Day 2 or 3?

Nikolai was in a very happy mood when we first brought him into the play room. He tried to grasp our faces – including my eyes, which was a little unfortunate, but still cute. He then played on his belly for a while. At one point I read him a book – the one with all of the baby faces, which he seemed to really like. He had to hit his hand in the middle of each baby’s face (watch out baby Snow). We also showed him the photo album my sister made for him and introduced him to his family and cousins. After the initial playtime on the mat, he would not let us lay him down and would cry instantly if we tried. We are still not adept add adding or taking off clothes, especially since he cannot sit so we laid him down to put his coat on and then to take it off again after a walk outside. Both times there was much protest. Even after two days we are starting to see more of his personality and to see him exerting his will.

He discovered that he could go from sitting on my lap to standing just by holding on to my fingers – this elicited much excitement. He does not really giggle, but more yells and opens his whole mouth when excited. His legs are so strong and always kicking or pushing against something. His middle is less strong, preventing him from sitting up as yet. When he started to fuss a little we sat down in front of the mirror, which was good until he realized how close we were to the ball pit and he had to get in it. He loved kicking the balls and reaching for them but would become a little overwhelmed once he managed to get all the way in.

We went for a walk outside again. It is much cooler and less windy today – absolutely a beautiful autumn day. He still looked a little worried and was really quiet outside, but actually looked around a little more. He carried the little red stacking cup around the whole time we were outside. I think he may be the type of baby to get attached to security items, which at the moment are stacking cups. At the end of the visit he got really tired. His face is so expressive and looks SO sad when he is unhappy. His whole forehead wrinkles up. To calm himself down he blows raspberries and says bababa (well the Kazakh version – it is more like bwa bwa bwa). We are supposed to bring a bottle tomorrow, which seems like a good idea since we are so thirsty by the end of the visit I am sure he is too.