November 23

We had a very nice visit with Olesya today. She seems to recognize us more now when she first sees us and is completely at ease in our presence. She seemed especially happy today and we had a lot of fun playing and took some pictures which we will hopefully share at some point. Since we do not have the cord to upload the pictures, we are trying to be careful with the pictures we take and deleting all but the best as we have a limited amount of memory. There is another family from California that shares the room with us during the 1500-1700 slot. Their girl is a few months older, but Olesya knows her and they enjoy watching each other and seeing what is going on.
She seems to have a bit of chest congestion as do the other kids that we are familiar with. I suppose it is hard to control such things in such an environment. They seem to be careful about keeping the kids warm and taking necessary precautions so I am sure problems are minimized as possible.
Our meeting with the Guardianship Council has been set for Monday. This is a preliminary step to the actual court date which should be the following week.
Joe changed his first diaper!!! Actually, he didn't change a diaper, he put one on. He needed a little reminder to tell the front from the back, but once that was figured out, everything went smoothly. The diaper stayed on the whole time.
We have not heard Olesya laugh yet, but she has shown some very big smiles. When we lay her on her tummy and put her rattles nearby, she kicks up her arms and legs at the same time, so it looks like she is swimming. She hasn't quite figured out how to go forward yet. It is truly amazing how we can just sit and watch her for two solid hours and be entertained by anything she does. Or just her mere presence if she's not doing anything.