Jen here. At our afternoon visit with Benjamin Aidos yesterday (Day 7) we went for a walk with him outside. Clearly the children are used to marching around the outside of the babyhouse building. Aidos did not play, he did not dawdle, he did not stop to look at things or jump in puddles - he walked (at a constant pace!) with us twice around. We have never had such a focused walk with any child. We did stop at the end to see Andre and the car - and that freaked him out. Not sure if it was Andre, or the car, or a fear that we would take him away... but that was the first time we had ever seen him cry. Papa picked him up and we went inside where he felt better. Then we went upstairs and played for awhile and Aidos read a book with Papa (where he actually tried to say the words along with Steve) - it is great to see him talking. This is a perfect boy for our family. He is very focused and sweet (we gave him a bag of Goldfish crackers and he immediately dealt them out among the three of us equally), he is a perfectionist, and he is bright and snuggly and self-entertaining.

Steve here.  Benjamin Aidos' current favorite toy seems to be a Vtech car.  It's driven by a dog and has slots for five shapes.  When you put a shape in an appropriate slot, the dog says (I guess it's the dog who's speaking) the shape and then he plays an electronic tune.  Benjamin Aidos does it over and over and over again.  He was definitely unclear on the concept at the start, but he has improved tremendously.  I on the other hand continue to be the reigning champion in terms of time required to insert all five pieces properly...

On a more serious note, Aidos really seemed to "get it" today - we're pretty sure that he knows that he'll be leaving the baby house with us shortly.  We had our interpreter write out some questions about Aidos (What does Aidos like to eat?  What is his schedule like? What will you remember about him?  What are your wishes for him? ) in a notebook, and we asked his primary caregiver to respond. When she returned the book today with her answers (which we need to have translated), she sat down and spoke with Aidos for several minutes.  He listened very carefully and didn't say anything.  We understood little, but enough to know that she was telling him that she would no longer be his "mama" and that we were to be his mama and papa.  Afterwards, she stood him up.  He hung his head for a few seconds, then his face crumpled and he started sobbing.  It was so sad.  The caregiver made motions indicating her own sadness and left the room while Jen comforted him.  

His caregiver is truly wonderful, and we are fortunate that Aidos was in her group. Our translators tell us that she is the very best in the city - and if Aidos' group is an indication, they are right. The children are happy and amazingly obedient. She is shown on the left below and another of Aidos' special caregivers is on his right. He calls them both mama. The primary caregiver is native Kazakh and speaks Kazakh, Russian, and enough English to communicate pretty well. She told us that Aidos is a serious child and very good boy and that she will cry and be very sad when he leaves.   She makes a big deal about holding the children and making sure that they know that they are loved.  You can see it in the group of kids, too.  When we bring Aidos back to his friends at the end of a visit, they are always waiting on the other side of the short room divider.  When we lift Aidos over the divider, they're hugging him as we put him down.   

I am glad that he has some understanding of what will happen and that they are preparing him for leaving. I remember when I was little, the very scariest dreams were of being lost and separated from mom and dad.  Soon he will be separated from the only mamas he has ever known. 

Today was also "Moving Day" as we left our hotel and moved about 100 yards down the street to our apartment (which is great!).  We'll write more about that in the next day or so.