Rough Day for Tucker

Mike here.

Today was sauna (bath) day. We didn't get to see Mia until a bit later than usual, so we ended up watching "game time" with some of the younger kids for a while. Tucker got restless pretty quickly, but it was only for a little while.

Then we met with the Director of the baby house. This meeting was much different than our visit two years ago. We were rookie parents then, and the whole experience was brand new. Plus, we had a lot of questions about Tucker at the time. We had very few about Mia today. We talked about how different the two children were. Mia's "temper" is well-known. We've only learned about Tucker's recently. Tucker got even more restless during this meeting, and I ended up entertaining him out in the hallway. It was then that Mia finally came out. I brought the two of them back into the director's office. At one point, I asked Mia (in pretty good Russian, apparently) "Do you want to go outside now?" Both Sveta and the Director were amused at how Mia looked at me, a bit taken aback, and said "Da."

Ultimately, our time with Mia was fun after all. She seems to be getting more and more interested in us, and trusts us more and more -- especially Linda. She definitely has a mind of her own, though, and she's not shy about telling us to "stay a little further away," or "let me do it myself," or "help me now."

After our visit, we went to the National History museum, here in Kokshetau. It's a small building with about five rooms of exhibits, ranging from ancient archeological stuff to modern politics. There was information about natural resources, geography and geology, wildlife of the country, and various important wars -- including the lineage of the infamous "Khans," and World War II. Our tour guide was very gracious, and Sveta was very kind to translate everything she said. The visit was interesting, but difficult for Tucker. Linda and I tag-teamed him and we basically just got through it.

Between the waiting time with the younger kids, the time with the Director, and the museum, it was a tough day for Tucker. We'll try to make tomorrow a little more fun for him.