Day of Fun

Annie's new hair cut...thanks to Little Mary!!!
DeeDee, Katie Aunna, and Karissa in the swimming pool;-)
John John loves to slide!!!
John John now swims with his head under the water.

John John said "Cheese", but the girls weren't ready for this picture;-).

We have been extremely busy with doctor visits for physicals (family physician and pediatric clinic in Lubbock), new and beautiful glasses, ENT in Lubbock, chiropractic therapy, neuromuscular therapy, and speech/language development. I have not had an opportunity to get Katie Aunna registered with the Russian Consulate yet. However, that is now holding a priority to me since all of Katie Aunna's medical needs have now been met. So it has been a trying two weeks home so far, but, Katie and the kids have done remarkably well during this transition period.

I can not express into words how much I love this child!!! Her personality is amazing to me and Katie's ability to trust me has grown even more during these doctor visits. When we visited her (in a Russian hospital) back in February she had endured a very major surgery all by her little self. It just breaks my heart for her as it has left more than a huge scar on her arm. It totally broke her confidence in trusting adults.

Now she tells me that those people (orphanage) whom she had believed loved her (and they certainly did) left her and she had her arm "hurt". So it took a great deal of patience and gentleness on the part of every doctor who examined her to gain her confidence. It also was difficult initially for her to trust that I would not drop her off at a hospital....especially when we went to the Texas Tech Medical Center. However, now she knows I will not hurt her and she loves her new life all the more.

Each doctor visit was accompanied with asking me in Russian, of course, if she would get a shot today or if they would hurt her arm or if I would leave her there. I promised her each time that she was safe with Mommy and we will go home together today. So, I made sure that everyone understood that they were to be extra gentle with her arm when examining her. All of our doctors were wonderful and tonight Katie told me that "Mommy will always take care of me (in Russian) and that she loves us (in English).

Speaking of love....Katie does not yet have the concept that in English we have the same word that can mean different things. For example....Katie Aunna says to me in English "I love you, Mommy" and I answer "I love you, TOO, Katie Aunna". She responds with "I love you THREE, Mommy"!!!! Now how cute is that and so on we go with "Well, Katie Aunna, I love you ten!" and she responds with a bigger number.....ha ha. At some point I will thank her in Russian with "Spa-see-ba" and the "I love you one up game" is then ended.

But, that is so touching to me and so extremely cute. I just adore her and she feels the same way about her family, too!!! She gives lots of kisses and hugs. Katie Aunna can not see anyone cry without trying to comfort them. She is also very bonded to me and does not act overly friendly with strangers and she has separation anxiety....which are all good signs for bonding. I appreciate that she feels safe, loved, and secure with our family.

For this reason I have told her she will not get shots right now. Maybe later, but, for now I just want her to trust me and especially in regard to caring for her precious little arm that she had surgery on. The scar is huge and I know it was very painful for her both physically and emotionally. She can have that MMR and the blood work she needs when she is able to speak English and fully understand me. BTW, her tonsils were 2+ which means we are likely looking at a T&A with tubes in her ears. Her left ear has numerous perforation scars, her arm was not repaired as well as we had hoped, and her strabismus may or may not improve with her new glasses without surgery.

One great thing is that she can see so much better with her new glasses. I find this possible to assess by the fact that she no longer squints to see and does not place things 4 or 5 inches from her face. I have taken a few pictures of her in her new glasses, which are adorable on her, and she loves them. The problem is that I find it difficult to catch her on camera with her eyes opened. Karissa still closes her eyes for pictures as she hates the camera flash. But, in this particular picture she shows off her new pretty glasses and it shows from the expression filled moment I caught on camera.

I have managed to get some pictures of the kids in our family pool this year and I think they are simply adorable. Katie Aunna is quite the little fish. Initially, she needed floaties to swim in the water. Then I noticed that she was not afraid to put her face under water and so this led to her giving up the floaties and I practiced with her on breathing. Now, she is quite the little fish!!! She has also mastered the big slide. It is so cute as every time she wants to slide she says to me "Sa-lide, Mommy" and I say "Sa-lide Katie Aunna". Then off she goes to "sa-lide". Now she does not need me to be waiting in the deep water to give her an extra few pushes to the side. Amazingly she swims (doggy paddle) to the step at the deep end. Katie Aunna is everything I had hoped for in an older child adoption and more!!!!

Oh yes, a few more very interesting things about Katie Aunna. There is so very much that she and I would like to communicate about. I have the Cd for Russian Adoptive Parents. I got those Cd's out tonight and we listened to the different phrases. Many which apply to situations that occur during the day fairly often. She was utterly amazed that Mommy has a CD like that. It delighted her greatly. We were actually able to transfer some things over to English this way.

I asked her (in Russian) if she would teach me Russian and that this would be helping me to help her learn English. By taking these phrases and applying them to the conversation I gathered a great deal of information about her emotions right now. She is very happy and loves America. She does NOT miss any particular child at the orphanage or any particular care giver. Her happiness is great here and she so sweetly thanked me tonight for bringing her home.

Also, I showed her the referral video of her that was sent to me last December. This also amazed her and she was shocked when she saw that Mommy knew where she was living in Russia. From what I gathered from our CD assisted conversation....she thinks her new family and home are top notch!!! Katie Aunna chose the phrase which says she is very happy and not sad about anything.

One thing that confirmed my opinion in regard to the trauma of her surgery on her arm....when the CD asked "Tell me where it hurts" she immediately pointed to her arm and made a sad face. I ask her "does it hurt here?" and she emphatically answered "yes". Then I skipped the CD to the phrase "Did you feel all alone" and she answered with Yes (da)....Yes (da)...Yes (da)". I then switched around to say "I will always take care of you" "We are your Mama and Papa" and "I will not let anyone hurt you". She laid her head on me and looked into my eyes and said "Spa-see-ba (thank-you)".

John-John was amazing in the water today, too. He kept throwing his self forward and putting his head under water. Very brave and cute as when John-John would pop up out of the water he had this huge smile on his face. He is still very close to Casey and looks up to him so much. Several times Casey took John-John to the slide and he loved it. Personally, it made me a nervous wreck, but, Casey followed close behind him as he climbed the ladder to the 6' slide and helped him sit down to slide. John-John has a very sweet personality and he loves his family so very much and we love him dearly.

Karissa and Christian are literally fish in the water. They have been swimming without floaties since they were 2 years old....no kidding!!! Although, I worry about Karissa's ear getting water into it, I can not tell her she can't swim. So we had an ear-plug made to fit tightly and it seems to be working well.

Speaking of Christian....he fell in the shower last Sunday evening and broke off his front permanent tooth!!! It was awful and he did not even smile for two days until he got into the dentist to have it capped. Poor little boy!!! He is now back to smiling his big grin;-). He was also happy that our family dentist was painless. It looks as good as new!!!

Then last night Mary...OH LITTLE MARY...decided to give Annie Kate a hair cut. Thankfully she only chomped up her bangs and did not get into her head of hair!!! I tried to straighten them as best I could with the short patches of hair. Oh dear...Little Mary is so....intense at times with her plans. I have included pictures of Annie's new hair cut with Katie Aunna's swim pictures on the next post of pictures. Guess that about covers things for the next few days. I will post again Sunday evening after our return to church since we began this adoption process.