Someday, he'll probably get me for this...but I can't resist showing you how difficult it is to wake my child up from a nap on a rainy, jetlagged afternoon in Moscow. These are from yesterday & taken over about a 15 minute period.





In other news, we made it through yesterday with only one meltdown. We made it through the beginning and end of afternoon snack without a hitch, and then Nathan had to pull out a pear & eat it. And he ended up sharing it...but after it was gone, Little I really was not ready for it to be gone. I mean really not ready. Other than that, he did fine yesteray...and so far today, he's been doing well. So we're feeling good about that.

We had another delicious breakfast this morning. There are a few interesting items on the buffet (in addition to actual breakfast foods): seasoned/steamed broccoli, fried cauliflower, sauteed zucchini, baked tomatoes/cheese, and baked beans. This morning, I tried veggies with breakfast, and they were delicious. It has been forEVER since I had broccoli or decent zucchini, and I could've kept going back again & again.

It was still overcast & cool this morning, but we threw a coat on the little one and went out anyway. We had to get out of the hotel room, and ended up completely forgetting the camera. We went to an indoor mall of some sort...it was a huge warehouse size building with tons of huge booths & kiosks. There were things for sale from motorcycles to medicine to toys to china to souvenirs. And more. It was pretty neat. And it was pretty hot inside, but we walked around because it was something to do.

We thought about eating at the Mexican restaurant for lunch, but we were still so full from breakfast, that we walked down to the Sokolniki Park instead. When I told you that Little I had developed a fascination for birds, I was not kidding. The kid loves them. We let him down, and you should've seen him run after the pidgeons. He was beyond thrilled...and the pidgeons? Well, how would you feel if a giant was running after you with outstretched arms? I could've kicked ourselves for leaving the camera in the room. Oh well...maybe the rain will lift again and we can go back. We had a good time.

Little I was getting tired, so we headed back toward the hotel. We stopped at McDonald's and got our kid his first Happy Meal...sans the toy (evidently the girl didn't charge me for the toy, and the manager caught it and blessed her and me out - I couldn't understand what he wanted from me, till he rubbed his fingers together. Ahhh, nope, didn't want the toy that bad). Little I really liked his cheeseburger - or seemed to anyway, it didn't come back out of his mouth. I really hate getting him started on fast food so early, but I'd rather pay 260 rubles ($10) for a meal, rather than 2400 rubles ($93) at the hotel!

Well, the child is waking up from his nap, so I'm going to post a couple more pics and sign off for now. Enjoy!


Stuffing a blanket & sheet in the drawer


Dancing with daddy


Watching a program about penguins with dad


Bathtime! Pretending to drink from the baby wash bottle


More bathing fun