Jen here. This morning's visit to the baby house was much easier. Benjamin Aidos was happy to see us (although he was fine with us leaving too). He and papa spent some time taking apart a plastic train engine and putting it back together. He has great fine motor skills and he can easily catch and throw a beach ball. Every once in a while he tried to tell us something - to which we nod and smile (and he must think - are these people idiots?). I tried to read a story to him but he kept trying to turn pages and play with the book. It occurs to us that he may never have sat on a lap and hear a story and doesn't know the protocol - and it doesn't help that we don't speak his language. He is very good at cleaning up - he insists on taking every single Lego apart before returning it to the box. He touched my face and smiled at me today.

    We had lunch at the hotel Chagala  - and Americanized hotel and restaurant. There we met up with three other couples who are adopting through another agency. The more with talk with them, the more we love our agency! We have never had to wait for a driver - even for one minute. They say they will pick us up at 3:20 - then they are waiting at 3:15. Actually, we are spoiled. When we get home we will expect to be picked up whenever we say in a warm car and taken where we want, and dropped off at the door. We will expect someone to accompany us shopping and we will point at things and they will negotiate a price for us. Speaking of that, our translator (Marina) is excellent - she spent a year abroad in Grand Forks, ND (which seems fitting). She speaks Kazakh, Russian and English very well. She is also happy to go to lunch with us and help us order or take us to the Big Market to buy supplies. She and I went shopping last night and I bought a real Russian hat (about 30 percent of the people here wear big fur hats - now, so do I).

    Tonight we plan to have dinner with all the Americans at the hotel again. I look forward to having a social evening. Last night I wasn't up for more than going to bed at 8:00 (and then I slept for 11 hours straight!).

    This afternoon we got to visit with all of group 6 - there are about 10 children ranging in age from 1-3. It was interesting to watch the group dynamic as there is a clear pecking order. Sasha, the biggest child, is just sunshine incarnate and very bossy. He is the top of the order. Aidos seems to be a bit of a loner - he mostly gets out of the way and spends his time taking apart and putting things together. He ran to give mama a snuggle and kiss when we left today and he held on tight. We said "Ya vernus zafstra! (Which, for all you uneducated unilinguals out there, means something like "I be back tomorrow." (I think.)