Aside from the excitement of collecting poop all day from three little kids for the doctor, (!), I had great breakthroughs with the little one today. Can't even begin to tell you how relieved I am about that.
Grandma came over, and though she hung all over her at first, when I picked her up myself, she hung on ME for most of the rest of Grandma's visit. I was impressed. But! That's not all!
After John came home from work, he took the older two kids grocery shopping. (They were *very* good, John says!!!) (YAY!!!) Aleksa and I played and played and played. I took her to the park (no wagon this time; I carried her and we chatted all the way there). I made up a simple little Russian song and sung it to her over and over and over and over again while we sat on the swing together "Mama loves Aleksa Zinichka, Mama loves Aleksa Zinichka, Mama loves Aleksa Zinichka, you are my daughter!" (Zinichka is the most affectionate nickname for Zina). She LOVED it, (and so did I), and as we sat on the swing (spider style; face to face), we talked some more, and REALLLLLY bonded well. (OK, she bonded well to me... I've been bonded to her since the minute I saw her!) She snuggled into me like I was her pillow several times as I sung to her. For the first time she trusted me to climb the slide ladder with her (she's never wanted to go on the slide before). Then she said she had to go potty, so we went home (before she got inspired to find a bush!), and then we took out the trash together and sat on the steps and read some Dr. Seuss, and I "snuck" her some breath mint candy. She sang me some songs that she knew; (She loves to clap with her songs, and does it to the timing Really well).
Also, we played like she was the Mama and I was the "lalichka" (little baby). I asked "mama" for some water, told her I had a headache, etc., and she rubbed my head and smoothed down my hair, and cooed over me like I was a tiny baby. Anyway, she got me a pretend "tablet" for my headache, and put a pillow under my head and put her blanket on me. All that is SOOOO cute to hear in Russian! I wish there was a way she wouldn't lose her Russian somehow, but one day we'll wake up and she'll not speak it to me anymore. I just love to hear her (and the others) speak it. It is a much more descriptive, and affectionate and musical language than English. Adam speaks more Ukrainian than he does Russian, but they all understand eachother, and all speak a smattering of both languages. Please, please, please, anyone out there going to adopt, LEARN SOME RUSSIAN, you may have an awesome interpretor with you 24/7 while in Ukraine/Russia, but once you get home, your Russian will be ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for helping you all to bond. *climbs off soapbox* ;O)
Pretty much, this was an AWESOME day, and what fears I had with Aleksa are Poofed out the window. She just needed Mama to HERSELF for a while so she could bond. Really hard when two older ones are constantly hollering "Mama smaTREE!" (Mama LOOK!) I think I slept better last night than I have in a loooong time. Can't wait to see what today will be like!
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2 comments:
Shelly, it's so great to hear that the Dr found the kids to be healthy. You are so blessed. Good idea to punish for running away from home, as he is certainly testing you there. Your afternoon with Aleksa sounded priceless. I could just picture you two on the swings smiling and singing. You'll always remember that afternoon when it "clicked" for Aleksa. Enjoy... and by the way I sent away for those Russian tapes. Hope I can learn it all in a few months!! Jo from the ttc adoption board
Jo, you're sure right about always remembering yesterday. I get choked up thinking about it!
You'll be great with the tapes! If you got the Pimsleurs, they're easy to follow, and each lesson builds on the next. The first time we popped in a tape, John and I said, "uh-oh, what on earth do we think we're doing????" But, don't let the first few times of listening to them discourage you. You'll be SHOCKED how fast you start picking it up, and I PROMISE, you'll be glad you trudged through it now before you're thrown in the water to swim on your own! :O) Let me know how it goes! Do you have your dossier done yet? Waiting for approval? Waiting for an appointment? Where are you in the process?
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