The Unofficial End of Summer…

Well, it seems like summer is ending just about as fast as it came this year. We are nearing the end of August and September brings the start of school for Victoria (and pretty much every other kid, of course). For a child who swears that she prefers the snow of winter, Victoria really had a blast this summer!

This week, we joined Victoria for an open house at her school, which they hold for all new students. During this event, she got her first official tour of the entire school and she was excited to meet with the Principal again. Of course, we hope this is not a common occurrence once school starts…hahaha! Truthfully, though, it is so very nice to see that a number of folks at the school already know her by name. We really feel that she will be in good hands and that they will provide her with a safe, comfortable, and positive learning environment. Also, she is still very excited about taking the school bus!

Victoria joined Daddy for a visit to see Mommy at work. There are so many nice folks there that have been following her story for some time now. Finally meeting them, she was very pleasant and everyone was very happy to see her…she was even treated to a few pieces of candy by some of the nice folks there. At one point, she sat down in Mommy’s work chair and asked if this is where Mommy “plays”. It is so funny that she still thinks (since we work with computers) that we must play for a living…hahaha!

Over the weekend, we went to another family birthday party. Victoria really enjoys birthday parties and is really having trouble containing her excitement about the prospects of her own birthday (still months away). She had a blast playing with the other kids…enjoying the swings, jumping on a trampoline and playing with a set of Thomas trains. Of course, she loved the cake too!

Here are some pictures from this week…

Bouncing on the trampoline:

Hanging with her cousin:

Just looking incredibly cute:

A cute picture that she colored and signed to get a free pretzel:

Splish, Splash, Splosh…

This week, the dog days of summer have given us tremendous amounts of rain….torrential rain at times. You would think that we moved to some place tropical…hahaha…

This week, we officially registered Victoria for school, where she will be starting next month! She was able to meet her principal again and is getting more excited about starting school. This coming week, Victoria will go to an open house at the school, where she will get a full tour. In a few weeks, Victoria will get to meet her teacher (whom we have heard great things about) and will visit her classroom (and desk) for the first time. Very exciting stuff!!!

One night this week, we ate some corn on the cob with dinner. Victoria really enjoys eating the corn right off the cob, but this time she seemed to have a little trouble eating it. It turns out that her left-front bottom tooth (which had been ready to come out for some time now) was really loosened. After her bath, Victoria asked “Mommy, may I pull?” (referring to her loose tooth). So, she stepped up to her bathroom sink and gave it a tug. Much to Victoria’s delight, it came right out without any pain! She was all smiles and was clearly excited. After a little inspection, we were able to see that her big girl teeth are really starting to show…this, of course, raised her level of excitement even more (she was raising her arms in a sign of victory)!! Heck, there was all of this excitement and we had not even gotten to the Tooth Fairy yet! Victoria wanted to know if the Tooth Fairy was going to come, but still seemed a little sketchy about the fact that she flies. So, since it was now just after 9pm, we assured her (as we did for her first tooth) that Mommy would call her the next day, then she would drop off Victoria’s “surprises.” The Tooth Fairy came through nicely again, dropping off a book, some quarters and some stickers for Victoria.

At week’s end, Victoria went out to dinner with Mommy, Daddy and some of their good friends. Over the weekend, we went to a zoo with friends and their three boys. We feared rain all day, but lucked out to have a long dry period that allowed us to have a great day (even though it was pretty hot and humid…go figure). At the zoo, we were all able to go on a nice train ride which allowed us to see a lot of the animals. Once back on foot, we were able to visit a few more of the animal displays, then headed inside an educational center where they had a “Touch and Learn” show. The show was about some salt water animals and Victoria was able to pet a horseshoe crab. After the show, we headed over to a very large playground where the kids had a blast!

To end the week, Victoria, Mommy and Daddy went to a county fair. The previous night, there were enormous rains which left the grounds incredibly wet (and, unfortunately, muddy). We did not let this stop us, though. Victoria got to ride a pretty pony, she saw a number of animals and she was able to pet a few of them (including a rabbit and a turtle).

This week, we had our 6 month post placement visit (the first of 4 that will take place over 3 years as required by the Russian government). This entailed having a visit from our home study Social Worker. We spoke for well over an hour about a large number of subjects…Victoria’s medical status, her adjustment to her new environment, her relationship with us, etc. There are a number of reasons that the Russian government requires these visits; they want to see how well adopted children are doing and they want to ensure that adoption agencies are properly vetting families (ensuring that only “good” families are adopting). The process proves helpful to future adoptive families and will serve us well should we decide to adopt from Russia again.

Victoria continues to make tremendous strides with her English. She is picking up on a lot more concepts and starting to form more complex sentences. She is using the concept of “I like/love” and she follows it up with “Do you like/love?” She is also getting the hang of using “me.” In the past, she would say “Vika”, she now says “me”. For instance, the other night Mommy asked her “Who looks cute?” and she responded “me.” So incredibly cute…

Here are some pictures from this week…

Showing off the book that she got from the Tooth Fairy:

Enjoying the train ride at the Van Saun Park Zoo:

Watching a newly hatched baby chick at the county fair:

Laughing as the baby chick tickles her hands:

She loved watching the bunnies drink:

It was REALLY muddy at the county fair…

…it left our shoes a little worse for the wear:

Excited to have another pony ride:

Hanging out with the cow statue at the county fair:

Happy as she gets to clean the mud off of her legs (after the county fair):

Dog Days of Summer…

Greetings from hot and humid central Jersey. This week, summer has certainly let us know that it is here. The temperatures were in the 90’s and the humidity was excessive, so this was not a great week to be outdoors for too long. On the brighter side, Victoria had “Carnival Day” at her day camp this week. She had a great time with the kids. They had all made tie died shirts earlier in the week and wore them for the carnival. Victoria had a few water ices (grape and blueberry). She even tried her first cotton candy, but did not like it one bit. Oh well… They had a moon bounce (something that Victoria loves) and face painting also. Victoria had a cat painted in her forearm (very nice) and even got two temporary tattoos…one of which was a plane (interesting choice for someone that does not like to fly…perhaps it is her way of facing her fears…hahahaha…).

Over the weekend, we went out to the Poconos for a family birthday party. Victoria had a blast and got to play with a few of her cousins. She had fun playing some basketball, playing a guitar and even joined in blowing out the birthday candles (she is still itching for her own birthday of course!).

This week, we visited a Russian food store a few towns over. On the way there, Mommy and Daddy were talking about our time in Russia. Once we entered the store, we looked at one another and felt like we were there again (the music, the layout and all of the items written in Russian). It was an extremely nice feeling. Russia is where officially became a family, so we have very good and strong feelings for it. Victoria saw a number of things that were familiar to her from Russia. She started filling the cart with a number of items that she liked. Of course, this consisted mostly of sweets (candy and cookies), but she was visibly excited to see things that she had before, so we were all for it. Later in the day, she asked for one of them (a lemon candy). As soon as she started eating it, her excitement elevated immediately. She was literally squealing with delight and began telling us stories about her “friends” (she now knows this word in English) in the orphanage and how they all liked this particular candy. So, we will certainly be making a number of future trips to this store.

Victoria watched Mary Poppins for the first time this week and loved it. She enjoyed the scene where they danced with penguins and, later in the movie, thought it was hysterical how dirty the chimneysweep’s faces got. She was still interested in the candy that we picked up from the Russian store, in particular a Cheburashka chocolate candy egg that she wanted to try. We told her that if she ate all of her dinner, she would be able to have it. Going into dinner that night, she was pretty tired, which usually means that she struggles to finish. However, she REALLY wanted that candy, so she began to work her way through her meal. Then, she seemed to ‘hit the wall’ while eating the last of her macaroni and cheese (the last item on her plate). So, Victoria turned to Daddy and calmly said “Daddy, please help.” Mommy and Daddy laughed hysterically and Victoria got a huge smile on her face (she had never asked this before during a meal…but, she REALLY wanted the candy…hahaha). So, Daddy took a few pieces to help out, but it was obviously not as much help as she needed to get the job done. So, Victoria turned to Mommy for assistance. The 3 of us had a good laugh. In the end, she finished her entire meal (such a big girl) and was able to enjoy her candy.

Here are some pictures from this week…

Sporting the shirt she made and her grape tongue at the carnival:

With her cotton candy…before she tried it:

Clearly not happy with the taste of cotton candy:

Enjoying her first time ever eating corn on the cob:

It’s time for cake…let’s dig in!

Settling in to watch Mary Poppins:

Helping Daddy take out the trash…she really wants to be a good helper!

…August Begins

Hello again!! Can it really be the start of August? It’s hard to believe how fast the time is going, especially since April. All was quiet on the doctor front this week, so that was a good thing for once. Early this week, Victoria got her 3^rd haircut since arriving home. From the looks of it, she is really taking a liking to getting them. This time was different than the last two…this time the hair dresser used some mousse and blew her hair dry. A few months back, this would likely not have gone over well. Now, however, little Miss kept swinging her head back and forth (kind of like you would see a model do)…she really enjoyed feeling her hair toss around.

Later in the week, Victoria went with Mommy and Daddy to have lunch with some very good friends from a past job (actually, it was the job where Mommy and Daddy met). It was the first time that we have seen these friends in a long time and it was great to see them. The majority of them now have children of their own, so we are sure to continue to catch up. We are constantly humbled by the number of folks that tell us that they religiously follow this blog. Folks tell us that they feel as though they “know” Victoria already by following it.

Over dinner one night this week, we started talking to Victoria about the changes of seasons. This led to a conversation about Christmas. We, of course, were not really certain what she really knew about the holiday. Much to our delight and surprise, she told us that there was a tree with lights at her orphanage and that all of the kids were able to walk to see Santa. She tells us that she asked for a dolphin and that it what she got last year (apparently, it was green and yellow). She is even familiar with some of the songs of the season, including Jingle Bells. We were able to catch the majority of this conversation on tape. So, we are continually happy to hear more and more stories.

On Friday, Victoria got to take part in a “camp out” day at her day camp. Each of the kids in her class showed up in their pajamas for the occasion. They also brought their sleeping bags and a favorite movie to watch. As we talked about this with her on Thursday night, Victoria was not 100% sure what to make of it. Remember, this is a child that REALLY does not like to take naps. She thought that they were going to make her take a nap since she was brining a sleeping bag and wearing her pajamas. So, we needed to assure her that they kids were only doing it for fun and to get comfortable watching some movies. Once she understood, she went and had a great time!

Over the weekend, we took advantage of some nice weather and headed to one of the playgrounds here near our home. When we got there, we were surprised that we were the only ones there. Within about 15 minutes, other folks started to file in the playground was hopping. By the time we left, a friend of Victoria’s from day camp had spotted us, so she came over with her parents. The kids played for quite some time, while Mommy and Daddy took the chance to get to know the little girl’s parents.

To end the weekend, we decided to have a nice relaxing day here at home. Victoria had been asking to watch Sleeping Beauty, so she watched while Mommy and Daddy took care of some things around the house. For dinner, we decided to have some family fun and made some pizza mini bagels. We each took turns making them just as we like them. Victoria’s favorite is sauce, cheese, tomatoes and pepperoni. Guess it goes without saying, but this was a very nice ending to another great week!

Here are some pictures from this week…

Sporting her new haircut:
Ready for her camp out:

Continuing to use her sleeping bag after she got home:

Excited to have the park all to ourselves:

Showing some nice throwing form...

Not too bad on the catch either…

Finished making her pizza, now they are ready for the oven…

Ready to dig into her pizza!

As July Comes to an End...

Hello everyone!! Greetings from hot, humid and rainy central Jersey. The weather wreaked havoc on our ability to do things outside this week. When it was not raining, it was incredibly hot and humid. So, we tried to have our fair share of fun inside this week. All-in-all, mission accomplished. As always, we had doctor’s appointments 3 days this week. One was a follow-up to Victoria’s ENT surgery from a few weeks back where the doctor was very pleased with how things are progressing (so, we don’t need to go back for 3 months). Another visit was to the eye doctor. There was some concern about Victoria’s vision and a possible astigmatism. Our concerns were subsided during the appointment when the doctor told us good news. Victoria’s vision is currently checking at 20/20, there is no current need to glasses and all other factors are within acceptable levels. We are so happy that little Miss keeps coming up with good results.

Victoria had another fun-filled week at day camp this week. They have a different theme each week, with matching vendors. This week was a western theme and Victoria went on her first official pony ride. You may remember a few months back that we tried to get her on a pony ride. At that time, she just settled for petting the pony and riding in a carriage that it pulled. This time proved much different as she showed no fear and jumped right up on the pony for a ride. Actually, she must have played her cards right, because she wound up getting 3 rides!!

On the home front, little Miss has taken a liking to building forts in the living room after diner. She meticulously ensures that all of the corners are tucked and supported. Unfortunately, she takes so much time setting it up that, by the time she finishes putting it together, it is time to clean up and take her bath before bedtime.

August is upon us and that means that we are only about one full month away from Victoria’s first day in school. In the coming weeks, we will have the chance to go to the school for an orientation and for Victoria to meet her teacher. We’ve been talking to her about starting school. When she first realized that she would be at school and we would both be at work, she said “But, the house will cry!”…very sweet and very funny. She is a little hesitant about starting, but she is sure to love it when she actually gets there. So, since it was raining heavily today, we headed out to the store to start school shopping. This, of course, Victoria loved as she saw all of the fun things that she will get to use when school starts. See Victoria, school is cool!!

We also used to weather as an opportunity to take Victoria to her first movie…and it was in 3D no less (seems like all of the kids movies out right now are in 3D). She was excited all day about going and really enjoyed the movie (Ice Age 3) along with a few snacks (some popcorn and a few M&M’s). She even loved the glasses. Of course, there is a chance that she will now thinks that you have to wear funny glasses to go to the movies….as she would say “So funny!”

Here are some pictures from this week…

Hanging out at the entrance to her fort:

Posing with her fort…it really was quite big:

She was all smiles while riding the pony:

Sporting her bandana in front of the pony during western week at day camp:

Ready to see her first movie...in 3D:

Fighting the sun in front of the movie billboard:

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”!