Sunday, August 22, 2010
Family of 5
We finally got a decent picture of the 5 of us all in one shot! Oksana wasn't too sure about what we were all doing so none of her big smiles but we'll take this for now.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Sorting Shapes
I was so excited about this today. Oksana has started correctly identifying and sorting shapes! Great for her English skills and her development! She was not able to do this AT ALL before today. I love how she says "There it is!" every time she finds the right spot for the shape. This is also the first time I've seen her not just frantically throw things together but really look and find solutions. We are going to try to get her something more advanced and with more shapes soon.
Here are some fun pictures of her swinging with her brothers...her new favorite past time!
Here are some fun pictures of her swinging with her brothers...her new favorite past time!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Watching Nina
Wow! 2 posts in one day...I guess it's a good way to get back in the swing of things. This post is mostly for Ellen. Today Clayton had the idea to let Oksana watch video of Nina that Ellen had posted on their blog. I thought it was a great idea since we are going to Skype with them soon and I didn't want her to be shocked that she speaks English now. She loved seeing Nina! We had to watch it over and over and over again. This is what she would do while watching her:
Starting Fresh
I've wondered how and when to start blogging again so today I decided I'm just going to start fresh. Someday I may share more of our past (and current) struggles but not now. I actually lost the cord to our camera somewhere between Kiev and home so I have almost no pictures of our first 2 weeks. No big deal...there's not much I want to remember and we were pretty homebound so it was just the same thing with different outfits. We finally go the new cord so I can post some pictures and video.
2 1/2 weeks makes a big difference in a child's life. Oksana already has a good handful of English words that she is using correctly and she is understanding even more. Behavior continues to be a bit of an issue but it probably will be for a long time and we have seen great improvement since those first days. She is obsessed with balloons, balls, and bubbles...anything round. Her favorite things to do are go for rides in the car, read books (especially if they have a balloon or a ball in them), and play in water....but NOT the bath. She is still petrified of the bath an only plays with water while sitting OUTSIDE of it! She is obsessed with closing doors so we put childproof locks on the rooms we don't want her closing herself in and made sure the others are well childproofed, although she doesn't really get into much.
Here are some recent pictures and a video:
Oksana loves taking walks in her wagon.
She spends most of the time pointing out every car she sees.
Here she is walking her "baby" in the stroller. The baby has also been a balloon :).
She LOVES Elefun.
The best part is putting all of the butterflies back in to do it all over again.
She loves painting!
Here is her first creation.
Today we played with playdough. I made it into a big ball and she thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. We did it over, and over, and over, and over again! Check her out saying "big ball". It's one of just a couple of times I've heard her put 2 words together.
Last week our friends the Urbans came to visit. Charissa was in town with three of their 7 children. We met the Urbans in Kiev when they were in the process of adopting Joseph and Zoya. Zoya has a doctor here in Little Rock that she will need to visit frequently so we are excited to have them over and to continue our friendship with them on this side of the world! Here are pictures of Joseph and Zoya hanging out with us:
More to come when I can!
2 1/2 weeks makes a big difference in a child's life. Oksana already has a good handful of English words that she is using correctly and she is understanding even more. Behavior continues to be a bit of an issue but it probably will be for a long time and we have seen great improvement since those first days. She is obsessed with balloons, balls, and bubbles...anything round. Her favorite things to do are go for rides in the car, read books (especially if they have a balloon or a ball in them), and play in water....but NOT the bath. She is still petrified of the bath an only plays with water while sitting OUTSIDE of it! She is obsessed with closing doors so we put childproof locks on the rooms we don't want her closing herself in and made sure the others are well childproofed, although she doesn't really get into much.
Here are some recent pictures and a video:
Oksana loves taking walks in her wagon.
She spends most of the time pointing out every car she sees.
Here she is walking her "baby" in the stroller. The baby has also been a balloon :).
She LOVES Elefun.
The best part is putting all of the butterflies back in to do it all over again.
She loves painting!
Here is her first creation.
Today we played with playdough. I made it into a big ball and she thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. We did it over, and over, and over, and over again! Check her out saying "big ball". It's one of just a couple of times I've heard her put 2 words together.
Last week our friends the Urbans came to visit. Charissa was in town with three of their 7 children. We met the Urbans in Kiev when they were in the process of adopting Joseph and Zoya. Zoya has a doctor here in Little Rock that she will need to visit frequently so we are excited to have them over and to continue our friendship with them on this side of the world! Here are pictures of Joseph and Zoya hanging out with us:
More to come when I can!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Need a Break
I know from experience that when a family comes home with their child it is so exciting to hear how things are going and see pictures! I swore I wouldn't be one of those people who dropped off of the face of the earth after we came home. I would share about each aspect of our days and adjustment. I just spent 3 days typing and retyping a blog that I just can't bring myself to post. I finally let go of the idea that keeping up on my blog is a necessity.
This is hard, very hard. I don't want to only share the good because it feels too fake, and I'm just not ready to share the bad right now. I need some time and space to work through the feelings and struggles in a safe place, and for me a public blog just isn't the place to do that. I'll pop on now and then. I won't disappear completely and hopefully soon I can get to a place where I can blog more frequently again. Until then thanks for understanding.
This is hard, very hard. I don't want to only share the good because it feels too fake, and I'm just not ready to share the bad right now. I need some time and space to work through the feelings and struggles in a safe place, and for me a public blog just isn't the place to do that. I'll pop on now and then. I won't disappear completely and hopefully soon I can get to a place where I can blog more frequently again. Until then thanks for understanding.
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