Time Flies!!

Wow, we have already been home over 3 weeks! It has been pretty busy around here and Tetyana has probably done more here in American in the last 3 weeks than she has in her life! Baseball is life consuming and we love it! I can't wait until we find what Tetyana's passion is and can watch her also. I have a feeling she will like gymnastics or dance. Then again, I can hardly get her out of the pool, so maybe she will be on a swim team.

This past week when we weren't at baseball the kids were doing all sorts of fun things. Our neighbors and dear friends celebrated their little boys 3rd birthday and invited the kids. This was Tetyana's first American birthday party. They hired a train that took the kids on rides up and down the street. I don't think Tetyana missed one ride and she even drove the train once. We have been practicing the Happy Birthday song and she was singing at the top of her little lungs! She is so social and can just jump right in. Although the children were much younger than both of the kids they both had a great time.

At the party there was food of course, and it was our first lesson on how to eat at a party. It is a little hard to explain the concept of "double dipping" by acting it out! I also had to teach her that she couldn't just put her fork in all of the fruit platter....that the fruit was not a single serving just for her but that it was for all of the guests. You really just don't realized what you teach your kids in the course of a day over several years. She is getting a crash course!

Tetyana continues to love school and waves goodbye to all of her friends like a prom queen when I pick her up. She is happy to get right to her homework and strives to be neat and do it properly. I hope this never changes!!! We are so not used to this, having a boy.

She continues to eat like mad. I am sure it is normal but it does get on my nerves a bit. I am sure you are wondering why on Earth would this bother me. It is hard to be a cook and dishwasher every waking minute. Not to mention the food police to make sure she is eating good, healthy things and not junk. I feel right now she needs all of the nutrients I can possibly get in her, especially for her tooth and bone health. I can't wait to take her measurements in a week or so to see if she has grown already. We will take her to a restaurant where she will eat everything and literally on the way home, she will tell us she is hungry again. I have heard some internationally adopted children do not really recognize when they are truly hungry or not. I wonder how she gets through the day at school!

She is one smart cookie, this girl. She understands so much and picks up new words and phrases every day. She has even figured out how to use the language barrier to her advantage! This morning I was brushing her hair on the way out the door and told her to go get me a hair tie and acted out a rubber band and ponytail. She kept looking at me like she didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I told Drew to watch because I knew she was playing me. We did this dance about 3 times and I told her she would have to wear her hair down. Next thing we know, she has a hair tie! What do you know!!!

Oh yes, back to our busy weekend. We went with the kids God parents to see Horton Hears a Who. This was her first movie. I tried to explain to her before we left what we were doing but I could tell she didn't get the whole picture. Paula, Clay and Luke tried to explain it to her on the way also. She did get the fact that if she didn't finish her lunch, she would not be getting chocolate at the "bih DVD".....remember G's are H's. When she walked into the theater she stopped right away because it was dark. We told her to go ahead and go in. She sat and watched the movie and happily ate her candy! I really wish I could get inside her head to feel what she is feeling and see what she is thinking.

After the movie, we walked around Downtown Disney and she was nearly in heaven. I say nearly because we wouldn't let her buy anything. She tried begging but we stuck firm to our word. She has gotten the idea as every American child has, that you buy something each time you go to any store. Not an idea we are crazy about!

She is convinced she can use her "promotional offer" credit cards to buy some "hum"...gum. I still haven't gotten across to her "pretend" in English or in my poor acting ability. I tried the Ukrainian online dictionary but that didn't work either. Any Ukrainians out there reading?

So that is a long update on Tetyana. I need to get on here more and post more often so I am not writing novelettes. Stay tuned.....I have a post about Luke too coming up!