10/13/04-Time for a baby massage...

It was another beautiful day today in Karaganda. We are counting down the days. It is supposed to get cold on Saturday, with a possibility of snow. I don’t think it will get warm again after that. I hear next week it will get down to the single digits in temp.

The biggest event today was Grace’s massage. They have a woman who gives the kids baby massages. It is actually a cross between a massage and physical therapy. She rubs them down with lotion, massages their muscles and then works their limbs. Grace was OK with the rubbing, but didn’t really like the twisting part. The therapist was twisting her ankle and legs and I think it hurt a little. Then she turned her over and she liked the rubbing, but then she did stretching with, again, Grace was not happy about. I, myself, was jealous, but Grace apparently has not learned the utter joys of a massage.

Jack was a little cuddly with MJ late in the morning. This is the first time we’ve seen this. I think it may be the start of some attachment with us. When she took him back to his room, he didn’t go easily to his caregiver.

In the afternoon, we took the kids outside. They weren’t as excited as we were. Grace looked at me as if she was saying, “we could have been in the big room full of toys and you brought us out here?” They were painting in the orphanage and there were these horrible fumes, so we wanted to get outside while the weather was good. After pushing them around in strollers, we hung out in the “playground” for a while.

We took them in early to try on some clothes. We brought a lot of clothes from home, but weren’t sure if they would fit. Well they fit just fine. MJ can’t wait to get these kids into some normal clothes. She also wants to get them out so they can start to “smell like babies.” Just 5 more days and we can bring them out with us.

Not much else to say. Check out today’s pictures. (Sorry, I didn’t have the camera during the baby massage.)