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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Note to self...

Okay, I really have to start thinking through things better. Little did I know that after Anya was asking to go for a ride in the car that I'd be outside, (me jacketless, but Anya not) in 46 degree weather (I know, I know, but that is cold here), trying not to sink in a pair of slippers in freshly tilled damp dirt, on the side of the road, petting Shetland ponies and trying to prevent my new daughter from sliding down the bank or being bitten by these creatures, while simutaniously stopping the pony from biting my nice new wool trousers.

NOTE TO SELF: wear practical clothing and expect the unexpected. Oh yeah, maybe carry antiseptic wipes in the car for pony germs.

Thanksgiving and beyond…

Dave went to work early Thanksgiving morning and four of our five children were able to be home to cook and eat with us this year. Anya loved all the siblings and the attention and was very excited about the holiday as one of our translators told her about Thanksgiving the night before. She helped Greg with the prepping of the mushrooms and brussel sprouts and I don't even know what else as I was in another room! Every time I opened the oven to baste the turkey, her eyes would get real big and she would say, “Bolshoy!” (big!) and I had to let her know that it was not okay for her to baste the turkey like she wanted to and that the oven was HOT.





After we ate, we went to see Dave’s mom at his brother’s firehouse and then went to see Dave at his station. That was the fastest tour I have ever taken there! She was so excited and just raced through looking at everything. Then we went to take Grandma home and Anya got lots of hugs and kisses as well as a picture tour of her papa, uncles, aunts and cousins with all the pictures on Grandma’s walls.





Two days ago, Anya was talking to Scott (20) and I heard her say “student”. She was not taught to read, write or do math, but we have seen her write her numbers and letters over and over. So, I took out a kindergarten handwriting book I’d bought for her, thinking it might last several months. Prior to this, I had not offered her a car seat (she’s legal without one) because she turns her nose up at “baby” things. Well, I pulled the one out we had to give away, but she decided it made a good living room chair for her…back to the handwriting. She pulled the seat up to the low coffee table to do her school as her desk. Perfect fit for her! We were amazed as she did the whole book in 35 minutes!


Later she saw a pile of backpacks, laying in the living room, as I was rearranging all the suitcases before putting them away and she pulled out a really big one and asked if she could have it. I said yes, so she ran to her room, then back to me with the cute little girl backpack I had for her and gave that one back to me! So the one she has now hangs way down below her little butt! I tried to keep the weight up on her back only with a small one, thinking that would be ideal, but that is apparently not what she wants. Next thing I know she has her school books, coloring books, pens, crayons and some junk mail she asked to keep, in her backpack. She had a whole discussion with Scott about how he is a big student and she is a little student too.

We have a lot of dust on the TV screen daily and the sun comes in first thing in the morning to, shall we say, highlight that fact. Anya doesn’t like messes or dirt, so she often cleans off the TV screen. Yesterday morning I looked over and she had written made up math facts on the screen!! Something like 4x9=6 and 2x7=3.

This morning she grabbed her backpack out of her room and had a serious look on her face, so I raced over to grab the kindergarten aged math book I had for her. She got her car seat, brought it to the table and has been working on her math. I considered getting an older math book to start, but after looking at them, was reminded that math builds on itself, so I decided to start young knowing that an easy book would build her confidence as well. Luckily I can count a bit in Russian and say “how much” so I can demonstrate the way to do the problems for her. After about 40 minutes, she is on page 99 already!! This girl is a giant sponge. So much so that one of the boys taught her “pinky promise” on Thanksgiving (I think it was Greg) and she runs around doing that to people-probably because she gets a response from the person and a huge smile.


Anya did get to meet four of her aunts and uncles and eight of her cousins already (we did this soon after her arrival, as we are spending several days in the mountains all together at Christmas so we wanted her to at least be familiar with everyone ahead of time) and the only problems was a loyalty one. My 20 year old was wrestling & punching with my eight year old nephew the other day and she screwed up her little face, put her hands on her hips and made it clear that she did not like my nephew messing with her brother. That’s all for now.
~Monica

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Getting Adjusted

What a trip (not the actual one, the mental one). You plan and imagine, but the reality is so different from the dream. It is good and odd at the same time. Right now Anya is sleeping as I type, after crashing under a blanket on the floor next to the dog (the jet lag is still with us). I find myself slipping into the older habits of a younger Monica-remembering to stay here with her, move quietly and check on her every so often, instead of a mom of the fourth 17 year old, "Oh, did you stay at your friend's last night?"

She finally slept until 5:15 this morning instead of the jet lagged 2 or 3am wake ups she has been doing since we got home. Boy was I relieved that she is getting some sleep. Yesterday I heard her stirring at 3am and walked into the hall to see her all dressed and with the dog leash in her hand! We have an online speaking translator and I "told" her through it that it was still night and we had 3-4 hours left until morning. Her body was awake and she sat in front of Chico's kennel for one and a half hours tapping different things and looking around or watching Chico sleep, just waiting. The morning before she fell asleep after that initial 90 minutes of waking up, but not last night. I played a Russian cartoon on the computer because she wasn't going to be going back to sleep anytime soon. Finally the sky lightened, which I couldn't hide from her, and she motioned for Chico to be let out. She played with him for awhile and I managed to let Dave sleep until 7 and they were on their walk by 7:30. 

Early this morning she was a bit bent out of shape that I wouldn't let her wake up Scott for a few hours (our 20 year old son). She thinks he is the greatest thing and follows him all around the house. The first day he went to work she asked me after a couple of hours when he was getting back. Today she stood at the front window with the blind pulled back a bit to watch him drive away to classes and work. She met our oldest son and really enjoyed joking around with him and you can see a kindred trickster spirit between the two of them already!

Anya enjoys talking to our Russian friends (local ones) on the phone and we give her that opportunity more than once a day if we can. She goes on and on and it is so funny to watch. It is like there is a 40 year old woman trapped in her young body when you watch her tell a story on the phone. She told one of our friends, "You should see their car! I love the car!" And she does. She asks a couple of times a day to go in the "machina". Our car ride today was to the Social Security office (after visiting yesterday and deciding a two+ hour wait wasn't going to be a good idea, especially at lunch time). What a fun time. We eventually did get her a number and I guess the "discussion" we had with the lady who didn't want to give her one was okay.

 Using the playdoh and letter/number stamps to work on the numbers she knows and introduce spelling of her name, etc.


 She discovered today that Chico likes to play tug-o-war. She is wearing her grandpa's old green belt after she saw Scott put his belt on.


 Results of jet lag...(for her, not the lazy Pug)


Chatting it up on the phone!

As I have mentioned before, most of her words in English are related to dog commands (Sit, Stay, Come Here, Down, Shake and Chico), but she has added Bye Bye, Yes and Okay today.

Well, I just discovered that the lock control on my phone is useless for those who can follow the "picture" directions for unlocking.....

Anya also just asked to peel two potatoes for dinner. Can't imagine she'd ever done it before as they feed about 80 kids in a LARGE kitchen and I know they did not let the kids in to help! She did a great job and then ran off to tell Dave about it. Gotta feed the kiddo now. "Bye Bye".

~Monica

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

We're Home!


Hello World! Have just a few minutes and hope to spend more time here later, but here are a few of the details of our new life.

We are finally home after Matt and I spent a whole month aboard. Not as fun as it sounds. Suffering from jet lag, but Anya just keeps going and going and going. So much new stuff to learn. She was REALLY excited about the flight and ran down the walkway to the jet giggling along the way. The flight was a 13 and a half hour red-eye flight and the girl only slept for two of those hours! (The first night home she only slept an hour and a half as well...) We must have walked the aisles 25 times and people on board were very familiar with us after awhile and were motioning to me where she was the time she got ahead of me and I got stuck behind a food cart in the aisle.

The doctor from Moscow that examined her before we left was amazed with the other diagnoses that the orphanage doctors gave her. He told me that he is in total disagreement with their thought that she has any mental issues at all. That was good to hear officially.

I am trying to get her on a bit of learning and sensory schedule but she is just so fascinated with everything new that I will have to wait until she gets bored and used to things. She’ll play a game for a few minutes, but then runs after Dave, Scott or the dog if she sees them. Unfortunately she is still waking up at 3am, which is slightly hard on staying awake for me during the day-she doesn’t crash but absorbs and absorbs new things. This morning I got up at 3 and found her dressed in something new from her closet (which is good since she’s been wearing the same 2-3 things for the last week, for security sake) and she was holding the dog’s leash, ready to go on a walk.

She loves the car (she told a translator, “You should see their car!”), her walks with Dave and the dog Chico. At first she was really frightened by the Pug and we had to keep him in the kennel until the second day, but now she is his best friend. She sings to him and tells him all kinds of things and he just patiently listens. Accordingly, her first English words are “sit, down, shake, stay, come and Chico.” Dave caught her using “yes” instead of “dah” a lot last night and she was dancing in the garage with Dave’s Glenn Miller and surf music!

There is much more to share, but I will do that as I am rested in the daytime and actually have a moment and I am not dozing off. Dave and I take shifts at resting! But, it should only be a few more days until the jet lag wears off. Have to figure out how to explain Thanksgiving, but she likes the new things, so it won’t be too hard. That’s all for now!

 Two pictures of Anya in Red Square on one of "walking days" in Moscow.

 Painting with Dave

Monday, November 8, 2010

Photos of Dunluce Castle and Giant's Causeway on No. Ireland's coast.


 First two photos were taken by Matt. The one above is at Dunluce Castle and the one below is at Giant's Causeway.



I took this one of Dunluce Castle, right on the edge of a cliff. One of the queens who lived here, insisted on moving inland since she hated the sea anyway and then part the kitchen, on the outermost edge of the castle, fell into the sea with servants in it!





 This is what my fingers looked like AFTER I took my gloves off (after about an hour outside). The two below are of the rock formations at Giant's Causeway. Here I wore two hats, with a scarf over those, two shirts, long underwear, jeans, two pair of socks, long boots and a long wool coat, and was still cold. Me and my wimpy thinned out So. Cal. blood. All the travelers from nearby regions were fine with a coat, hat and gloves!!
 

Sunday, November 7, 2010

The weirdness of it all.


As I sit in a cozy bed with my laptop in Ireland, I think about how weird this whole trip is. We either had to fly home and back (not interested in what the jet lag would do to me with all that), stay in Russia (imposing on our guest for a month) or do something like this. Any choice wasn’t optimal and this seemed the most stimulating, with all costing about the same. Most would relish and plan and dream for this trip and we are really just here to kill time. As I said, weird

One of my newest best friends is the site LateRooms.com. Very last minute all this is (how Yoda-esque of me) and I am just fine with that, which is so not me normally. How odd it is to have adopted and then have to leave the child in an orphanage for two weeks. Again, weird. I have not really been thinking too much about Anya as it’s hard to imagine her still there, waiting and wondering what it will be like with us, but she is starting to really creep back in and dominate my thoughts. I am glad for her to spend the last few weeks with her friends and to be able to know she is going and to be able to say goodbye, instead of her being yanked out of there. I wonder what it will be like the first night I put her to bed in the place we stay in Ryazan. Will we both be calm and peaceful? I think so, even though it will be new for both of us. But there are still about eight days until we see her, so I keep the thoughts of her a bit under control and think mostly about today, as weird as that feels.

Another weird thing, last night, in the same cozy Irish bed, I was chatting of Facebook with a friend who is currently in Eastern Europe adopting a Little Person too. We were two of the only people awake and on Facebook, due to our time zones and chatted away. Current technology is such a weird thing to me that the conversation could be happening in real time with us both on the other side of the world, having met online and not in person in a group for Parents of Little People, when each of us didn’t even have our “Little People” yet. I am amazed by it all. I know it is a common as whatever-is-really-common to the younger set, but I come from a day when you might be able to call someone in another country, but even then, it wasn’t guaranteed successful nor was it cheap! Snail mail was the way to go.

It’s a beautiful clear day for Ireland so it will be a nice drive to Dunluce Castle and Giant’s Causeway and back. The storms start again tonight, just in time for me to drive the length of Ireland the following day!! That’s all for now. The word weird is starting to lose its meaning to me as I read it over and over...
~Monica

 and more "weird" to boot! Matt told me to yawn and this 
is all I could come up with...

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Photos of London, York, Berwick upon Tweed and the road to Scotland.

 Me on the train into London looking at all the fall leaves.


 Both of these are York at night. York was occupied by the Vikings back in the mid-800's!! Just a bit older than Newbury Park.
 

 Notice the shadow in the clouds (most all are taken by Matt).


 The above two are taken by me, in York.


 Don't seem to have enough fine motor skills in my left hand for shifting easily into 2nd, not 4th! After getting into the driver's seat, I even grab for the seat belt on the left when it is on the right. I also "phantom" shift on the right and there is only a door there! I am becoming a "round-about queen". And, as I mentioned in my Facebook status, We Love Tom-Tom.


 A town on the Northern English coast called Berwick upon Tweed. There are ramparts that were built in the mid 1500's so England could fight the Scottish (Scotland is about 1.5 miles from there). And their lighthouse is below.



Below is the English/Scottish border!! We made it to Edinburgh, even though it got dark at 4:30 and it was raining. Not the overall easiest of drives!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Court and Great Brittan!


The short version is we went to court, Anya was told to speak her mind and said yes both times when asked is she wanted us as mama and papa and if she wanted to live in America. There are 10 other adults in her life that also felt it wise that she make this decision. But, being strong minded, she still had to decide for herself. Anya was taken back to the orphanage (3 hours away) for two weeks for the waiting period. We spent the rest of the day doing administration things to finish off the adoption and went back to our place to pack.

Took at train into Moscow, where were then taken to the airport. Dave headed home to get back to work and Matt and I headed to London, via Istanbul, Turkey! My body chose to have a meltdown on the airplane while we boarding and there was a seat mix up. The flight attendant sat me down in a seat to wait and some of the stress started leaking out of my eyes! I just looked at the emergency exit door and let the tears flow. I had to tell her that it has been an extremely long and stressful two weeks and that I was fine. Matt's seat was taken and he was given a seat in first class, which he gave to me after he got permission from the flight attendant. 

I am so, so glad we are staying in this general time zone instead of going back and forth and spending 4-5 weeks in jet lag. We are staying with my parents’ friend on his gorgeous estate and he is generously housing and hosting us, showing us around and we are meeting his friends for various dinners and such. We got to eat a wonderful meal in a really lovely pub near his home. We spent a few hours in London, but it isn’t as much fun as it sounds when you are with a growing, grumpy 17 year old male.

To see sights and not overwhelm our host, we are off on a road trip tomorrow for as long as 8 days (just shoot me now, 4-6 hours of travel a day with a manual transmission and that same 17 year old, who is generally happy, but that means he talks continually at me, usually in a nonsensical fashion). The housekeeper here had a good idea she uses when driving in different countries. She puts dashed lines on the hand, above the thumb, before the first finger, that is nearest the dividing lines, so if you forget which side of the road to be on, you glance at your hand and see that the dashed lines are “lined up”. Hope it works. We just discovered that the housekeeper has wireless in her house here, so we are able to get this info out. Not sure how it will work as we travel through England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Hope to post some awesome pictures!!
~Monica