Tomorrow, tomorrow

I feel like I should either be singing the theme song to 'Annie' or One More Day from 'Les Miserables'. Court is in 13 hours...but who's counting. We had a fun day today. Little man always smiles when he sees us but today he absolutely lit up. Started hopping up and down in his walker, grinning from ear to ear and slapping his hands down in joy. As we got closer to him he leaned toward us and put his arms up to be picked up - loved it! We really felt like he's recognizing us. Our visit was in the music room today (conference room we sometimes use was booked and the playroom had two other families in there) - a nice wide open space with plenty of room to roll around on the floor. It was Malika's 18th birthday (Scott and Lindas translator) so we had a cake, party hats, trick candles - the works. Serik was in a great mood and was chugging around trying to pull up on things. He didn't spit up but he graced us with one of his lovely b.m's (as my grandma used to call them). Of course Kurt went scurrying off to the other side of the room under the guise of 'studying his speech'. Have to tell you the kid makes the funniest face when he poops (kurt says it's just like him takes 30 seconds): gives a quick half grin, turns red around the eyes from straining and then he's done. Absolutely cracked us up today. I know, I know - all of our conversations now revolve around our child's eating, sleeping and pooping habits - nice, huh?!

After the visit we went to the Eurasian mall to get some souvenirs, buy veggies (need to eat healthy) and pick up some apple tea for Seriks caregiver (for him - they ran out). It's basically more like powdered apple juice and has a ton of sugar. I know this because it's partly in english and says to prevent tooth decay "hold the bottle yourself, do not use it as a comforter and train the baby to a cup swiftly." There's going to be some weaning off sugar when the kiddo comes home.

Then went to dinner at the Oasis. It was our first time there and we weren't missing much. We went to eat with 2 couples from another agency (one couple has 2 bio kids and brought them along) - interesting to hear the differences in agencies. I'm telling you we are in good hands here! Time to go rehearse the speech. We'll know the judges decision before we leave court - she'll go deliberate after we have presented our case and then come back with an answer. Fingers, toes and everything else crossed!

Random Notes: Crossing the street here is like playing Frogger (remember that game?) - no such thing as pedestrian right of way. There's one crosswalk that you can cross out without feeling like you're going to get run down but nobody ever presses the button to activate the walk signal - they patiently wait. Kurt goes up and presses it and it instantaneously changes and we can cross. This is my preferred method. Kurt however, likes to play dodge with the cars (as do lots of others who get halfway across and stand there on the double white line - no islands here - waiting to run the rest of the way). Also driving - ha! Everyone beeps and they pass whenever and wherever they feel like it. Mom would be saying 'Jeepers Dennis (or in this case Murat) would you slow down' and be gasping every 15 seconds as we avoid another near miss. Also, I do not begrudge these folks anything for wearing fur. It gets so cold here that I would wrap myself in something too.