Visit Day 12: Time Flies

 Most days when we show up at 10 am the twins are just waking up from a nap, so they start out fresh, and we get lots of awake time during our two hours with them before they start wanting to sleep some more. Two hours a day seemed to take a little while to go by when we first started these visits. Now, we find ourselves wondering why these two are starting to rub their eyes and get sleepy so soon only to realize its already been almost two hours! Time flies.

Hey, what's this on your pants?

Today, these two had some fun playing together, but it got a bit complicated when Evelyn started gathering up all the toys. It was a good workout for Jesse to have Evie leaning on him while he held himself up and guarded the one toy he had managed to grab. Evie was nice enough to lend him some fingers to suck on for a while, too. I think these two will be good playmates if they can work out the sharing thing!

What'ch ya got there, bro?

We've started playing on the floor with them as they gain more mobility. It takes a lot of effort to get a baby's eye view of the world. Fun to try to imagine just what it all looks like to them! It's funny what seems interesting to them: often the legs of the crib strike them every bit as interesting as any toy we've brought.

Today, Evelyn managed what looks very much like the first steps toward real crawling (guess I'd better get busy child- proofing when I'm home next week!) Jesse still tries to inch forward and mostly succeeds only in scooting backward like a crayfish, which makes him terribly frustrated (that's where the crying began yesterday). He did, however, manage to get himself up into a pike position today, which is what Evie was doing a few days ago, so he's on his way. Being the social guy that he is, Jesse's great advance today was in the area of communication. He made a little sound in his throat and then looked at me. When I imitated the sound, he repeated it again, and then waited for another response. We went back and forth several times.

Just two more days until we will have completed the required 14 day visitation period and can file papers at the courthouse for an official hearing! Daily visitation will continue until the court date, which could be 2-4 weeks from when we file. (The good news is that the family that was just here got their date just two and a half weeks after they filed. Inna, our interpreter, said that we could expect ours to be similar! We're cautiously optimistic). After our day in court, we will get custody and have only a few more steps to complete (read: 3-4 MORE weeks). Time flies, but not fast enough!

A view of Kokshetau from the west on a cloudy day, with the lake to the left (North)