Saturday, January 07, 2006

I turned 32 yesterday, and it was also five weeks since I had Marta, and a few dear friends stopped by, and it was really fun, and both Marta and I got some really nice presents, and Marta loved all the attention directed at her, she lay there looking at everyone, really interested and more or less capable of focusing already, and she didn't cry once, and I was so happy I even posted a note about it here.



But at 11:30 pm, Marta began to cry, and she wouldn't stop until 2:30 am. It was so terrible I went back to this blog and erased that entry, out of superstition caused by hopelessness, I guess. At some point, I thought it was a punishment for my windbagging (see Abdymok), for wasting so much time thinking about the silly gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. We tried everything to calm Marta - I won't recount it here because most of it is in Russian in my head; everything worked, but only for 5-10 minutes. By the time my mama managed to lull her off somehow, Mishah and I were delirious. Now we know what they meant when they were warning us about sleepless nights. A torture.

***

We went for our second walk with her today - the first one was on Jan. 1; thirty minutes now, fifteen minutes then; both days really sunny and beautiful, but much colder today and Khreshchatyk open for traffic, so we took a different route.



I've posted pictures from both walks on my photo page - though it's a weird genre, these pictures: almost nothing of Marta, a little of the stuff that surrounds us, people, buildings, etc., and nearly every picture has either me, or Mishah - with a stroller, silly and happy! Marta was asleep through both walks and is probably unaware of having been out of this room.





***

On Jan. 4, we were at the children's clinic for the first monthly check-up; photos from that day are also posted now, here. The clinic is poor, but they are making quite an effort to make it look nice, and it's very touching. And it was real fun to take pictures - I wish I had more time. Doctors and nurses are also nice. Not that it makes me want to take Marta there often, or at all...

5 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday!

    Marta was probably just over-stimulated from all the fun--it's hard for them to process stuff sometimes. But you can't keep them in a bubble.

    Nice buggy by the way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the more-or-less still live of Marta, the teddy bears and the Power Book :-))

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice Photos!
    Fancy looking Babycart! (don't know the right word)

    Hey Veronica, nice elegant outfit (coat and stuff), you're looking like those people which belonged to the Nomenklatura you hated so much.
    The only thing missing is a black ZIL limo and some bodyguards.
    (a red star in the babycart would give a nice touch too!)

    Good luck with the Family Raising and stuff.

    Augusto.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How funny, Augusto: that day Mishah said I looked like some clueless guy from a warm country, who was so horrified by the cold in our part of the world that he walked into the first store and bought the first thing he thought would make him warm - and he wrapped himself in it, and remained blissfully unaware that the local people were staring at him, sipping their beer right there in the street and giggling...

    This, of course, is exactly how I always feel in winter - like a silly foreigner from a warm country, with no idea as to what I'm doing here in this terrible weather... Brrrrr!...

    You're from Portugal, Augusto, so you know how it feels, don't you?.. :-)))

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, im from northern Portugal, so i have this delusion that i can actually endure cold temperatures.
    Been in Madrid for some weeks now, 0-10 C and im kinda freezing.

    But gotta admit i admire the cold for its capacity to keep people awake, and with energy. Too much warm and everybody falls asleep.

    P.S.- My sense of humour is weird but intended as harmless.

    ReplyDelete