Still in Evehsam at Dad’s place (the same evening (12th March 2010) as the duck feeding video), Nick came over to say hello. He had a job interview in Cheltenham, so we decided to all converge at Dad’s at the same time. Roz couldn’t make it as she was very close to giving birth to Anna’s cousin at the time. Nick bought up all the Christmas and Birthday presents that we hadn’t been able to receive whilst in Kazakhstan, and Anna seemed to enjoy another paper ripping ceremony . I look forward to using mine in earnest when Winter once more hits Astana, and Anna still plays with hers regularly. The Big Hungry Caterpillar is also a big hit with Anna, and I’m very glad Nick and Roz got it, as it seems to be a “proper” childrens’ book to me The hand puppets and toys also get played with often, and Anna seemed to lose interest in the wrapping paper and sellotape very quickly…
Obviously since the clip was taken, we now know that the baby was a beautiful boy (Jack), but Nick and Roz didn’t know that at the time. PS Nick, it has been a good 15 years or so since I studied French, but I’m pretty sure they have male and female endings to words, and it is German that has neutral as well? ;-P The last of the three clips shows me trying on all my Christmas presents at the same time. It wasn’t cold in the house
Copying the activities from a week before, here we are in Evesham (I’m reliabily informed by Wikipedia that some locals refer to their hometown as Asum??) feeding the ducks once more. The river Avon winds it’s way through a lot of Britain, and you can get to the area shown in the video by walking through the old Abbey grounds.
There are some tables near there, so if we ever visit Britain in the summer, we could probably take a picnic down there, and really give the ducks something to quack about with the breadcrumbs However, the 12th of March isn’t really sun bathing season, so we fed the ducks and moved on.
BTW, I didn’t plan on putting Anna’s dummy in a pile of bird seed, the idea was for Anna to take a handful to feed the ducks, however Irina had just asked her to hand the dummy over, and when Anna saw a palm in front of her, just followed the request (ignoring the Mamma part).
Obviously we cleaned up the dummy at home before returning it into general circulation. Anna normally only has the dummy in as she falls asleep, but we take it when there will be long trips in the pushchair, as it works well as a temporary pacifier. Which is why the Americans call it that I suppose?
Also, I was hovering around Anna as 1) She was very close to the river bank and 2) I vividly remember a goose snapping at my fingers as a child and so, along with bees & wasps, I am convinced that they’ll attack Anna if I’m not there to protect her Though Anna should probably know that once she is capable of running well, and flapping her arms in the air like Daddy does when he sees something black and yellow buzzing around, she might be best to assume I’ll stop pretending that I’m anything other than a big girl when it comes to bees and wasps. I’ll jump in front of a raging bull/speeding car/other dangerous thing I can’t think of right now, but once Anna learns to run, and wants to run away from bees/wasps, she may find her Dad joining her
The 11th of March saw us visiting my Dad over in Evesham, and later some friends in Cheltenham. Apparently Anna had already had enough of being held that day, and she seemed to want to thoroughly investigate her Grandad’s house – she was barely a couple of months old when last there, so we can’t blame her for her curiosity. Anyway, we have about four videos left of Anna in Britain I think, and about fourteen more photo posts left to publish. I’ll try and complete another four or five pic/vid posts today.
Mum and John currently were spending a lot of time at a camping site, as it is a lot closer to Mum’s work, and the scenery was beautiful. Before they took the caravan there, they wanted to check a few sites in the locality, so John, Irina, Anna and I went to check out different locations, and at one of them there was a big lake with ducks and geese. The video was shot on the 4th of March. Since then they’ve had cows invade the area, as local chavs were breaking down fences so they could ride their mopeds and other hair dryer impersonating two-wheeled transport around the lake.
These two videos were actually recorded yesterday, but rather than stream them live, I recorded them without using Qik at all. (This was I can double the resolution used). However I forgot to then upload them, hence the 24 hour delay in getting them on the blog.
Irina, Anna and I went for a walk through Astana park, to take a look at all the equipment before it was disassembled. The castle walls, yurts, stone carvings (painted expanded polystyrene) and Kazakh warrior statues were put up for Astana Day/the President’s birthday, and are being removed. There were quite a few workmen wandering around without shirts, and from all the heavy lifting, it looked like they did ab workouts all day long. Sorry for the women (and few men) reading this post, but I don’t think we actually see any/many of these workers on video.
I hadn’t realised how windy it would sound through the phone’s microphone at the entrance to the park, sorry.
Small break in recording as I needed to use the phone for other things…
The 2nd Of March, one day after Saint David’s Day (Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant in Welsh) was when this video clip was taken. Anna is dressed in traditional Welsh costume. Mum is dressed in a traditional dressing gown Hmm, listening to the video again, Irina says it was actually St David’s day when the video was shot, so maybe it was just the camera being set to Astana time (+6 GMT) that has thrown me off?
Yep, confirmed looking at the dates and times embedded in the pictures from two different cameras, and the date and time from the original videos (MPGs), these were shot on the 1st of March.
On the same day (22nd of February) as Anna having a little drink, we headed down to Swansea beach again. It was good for Anna (and us (Ira, Seb and me)) to grab some fresh sea air, and Gwen seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be allowed off the leash and have a run around. Other dog owners often come to the beach with the same idea in mind (dogs are only restricted to being on a leash in Summer months, when more tourists visit), which means that Gwen can socialize freely. This often means run towards another dog, then running away as soon as they show some interest.
Anyway, other than Anna taking some temporary interest in an old soup can in the sand, there isn’t a lot going on in these videos, but it is interesting for us to see how Anna’s walking has changed these last few months, if nothing else…
A quick compilation of clips shots today in Chubary. Featuring Anna, Assel, Walton, Irina and Ira’s Mum.
Guest starring Anna’s new play area and house in the garden…
Back to Anna’s photos and videos once more. Once the blog has caught up with the UK clips and pictures, I’ll try and make sure those taken in Kazakhstan are posted quickly, and hopefully get close to real time publishing once more.
This one is very short, taken on the 22nd of February 2010. In the UK, there is a safe limit advised by the government, when it comes to how much alcohol you can drink a day. One can of normal strength beer isn’t a problem, however the size of the can might just have some sway in the decision making process, normally…
Three videos shot earlier tonight, embedded into one post, instead of the three that were originally taking up too much space. We went over to Astana Park so Anna could have some fresh air, and I realised coming down the stairs that I’d not shown what the walk over to the park looked like. I’m still hoping to find a better quality replacement for semi-living streaming from my phone, but for now, you’ll just have to either put up with it, or not click play
Not much to say with this video, as you may have guessed from the title, it features Anna on her birthday, about to taste her first ever birthday cake. The rest of the year, we’re pretty careful about sugar (and salt) levels in the food she eats (a little more difficult here in Kazakhstan, as the selection is narrower), but for that one day, pretty much anything was allowed
Anyway, here she is, sat in her highchair (this one is a little seat that you can attach to most normal “adult’s” chairs, and worked out pretty well), having already blown out her candles…
This is another toy that the authorities held onto for a while before allowing the parcel to eventually arrive (after a large amount of fees were paid). The push along car extends so you can place a seat on it, and since her birthday, not only has her walking improved (perhaps a coincidence, but in any case she can now control the car well), but she is able to get on and off it (when the seat is put in place), without our help, and normally she even ends up facing the right way!
She hasn’t yet started pushing herself along when sat in it, and doesn’t seem to want to raise her feet from the ground to allow us to push her, but in any case, most mornings she can be found ramming sofas, walls or any slow moving cats with glee. (The glee is hers, our cats have tended to jump out the way a lot more quickly now.)
OK, I think I’ll skip my normal routine of providing the date that photos and videos were taken of Anna. The next few Anna’s Photos and Anna’s Videos posts are all based around her birthday, which is the 21st of February. If you’re reading this over on her blog, please assume the same date for future posts with Birthday in them
One of Anna’s presents was a bubble blowing machine. As she hadn’t seen proper bubbles before (ignoring bubble baths), we wanted to buy something that would produce a lot of them, with less mess than the normal setup would involve. Going outside, with Anna suitably covered from the cold (should any Kazakhs be reading this, the weather was a LOT warmer over in Britain than in Astana), we turned the machine on, and waited to see if it would catch Anna’s attention or not…
This video was shot after the presents were opened, and the bubble machine tested out side. Although we had to wait for the box it was transported to Kazakhstan in to pass Kazakh Customs, it is definitely one of Anna’s favourite toys, especially since we took the audio from her favourite DVD of children’s songs and put it on the player’s memory card. The controls are simple and large, the player lights up during use, and Anna has figured out what most buttons do already…
OK, just got to the end of Anna’s Birthday videos that I had already uploaded to the YouTube account, and realised that the last (in terms of the time it was recorded) is better suited to this post. Anna and her MP3 player in the evening, with us realising you needed to set it to play one song, three songs or thirty minutes worth. (Or something like that).
I won’t be posting any photos today, as the hard drive is back at home, and we’re still with Irina’s parents. Both Anna and Irina has picked up some sort of lurgy, and so rather than transport Anna home whilst not 100% (and risk up chuck on the car seats), we are staying a little while longer than usual. So if you have sent me a skype message/left a voicemail on the landline, either call me on the mobile if it is urgent, or wait until we get back home.
Anyway, back to this post… The videos were shot on the 21st of February, meaning we’re still on Anna’s first birthday. This set of videos were shot when Anna was opening her presents. This was her first time ripping the paper herself, and it took a while to get through them all. There are a lot more videos of that morning, but I’ve just tried to pick the ones that stood out for one reason or another…
Alternative title might be “The introduction of Zimmer Framer to the Russian language”…
This clip was shot on the 18th of February 2010, when we had just got back to Britain. Anna was (and to a point, still is) at the stage where most items of interest need to be tasted at least once. When they are new food items, this isn’t a problem. When they are Anna’s own shoes, this can cause a little concern. Anyway check the video to see Anna tottering around in the kitchen, and the soon to be classic phrase (in Russian) of “Anna, where is your zimmer frame?”.
Just to explain quickly, although Anna quickly found herself happily walking and running around Mum and John’s house, she would sometimes find a large (just about) movable object to push or drag around with her on her travels. In this case, it was a stool that she liked to direct around the kitchen when she was walking. The noise wasn’t exactly the most pleasant to encounter, but the look of joy on her face when she found she could reorder the places of furniture was certainly something to behold…
The 17th of February saw Anna completely at ease with Gwen running around the house, and just as importantly, Gwen feeling brave enough to actually play in the same area as Anna. Having heard of the sort of situation Gwen has found herself in when John’s granddaughter had a birthday party with a few friends in the house, I’m amazed Gwen didn’t hide herself away when Anna turned up on the doorstep!
To anyone concerned with small children/unattended dogs in the house, you can literally take the food out of Gwen’s mouth whilst she is eating, without a whine of protest.
As promised around ten days ago, here we have the video of Anna listening to John’s instructions on how to play some percussion, and then proceeding to have a go herself (as well as having a quick taste of the drumstick itself. It would seem that this sliver of wood is not in any way related to the similarly labelled chicken drumsticks!). I’m still not entirely sure whether the photos and this video were shot on the 15th or 16th of February this year, but to be honest, I can’t see this lack of accuracy ever causing problems for anyone… So if you want to check out John and Anna playing with a drum, cowbell-like sound implement, or a tambourine, do please click the play button just below this text.
. I look forward to using mine in earnest when Winter once more hits Astana, and Anna still plays with hers regularly. The Big Hungry Caterpillar is also a big hit with Anna, and I’m very glad Nick and Roz got it, as it seems to be a “proper” childrens’ book to me 
