Albania Again

Well, it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago when we were here.  Ethan’s first flight was to Albania, and now we can say that Sienna’s first flight was here as well.  Ethan slept most of the flight when we brought him at 6 months of age.  Unfortunately, Sienna fell asleep just as we were landing. 

Our first night here was a little rough.  Ethan was sleeping on a couch with a pack-n-play up next to it so he wouldn’t fall out.  He tossed and turned a lot and somehow still managed to fall off the couch.  Of course, with Sienna in the pack-n-play right next to him, he woke her up when he cried.  Thankfully she went back to sleep soon afterward.  The afternoon nap for him didn’t go so well the next day either, so we decided to just make it work for Ethan to use the tent that we used during our time in Germany.  I’m SOOO glad we brought it!  Of course, he’s not falling out, and he loves it.

Well, Ethan has been in his element since being here.  There are LOTS of kids to play with each day.  After dinner our first night, Ethan began playing with one of the 6-year-old girls.  She would chase him to a building, then they would both walk back toward us parents holding hands.  They kept doing that over and over.  Our second night here, one of the women in Gary’s course said that her 5-year-old son wanted to eat dinner with Ethan.  So, we all sat together and Ethan and Luka kept hugging each other.  Ethan has not had any problems with me leaving him in childcare, even though the babysitters are Albanian, and the other kids are Albanian.  He is just so happy to be playing with kids.  He especially seems to enjoy playing with the kids who are 1-4 years older than him. Our hotel is by the sea, so we took Ethan there one afternoon to see what he thought of the water (last year he didn’t want to get in it).  On the way there he saw some of the older kids playing in the sand, and preferred to play with them.Ethan didn’t want to get in the water much more than this.He actually didn’t really like walking in the water much either.  He must be like his Mom and Dad… more of a mountain person than a beach person.  Sienna just went along for the ride.