Trip 3 Day Two With Artem

We had another great day today with Artem. We are settling in with each other and he is starting to figure out who we are and that we bring love and comfort to him. We are lucky to have Randy’s mom Jenna here with us and she has been an incredible help with giving us time to bond with Artem while she handles the cooking and cleaning. Artem ate a big breakfast today and took a morning nap. He didn’t take a morning nap in the baby home but he got really sleepy around 10:30 today so Randy put him down for a nap. Randy does a great job putting him to sleep with this head massage technique. He ate a good lunch and afterwards we decided to take him out on Novy Arbat for a walk since the weather was so nice. He LOVED being in his stroller. At first he cried because I wasn’t holding him and was pretty stiff in the stroller but after a few minutes he put his head back and relaxed, bouncing his leg and babbling to people walking by. He had a good time babbling to people, singing, and waving at people. Russians are very stern looking and do NOT smile when walking down the street but Artem got a few people to smile at him today. He’s figured out how to crinkle his nose tight and tilt his head to the side when I take his picture so he was trying that new trick out on people today and it worked.

My new smile Walking on Novy Arbat

Earlier on our walk we saw a tiny restaurant along Novy Arbat, almost directly across from our apartment that has rotisserie chickens. They looked delicious and we talked about getting one. On the way home we stopped for a chicken and doughnuts. They make the doughnuts like funnel cakes and serve them warm with powdered sugar. Yum!! The whole chicken cost us 100 rubles which is about $4.00. We couldn’t believe the price. What a bargain for Moscow. We had purchased some bagged lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and instant mashed potatoes yesterday so we used them today and had a great lunch. We have been very impressed with the fruits and vegetables we purchased at the grocery store across the street. Everyone says not to eat the fruits and vegetables in Russia but the ones we have are delicious and many have a sticker on them showing they were imported from Holland. We’ve had strawberries that are so sweet no sugar is needed, cherry tomatoes that I could just snack on out of the package, fat, juicy purple seedless grapes and the fattest, yummiest kiwis I’ve ever had. Oh, I just remembered we bought oranges; I’m going to have to try them tomorrow. Anyway, back to the chicken, we ate like kings on our $4.00 chicken and afterwards Jenna took all the bones and scraps and cooked them with some water for a couple hours, threw in some spaghetti noodles and we now have homemade chicken soup for lunch tomorrow. We also bought some hamburger meat that was so lean there was no fat left in the pan after it was cooked. Jenna made some spaghetti sauce and we’ll eat it sometime this week for lunch or dinner. I always come home from Russia a good five pounds lighter because I don’t find a lot of food here I like to eat but I think this trip will probably change that and I’ll leave five pounds heavier. We have had so much good food this trip. It also helps that our apartment is well stocked and easy to cook in. This apartment is well worth the $169 a night we pay with a great kitchen, washer AND dryer, lots of storage in the bedroom and family room and a huge family room with wrap around leather sectional for us to relax on.

We went back out to Novy Arbat again so I could get two more doughnuts (told you I’m going home five pounds heavier) and made our way over to Old Arbat so Artem could have some more time in his stroller and the fresh air. Again he flirted and babbled to the people walking by him. On our first trip we had purchased souvenirs from a shop on Old Arbat and the girl helping us asked us why we were in Russia. We explained about the adoption and told her we hadn’t met our referral yet. She wished us good luck and gave us some nesting dolls for our child. We stopped by there today and as soon as I walked in she recognized me and took my hands and smiled. I told her we wanted to show her our son and she came outside and oohed and aahed over Artem. While we were there we ran into Carrie, Scott and Sam and let the boys “talk” to each other for a little bit while the parents talked. Artem was quite the little ham for Sam and babbled away at him. The boys were really good together and looked cute in their matching hats.

Tonight we spent a lot of time playing with Artem and he had his first Cheerios tonight. I’m not sure what was more of a hit; the Cheerios or the snack trap cup we put them in. We started showing him sign language and tonight we were teaching him “more”. He did it a few times but mostly resorted to crinkling his nose, tilting his head and flashing us a huge toothy smile to get “more”. We had to call Pasha tonight regarding our day tomorrow and he was watching me talk on the phone. He took his cup and put it to his ear and started babbling to the cup like he was on the phone. After I got his jammies on him I had to do the sucker on his nose to help with his “sinuses” and after I finished he picked it up, stuck it to his nose and made a slurping noise like he was sucking his nose. We all laughed so hard and Randy said he had better mind himself or Artem would be imitating his actions and get Randy into trouble. Monkey see, monkey do!
Tomorrow we are going to Artem’s Embassy medical appointment. It is around 12:30 and then we should have the rest of the day free. 12:30 is the beginning of naptime so I hope this doesn’t throw him off too much with his schedule. His “sinuses” seem to be getting better. He doesn’t have a fever and his nose is running clear. I’m betting a lot of it is due to the two teeth he is cutting right now; a lower incisor and a back molar.

Eating Cheerios Playing

Of course I’ll give you a few pictures. Aunt Amanda wanted to make sure he hasn’t been wearing pink tights so now she’ll be able to rest easy knowing he’s been a well dressed little man. J I’m really looking forward to him meeting my parents “mom-mom and ho-ho”, his great grandparents, his aunts and uncles, and all his cousins and our friends. He’s really sociable and has such a great disposition.

I’ll type more tomorrow as its going on midnight and I need to get to bed.
Paka, Paka!