Day 10: Best of Times, Worst of Times

Today the snows came to Karaganda. And at the orphanage, we were visited by Grumpy and Happy. Sergey thought that all things that we did were the most fascinating moments of his short life. But Lonya...he just didn't want to be with us which made Candace quite discouraged. Sue keeps trying to convince Candace that it's a good thing that he wants to be with his young friends. He is a man of music and knew that his class was preparing for another music lesson. So Sue went with his class to be entertained while Candace had some 1:1 with Buddha Boy. Music class was more of the same from last week. Lonya was a little more at ease so was actually showing that he knew some of the words and dance moves. Imagine...age 3! Like most of the others, his little body swayed in attempted time and his feet tapped out the rhythm. He is swept away to another place when he sings.

Lunch was again with our regular companions, Anita and mother Joyce. We tried to stay in as much as possible because the Karaganda winds put Ellensburg's and Chicago's winds to shame. It was ice crystals blowing horizontally in well below freezing weather. It hurt to be out in it. We even pulled out hats today. So much for the hardy Americans. We stalled for three hours in the Tsum department store and nearby coffee shop.

Back with the boys, Lonya was suddenly all sweetness and light. He was engaged with one of us for the entire time. Today's moments of brilliance for Lonya included: Demonstrating a sense of humor by tiptoeing back and forth with his finger to his lips after we'd been hushed by the caregivers next door; mimicking words like uh oh and up; and speaking to us in Russian quite fluently. He also pinned Sergey to the wall to feed him his goldfish cracker. Sergey is a moving target. He's like a baby bird on roller blades with his mouth wide open but bobbing side to side. The crackers usually fall to the floor several times before they hit the target so Lonya took it upon himself to hold that target still with one hand to the face while using the other to plunge the cracker in to the gaping hole. Lonya was a snuggler this afternoon and laughed and wanted to be held. He is obviously bonding with his little brother. When Sergey is upside down Lonya will give him a little kiss. Lonya is starting to like being tossed around, especially while we hum the William Tell Overture.