A Little Butterfly...of the Social Variety!!

Warm greetings to everyone!! At the beginning of each week, we always think “this is going to be a boring week”, but, surprise, that has not happened yet! hahahaha…. Little Miss has recovered very nicely and bounced back from her surgery last week. So, we are very happy about that. We were unusually light on doctor appointments this past week, which was nice. We continue to get good feedback from the doctors which, of course, continues to make us so very happy.

One of the doctors that we went to see was one that Victoria typically does not enjoy. Much to our delight, she handled it like a charm! So, after the appointment, we decided to take her to a Rotary Fair that was being held in our town this week. Since the weather was calling for rain all week, we were not sure we’d be able to get her there. But, we lucked out and she was in a mood ripe for fun. She had no idea where we were taking her; we simply told her that we had a “surprise” for her. She’s never been to a fair before, so the best way to explain it to her was to actually take her.

When she saw the fair from a distance, she began to squeal with delight. As soon as we entered the fair grounds, she recognized a boy from her day camp class. This was our first realization that we may have a budding social butterfly on our hands! She walked right up to him, tapped him on the shoulder and said “hi!” We were stunned (not the act of the shy little girl she once was) and excited (great to see her coming out of her shell) at the same time. Her first ride was on a kid’s roller coaster. As she waited to go on a dinosaur ride, another child caught her eye. As it turns out, he was another boy from her day camp class. Once he got off the ride, she strode right up to him and gave the same smile and “hi” that she gave the other child….amazing.

After this ride, she showed no fear and went down a high potato-sack slide (3 times!)...even joining a few other girls in a friendly race for one. We enjoyed a few more rides before we called it a night. Needless to say, she had an absolute blast!! The next day when Mommy picked her up from day camp, Victoria asked if she had another “surprise”. Mommy laughed and had to let her know that, unfortunately, we can’t have such a big surprise every day.

At day camp this week, Victoria has enjoyed playing with a number of the girls. Also, a magician came in and put on a magic show for the kids. When the magician asked for the help of some assistants, Victoria raised her hand and offered her help (again, not the shy little one she once was). She helped the magician with saying the magic words (“abracadabra”…which she continued to say all night) and pull a rabbit out of his hat. In the end, she was even able to pet the rabbit and a dove that was used as part of the show. She was very surprised at how soft the rabbit’s fur was.

One random funny story from this week….while listening to the end of a Yankees radio broadcast, Victoria had her first experience of John Sterling’s trademark “Yankees Win…Tha-a-a-a-a-a-a Yankees Win!” She proceeded to imitate what she heard, however her take was “Yayayaya Yankees Win!” She was so proud and it was very cute.

Over the weekend, we all went to a BBQ where Victoria finally got to meet some of Mommy’s best childhood friends. Victoria had a blast running around in the sprinkler (“fountain” as she calls it), playing ball and eating. On the drive home, we were listening to the radio. When “Don’t You Want Me” (by The Human League) came on, Victoria mentioned that she had heard this song when she was in the orphanage. At first, we were not sure what to make of this, but she definitely knew the tune because she kept correctly humming along. Close to home, we stopped when we saw some deer crossing the road (a doe and a fawn). The fawn (which we called “Bambi”) stopped and looked right at us before crossing the road. We tried to make this into a lesson for Victoria (noting that the doe had not crossed, we told Victoria that “Bambi should wait for his mommy to cross”). Victoria’s response was priceless…she said that Bambi should be in a zoo (can you believe that?). We assured her that Bambi was far happier being free like us. So, she was OK with that. We did have a good laugh.

Here are some pictures from this week…

On her first roller coaster ride:

Riding solo on the caterpillar:
Weeee….mid-ride and turning the dragon’s head:
Don’t think that she really like the sack-slide, huh?
Flashing her beautiful smile while waiting for the train ride to start:
Not camera shy…can this kid pose, or what?
Who knew that sprinklers could be so much fun?
Still showing great soccer kicking form:
Sporting her new Mickey and Ariel (“Princess of the Sea”) sunglasses:

A Fun, Balloon-Filled Week…

Hello again, everyone!! It seems like there was something going on every day this week. On Monday, Victoria and Mommy went with Daddy to his company picnic. These are great events that always have lots of things set up for the kids. Victoria was able to eat lots of food, go on rides, win toys by playing carnival games, and have a super-cool balloon made for her (she set her sights low…asking for a butterfly balloon….but, was ecstatic when she received a balloon that was a pink elephant, kicking a yellow ball through a hoop…obviously, this was a very skilled balloon maker). On Victoria’s second helping of ice cream (a chocolate bar), her front bottom teeth started to really give way (they have been on the verge for some time now). When we got home, one was on its last leg. When she rinsed her mouth after she brushed her teeth, one finally came out.

Now, needless to say, Victoria has been a bit nervous about loosing her teeth. So, we have had a number of conversations with her to let her know that it means that she is growing up and that the lost teeth would be replaced with “big girl teeth”. We also explained that everyone would be so happy to hear about the tooth and even explained the wonders of the Tooth Fairy. At first, she was in disbelief that someone would give you ‘surprises’ for one of your teeth, but she was excited by the concept. However, now that the Tooth Fairy’s first visit was looming, she was a little scared about someone coming in while she slept. So, it’s a good thing that the Tooth Fairy needed to get the order in by 9pm (Victoria’s tooth fell out around 9:15pm) and that we were able to call the Tooth Fairy the next day to ask her to leave Victoria’s surprises with us to be left under her pillow. So, the Tooth Fairy arrived the next day while Victoria was at Day Camp and Victoria ran straight for her bedroom when she got home. She absolutely loved the stickers, book and coins that the Tooth Fairy left for her.

Interestingly, the loss of her first tooth led to a big conversation between the three of us. Victoria was telling us stories about other kids in the orphanage that had lost their teeth and had not gotten any special surprises (from the Tooth Fairy). This conversation actually sparked an even bigger conversation about her time in the orphanage. We are always very open to hearing these stories and even introduced some pictures that we were fortunate enough to have received from one of her caregivers at the orphanage. When Victoria saw these pictures, she was very excited and started to tell us everyone’s names and stories about how she interacted with each one. Also, we were finally able to put a face with the name of a child that Victoria had been telling stories about for months regarding one boy in particular, who seemed to be something of a ‘class-clown’ (since Victoria always said how he made her laugh).

Little Miss has been making exceptional strides in socializing at Day Camp over the last two weeks. She even seems to have made her first official friend and got invited to her first friend birthday party. One day this week, the Day Camp had a clown show. The clown showed the kids all about clown makeup and made balloons for the kids (Victoria got a dog balloon…interesting choice, no?).

Victoria had minor surgery on Friday of this week (ears and adenoids). Our little angel (as she was described by one of the receptionists), was a bit uncertain at the start of the procedure, but the doctors and nurses were excellent. Victoria handled the procedure like a champ (one of the nurses even made her a flower balloon) but was a little rough coming out of her first anesthesia. There were a few medicines that she needed to take over the following days. Of course, as with pretty much every other medicine, she simply hates it. However, like last time, we have a method that seems to be working and keeps the ordeal to a minimum. We set her up on the couch with some cuddly fleece blankets and she was able to relax while she recovered and watched some Disney movies this weekend.

Once she got her strength back, we were able to head out to the park for a little play time, some catch and a little kite flying. Since the weather is nice, we even got her outside for some fun running through the sprinkler. We finished off the weekend by taking in a baseball game (the same team that we went to see on Father’s Day). Victoria loved seeing the mascots again and even got a few ‘high-fives’ from both of them during the game. Of course, she thought that she was going to be able to run the bases again (which we did on Father’s Day). To head off a little melt down, we needed to explain that they only allow that on certain days. So, she raced Daddy to the car instead.

Here are some pictures from this week…

Showing off one of the prizes she won at the picnic:
That was some balloon!

Having fun jumping at Daddy’s company picnic:

“Everybody’s Goin’ Surfin’” (at the picnic):

Heading straight to her room to see if the Tooth Fairy came:

Excited about what the Tooth Fairy left for her:
Spiderman 3D glasses…cool!

Settling in and enjoying some crushed ice after surgery:
Getting more relaxed after surgery:
Flying her Mickey Mouse kite:
Playing in the sprinkler (or “fown-ton” as she calls it)
Boy, did she have fun getting wet!
Her favorite mascots, Sparkee and Slider:
Happy at the game after she gave Sparkee a “high-five”!

A Week of Transition and New Beginnings…

Wow, is it really the middle of July already? Where has the time gone? It doesn’t seem possible that it has already been 3 months since we came home as a family. We’ve watched Victoria make such leaps and bounds in her development…becoming part of a loving family, adapting to and learning a new language, etc. She now greets people with a direct “hi” and is certain to say a nice “bye” when they depart. She is so much more engaging and conversational with family/friends that we meet. We know that this has been a continual story over the past few weeks, but it’s really mind boggling how far this amazing little girl has come in such a short time.

Since Mommy has to return to work next month and Victoria is starting school in September, this week we decided to have Victoria start attending a day camp. She’ll attend a few days a week over the next few weeks until Mommy returns to work. At that point, she’ll attend full time until school starts. We were a little anxious about how she would do on day one, so Mommy brought her by for an hour on the day before to hang out with the teacher and to meet the other kids. This seemed to work quite well. While, as expected, Victoria was a little shy at first, she had a great day and was looking forward to going back. The teacher even commented that Victoria was excellent with her use of “please” and “thank you”, stating that she wished all of the other kids could be as good as she is. What an awesome thing for a parent to hear, huh?

This weekend was a very important one for Victoria and was cause for celebration, as she was baptized in a very nice ceremony at our church. Since Victoria has been more actively taking part in things like our pre-meal prayers, we felt this would be a very good time for her to take part in this Sacrament. We were on a tight schedule, though, since it’s tough to get everyone together and our Pastor goes on vacation soon. Also, since we wanted a Saturday service, we needed to set up on very short notice (a week or so).

In preparation for the ceremony, we practiced the night before (placing water on Victoria’s head and asking her to do the same with us). She enjoyed this and was excited for the real thing. The ceremony was excellent. Afterwards, our Pastor showed the kids the beautiful organ at our church and played some tunes (he really is an excellent player).

The gathering at our house for lunch was great, while it stretched the limits of how many people we could sit. We had a seat adorned with balloons for Victoria. The cake was as delicious as it was beautiful. When we brought out the cake, Victoria’s cousin even led us in a song of “Happy Baptism to You” (sung to the tune of Happy Birthday). As usual, Victoria had a great time playing with her cousins….she also had a great time with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, Pastor, and her proud new Godmother and Godfather. Victoria even had a chance to say “Happy Birthday” and to give birthday presents to her Grandfather and Godfather. So, as you can tell, this could only be described as a fantastic day and a fitting end to yet another great week.

Here are some pictures from this week…

Showing off her new lunch bag before heading to camp:

Victoria with Mommy, Daddy and her proud Godparents:

A nice photo with our Pastor:

Victoria was all smiles after her Baptism:

Our little Victoria Ann, very excited about her cake!

A better view of Victoria’s decked out chair:

Having a blast with two of her cousins…

…While it may have been a little too much excitement for her younger cousin...haha:

Relaxing on Sunday and getting ready to paint:

Celebrating the 4th of July!!

Hello everyone. Greetings from (finally) sunny, central Jersey. We hope that everyone had a great 4th of July week…we sure did. For a child that admits that she prefers the snow, Victoria has really found so much shear enjoyment from summer activities. For one (as we have chronicled), she loves the water. This week, she and Mommy were able to get out and go swimming with our neighbors (who have a 3 year old boy and a 5 year old girl). This could qualify as her very first play-date and she really enjoyed playing with them. Of course, this was just the start of a week where little Miss had a number of firsts.

We had a very exciting 4th of July weekend. Leading up to the holiday, Victoria had been seeing US flags all around and she has shown incredible interest in the flag (which she says is beautiful). So, we picked her up a shirt that had a flag on it and she was so very excited to wear it. She has also started to enjoy wearing headbands (as you will likely see in a few of the pictures below). For the holiday weekend, we headed out of town and Victoria handled the extended car ride very well. Thanks to traffic, it was a 4.5 hour trip up to Connecticut (3 hours coming home), were we spent the weekend at a lake in East Hampton.

What a blast she had at the lake (possibly her first time at a lake). In talking about the lake ahead of the trip, she was a little uncertain, but once she got there she was ready to jump in. There was no shortage of fun things for her to do…each more exciting than the next. She was able to go on her first jet ski ride and her first boat ride. On the boat ride, she even took a turn at doing some tubing with her cousin. The fun activities didn’t end there. She also had a blast playing on the slip-n-slide and on the hammock with her cousin (hours of laughing, giggling fun).

Another interesting first is that Victoria finally felt comfortable enough to pet a dog. Turns out that our little girl had a run in with a dog a year or two ago, where she was bitten on the arm. Since then, she has been extremely afraid to get to close to dogs (understandable, of course). We let her know that we would not let anything happen to her and she saw that we were all so comfortable with this particular dog. So, she took the plunge, on her own terms...only petting the dog’s back while it was lying down. When the dog stood, she did not want to be around it. Even so, this was an incredibly big step for her and is really indicative of how much she is settling in here with us. Remember, Rome was not built in a day… The 4th of July finished off with a number of fireworks displays (there were a number of shows going on around the lake). Victoria enjoyed this week’s shows just as much as she did last week’s. Great end to a great weekend.

Here are some pictures from this week…

Chilling out pool-side after a swim with Mommy:
Happy Birthday Pop-Pop!
Rocking out on the hammock:
Making strides in feeling comfortable around dogs:
Our little angel dressed and ready for the 4th of July!
Enjoying the slip-n-slide:
We really wish she would just relax and just have some fun (sarcasm, of course):
First boat ride and still having a blast!
Taking a moment to relax with Daddy:
Two beautiful smiles on two beautiful ladies:
Mommy with her sisters and the next generation:
Settling in for a 4th of July fireworks show with her cousin: