Here are a few more pictures. Outside of eating & laundry, this is basically our day. We have, however, been able to go on some good walks. The weather’s been so nice lately!

The first two pictures are on the potty…look at those teeth! Then there he is just hangin’ out…I love that open-mouth happy look. In the bath, he lets the water splash all over him…he’s definitely not afraid of the water! The final two pictures are in his office. He has a lot of stuff to do, pulling everything out of my purse and wallet and organizing it all.

Yep, welcome to our Crib! It’s not fancy, but we seem to find a way to have fun and make it work!

One more week and we fly SCAT (Soviet propeller plane) 4 ½ hours to Almaty. We’ll arrive next Thursday mid day, have a Dr. Appt on Friday, hang the weekend, go to the Consulate’s office on Monday, then fly home Tuesday, December 23. The flight from Almaty to Boston will take about 23 hours.

OH, OK, so Stas, the brilliant one totally figured out E’s dietary problems! When I got home from the babyhouse with him, I followed his schedule as directed by the Dr. & head nurse. Further, I’ve noticed (and vocalized) that he hasn’t been feeling that great for the last several weeks and after I saw the caregiver give him a ‘no-no’ cracker, I figured they are totally giving him the wrong foods. But my initial thought was just their sloppiness in not following the diet with which they told me he needed to stick.

So, they stated he can’t have wheat (allergic) and should have brown rice, fruit, kefir, NAN powdered milk, potatoes, carrots, beef & cheese.

Although happy (what a trooper!), he was going ‘kakl’ 7-8 times daily, sometimes 5 times in 4 hours. Something was not right, even after a banana! “when you make it onto 1st and you feel a little burst….”

After the first 2 days, Stas sends me a link about Candida, which essentially states that everything I’ve been feeding him (whole grains, fruit, potato, beets, carrots), are actually feeding the candida. This means that his stomach is acting like an oven and the foods I’m feeding him are expanding like bread dough rising. HMMMM…

So as an experiment, I ONLY gave him foods that do not feed the Candida or actually inhibit the growth of Candida. Since Monday, he’s been pooping 2-3 times a day and is getting stronger again! I cook eggs, rice, cauliflower, onions & cabbage. We eat this with raw garlic, some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and tomato sauce. We also enjoy our eggs with Kefir and a little butter over rice. As Rachael Ray would say “DELISH”

The hotel stay and trip home can be a bit of a challenge, but we’ll figure it out. Outside of me cooking, there aren’t any foods available ready for him to eat. He doesn’t seem to want to chew on a turnip as a snack food….

So in two days, Stas uncovered one of E’s big health issues 5000 miles away! This, after many (14?) months of educated Doctors and Nurses establishing their own ‘diagnonsense’.

Now a little something about me. I’ve never changed a poopy-diaper until E came to live with me. Let me tell you that these ‘new’ poops are a PLEASURE to deal with.

With this new strength, he doesn’t hang out in bed anymore. Once he’s up, he makes his way OFF the bed (thump!). He is exploring beyond the pillow barriers, loves to pick up the phone or remote to ‘chat’ (LOL) and climbs all over the couch.

After I realized I wasn’t coming home early October, I produced a calendar on a piece of paper for October, November & December, circling various dates and now, the 23rd is boxed with a red pen. Anyway, I showed E this date, and pointed to it. Now and then he’ll go find this piece of paper, babble while he pokes at different numbers as though he’s telling me what happened on those dates…then he’ll point to the 23rd and say “DA” with affirmation! So damn cute! I love our ‘discussions’…

I’m so glad you all are here to experience these adventures through my blogs with me...thank you.