Day 16 Just an Ordinary Day

This morning when I stepped out of our apartment building I was suprised by how cool it was outside.  It was also very overcast and looked like it could rain.  Except for the afternoon we arrived, it was the first time the sun wasn't shining brightly.  I am enjoying the ride to and from the baby house each day.  Sergei and I briefly chat for a minute as best we can and then I sit back and look out the window and take in the sights of the city.  I've driven to Makiivka enough times now that I almost think I know the way!

The groupa was outside playing when we arrived.  I schlepped upstairs to the third floor to sign in and I waited, and waited, and waited for someone to see me to ask for "the book."  I am supposed to wait in the stairwell and am not allowed to enter the actual building (we were yelled at for having one foot inside the hallway the other day).  I am finding myself increasingly frustrated with the weirdness at the baby house.  The top-secret feel is extremely suspicious to me.  It's all very strange.  I don't want to be negative, so I'll leave it at that.

Dasha and I had another really good day.  Before I left the apartment this morning, I looked around for anything I thought she might like to play with.  The toys we brought from home lost their appeal long ago and we needed something new.  I ended up throwing a mini battery-operated fan and a hairbrush compact in my bag.  She especially liked the little fan and played with it a long time.  I also brought her a pair of sunglasses.  She really loved these and wore them for most of the visit (she only took them off to look at pictures of herself on the camera).  There was no running over to the groupa at all today, which made me happy.  There were five or six young Ukrianian woman visiting the baby house and they were playing with the groupa and swinging the kids around and having fun with them.  I was kind of surprised that Dasha wasn't more interested in the visitors, but she seemed content to hang out with me.  One of the nannies called her over to change her dress (and I was so glad because the one she was wearing was about 2 sizes too small) and as soon as she got the new one on, she lead me back over to our area.  No hanging around the other playground even for a minute!  Tomorrow is the last visit for a few days.  I won't see her over the weekend and Monday is a holiday here and I can't visit.  It's going to make for a LONG few days for me but when I return on Tuesday we will start the countdown to get her out of that place!

Such a sweetie!

More lip gloss, of course

Brushing her hair.  She also likes to file her nails...such a girl and I LOVE it!

Reapplying her lip gloss

She is holding the cardboard backing to a pack of stickers.  She had it when I arrived and would not let it out of her sight.  I have seen several of the kids carrying around what looks like trash to me, but to them it's a valuable possession and probably the only thing that's "theirs" (until the nannies make them throw it away).