February 8

Well, I’m sure you’re all anxious to hear how Olesya slept last night. She slept very well once Mommy and Grandma gave up and let her lie in the bed with them. Now I don’t want to hear anything about bad habits I may be starting. It is difficult to let your daughter lie in a crib and scream when it is a hotel room where she may be disturbing the neighbors. Also, since we forgot to ask anyone at the baby house what it is usually like when she goes to sleep, we weren’t sure if she didn’t like the dark, or missed her special blankie or what. Besides, we will be changing rooms several times over the next few days, so I figured it was better for her to get used to going to sleep in the dark and with me rather than a particular bed. Once she finally fell asleep at about 10:30, she slept solidly until 7. When she woke up, she turned her head toward me and smiled immediately. It is nice to see that she wakes up much easier than her mother does. Her father is also anxious to experience this phenomenon.
Before leaving Taraz, we knew that we had to go to Daddy’s favorite restaurant – Café Istanbul. The waitresses there were very happy to see Olesya and one of them was even playing peek a boo with her. She was also smiling at the man at the next table, but I’m not sure we should tell her father about this. After she ate a few of her carrot/potato mix. She loved, the pieces of pizza crust that I broke off for her. She knows good pizza when she tastes it. She is so excited to have her first bite of Nick ‘n Willy’s.
This afternoon, Aida took us to the Russian Orthodox church and two of the mausoleums in Taraz. It was interesting seeing them again with Mom, because it has been almost 3 months since I saw them. It was also fun to take Olesya.
Tomorrow night, we will be leaving Taraz to go to Almaty! I still don’t know when exactly we will be coming home, but it should be in about a week. We can hardly wait!