Day 3 - Meeting the Bulgarian Beauty!

So much to tell so here we go. When we got to the orphanage we were informed that the director was not there which was kind of a bummer since we were anxious to ask questions, learn more about Anya, and meet some other kids who are being adopted or are listed and need updated pictures. They said that we will see her tomorrow so in the meantime they brought us in to see the social worker. The first thing she said is "You have kind of a naughty one. She runs and she probably won't listen to you." Ummmm....that makes her naughty? We were kind of expecting that. Still, we braced ourselves. Next thing we know she came bursting through the door. She wasn't sure what was going on, just checking things out. She gave us 5 and then proceeded to slap Larry across the face! Never fear, this is just her way of interacting with people so we taught her her first English word...gentle...and within 15 minutes she knew what we meant and was doing fantastic! They told us that we could go outside to play with her so we found a spot to play where there were no other kids and just tried to slowly interact with her. She was a joy! Sweet, sweet, sweet and happy. I'm so impressed with her. She is engaging and smart as a whip. We couldn't believe the things she was doing and picking up from us. She is a sensory seeker big time. She loves for toys to give her sensory input and she is very oral. We learned this the hard way with the bubble wand! By the end we just had to dump the bubble liquid so she could "dip" the stick and mouth it! She sat by her daddy with me across from her and played for quite awhile and then she spent the rest of the time on my lap letting me tickle her, play, and kiss on her. And oh...this little girl is the SPITTING IMAGE of me as a child! I was amazed! She is not verbal at all from what we could tell and we expected that. She did imitate the word "Boo" during peek-a-boo but did not produce any words of her own. She does make noises and still does a good job of communicating her needs. After our time outside was up we got to feed her lunch. I was thrilled to see this since the report had indicated some feeding problems. We saw none. She was a great eater and again used it as a sensory experience by tapping her spoon on anything that would make noise! When it was time to leave she covered her head so they wouldn't see her because she didn't want to go! So I'll shut up now and let you see pictures. If you are my friend on Facebook you've seen these.

We will meet with her now Tuesday through Friday from about 9am to 12 then at 12 we will get to feed her lunch and she will be off for a nap. Tomorrow we will also meet with the director. I'm looking forward to that. I'll update again tomorrow!