Introducing Mr. Cranky

For reasons known only to Owen (and maybe his teeth), our sweet, agreeable, “easy” baby has turned into Mr. Cranky. We don’t see any little white Chiclets emerging from his gums but the other signs seem to be there … the previously oft-mentioned drool, the shoving of anything and everything into his mouth (why doesn’t someone make teething rings the same texture as fingers since that is obviously the preferred thing to bite?), ear rubbing, crying and general fussiness – see picture. And of course out of the all the toys and diversions we offered, the plastic wipes bag was the only thing to halt his tears for a good fifteen minutes.

The good news from Kokshetau is that we are getting out of here two days early, March 2nd instead of March 4th (although our flight home is still scheduled for March 7th). We don’t know the reason behind the change, although we heard something about the flight schedule changing for spring. In winter, the Yak flies only on Wednesday and Sunday; and yes, it has snowed here for three days straight and the high today is zero, but I think March 1st is the official start of spring. Whatever the reason we are happy to have more time in Almaty. Because it’s a much bigger city we will be able to take Owen out in public, Mad Murphy’s Irish Pub has awesome food, and the Ramstore is better than the Westminster Mall. Hopefully by then our happy baby will be back!