"Over There"

1. Ana and Papa at Pepper's Pizza
2. Ana and Aunt Helen and Grandpapa's birthday party
3. Ana kisses Melany at Danny's Dissertation-Defense Party

[Phil]
We haven't really updated in a while, but I can't say that there's a lot to tell. Ana continues her progress learning English, and one of her favorite things to say is "over there", thus the title of this post. She also says "thank you", "no", "yes" (which sounds more like "yesh"), "Lola, no!", "sorry, Mama" and "Harold" (when she wants to watch "Harold and the Purple Crayon" on TV). She also says "what?" a lot, and we're not sure whether it's because her hearing may be impaired (as with a lot of cleft palate kids) or if it's just kind of a knee-jerk 4 year-old thing to say in response to any statement.

We're continuing with gymnastics, and Ana got very wide-eyed today when a somewhat older girl (maybe 6) was in our class and did a cartwheel on the balance beam. Our class is kind of a do-it-yourself thing, however, so she'll have to wait until she gets in a more regimented class to actually learn how to do things like that. For now we jump on the trampoline, do somersaults on the mat, swing from the parallel bar, etc. It's just to get the children acquainted with the concept of gymnastics.

Preschool continues to go well. She seems to have made a number of friends there despite the language barrier. I suppose it helps that we have a very international preschool -- there are a lot of kids from Asia and Latin America, and even one from Russia in her class. The Russian girl doesn't seem to remember Russian very well, but she did say "Privet!" ("Hey!") to me the other day.

[Robin]
She has really being learning new things every week. Ana now knows her way around town and can tell when we are on the way to school or going home ("doma"). She also surprised me the other day when we were on the way to the grocery store and she pointed out the window and said she wanted to go swing and she was pointing right at the driveway of the community center.

When we can get her distracted from wanting to play "Mishka" ("Bear" - where she either chases us or one of us chases her), she has really enjoyed playing games on the computer (she has gotten to be very good with maneuvering the mouse) , completing a US state jigsaw puzzle, dancing to tunes on her boom box, and braiding/arranging Mama's hair.

She loves going over to Carmen's house, and it has been a joy to watch her develop a relationship with her. Now when there are five objects in a book to be "divided"-one goes to Papa, one to Mama, one to Lola and one to Carmen. This bonding has been so easy that last night when we wanted to help another couple get ready for their adoptive trip to Ukraine, we had Carmen jump in to take her for an hour---Ana had no tears, or even sadness at this prospect-- just "bye Mama!" when we dropped her off.

Here's one funny story about Ana. Last night when we were getting ready to go meet the couple, I was looking around for my purse. Ana was excited to be going over to Carmen's and was ready and waiting with her coat on at the door. She asked impatiently "Carmen?" And I said, "Yes, as soon as Mama finds her money." Ana said "Oh" and dashed off to another room. She came back a few minutes later and said "Here, Mama" and handed me a few coins she had squirreled away for her piggy bank. It was so cute and smart.