Morning weather report: 31, feels like 22. Projected high: 45 and mostly sunny
Meanwhile back in Memphis: Overnight low of 38! (breaking another “barrier”!), but heading back to a high of 70 (it was barely that warm in the Botanical Garden greenhouse and felt HOT!)
After my “False Call” last week, our friends back in the US have finally ended Daylight Saving Time. Since Moscow adjusted DST last week, I didn’t think about it until all of the “gentle reminders” poured in (it was almost like I had called a false BINGO or something!). Memphis is now 12 hours “out-of-sync” with Petropavlovsk, so I can finally adjust my dual time zone watch. Of course, that means I have a little more time to update the blog in the evening and to chat with Cathe, but I also get an extra hour in the morning (her evening) to chat before bed time. It’s nice to be able to stay in touch over the thousands of miles between us.
The days are getting much shorter and the weather forecast is indicating much colder weather coming in just a few more days. This morning I went for a walk down Constitution Avenue at 10 am but the sun was still very low in the sky. The bare trees left very long shadows. By 6 pm when we dropped off the kids, it was already getting dark. Today reached a whopping 45 degrees, but it still felt warm so we unzipped our jackets. I suppose it is all relative to how cold it gets overnight. The next two days will top out in the 30s, but after that we’re not even going to break the freezing mark for a while. Maybe I will get a little use out of my new Russian hat before heading home after all!Two milestones to report today: 1) We can now count on one hand the number of days the kids have remaining at the RBS before their last trip back! 2) Today was the longest visit so far, seven whole hours!
The intent today was to begin transitioning to more of a “normal” sort of routine we would see at home instead of going somewhere or having some big event. One thing that several adoptive families have mentioned is the importance of forming a family routine. Coming from an environment where they are surrounded by other kids and something is always going on, it’s going to take some time. It’s also a good time to begin transitioning from trying to pack in as much fun as possible during short visits to the reality of 24 x 7. Despite the lower-scale level of activity, I’m still pretty worn out!
The kids were at the gate this morning, anxiously awaiting our arrival. They started jumping up and down as soon as they spotted Sasha’s car turning into the driveway. It’s nice to know that they are just as excited to see me as I am to see them. Sasha stopped at the gate and the kids piled in, only momentarily disappointed that we first had to go to the office to sign them out for the day. After a few minutes we were on our way back to the apartment and they wanted to know what was planned for the day. Talk about high energy, short attention span! They want to do everything. Now! 8-D (Did I mention that I’m really worn out today???)
Although no one was home, the kids insist on pressing the door buzzer every time we come to the apartment, just to make sure their arrival has been properly announced. It has become our arrival ritual. Not sure how they’re going to handle things at home since we usually come in through the garage. Maybe they’ll take turns running to the front door to let Bob know we’re home…
After a small snack (they were too excited this morning to eat much breakfast, so they were a bit hungry), it was time to prepare some lunch. Yesterday I prepared some Krab Salad, one of our favorites since arriving, along with some kielbasa and potatoes. The kids had already spotted some cookies Masha brought today, so I had to keep practicing my, “No. We’re going to have those later,” line. A few pouts and pleas of “Папа, пожалуйста” (daddy, pleeeeeezzzzzeee!) didn’t render the desired effect, they finally accepted the fact that Dad wasn’t going to budge and they would just have to wait a while. (Don’t worry Cathe, your turn IS coming!)One thing I did discover today is that we will have to slowly work spices into their diets. Even a little garlic and paprika on the potatoes resulted is a large amount of bread and milk being consumed. Fearing I had over done it a bit with the spices (Cathe always accuses me of doing that), I checked with Masha who kindly reassured me that everything was fine and that they’re just not used to spices. Since Cathe and I consume a fair amount of garlic and onions, we’ll have to ratchet back a little (lot), at least at first!
An interesting side note is that Cathe had dinner with our neighbors back home last night and also made Krab Salad as well as our second favorite, Carrot Salad. Now knowing that the kids aren’t used to garlic, I understand why they politely turned down second helping of Carrot Salad last time we had it as a family: There is a LOT of garlic in the recipe, which is why Cathe and I like it so much! Despite the kids taste buds needing a little adjustment, we now know what we’ll be taking to future pot-luck suppers! (I also hear that Carl REALLY likes the “For Men” chocolate and Kevin is refusing to share any with Andrea since, It’s For Men! and has the "Not for Womem" symbol on the back!)
Even before the lunch dishes were washed and put away, David and Kate began looking for something to do. David is happy to spend hours typing on the computer and quickly opened the laptop while Kate took command of the TV and remote in the master bedroom. It didn’t take her long to get very comfortable.David happily relinquished control of the keyboard when I told him we had new pictures from home. I don’t know how Kate heard me over the local version of Cartoon Network, but she immediately appeared as well. The kids REALLY enjoyed seeing new pictures from home and even had a chance to glance at the blog entries and the pictures we have been posting. The wanted me to be sure to tell everyone back home just how much they’re looking forward to meeting everyone that they’re excited to know that Bob has just as many neighborhood friends as they will soon have. They really want to meet Nikki and Klaus too.
After computer time, we headed outside to enjoy the last “warm” day we will see for a while. Swings and feeding the pigeons were big hits. I’m sure we’ll be making many trips over to the Bartlett Performing Arts Center to feed the ducks and geese.
Last event of the day was to go to church. It was a packed house today and they’re starting to understand a little more about what church means to our family. They wanted to know if we would still be coming here on Sundays or if we would to another church at home. Again, thanks to Masha for clarifying the time-distance relativity factor! Kate and David are now just as excited about meeting our church family as they are about their new school and all of our extended family!
We’re all counting down their last few remaining days at the RBS.
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