The secret playroom loses its luster.

Despite being allowed into the “secret playroom” for the second day in row, Claire was not a happy camper today. She was tired and fussy almost from the beginning, and we think she must not have had a good nap today. We are looking forward to getting her off of such a rigid schedule. I understand that it would be chaos for the caregivers if they didn’t keep the babies on strict schedules, but sometimes she’s not tired when they put her down for her nap so she plays in her crib for a little while, but then when they wake her up exactly at two o’clock, she’s not quite ready to get up. We’re about to turn her sleep schedule completely upside-down, so while we’re doing that, we can try to work in the “nap when you’re tired” concept.

We got video of Claire taking Mom-assisted steps today. I think she would’ve rather just put her head down and gone to sleep, but she’d humor us and take a few steps before breaking into a pout: “Okay, I did three steps for you. Now just lay me on that mat over there and give me my teether.”

We’ve shared the playroom for the past two days with a couple from Spain, one of their mothers, and their interpreter. Today the grandma and the interpreter napped on the mats in front of the mirrors, so we couldn’t get any cute “Claire in the mirror” shots. They told us we could come over and use the mirror, but I felt a little strange hovering over them while they were sleeping. Asel and my mom both know a little bit of Spanish, and they picked up that the couple was asking their interpreter to take them out to the nightclubs. I wonder if they’ll take the grandma? After she heard this, Asel felt bad for never offering to take us to the nightclubs, but we assured her that it wasn’t something we were interested in. Anyone who’s ever seen me in a nightclub/dance club can vouch for my level of misery in one.

We bought our tickets to head back to Almaty today. I can’t believe it’s almost time to leave (wait a minute…yes, I can). I will miss Asel and Alec, but we’re both very ready to get to Almaty and finally experience some warmer weather. And we’re even more ready to get home. I’m hoping that Claire won’t have to wear her “I can’t put my arms down!” snowsuit in Almaty, but apparently they bundle kids up well into the 70s and 80s, so I’m not too optimistic. She’ll be running around in diapers and t-shirts soon enough, though.