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Life
With Evan |
September 28, 2002Evan slept until about 7:30am, then woke up with a few sample cries. Kristin got up and played with him for a little while, and Lee stayed in bed and suffered through a terrible storm of allergies (sneezing, node blowing, wheezing). We had noticed last time we were at Nina's that Lee was allergic to something, but this was much worse. We didn't expect Inna around anytime in particular, so we just took it easy. Kristin took care of our first dirty diaper change (really dirty!). Nina made up a big bowl of porridge (very similar to oatmeal) for Evan, and another one for Lee and Kristin. We all had a nice breakfast, and then went back to playing with Evan in our room in the apartment. After about an hour or two of playing and another diaper change, Evan started to get a bit cranky, so we gave him a snack and then began the process of putting him down for his first nap of the day. Many tears later (and a lot of holding, soothing, bouncing, patting, back rubbing later), Lee managed to get Evan into the crib without much leftover fuss. After still more back rubbing, Evan finally dropped off to sleep. About five minutes after Evan fell asleep, the doorbell rang, sending Evan off again on another bought of crying. It was Inna and Vitali. We agreed to relax for the rest of the day, allowing Inna and Vitali to have some time with their families. (Vitali had told Lee the previous evening that today they were celebrating his son's first birthday!) Lee did mention, however, that his allergies were really awful and that he didn't think he could stay at Nina's for four more days. Inna talked briefly with Nina in the other room (and Larissa on her cell phone), and shortly came back to tell us that at 1pm we would leave for another apartment. Just like that! Wow. We hoped that we hadn't hurt Nina's feelings too much. She really was a wonderful hostess. Inna and Vitali left, and we settled Evan down for his nap again (which went much faster this time), and we spent the rest of the morning with Evan sleeping and Mom and Dad repacking and relaxing. Toward 12:30, Nina offered us some pastries that she'd made and coffee and tea, which we gratefully accepted for an early lunch.
Evan again slept well, this time until around 6pm, when we finally got him up for dinner. Julia had noodles and sausages for us, and Evan enjoyed the noodles a lot. We gave him some of the sausage (it didn't have very much spice in it--more like a hot dog). After dinner, we played with Evan for a long time, but he was very crabby. We thought that perhaps he was having stomach problems since he seemed so distressed no matter what we did to mollify him. Eventually, we noticed that his distress seemed to center on the kitchen, so we gave him some more noodles and juice, and that seemed to make him much happier. Another hour later, Kristin began the bed-time ritual: a snack with mommy who tells him all the things we did today, then talks about what's going to happen tomorrow, followed by some cuddling time standing up in the hallway (holding and rocking--repeat to infinity). When Kristin put him in bed, he didn't cry at all. He was a little squirmy, but he didn't cry, which absolutely impressed Lee to no end. We had managed to move Evan's sleep time back from 11pm (yesterday) to 9pm (today). Hopefully we can do still better tomorrow. After all this, Kristin was exhausted, and Lee was feeling dehydrated from the constant nose drip he'd had all day. When the lights went out for Evan, we were pretty much ready for bed, too.
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At 1pm, Inna and Vitali drove us off to the new apartment, which it turned out was Nina's daughter
Julia's.
Evan was in great spirits, having finished a nearly two-hour nap. Julia's apartment
was in a high-rise building (she was on the ninth floor), and it seemed a little bit closer to
down town and a little bit more modern. She was very helpful and understanding. She told us how to
wash our clothes, where all the food was, and so on. Then, she left us to go to the market to buy
food for the upcoming meals. Nina had sent along some food for lunch (soup, pastries, etc.), so we
had lunch and fed Evan. Boy is soup messy when the kid is just starting to learn how to feed himself!
After lunch, it was time for Evan's first whole-body clean-up with mommy and daddy. Kristin got
out the baby pads (just add water, and you get a sudsy baby bath!), and Lee held Evan steady.
Evan loved the sponge bath! He loved being naked for it, and he loved the way it felt (wet
and soapy) all over him. After getting dried up, Lee brushed Evan's hair (with help from
Evan himself), and Evan looked like a new little man! After the bath, Evan really enjoyed
horsing around on the bed in his birthday suit, and still had fun after getting his diaper on.
Kristin started some laundry while Lee played with (distracted) Evan. When snack time
came (about an hour and a half later), Lee fed Evan his snack (a slice of bread and apple juice).
Then it was Kristin's turn to put Evan down for his nap. She did the hard part (holding and soothing
a crying baby), and then Lee calmed him down once he was in the crib. Kristin finished up the
laundry she was working on, and Lee started a batch for himself.
