Erlan is pronounced like hair with a y, YAIR, and then lan like lawn. So YAIR-lawn. Please practice, I had to do a lot of talking to convince Karla to keep his name. She thought everyone would pronounce it wrong and he would be teased. I told her none of this would happen and that he would be proud of his name. If you agree with Karla, I will ban you from this blog. Just practice with your husbands, YAIR-lawn. See, it’s easy.
- No news yet on a court date.
- We have not found pull-ups yet. We are hoping we wont need them, he’s doing great so far. Did find diapers they are $15 for 30.
- No we don’t know what to expect with Erlan’s transitions. He has blown us away in the last 17 days and we probably have about 25 days more left and then about a week with him here in our apartment before we get on an airplane to come home. We are wondering if we should take a day in Frankfurt or just push through and get it over with. Hoping to hear from and talk to some veterans on this dilemma.
- Yes the caregivers have been talking to Erlan and he has been talking to them a lot this last week. He tells the other kids he has a mommy and a daddy.
- No, I haven’t bought a can of dip in a good many years. I also don’t drink soda and rarely drink alcohol. My lifestyle has changed a little in the last 15 years. Still good lookin’, still like to laugh, but now a lot more boring. Some would say Karla has been a good influence. Some being Karla.
- We are doing one trip. I can honestly say I wouldn’t leave him for anything. Some couples have to do two trips (they leave after court during the appeal period), but Karla and I were lucky enough to do one trip, because of Karla’s great co-workers and a lot of great family members picking up the slack for us. THANK YOU ALL!!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
- When we get home, everyone can act as they normally do. He is like any other two year old. He’s leery of strange people. Well maybe some of you should act different. He likes me now, so he’ll surely accept you all for who you are some day.
- Yes, the interpreters go with us to the markets, twice so far. They are always asking if we need anything. They have also taken us to several restaurants, to an art gallery, to a museum, and to flea markets.
- Our driver knows very little English, though I think he understands a lot. He is very nice. I bring him a sum sa every morning. He says ‘benny love sum sa’.
- Yes, they have public transportation here. Buses and even electric buses that run off of overhead lines. In Almaty, they are completing a subway system. We are trying to bribe Bayana into taking us on the train for a 6 hour round trip to see the countryside some Sunday.
- No, we can not take Erlan outside until after the appeal period. Yes, he has been outside during the summer. We look out the windows a lot. He will now sit on my shoulders.
- Yes, we have a cell phone to call the 10 people we know here who speak English. Wonder if I ought get Morrat’s, the sum sa guy, and the crazy meat ladies’ numbers
- We have a little Canon elph powershot sd1000 camera. It fits into my pocket and it takes pretty good video with sound. I have been taking about 200 pics and about 2 minutes of video a day and then downloading them to the computer. So when we get home, you all can see every one of them.
If I left any out, sorry, remind me and I’ ll try again.

Day 17

We have not heard about our court date yet. I’m hoping that we hear tomorrow. My fingers and toes are crossed for a quick date.

Erlan was quite the ham during our two visits today. He loves to look at himself in the mirror. He practices making all kinds of silly faces, and he loves it when Mom and Dad get in on the game with him.

We had three successful uses of the potty today. He insists on having a book every time he sits on the pot (it is literally a pot)… hmmm, reminds me of his grandpa! Ben did a really good job today. He recognized the potty dance and put Erlan on the pot before he had an accident. :-D

Ben also taught Erlan a new trick: he showed him how to stuff his stacking cups into his pants. I’m really not sure when this trick will come in handy… perhaps if he takes up a career as a thief? If Erlan starts wearing baggy pants, I’ll be worried.

He now babbles almost continuously through our visits. He also likes to sing! I try to sing to him throughout our visits. Now he is singing too. One of his tunes sounded like “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes…”

I cannot believe how quickly this boy has stolen our hearts. I also cannot believe that we traveled to the other side of the earth to find a junior Ben. I told you about the continuous “Why?” Erlan also likes to build things and to take them apart. He wants to know how things work. He will try to figure it out. Ben is delighted at how much Erlan is like him. It’s like he found a partner in crime.

Day 16

Hello all,
Hopefully this will be a quick post. First thing Karla and I did this morning was run to the bazaar and buy sum sa, a juice box, and something else for Erlan you’ll see in the pictures below. He sucked out of a straw and inhaled the juice box. He figured it right out. Then he played and hung out with mommy and daddy. He likes trying to walk up the slide.. He also tried blowing up the balloon that he had watched me blow up an hour earlier. Then we tried out Erlan’s brand new personal blue thing. Well we didn’t try it out, Erlan did. Nothing happened in it this morning or this afternoon, but he sat and didn’t fight it or cry. We were very happy. Erlan is 25 months old and doesn’t wear diapers. He has had four accidents now. One each the previous two days and two today. He has been getting a lot of liquids and today we were about 30 seconds behind, both times. We do not want him to revert back to diapers. A lot of changes happening but today I still think was a success. He keeps amazing us. -ben

Baba Janice (and anyone else who has ever talked to Ben) will enjoy the following story. After Erlan had an accident this afternoon, our translator, Bayana, had a conversation (in Kazakh) with Erlan:


Bayana: Erlan, you need to tell Mama that you need to use the potty.
Erlan: Why?
Bayana: Because you want to make Mama happy.
Erlan: Why?
Bayana: You want to be a good boy for Mama.
Erlan: Why?

Finally, Bayana looked at us and said, “He keeps asking me ‘Why?’ every time I tell him something! The nannies told me that he’s been asking ‘Why?” for the last 4 days. Is it just the age?” (I thought, “No, it’s the universe paying Ben back.) She told us the Kazakh word for why, and he has been using it for the last 4 days. -karla

Day 15

I cannot believe 15 bonding days have passed already! It seems like we just met this adorable little two-year old boy. I think that our morning visit is best summarized by the following pictures:



We had one tired little boy on our hands this morning. He was Mr. Fussypants for the entire visit, and he had a 30-minute nap. (Yes, I love it that he fell asleep in my arms.) Ben thinks he was just mad b/c of the way the nannies dressed him. Daddy is pouting b/c Erlan wouldn't play with him. :-(









Afternoon Visit


We were a little worried after the morning visit that Erlan was getting sick. He quickly alleviated those worries since he was all smiles during our afternoon visit. Today he finally discovered the slide and swing that are in the playroom with us. Ben has been using a large teddy bear to show him how to go up the ladder and down the slide. He then lifted Erlan onto the slide and let him go down. Erlan loved it! It wasn’t long until Erlan was climbing up the ladder and doing it himself. :-) He still needs to learn how to lift his feet.


Of course, we did give him some new shoes today. They are little high top shoes and are clunkier than the mary-jane shoes that he has been wearing. He really liked the new shoes. As soon as we showed them to him, he took off the shoes he was wearing
and wanted his new shoes. We had tried to give him new shoes yesterday, but our first attempt resulted in shoes that were two sizes too big. He looked like a clown. Erlan was happy with the clown shoes, but he kept tripping so we exchanged for a smaller size. The shoes were $20—this was cheap for here. We found them at the Mosque Mall on the first floor in the west corner (thanks to Kami & Eric for showing us!)

We don’t think that he has seen a TV yet. He enjoys watching the screen on the digital camera and waving to the images. I’d like to take a picture but, for obvious reasons, cannot.