Park Time

Every day that we have had the girls home, we take them to the park. The small neighborhood park behind our house worked nicely for the first three days as we had it all to ourselves. The girls loved the baby swings and Galina worked on the curvy slide. Each day she became more confident climbing the stairs and sliding down the curvy slide. Valya enjoys the baby swing and like to go very high.

We then started taking them to the larger parks where there is more equipment to climb on and children to interact with. Galina gets so involved in watching other children play, especially the older children. She was the eldest in her baby home and then when the children turn 4 years old they get sent to an orphanage. You can tell she is not use to seeing older children around. She is getting braver on the jungle gyms and sliding down bigger slides. She also loves climbing up on the climbers. Valerie still loves the swings and walking around the park with mama. She discovered sticks the other day. They don't taste too good, but she loves to wave them around. I have to watch her very closely.

Today we tried shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond with the girls. I just had to get some large wicker baskets for the living room to put all those toys in. Galina wanted to touch everything and hold it. She was in the stroller with John so he had to deal with that. I had Valya in the cart and she was getting fussy so I picked up one of those small vibrating massage units and let her hold it. She was happy holding it for a while, but then she wanted to put it into her mouth. I told he no and pushed it away from her mouth. We did this three times and then she got this little twinkle in her eye, put on the cutest little pout, and brought it to her mouth. She knew I said no, but she was going to do it any way. That's when I had to take it away from her with a smile on my face. This child is going to test me.