December 13

We had a very nice visit with Olesya today. She was very energetic and only took a very short nap. We were all in good spirits due perhaps to having finally concluded the Guardianship Council portion of this saga yesterday. During our visit today, I brought in a book to read to Olesya when she started to fade. Fortunately, Kim packed a copy of General Sibley's letters from the frontier campaign so I had good reading material for her. Since Taraz is situated in the southernmost reaches of Kazakhstan, and Olesya is one day going to be moving to Colorado, it is no surprise that she has developed an interest in the western deployments of the Confederacy. Her request to fly the Stars and Bars in her baby house group has not yet secured approval from the various authorities overseeing such things.
Olesya was scooting around on the floor a lot and making many noises. We took many wonderful pictures today. Assuming I get home some day, I will have to spend a lot of time working on Olesya's scrapbook. When she started getting tired today, we did not need to sing to her because she was singing to herself. She is so much more vocal and active than when we first met her. She has definitely made a lot of progress.