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.

Just So Pleased

I'm sorry it has been so long since my last post.  I promised to try a once per week update but I had another surprise Ontario visit, my sister and her husband, and that distracted me.  Dania had soooo much fun with them here.  She has a tricycle now, and a basketball net.  She has tried beaver tails and cheesecake (which she went absolutely mental for!) and has toured the waterfront. 

This kid just constantly impresses me with her adaptability and easygoing-ness (so not like me!)  She takes the visitors with a grain of caution to start and then warms up, but doesn't seem like she is trying to please and is definitely still drawn to her mama and daddy over others.  She is also starting to test us with the things we have said 'no' to her about.  She will wait a day and then try to stick her hand between the dog and the dog food to see if she can get away with it today.  The dog doesn't want anything to do with that, of course, so that is the one thing we hope she will learn to avoid before any of the other little things (pushing on the screen, pulling at the curtains in the living room) where we say 'no.' 

She still LOVES food and wants to eat whatever we are eating (as pictured above) and it has paid off because she has gained over 2 pounds and is now able to wear the 12-month sized tights without them falling off!  They are still quite loose but they stay up so that's what counts!

She walks around the block almost everyday now.  She is happy with her one midday nap.  She has speakers in her room so we can have pre-bed dance parties.  She chases the cat's tail.  She is learning new words almost daily (still not speaking any yet, but definitely can distinguish words we say). 

We are waiting for the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor to call us back, but we have appointments with a pediatrician and an opthamologist in less than 2 weeks.  I am most excited for the eye doctor because I think that will make a huge difference in her quality of life right now.  She looses interest when things are too far for her to be focused on just one item, but for books or other close-up activities, she has to bend over and hold her face quite close.  Plus, she will look adorable in glasses!

Still waiting for her permanent resident card to arrive in the mail so we can finish off the citizenship process.  It won't be 8 weeks until October 16 so we still have lots of waiting time there.  We also have our first post-placement social worker visit scheduled for a week from Monday.  I am excited for D to meet Dania, she has been with us for almost as long as we have been working with Russia and she is excited to meet Dania!

That's the quick and dirty and wonderfulness of it all for right now.  I am also laughing because I have noticed that Dania's mouth is wide open in every one of these photos! hahaha!  What a kid!

Needles, and Grampa, and English, oh my!

What a week!  We had our first major flashback or horror (at least, I think it was!).  We went to the doctor on Monday to get our referrals for the pediatrician; ear, nose, and throat specialist; and ophthalmologist.  She also was given her 18-month needles.  She did not like that.  She was as could be expected in the office and then off for the rest of the day.  That night she would not sleep.  She woke up screaming and would not stop.  I picked her up and she couldn't even look at me and just kept screaming and thrashing her head and hands around.  I had to hold her close to me and I rocked in the chair and sang for a loooong time.  Nothing seemed to be working.  I really think the needles brought back memories from her medical exams in Russia.  It was so not her normal crying.  Eventually, I had to put her back in the crib because she was getting so hot and sweaty.  I rubbed her hair and kept singing and she kept screaming.  Then, she turned her head and looked at me, actually looked at me, and poked her fist up at me for a fist bump.  There was my girl!  She was still upset but calmed down after that!  Phew!

My dad came to visit on a whim too!  That was great for me to watch him watch her.  He looks at her like she is a scientist.  She is very inquisitive and observational and takes it all in and then does it!  I felt bad he had to see her out-of-sorts because of the needles, but she was her giggly self once her legs didn't hurt her anymore!  Dad now knows the train songs and her circuit of the main floor here.  He saw her in the tub, pretty much swimming, and we pushed her up and down the driveway in her car (a purple Flintstone-style car that her legs are too short to work).  Dad got to see her learning her new game.  3-2-1-Kaboom!  All I do is count down from 3, say kaboom and she squeels and falls on her butt.  Over and over again.  It made me realize she is recognizing my words better.

We started to teach her some body part words.  Hair, nose, eye, teeth, neck, ear.  She knows these ones.  She also "says" (more like hummmms) them with the same inflection that I do.  She is so freaking smart!  Everything we were told by our Russian training said she shouldn't have lost her Russian yet but she is already recognizing and trying to speak the English!  She listens (sometimes) when we say 'no,' like, when she unrolled the toilet paper; she hasn't tried again.

Speaking of being told by the Russians, guidelines and rules have changed yet again!  We now have to submit a 3 month post-placement report before the formerly initial 6 month one.  I shake my head but we will do it because we have to.  It just means paying for an extra set of document translation and certifications, postage, and the social worker visit.  If this money actually went to Russia I would say it was a cash-grab, but it does not.  

Lighter notes:  Other things I've noticed this week are, she still likes her moon.  She says 'ha-ka' for anything she wants.  She is faster coming down the stairs.  Her hair has gotten darker and curlier.  She is getting bolder with the dog and approaches both pets a lot more.  She enjoys laying in the tub water now; relaxing with her ears under the surface.  She is bigger but she looks a lot bigger because we were handed-down a bunch of clothes that don't fall off her shoulders or need to be pinned.  She is getting quicker at talking to new people.  She can work her talking Russian dog by herself - and has totally worn out the mechanism inside as it now plays 1 and a half phrases out of the 6 or 7 it initially spoke!  She can walk 3/4 of the way around the block.  She motions to be picked up in the kitchen so she can 'ha-ka' the arrowroots we keep on the counter... clever girl.

                                              Jeans that fit and a sticker from the doctor.

One Month as a Mama!

It has been one month since we became Dania's full-time parents!  The first week is still dream-like as it was in Moscow, but it has been that long already!  She is sitting beside me looking through a book right now-something she wouldn't have done 30 days ago.

This past week has been the week of wonderful homemade gifts!  Thank you everyone for everything but I do love a good homemade gift since it's usually something one of a kind.  She has also been to a few different houses now and was wonderfully well behaved and not over excited when leaving.  One of those houses was Mike's parents' place and there was another dog there, Finn, and she was trying to kiss him like she kisses Leia, even though Finn was much more enthusiastic to return the kisses and would have continually knocked her to the ground if we hadn`t been there. LOL!  She sure loves dogs!

She also loves the moon light in her room.  I put that in just to make a `night`corner and so that she would never be completely in the dark - it`s a sensor light that turns on as soon as it`s dark.  She looks to the light whenever we are putting her down in the crib, wants to see it turn on.  Then, in the morning, when we come in to get her and walk over to the window, she looks to the moon to watch it turn off.  I love it!

I think the weather has finally turned here too and the lake time is done.  We got in one more awesome day (but you never know with the weather here)...

She is starting to gesture for items that she wants and she`s baby talking more.  I am anxious to hear her first English word - I don`t count Mama because that`s the same in Russian!

She also has funny eating habits that she has picked up from us.  When she is taking a mouthful of food she makes a Homer Simpson-esque biting noise.  That was what we did to make her want to eat... kind of like the airplane for the Simpson generation.  And when she has the food in her mouth she always makes the noise, ``mmmMMMMmmm`` in a very sing-song voice.  I was doing that while we introduced new food because I didn`t want her to reject different textures and tastes before she got a chance to actually taste it.  I would make that noise and she would, and by the time she said mmMMMmmm she had tasted the food and was usually ok with it!  Now, at a friend`s house, she tried a sugar cookie and made her noise and the `chef`though it was funny!  Then she started screaming and reaching for the cookie jar!  Her first `LOVE`for food is sugar cookies! LOL!

She is also recognizing a few words.  She knows `bath¸` for sure, and I think she knows `come here`and `Leia`and `hair`.  She loves Pat-a-cake and other rhythmic songs too.  She loves the Muppet Show!

This seems to be a random blog post... no exact point and no train of thought to flow from topic to topic.  It`s kind of the way the day goes with her! LOL!

SO Many Good Developments!

In the last few days I finished Dania's adoption memory box. We really wanted to show Dania that we recognize that she came from elsewhere and has a history before us..even if we may not know much about it.  Hopefully she will appreciate it one day.  Inside, I've included three envelopes for each trips' plane tickets, an envelope of ruble coins, packaging from different foods she and we ate (I wouldn't normally keep food, but it's all crazy russian writing and the yogurt one is creepy!), important documents (our acceptance letters for international adoption, from the province dated Oct 2011; CHOC's application and timeline with all of my handwritten notes; our initial email and pictures from Russia with her info; our court application in English and Russian; the court procedure outline; certificate from CHOC for Russian specific adoption training; certificate from the orphanage for a donation in Dania's name), and a HUGE stack of cards from people all over Canada and the states wishing her a welcome! The memory book won't go in because I plan to read it to her frequently!

I also logged the geocaches that we found, or didn't find but were close to, while in Moscow.  For those who don't know geocaching, it's a worldwide treasure hunt.  People make caches of all different sizes and log the GPS coordinates on an official site.  Every cache has a log that is to be signed and some can have items put in.  Some even have trackable items that can be moved from cache to cache by different people.  Every find or move is recorded on the official website. I had made a trackable item, called Dania, that I wanted to leave in a cache over there that could be seen as her possible route if she had stayed over there.  We could have tracked its every move until it stopped.  Every cache in Moscow was micro sized and I couldn't leave the trackable item (an army tag-like item) inside.  I think I will wait and see what she wants to do with it one day!

We went to Growth Spurts consignment for some shoes and pants and jackets!  Thanks to all who contributed for the awesome credit there and the owner was so excited to finally meet us!  We found some shoes, a denim jacket, and a warm vest that can be worn with her sweater for the cooler weather!

 We also tried Dania at other people's houses this week.  She's never been off her own turf and on another kids'.  She was sooooo good!  After one cranky day, we went to a neighbour's for an adult birthday party.  She was the only kid, so I thought this would be an easy transition to going elsewhere.  She was just like she was at the airport (minus the being tired); she watched everyone for a bit and then started walking around, reaching out to some, and 'talking'.  

We also tried her at a friends' house where there is a boy, E, who is 3 months older and a mountain of toys!  She was quiet for an even shorter bit.  She sat and played with toys while watching everyone else.  She would only walk to me or Mike... but less than an hour later she was EVERYWHERE!  She watched E walk around and (as I'd hoped) decided she didn't need to walk from object to object as much as she has been.  She was going up and down their hall and turning around without even holding her arms out for balance!  It was great!  E even thought she was chasing him! LOL!  Soon, I'm sure of it!  They played together and she felt comfortable going to our friends' arms and was SO proud of herself walking around.  I felt proud watching her!!!  They even bathed together and she kept flipping herself under the water, as per usual, and I think E thought she was crazy.  They did enjoy splashing together though!  That felt good to see all of this because it's 'routine' for us to go over here on Sundays and play boardgames.  For us to continue this, she would have to feel comfortable enough to go down for sleep in her pack 'n' play.  We wanted to ease into it, of course, and will try for even longer next week - as long as she doesn't have a cranky day tomorrow!

 She has also started making a face that looks like Leia (our dog) who has a major underbite because she is missing her top teeth in the front!  I first saw Dania make this face after looking at Leia so I figure she is mimicking the dog! LOL!

 Playing with E!

 

Doing the 'Leia' in her new denim jacket.