A Day at the "Beach"

Yesterday our friend Tanya (the young lady in one of my earlier posts) took us to what they call the beach. It took us a little less than an hour to walk there and we spent several hours there so by the time we got back, it was time for our evening visit with Quinton and I was just too tired to blog. We had a really good time. The "beach" is actually a riverbank and there is a sandy shore and people swim and fish there. the river is sooo polluted, but no one seems to care. The entrance to the beach is actually a park for children. Since there were no children there playing at the time, we decided to act like children and try it out LOL.

Never seen one of these before

Brian is 6 ft tall. I would love to see a kid try and get up on that swing by him/herself

We made our way down to the beach and Tanya and I took off our shoes and put our feet in the water. It was a hot day and felt really good. Tanya wanted me to go swimming with her, but I declined. Thank goodness I was wearing jeans. That was a good excuse. I am all about new experiences, but I was not quite ready to swim in the green river.

We walked out to a small pier and had lunch at the restaurant. It was only our second time eating Ukranian food. It was not bad, but a little too greasy for me so I just ate a little bit. Normally I would have been a little annoyed waiting almost an hour for my food, but since we got to sit on the pier and it swayed in the waves, it was really nice.

 This is why we did not order fresh fish LOL...they are caught from this lovely green water.

The food wasn't bad. I was dying for some potatoes. They came out in a bath of butter. I am a pizza grease soaker upper so it just about made me gag. I was able to scoop a few bites off the top though. They were yummy.

On the way "home" we went by a park that had an outdoor gym. I have never seen anything quite like it.  We played around on it too and then headed back home just in time to get something to drink and go see Quinton.

He was not too happy yesterday evening. He seemed to be in his zone and we just could not get him out of it. It was so sad. Usually we can start playing with him and he will snap out of it and smile and laugh, but yesterday he just wanted to stim. He kept hitting himself in the chin and cheek. This is a very institutional behavior that lots of the kids have. They are so bored during the day that the only way they can stimulate themselves is to head bang and hit themselves and poke themselves in the eyes. We were hoping that he would be young enough that these behaviors would not have started yet, but when we walked in this morning, he was head banging on his playpen :( I know that the love and attention and stimulation we give him everyday is good for him, but I think now that he has it and is used to it, he really misses it. He has a pretty big knot and bruise on his forehead :(

These are from yesterday. Look at that knot-yet he still smiles :) Most of the pictures are from the morning. The afternoon visit did not bring many smiles...

The good news is that his visits today were much better. He was happy and interactive again. We were glad to see him smiling and laughing like his normal self.

These are from today's visits. There were lots of good ones to choose from. Sorry if you feel like you are seeing the same things over and over...we feel that way too. There is only so much you can do with a baby with the same stuff in the same place everyday. We don't think the new grandparents are getting tired of it though.

 This was right after Brian changed his first diaper today...ever! He had a good coach :)

And last but not least a video of Quinton cracking up. Brian tickled him until he couldn't breathe. You know you can't watch that without smiling! I swear his presence can light up a room. Love him so much!

Countdown to Gotcha Day: 12 days