Update on Anya aka "The Rascal"

Our time has been so consumed with Oksana lately that I haven't had the chance to update on Anya in awhile!  She will be home 9 months on the 20th.  It's hard to believe!  Here are some bullet points on Anya:

-Her sign vocabulary is huge (I can't count it anymore) but the astounding thing has been her verbal skills.  They have exploded.  Now....people outside of our family don't understand her and she is still speaking in one word sentences but her progress is really astounding (though the other day she did say "more ham").  She still struggles with the concept of yes and no and doesn't understand questions well.  She has a long way to go but she's doing amazing!

-Her behavior has been....well not good since coming home.  She is doing much better with behavior but this child will always test every limit and push every boundary.  That's just how she is.  She's got a little streak of aggressiveness that comes out now and then.  It most often comes out when she is stressed, overstimulated, or with someone new (she was aggressive with the OT evaluating her for school).  Occasionally it comes out at home and it seems to be more boundary testing here than anything.   The great thing is that I'm not disciplining her CONSTANTLY like I was in the beginning.  She is getting much better with her boundaries and doing well.

-Anya starts Kindergarten next month.  I can hardly believe it.  I have to admit that it may be really hard on me.  4 months ago or so I would have given anything to be rid of her for a day!!!  Now that the day is finally nearing I'm going to miss her so much.  The good news is she has a FANTASTIC teacher and is in a fabulous class.  I know she will thrive there but I also know the first couple of weeks will be very hard for her.

-Anya has a best friend.  He is red, fuzzy, and his name is "Melbow" :).  One day we were in Target and I picked up a LOL Elmo to show her.  She got an absolute kick out of him but he was $40!  I told my mom she could get it for her birthday but likely he would end up in the bottom of a toy box within a week.  Well she got it and for the last 2 months this Elmo has been at Anya's side day in and day out.  He goes everywhere with us, he has been sent down slides, worn my clothes, ridden our dog, sat in every grocery cart she sits in, been swung around by his arms until one broke, been kissed and smashed, and eaten every meal with her....and he looks like it!  When he finally bit the dust and was unable to LOL anymore we decided he had to go and there was no way that we were forking out $40 every two months to get new LOL Elmos.  Then what would happen when they don't make those anymore?!  With our luck he would become the rare $100 LOL Elmo!!  So we ordered a stuffed Elmo that looks just the same but doesn't talk.  Today he came in the mail and he easily replaced LOL Elmo though she did try to squeeze his foot to see if he would talk to her :)!  If this guy is destroyed in 2 months at least he will only cost us about $13!  He's already been tortured plenty today and good old LOL Elmo is going into retirement!!!

-Anya goes to Sunday school at church and LOVES it!  We were all worried and made sure to get her a shadow to be with her each week.  Well the shadow says Anya does so great in there that she ends up helping the other kids!  Now when the shadow isn't there Anya just goes in without her.  They all love her and besides and occasional problem with eating play dough she has done great.  We have her in the 3 year old class and it is a perfect fit for her.  She is the exact same size as all of them but developmentally she is behind them but that's just fine.  It has been so nice to go to church and actually be able to listen again!

-Anya ADORES her brothers.  Oh my goodness she just thinks they are the best things in the world.  They adore her too....and don't let them tell you otherwise ;).  Really her attachment to our whole family is coming along nicely.  Don't get me wrong, we still work on indiscriminate affection and appropriateness with strangers but we are leap years ahead of where we were.

-She is a music fanatic.  This girl loves music!  When her favorite songs come on she cheers because she is so excited.  She loves the music from VBS, of course she loves anything Signing Time, and tow of her favorite songs on the radio right now are Gold by Britt Nichole and Strangely Dim by Francesca Battistelli.

Enough with the blabbing.  Here are some pictures and videos.  The videos are of her signing some of her ABCs (by letter J she just wanted to see herself, one of her favorite past times), and of her saying "more ham" (it's pretty cute!).

Anya and Oksana taking self portraits on my phone :)

My little rascal.  She loves self portraits!

High heel boots and a pull up (with Melbow, of course)

What can I say....she likes shoes.  Notice that Melbow is right behind her.  He's never far!

The new Melbow that replaced LOL Elmo.  I'm so sorry little guy, it's going to be a rough life!