Kaluga - Day 3 - Smiley Day

Sunday was more leisurely partly due to plan and partly due to the fact that we didn't find out that the time had changed until we were already late. Oops. Nathan had a chance to get out and walk Kaluga and take some great photos. Kaluga is just a lovely town. This photo is of the Kaluga Cathedral.

For those of you not expert in Russian winters, they don't believe in clearing the sidewalks. No snow shovels, no salt and certainly no neighborhood ordinance for quick snow removal of walkways. Every step could be your last! We had a light snow fall during the night and folks were out with brooms trying to sweep away the snow. Hmmm ... I thought 'process improvement' right away. Perhaps this was the item that I needed to bring back on my next trip - a snow shovel. It could revolutionize Russia! The Russian people are certainly sure footed even in the pointy-toed, high heeled shoes that both sexes seem to gravitate to here.

We dined at the hotel on souffles, cheese, meat, bread and hot tea. When we exited our hotel, we saw a band playing. There was a large crowd gathered to send off soliders to Chechnya. There were two buses filled with soldiers and the band played a heroes farewell as they drove off.

We wandered over to the Centrum to find Russian children's books, gift bags and tea. I had been told to bring 6-8 gifts for the orphanage workers and brought 10 to be safe. Unfortunately, Sasha has 12 caregivers. Ugh. We also found some bubbles as the bottle I had brought leaked. We found some jewelry (a unique looking Amber ring for me) and Svetlana purchased a small painted wooden box for one of Alexander's Gotcha Day gifts. Very thoughtful and kind.

We went to a baby store and purchased $150 worth of diapers. The shopkeeper was so pleased that she presented us with 4 large packages of feminine napkins which Svetlana assured me would be a great add to the gift bags. I can honestly admit that I've never given another woman feminine products as a gift. But, hey, we're in Russia so I tossed one into each of the four bags and we were good to go.

We presented the duffle bag of clothing and the diapers to the doctor on duty. We also brought several bottles of Purell, two boxes of medical gloves, pencils, alcohol swabs and a Sam's size box of bandaids.

We were then off for Smiley Day. We picked Alexander up in his room and I gave him a little tickle and he burst into a big smile. He was in a great mood and we had so much fun with him.

We started by bringing both the bug and the block for him to play with. We also pulled out the bubbles. He LOVED the bubbles. He giggled and smiled the whole time. There's just something magical about baby giggles.

We also had a chance to play on the slide. He wasn't really sure what the purpose of it all was, but he eventually had a smile on his face as he slid down to the bottom. (I've decided that my fitness program is going to be improved with Alexander. My arms are bound to be much more fit!).

We introduced Aleksei the Bear who we purchased from Build-A-Bear workshop online. He is so soft and wears a traditional Eastern European boy's outfit. He also has a sound box in his paw that has Nathan's voice saying that 'we'll be back to take you home soon' and me saying 'we love you, Mommy and Daddy'. We've slept with the bear so he has our scent. He loved Aleksei. He was sleeping with a rabbit which has been replaced by Aleksei. They are so cute together.

We also introduced our family album to Alexander. There are pages for us, the grandparents, Uncle Brent, Aunt Deanne, Great-grandmother Zimmerman, Great-grandmother Kathryn, Great-granddaddy Platt and MaryLou, Memama and Great-great-grandmother Lucille. Each page is captioned in Russia so the caregivers can review it with him. We've heard that this really helps him feel more comfortable with our family once we pick him up. The final page has a mirror and the caption says 'Son' in Russian.

After our play date, we had a chance to go back to his room and feed him lunch. The children are so well trained, they go and sit patiently on their little chairs until they are fed. Lunch consisted of something that looked like runny, sweet grits with pieces of starch (bread, crackers?) floating in it. They are fed with spoons that are larger than the serving spoons I have at home. A caregiver can feed a child in about three minutes. It was incredible. This is followed by a half full ceramic cup of sweet tea which they can consume in about a minute. Most of Alexander's classmates were fed in the time it took me to feed him. Our son loves to eat and he was cranky when the last was gone. I'm sure that the caregivers are glad that we don't feed him often as he required an outfit change for all the 'grits' and sweet tea he was wearing after my attempt at feeding. I'm still perplexed on how to feed an infant sweet tea out of a cup with their little teeth hitting the side of the cup the whole time. Sippy cups - here I come!

As we left, Sasha was being put down for his nap. He was put in his crib with Aleksei. So cute.

We went to a local German restaurant - Baden-Baden, where we dined on some tasty pork and chicken dishes. The photo is of Nathan dining on country pork. We spent the rest of the evening going to the internet cafe, purchasing some chocolates for our mothers (and father-in-law :), and packing up our stuff. We had a snack in the hotel dining room while Svetlana assisted us in labeling our various Kaluga photos.