Another great day!

We enjoyed another day.  We both slept much more than the night before.  I slept through the night.  This morning Bill & I went to the gym and then to breakfast in the hotel.  Our driver picked us up at 11:45, we picked up our translator and off we went to the baby home.  On the way there, the translator told us we were going to be taking Little Miss to get her passport photo taken.  When we arrived at the baby home we waited for them to bring her to us to go on our adventure.  She came out all bundled in a pink snowsuit, red snow boots, a pink scarf and striped hat.  A caregiver that she did not know from another group carried her to the car.  No sooner did the car pull away from the curb, Little Miss started to cry loudly.  I took her from the girl.  She would calm down for a moment when something caught her eye out the window and then would cry again.  When we arrived at the photo shop the caregiver and our translator took her to the photo area.  She cried and cried.  It was heartbreaking to see her so scared.  And then her Daddy saved the day.  Bill happened to pack a bag of puffs (I think the Russian version of Gerber puffs) in our bag.  I gave her one and she was hooked.   They took her photo and while we waited for them to print it she ate puffs.  The entire time keeping an eye on Bill and that bag of puffs.  The rest of our trip she was calm, she ate and fed them to both of us, and played with a musical toy.

When we arrived back to the baby home we went to our tiny little room.  The one we were in on the first trip.  We pulled out a pair of shoes for size.  Once again my little shoe lover was mesmerized.  She played with them for a long time before we put them on and then she wore them for the rest of our visit.  She also liked a book with animals especially the dog, and we played with a ball.  At one point she walked over to Bill sitting on the floor, she turned to put her back to him and sat down on his lap.  Then she just wanted to cuddle and began to suck her thumb.  We decided it was time to return to her group.   In her group area we had the opportunity to ask one of her caregivers some questions, mostly about her schedule, sleeping and eating habits.  She was very helpful and showed genuine affection for our daughter.  She told us she was happy to see we were giving Little Miss a family.  So sweet.

After the baby home, our driver and translator took us to a pet store (Bill wanted to check one out) and a souvenir shop.  We hope to do some sightseeing but today was not the day.  It was a rain/snow mix and by the afternoon was quite windy.  This evening Bill & I went to the massive mall across the street from our hotel.  It is called the Galleria.  We had dinner at Baklazhan.  It was comfortable and very good.  The server brought us a small glass of a white liquid and said it was compliments of the restaurant.  We had noticed everyone had one and some had ordered larger glasses of it.  My brave Bill tasted it first and started to laugh.  He told me to taste it because I would have certainly had it before.  It tasted just like the yogurt sauce you get on a gyro!!  And it was compliments of the chef for us to drink!  Bill said it would be like a restaurant at home bringing us ketchup as a special treat!  We walked around the mall after dinner.  We bought snow shoes for Little Miss.  She is all set now with her cold weather gear.  Not that she will ever need it at home!