Claire & the Secret Playroom

The weather here has been nasty. It was actually getter warmer every day for a while and being outside was fairly pleasant, but it has snowed pretty heavily the last two days and it’s bitter. We ate dinner at a restaurant a few blocks away and nearly froze on our short walk back home. Asel said that this is the coldest spring Astana has had in 25 years. I’m so glad we could be here to share it with them. Before he left, Justin added a box to our start page that keeps me updated on the weather back home. I just love seeing “77 & Sunny” whenever I log on.

We finally got to visit with Claire in the playroom today. We've heard about it from other families, but we never actually saw it until today. There is usually a group of 2-3 year olds playing in there during the time we visit, but they’ve recently changed their playtime. We’ve been stuck in the conference room for all but 3 of our visits and it’s miserable, but hopefully we’ll be able to spend the rest of our visits in the playroom. Going back to the conference room after seeing all the toys and activities they have in the playroom would be a big disappointment for Claire (and for us, too). Today’s highlights for her were the mirror (a good hour of fun and laughs) and the ball pit. Also, it seems as though she’s learned to take steps overnight. Yesterday we had to manually move her legs to get her to take steps, but today she was doing all by herself (albeit, very slowly and only if you’re holding a beloved toy close to her destination). Looks like mobility will be here sooner that we thought.

The Barbees, another WPA family, will be arriving on Friday, and we’re so excited to have another American family in town. We’ll spend a week with them before we leave for Almaty next Friday, and there should be lots of other Amerian families there (hey WPA gang…if you’re going to be in Almaty April 16-22, e-mail me!).