Day off.

Today I took Karina to the community pool. She can beg me for hours to take her. She jumps off the diving board with the rest of the kids. I could tell she wanted to make friends with some of the kids there.

She is still very small and skinny. She remembers her birth mother and has shared some memories with us. I think they are typical of a lot of Ukraine children. There is more physical and mental abuse than I would have wanted her or any child to endure. I think she understands that it is all part of the past.

I talked to an old friend today that adopted a toddler from Russia ten years ago. I still remember picking his daughter up ten years ago and thinking how small she was for her age. It was good to hear from him and good to talk to someone who understands.

Papa

Changes

Karina went to the doctor this week just for a check-up. The doctor that did her examination in Ukraine, said that she detected a heart murmur. Well, our doctor didn't. They also measured how tall she was. They had a chart on the wall and she was 55 1/2 inches tall. That means she has grown over three inches in two months!

I was recently looking at pictures while we were in Kiev waiting on the passport. There is really a difference in her looks. I'm wondering how tall she'll be and how much she'll change in a year.

She's picked up several English phrases. 'That's a great idea', 'Very good', 'Put your clothes on'. Can you tell some of the things she hears around here? lol She uses 'put your clothes on' when referring to clothes in any context. Yesterday, we went out to eat with some friends. The husband said something and Karina responded 'Oh, well'. She opened the ketchup bottle and said 'Open the door'. Oh, well, she had the idea anyway. I wish she would understand 'that doesn't match' though. It seems like she pairs her clothes in like colors. Or colors she 'thinks' are alike. I can't get across the idea, yet anyway, that pink and orange don't go together!!

PS - 'put your clothes on' just means change out of play clothes or pajamas. I started worrying that someone might get the wrong idea:0

Good Nutrition

This is a subject I haven't seen discussed on adoption blogs. How much good nutrition affects our adopted children (and others). Yes, people talk about how much their child grows once home, but I've noticed even more. It may be because I was a hairdresser in my pre-stay at home days, but I've really noticed a big difference in Karina's hair. When we were in Ukraine, she wanted to put her hair up, mostly in pigtails. (I don't know what it is with Ukraine orphans and pigtails! lol) Well, I talked her into letting me braid her hair. It looked much better than plain pigtails. At that time, her hair was thin and sparse and almost fuzzy behind her ears, but now, what a difference. Her hair is thick. I never thought her hair would be. It helps a little that I've cut her hair twice since we've been home, but the fuzzy, sparse hair behind the ears is history. This may not be common knowledge, but I learned that when the body is lacking nutrients, it takes them from the hair. The hair needs every nutrient and amino acid that the body needs. Oh, the things we do to our hair!

Too Old for Baby dolls

I told Karina that she needed to clean her room because it was getting so bad you couldn't see the floor. When she cleans, she reorganizes everything. It's kind of funny, I do that too! I like to know that every bit of room is clean. Getting the time to do that is another story!

Anyway, she was going through her toys and decided she didn't need any of the baby doll stuff anymore, the baby, carrier, dishes, blankets, etc. She is twelve now and doesn't play with dolls. Well, she's been twelve ever since March 5, so I didn't understand the sudden change. When Dad got home, she told him the reason. Her fourteen year old friend, adopted from the same orphanage, might come over soon. Karina can't let her friend see her with baby dolls!

First Weeks Home and First Slide show

On Tuesday, Karina will have been home for eight weeks! It's hard to believe that it has been that long already. I thought we lived dull, boring lives, but we've done a a lot in these first few weeks. Karina went for her first nature walk. We brought home eight caterpillars, two Luna moths and six Regalis'. She has, and still is, scared to death of any and every bug, but she wanted to touch these caterpillars and pet them. Our two Luna caterpillars have cocooned and one hatched yesterday. We opened a window and it flew out last night. The other six caterpillars are growing like crazy. So she's getting a firsthand lesson in biology.

We've been to several social outings with our homeschool group. The pictures where she is playing in the water was the first one, volunteering for the local Children's Museum and swimming. The bonus in volunteering for the Children's Museum was that she was able to visit the Museum also. This was her second time to visit. The first time was when we met her when she came for camp over a year ago.

Her sister came for a visit. She lives in another state. This was the first time they had met and they got along great. It's amazing how much alike they are! One was born to us and we had to travel thousands of miles and wait weeks on end for the other one. We went to a cousin's graduation. So she got her picture taken with her two cousins and her grandmother.

We went to see Prince Caspian. She really liked that too. She wanted to go see another movie right after it was over. She's been to Chick-fil-a, the beach, rode on a ferry, witnessed a baptism in a friend's pool, loves going to Sunday School, loves to school at home, and has gone swimming a few times. That's all I can think of right now.

We can't wait to see how she does when she sees her first 4th of July Fireworks show. They put on a huge one at a mall near us.