Today was an overcast, cool day. Such a great change from 2 days ago! It really is hard to believe that our time here is coming to a close. We are on day 9 of our 10 days…Four more days and then we fly out. I guess time flies when you’re having fun!

We had an interesting experience today on one of our walks. Remember Speedoman on the tennis court? Well, we didn’t see him, but we saw something maybe a little more…ahhh…interesting. We were sitting out on the grass well outside of the court, and this woman – probably in her mid 40’s – walks by (in her street clothes and tennis gear) and onto the court. We didn’t think anything of it till – from across the court, she strips down. Yes, strips down. To nothing. And changes into her tennis skirt/shirt. I thought the show was over – for sure, her tennis skirt has some sort of bloomers under it. Oh, but no. Every time she jumped up or bent over, we got a full moon. We were really struck – somewhat riveted, even – by the differences between what is acceptable here & what is acceptable at home. But we didn’t stick around & watch. All of this took place in a matter of a minute or two, and then we decided to change locations.

A day in Russia…you just never know what you’re going to encounter.

But you didn’t come to the blog today to read about our exposure to the more racier side of life here, did you? No, you came to read about our little one. So I will indulge you. Read on…

Today, I will tell you about some of Little I’s favorite games/songs.

Does the hand game, “Pat-a-Cake” have a tune? I guess even if it typically doesn’t, one could make one up. I think this might be what Little I has been singing. Because when he sings, he’ll often clap his hands and do the “roll the dough” motion. He picked up on this game pretty quickly – and it could be that they play it in the baby home, who knows? I do know that it is one of his favorite games! We never make it past the second pat-a-cake, though, before we have to roll the dough. It’s hilarious…and he can do it all by himself, too!

Another favorite is the toe game, “This Little Piggie.” He likes to rush to the “wee, wee, weeeeeee, all the way home” part, though. Nathan gives me a hard time, because in my haste to make it to the end of the game, the third piggie often cries roast beef instead of eats it. In fact, Nathan thinks it’s pretty fun to tell other people about that when we’re talking about our kids. But Little I doesn’t really care what the third piggie does with the roast beef, as long as the fifth piggie cries “wee, wee, weeeeeee, all the way home!” And that’s all that matters to me!

We are also all about some peek-a-boo. In Russian, “peek-a-boo” sounds like “cuckoo” – but we’ve started making the transition. It’s great, though, because Little I will cover his eyes until we ask where he is…we play this game over & over & over. And it never fails to make the child & his parents laugh.

So that’s pretty much it for the games that we just love. There are others, but none as well loved as these.

In other news, we tried feeding the child mashed potatoes today for dinner. He would have nothing of it. Instead, he decided that he wanted a meal of my cucumbers and black olives. Literally, he would not eat anything else. What 20 month old wants cucumbers & black olives over potatoes, fruit snacks, or bread? I guess mine does.

In closing, reason #537 that I cannot wait to get home: outlet covers.