MIKE: Shannon asked me to post this evening. She is in the bedroom with Rachel trying to get her to sleep. I am betting 2:1 on Rachel.
This was a really quiet day. It is still bitter cold out so Shannon and I stayed in with Rachel all day and she has really been great. Then we went to the baby house tonight to visit with Todd. Tomorrow is a pretty big day for the Kelsey's. Shannon and I will take Rachel with us to the babyhouse at 8:30 AM to get Todd out of the orphanage for the last time and go directly to the airport. Our flight is at 10:00, and it isn't hard to figure which one since it is the only flight out all day. It will be about a 4 and a half hour flight which includes a 45 minute stop on the way. We then head on to Almaty, Kazakhstan and will be in an apartment there until 12/9 when we fly home. We will be getting passports for the kids and processing their citizenship through the Emabassy and could actually leave on the 8th but there are no flights out that day.
It is really interesting seeing Shannon communicate with Rachel. Shannon has picked up enough Russian that they get by really well. Its pretty neat, with her talking to Rachel, until Rachel gets into something or doesn't respond, and then you hear Shannon revert to her given name, "Albina!".
We are packed and Shannon was worried about not having enough room. Dad stepped in and packed and we now have a duffel bag left over.
It is tough leaving some of these other families who still have a long wait, and with wait, there is always risk something will go wrong.
I will mention that when we went down to have dinner tonight there was another party of about 20 people. They had set up the table with a bottle of vodka between each place setting. We will hear them on the 2nd floor again until the wee hours.
Lets all hope tomorrow that the plane with the bald tire can make at least a couple of more landings.
SHANNON:
I am hopeful that we can connect to the internet from our apartment in Almaty tomorrow. If for some reason I can not get connected there will be no more posts until Dec 9th when we get home. I hope that this is not the case. For those of you out there that have travelled before me a couple of quick questions about dialing in to an I-Card. Once I purchase the I-Card do I have to go to the internet cafe first to activate my account? Also, the number that I set the computer to dial into, is it just the 6 digit local number that is on the I-Card? If anyone sees this and knows the answers, please e-mail me privately as soon as possible at skkels@msn.com. Thanks!
Now, as for Rachel, I am so pleased with the way things are going. Much better than expected. She is just a doll. Lots of hugs and kisses, lots of smiles. She is doing great with toileting. No accidents which is great. I really wasn't counting on that. She is happy and cooperative with bathing. She has learned to brush her teeth and loves it. She is really well behaved in the hotel restaurant. The baby house does a fantastic job of teaching the children to eat neatly, etc. We are communicating pretty well considering.I have just enough words to get by and can say: good girl, it's not allowed, Pee, Poop, shower, a little bit, yucky, be careful.....only a few basic things but it is just enough to keep it from being too frustrating for her. Also, I can unserstand a lot more than I can say. So I understand basic phrases that she says. The only challenge at all has been bedtime, which I expected. Tonight was easier than last. Took 20 minutes of protest as opposed to 45. The babyhouse tells me that both kids are great sleepers and fall asleep quickly in their normal environment. Also, they tell me that Rachel takes a 2 hour nap everyday. She didn't fall asleep today but she did stay in bed for 1.5 hours with no protest. She just laid there quietly and talked to herself so I think that is a good start.
When we visited the babyhouse to see Todd, I asked her if she would like to play in her group while we visited Todd in the playroom. She said yes and I told her that I would come and get her in an hour. She seemed happy to see everyone. She seemed unconcerned/secure that I would be back to get her. She played for about 45 minutes and then asked to come to the playroom to see Dad and me. She came in and started to put on her boots and happily announced that she was ready to go.
