Friday in Almaty

We met Chris for dinner again tonight. Also joining us were Duncan and Welby with their almost 5 year old Hannah and 8 ½ month old James. They are at the end of their adoption journey and are scheduled to be Virginia bound at 4 AM tomorrow morning. They adopted James on this trip and Hannah 4 years ago. Both kids are simply adorable!

Tomorrow we are heading to the Green Market with Chris. None of us are able to visit our kids due to the big Women’s Day holiday. Might as well go shopping!

Today’s baby house visit began with a couple laps of walking. As we rounded the corner by the couch, Sara noticed a piece of thread on the floor. Zoe can spot a piece of dirt, lint, crumb, or thread from an amazing distance. Then she simply must pick it up and put it in her mouth. Sara, trying to be covertly clever, kicked the thread under the couch in hopes that Zoe wouldn’t notice it. Too late. She had already spotted it. She instantly dropped on her belly and peered under the couch trying to locate the thread.

We recognized the pose immediately because we would often walk into the living room at home and find Charger in the exact same position. He would lay there perpetually until one of us retrieved the ball that would inevitably have rolled beyond his reach.

For the record, Julian retrieved the thread for Zoe. She promptly put it in her mouth.

In this photo Julian is rubbing Zoe’s back with his thumbs. She loved it! (Sara is counting on the same treatment for Women’s Day tomorrow.)
This toy has a battery operated fan (and other mechanical functions) that propels colored ping pong balls up a central chute where they pop out, land in a tray and roll back to start the ride all over. Zoe loves to peer down the hole waiting for the balls to fly up. She has been whacked in the face a couple times but just giggles.Peek-a-boo.This little girl hates a tied shoelace. Actually, she loves to chew on her shoelaces and can only do so when they are untied. Since we will not do it for her (we are so mean), she is forced to do it herself. And does it quite skillfully, we might add.