Ontario Trip

We were a little apprehensive about the plane ride since the last one was such a trial... but she was perfect!  What a peach that charmed everyone and now waves 'hi' and 'bye' almost all of the time (we practiced with people coming on and off the plane.  When we landed in Ontario she was clingy towards me... she had never been like that.  I think she was nervous about the change in environment and wanted to make sure I was not going anywhere - melt my heart!  She is completely attached to us and that is the evidence right there.  By the next morning, though, I think she had remembered Aunt Kitty and Uncle Fil (they were the most recent visitors), it took her a bit longer with gramma and grampa.  Just like we did when she first came here, we took it easy with introduction and tried not to do more than one face a day.  There were two parties though, and at those she was a complete charmer again. 

The first party was my cousin J's wedding.  She was quiet at first and then discovered the wall of mirrors!  She walked around with my cousin C's kids and they watched over her and Dania was great.  She didn't get a full length nap that afternoon so she was a little cranky at the restaurant after the ceremony but, all in all, the day was a success!  And she looked darn cute too!

We went to the aquarium in Toronto too.  AMAZING!  It opened the day we arrived in Ontario so it was still VERY new and just a stellar place to visit!  She loved it too.  She likes water so we had a feeling she would the view.  She liked when the sharks swam over top of her.  She was a little hesitant about the glass floors, clearly they were confusing her because they were see through but she wasn't falling in... It was enjoyable for us to watch her mind work.

On this trip she developed so many new habits.  She now goes crazy before bed every night.  It was a once in a while event before, but now she loooves to make herself dizzy and run around from person to person.  She also is more melodic with her talking.  She still isn't saying words but she sounds more like she is having a conversation for sure!  She also is a lot more approachable to people.  She always was easy going with new faces, thanks to the orphanage, but she is a lot more immediately interactive.  She still initial breaks the ice by pointing out her eye, but a visit with O and M had her nodding and waiting for them to mimic her.  She nods, shrugs, tilts her head in a creepy-twins-from-The-Shining manner, head rolls, and will all out laugh now!  She has somersaulted on her own, likes to be startled, and play peek-a-boo!

Dania met and had dinner with her 4 great-grandparents that live in Brantford.  Papa Jim was waiting when the elevator doors opened and yelled down the hall to Nana, "told you I was going to meet her first!"  It was wonderful.  He also declared he was going to hold her first and kind of sent Nana to get her something so he could sit in the chair with Dania!  At her other great-grandparents' it was cute to see Dania sit in the same little rocking chair that I remember sitting in when I was little, as did my mum and gramma!  Perfect! 

To end the whole visit with a bang we had a meet and greet planned and the entire world came to visit!  She looked amazing again... in a unicorn dress, no less!  I loved unicorns as a kid so I HAD to buy this dress when I saw it!

  

Even with 55 people in the room, Dania was not shy!  She actually reached from person to person and went looking for the food she liked best (pretzels) and would let herself be picked up to converse with all of the strangers.  I keep saying it, but it means the world to me how many friends and family came to see Dania and the generosity from everyone!  It was an amazing evening and hear and see Dania giggle and laugh so much now made all the pre-trip apprehensions worth it!  

 

We are back to reality now and will be starting with the doctors again on Monday!  Phew!  What an adventure.  And the plane ride back?  It was great.  She was the best behaved kid on the plane, so much so that she actually started mimicking one other girl who was crying - it sounded like she was making fun of her!  Eeesh.  Had to try and stop that!  She didn't get to nap and was cranky and out of sorts when she went down to bed but she was just fine after a good sleep-in!

I have also just noticed that a lot of her 3-6  month clothes don't fit now!  Yeah!!!!  She's growing!  I love this kid!  She makes me laugh soooo much!

 

Thank You, En Masse!

Ummm, seriously might have cried myself to sleep last night over the immense display of interest and love from long time friends and family!  Wow!

More details will be added in later, upon return home, but while it is all fresh in my mind...

-Thank you great grandparents x 4 for letting us come visit you so you didn't need endure the wondrous cacophony that was last night!
 -Thank you Heather, Amy, Olive, Steph, Jack, Lucy for allowing us to visit you a few days prior.
- thank you Mum and Katie, for being astounding hosts and organizers
- and in order of appearance( give or take)...Dad  -aunt Carly  -Larbi  - Dean, Cherie, Laura  -Kelly, Chris, Grady  -Robyn  -Natasha, Ryan, Christina,  -Chaundra, Abby, Sidney  -Bob, Jeannie,  -Fil (& your folks via you!)  -Tall Maureen (and Beau and Ben via your sentiments!)  -Heather, Matt, Cameron, Heather, Kenner  -Maureen (& John), Laura, Patrick, Danielle,  -Courtney, Scott, Brayden,  -Lacey, Cam, Cadence, Kendall,  -Tom, Brenda, C.J.  -Clayton, Sam, Nathan(and your sick Grandma who is my mum's best friend and therefore on you side!)  -Julie, Stephane (I know I spelled your last name wrong on your wedding photo file, I'm soooo sorry!)  -Jenn Feijo Action News at 7,  -Ashley, Dave, Alex, Josh,  -Ashley (you're always Stinx to me), Jay, Kate (who had the line of the night with "they are all horrible people" in regards to those who were giving my dad green ju-jubes!)!
-Then, the visits that came outside of 'visiting hours:'  Kees (& Amy, Keegan, your mum and Will via you!)  -Kim (a complete pleasure to finally get to know you!),  -Oliver and Megan (the first people she didn't hesitate the slightest with when asking you to knock on her skull)  -Cindy, Sadie, Reid (who drove the furthest for the shortest and sweetest visit!  Y'all have pen pals for life!)

Seriously, I'm wanting to cry writing this list... heck, I AM crying!  It has been two months since she has 'landed' and y'all were lining up to meet her.  I am so thankful for your kindness, generosity, PATIENCE, and, above all else, love!  I am sorry if I fail to send a thank you card between now and Christmas cards... but forgive me please!!!!  I did take time to open and appreciate all kind words and thoughts and I am saving every single slip of paper that relates to Dania so that she will KNOW just how excited everyone was to meet her! 

This kid has changed my future but all of you (ALL those who have hoped, prayed, encouraged, loved, and gave previous to this too!) have built my past and it is a story I hope to share with anyone who will listen!  Seriously... It has been an incredible reception leading up to last week and to now be able to add this away-from-home reception too... counting my innumerable stars!

"Wow" is the only adjective that I can use to accurately describe the present...

Busy Week for Dania

This week started with a visit from the social worker.  She was a total doll for D!  She came in the morning and stayed for almost 2 hours.  She probably didn't need to stay that long but she was obviously happy for us and I was excited for D to meet Dania.  She actually said that she could sit there all morning and just watch me and Dania play because we there was such positive and happy energy from us all! 

She took notes and asked a lot of the standard questions about what the leave situation is like, how much is our monthly income, what's our schedule like.  Then she kept asking about Dania and, well, I just couldn't stop talking!  She asked about her likes and dislikes, habits, how she has changed, what medical plans we have, how she reacts to people and surroundings and the animals.  It felt great to keep relaying how awesome this kid is!  Really!  It may all hit the fan when she decides to rebel because "you're not my real mom" but for the time being, this kid is wonderful!

The next day we had an ophthalmologist appointment.  This older gentleman took one quick peak in her eyes with the lighted scope and said, "yes, she is near-sighted."  I asked how he could tell and he replied, "you see that plaque in the hall that says I've been doing this for 36 years?  That's how."  Oh my!  How we all laughed!  I liked him instantly.  He also kept proclaiming how cute Dania is.  He held a few items in his hand at different distances and then tried to get her to look at a lighted cartoon dog across the room and she definitely didn't focus on it.  He wants us to come back on Nov. 4th and do a more extensive test with the dilating drops just to make sure there isn't anything more going on.  I think she will be so adorable with glasses and was a little disappointed that we didn't get to try glasses on right away!

Thursday we had the pediatrician visit.  This lady said she used to see all of the international orphans at one time because GPs tend to be weary about drawing some conclusions for these children and would feel more comfortable with an expert.  She told us this after she asked us what concerns we had and I said I didn't have any!  She also said that she is the pediatrician at the IWK (children's hospital) in the Ear, Nose, Throat clinic and was shocked we had not been contacted by them for an appointment yet.  She said that a cleft like hers would normally be treated after two years old (one year if she was born here) because the tissue heals better when it is older.  She asked us to call her on Wednesday and she will check on Thursday about Dania's appointment.  Jackpot!  Dr. S said she was going to keep Dania's file open but that she did not have any concerns.  Dania was extremely well-behaved, even gave a fecal sample almost on cue.  She wanted us to come back at 2 years just so she can keep tracking her measurements.  Dania has gained a pound since the GP visit (18.5 by official scales) and she is proportionate.  There was one oddity, her head circumference went down from 1 year to now... Dr. S seems to think this is not accurate but we will double check progress at her 2 year appointment.  The female growth spectrum chart had Dania in the bottom for everything so she will probably always be petite, but, again, no concerns.  She even settled my concern that Dania wasn't drinking enough milk (she totally is) and Mike's concern that she doesn't eat enough (again, she totally is). 

Then she had Thanksgiving dinner with all of Mike's side of the family!  Uncle Jon is the favourite because he can lift her the highest!  She loves being able to touch the ceiling.  She also was given cheesecake again and went nuts.  She was spinning around and being a super zombie.  It was so funny!  She wore a cute dress and was pretty well behaved.  Starting getting a little cranky at the end of the night but that was expected.  If she has a frisbee that she can push around on the ground or bang on hard floors she is a happy camper.  She liked the turkey too - and cranberry sauch!

As for my personal observations from the week, she is starting to make different sounds, finally.  She actually was trying to mimic 'hello' while we were playing peed-a-boo.  She kind of sounded like a dove, it was so cute.  She is also indicating specific pictures in books or more specific items (and less of just the general direction of 'over-there') and making a sound after as if she is saying what it is.  She can indicate toes and knees, and tries shoulders but she cannot touch them without my help; she touches her armpits LOL.  She is trying hard to jump and has gotten off the ground a few times - this stems from her want to dance and not the fact that she knows what jumping is.  She sings aloud whenever I play Sarah Slean - it is instant.  Most other musicians she will start by swaying and then, maybe, make a little coo here or there.  She must love Sarah Slean as inherently as I do!  She also lights up as soon as she hears the Muppet Show theme song! 

We travel this week.  I'm a little nervous about the plane because it could bring back memories and feelings from the looooong flight from Moscow.  Although, if she is similar to how she was on the flight from Ufa to Moscow we will be fine!  I know my family has gotten everything she could possibly need for when we visit so that is a huge relief and I feel lucky, again, to have such great family!  I also went shopping with a friend, M, and he picked out the dress that Dania will wear for my cousin's wedding!  She will be adorable!

She is almost always adorable!

Here is my favourite pic of the week:

-Still waiting for the permanent resident card.
-Printed the photos for our post placement report that we have to mail tomorrow.  We also have to get the money order for that.  D will mail her report directly from her social work business.
-Booked an appointment with speech pathologist next month.
-Need to phone Dr. S. to investigate Dania's ENT appointment.

Here we come Ontario!
xoxo

Week 7

Can you believe that is all it has been???  I'm soooo antsy for that permanent resident card!

Well, this is a big week coming up.  We have our social worker 'play date,' (we've been calling it that because we both know that there aren't any issues and this added first report is unwarranted) tomorrow.  We have the eye doctor on Tuesday and the pediatrician on Thursday.  I'm hoping the pediatrician will have a better idea for a timeline for the ENT doctor since my GP said he really doesn't know or have a patient reference.  He just sent the referral to the hospital at the same time he sent the pediatrician and eye doctor. 

We've been putting sunglasses on her to try and get her used to wearing something.  It will be interesting as I'm sure she will need glasses... Oh!  My favourite is when I get her dizzy during our prebedtime dance parties and her one eye goes all wonky from being unable to focus!  WoW!  The first time I saw that I kind of had my heart jump into my throat!  Hilarious now, though!

Ok, so this week we took her to the community pool to try her out and she loved it.  I had a HUGE round of "oh, she's so small," in the women's locker room.  Sigh.  Just the beginning.  I told them the quick version on her story and she pointed out her eyes and they all forgot how small she was.  Beautiful.  I suspect we will get a lot of that now that we are going out more with her.  Just have to say that aunt Candy made her a monkey hat and it was almost too small so she's not THAT small!  (Such a cute hat too!  Dania could pull the ears when asking where her ears were!)

We also had our first round of strangers mentioning genetic looks too!  LOL!  We went to vote and she received a future voter sticker, which she was completely enthralled with, and just sat quietly and played in a chair off to the side with whomever wasn't in the booth, and the lady running our poll was so impressed with Dania's calmness.  Then Dania started 'flirting' a little - her definition of flirting is to show you where her hair is and ask for a fist bump.  The lady kept telling her how pretty she was and made comments about whose side the looks came from... we just smiled and laughed.  As I buckled Dania into the car I conspiratorially stated how we were going to fool a lot of people in the future and it will be our joke to giggle at afterwards!  I think that's the angle I'm going to go with for those situations where we don't bother explaining since it really doesn't matter to a 2-minute stranger.

We also went to our first party with her.  This was a birthday party for our friends' daughter turning 3.  Dania had met 3 of the kids that would be there and we dressed her up in a cute outfit (now that some of the bigger clothes are fitting!) and went over wondering how she would react since it was the first big crowd of little kids since the orphanage.  Well, she spent the night trying to kiss the dogs (3 of them ranging in size from 6 pounds to 85 pounds), slowly circling the whole scene, and playing beside a kid who would sit still for a few minutes.  I was soooo happy and, again, impressed with how well she did!  She honestly did not seem upset in the least and also didn't seem like she was out to please anyone (a coping mechanism I'm on the look out for) and just had fun!  She had no problem going to sleep after and also didn't shy away from people.  She is so amazing.  Yes, I'm biased, but I really have to wonder what's going through her head, and I know others think that too, but she is just so chill!  She also expressed an affinity for the kid-sized foam chairs so we had to go get her one.  I was looking up where to buy them and at one place they happened to be on sale so we just went for it and I am so excited for her to find it in the morning!  She sat and bounced herself in it for a long time.  I'm hoping she will sit with her books in it. 

She is starting to point to thinks in her books now.  She loves flipping pages and is pretty rough with the cardboard books but she will point to something specific and say, "ghka-ghka," and wait for me to say the name of the picture and then turn to another.  Things like that make me antsy to get to the ENT doctor but I have to remember that she was losing her Russian and then gaining her English.  A normal human, on average, wouldn't start the 'ga-ga-ing' at specific thing like she is saying what it is at 7 weeks.  She really could still just be absorbing.  She makes the L, M, K, G, H, sounds so it's just a matter of practice and exposure.

Ok, That's all for tonight... well, it's morning now, but we spent the Sunday night at our friends' playing board games and we put her down there and then do the sleep transfer after a few hours and I just HAD the need to blog right now!  I wanted to get this stuff in before all of the appointments.  This will be a big week for entries, I'm sure.

xoxo

 Her new "uh-oh" face.

 After swimming.

 Daily walks with sunglasses now.

 

Being pulled around by Erik at the party.