Trip 2, Night 18: The Train to Moscow

Saturday August 7th:

Kathy, Alan, and Aleks Carda board a train in Kirov, Russia. It's destination? Moscow. The following is an account of the 12 hour trip.

As mentioned in the last blog entry, our trip started out very hectic. Bags were strewn all over the cabin, there was a broken glass sitting on the table, and two people were getting their very first experiences as being parents.

To say that we were clueless would be an understatement. We did get the glass cleaned up quickly, and made sure there weren't any small shards around. Alan got one of the other fathers to help move the large bags into one of the upper bunks. This freed up a lot of space.

The three families spoke for a short time in the hallway, slightly in shock that the children were ours. However, once the train was moving and the air conditioning had kicked in, each family closed their door. We stayed that way most of the rest of the trip.

Aleks was able to entertain himself for a few minutes at a time with the toys that we had brought with us. However, with such a small space to work in, and with two nervous people watching his every move (and nearly panicking if he came close to the metal bed frame), he quickly grew bored and cranky.

We took turns holding him, which he enjoyed. Each bunk had a rail that held a hand towel. Soon Aleks was holding on to the rail, and attempting to pull himself up on it. That was when we first started to realize just how strong he was. He could barely stand, could not yet walk, but he was able to pull himself about 4" off of the bed, using his arm strength.

Eventually, it was time for bed and we started trying to figure out how sleeping arrangements would go. We originally planned on setting luggage around a bunk so it would be crib-like. However, seeing his strength convinced us that he could probably pull any luggage over. We didn't want it toppling on to him, so we gave him a pile of soft blankets on the floor. He seemed to be happy with this, as he could look into the full length door mirror while he was laying down.

Just as we thought he was settling down, he shifted while the train was accelerating or decelerating. He bumped his head (lightly) against part of the train. Surprise turned into crying, which turned into an amazingly loud wailing.

When we received Aleks' referral, it mentioned that he was calm. We weren't quite sure what that had meant at the time. Once we met him, we learned. All throughout our first 3 visits, Aleks never cried. Not once. One time he fell, and started to cry, but we were able to distract him. Therefore, by the time we got on the train, we had never heard Aleks' LOUD voice.

The wailing was loud. All through the train car, we could hear room doors opening as people wondered who was murdering the child in room #6. We tried to comfort him, but he was having none of it. We tried to rock him and get him to fall asleep, but the wailing continued. We realized that we were supposed to have given him a nighttime bottle feeding by this time, but hadn't. Our bottles were packed, brand new, and hadn't been cleaned yet. Uh oh.

Kathy left the room to see if the German couple had a bottle we could borrow, while Alan tried to comfort Aleks. It was a huge shock to find out that our calm, happy, giggly child had one heck of a loud whiny side. Rocking him didn't help, bouncing him didn't help. Alan tried turning the lights off to soothe him, which only made things MUCH worse. Somehow, Aleks found an extra 10 decibels of volume to scream at. Finally, much to Alan and Aleks' relief, Kathy returned with a bottle of formula. Aleks instantly went quiet, happily sucking on his bottle.

After the bottle, Aleks decided he was going to play for a little while before he went back to sleep. Fearing another loud outburst, we let him play for as long as he wanted. When he decided he had enough, there was little warning. He laid down on his blankets, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and was almost instantly asleep. Kathy went to sleep soon afterward, fearing that he would wake up in the middle of the night. She chose one of the bottom bunks, so that she would be just inches from the little man.

Alan had chosen a top bunk, so as wife and child were falling asleep, he moved up there. He read for a short time, then turned off his light. We left one of the cabin lights on for Aleks. It made sleeping a little more difficult for the adults, but it kept Aleks content.

Alan woke up the next morning, before either Kathy or Aleks. He was amazed, Aleks had slept most of the night through. Maybe this wouldn't be as difficult as we thought it would be?

After about an hour, Alan heard something wet and sickening from the floor. Aleks opened his eyes, and gave a look that said he was very uncomfortable. Messy diaper. Knowing that the diapers we had bought were a bit big, and seeing the white railway blanket directly under Aleks, Alan jumped out of the bunk to check on the little guy. As he hit the ground, the smell hit him. Definitely messy diaper.

We were able to get Aleks changed before the diaper could leak, or Aleks could start to get fussy again. As we changed him, we realized it was a good thing the diaper was large. It was smelly and FULL. Alan took the diaper to a garbage in the hallway, and washed his hands. After he got back in, Kathy left to wash her hands and make Aleks another bottle for his morning feeding.

As Alan was bouncing Aleks on his knee, he again heard the wet sound emanate from Aleks' diaper. Say what? The little guy had just filled one diaper that was 2 sizes too big for him, and now he was going again 5 minutes later? Alan went to check, and sure enough, it was another large deposit. Since Kathy had changed diaper #1, Alan decided he'd better learn with #2.

Since we've had Aleks home, we've begun to learn the intricacies and variations of diaper contents. When said contents are larger or smaller than average, or the consistency changes, there is great debate within the household. Those of you without children are probably repulsed right now. How can someone spend so much time talking about poop? Those of you with children are just chuckling and nodding your heads.

By the time Kathy returned with a bottle, the room had become quite fragrant.
"Oh yuck, how does it smell even worse in here?"
"He had a second dirty diaper."
"NNOOOO."
"Yep. He deals in volume"
"Oh, I really hope that's not a sign of things to come"

After the morning feeding, we got Aleks dressed and ready to go. Our first night as parents had been relatively painless, except for our singed nostrils and watering eyes. As we were slowing down and moving through the outskirts of Moscow, we wondered if there was going to be rain. A thick fog hung over everything, and the color of the sky seemed to indicate that a storm was imminent.

We were able to depart the train after everyone else, so there was no rush to get all of our baggage out. As we got out, a pungent odor filled the air (that was NOT related to Aleks). It made Alan think of a combination of a forest fire, and an electrical fire. Alan asked our driver Ilya about this, he told us that there were underground fires surrounding the city.

We would learn much more about the fires over the next few days, keep tuned in to see how different Moscow was from our first few stops there.