Mail 18 - June 19th
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Mail 18 - June 19th |
June 19
Hello! Things are going great.
Everyone is just in love with Nelly. She is adorable, and friendly with new people as long as they are in small (four or less) groups. She likes her room, and sleeps with a stuffed toy, and plays happily with Bella's toys - Barbie's, Polly Pockets, Bratz, as well as listening to Britney Spears continually! Her English has improved significantly in 3 days - I asked her why and she told me "I listen to Britney and watch Disney Channel to learn so good English." That's quite a big sentence and I was so proud. My daughter learned English from Britney Spears - oh, well. When she starts with "Oh, my God...shut up!" I'll know it's time to switch to OPB.
She LOVES Dinah, and the other animals as well. No meltdowns, no pouting, no tears, no snippiness since we came home.
Today we went to the local library where they have a section of about 300 books in Russian. They have kids books, classics, novels, school books, Harry Potter...she checked out two books in Russian; Wizard Of Oz and a scary werewolf sort of thing. It's kids book, so it's probably not too scary. I guess if it is, I'll find out....
Then we went to the Russian deli where all the ladies made a huge fuss over her, gave her a peroshki and some candy. We bought Russian hot dogs, cherry juice and black bread, and of course, chocolate. :-)
This kid puts mayonaise on everything - pizza, macaroni & cheese, hot dogs, cucumbers, bread, rice, mashed potatoes...yick. At least she eats, I guess. She has found that some American foods taste "wierd" to her, ketchup in particular. She says the Coca Cola is different, too, but since I don't drink it, I'll take her word for it.
She is an excellent swimmer and is helping to convince Bella to try to swim. Bella has been afraid to try, even through two rounds of swimming lessons. Yesterday, she used waterwings and took her feet off the bottom for the first time - good big sister influence! We have wonderful neighbors who are very generous with their pool, and an afternoon of swimming was a huge highlight for Nelly.She talked about it all evening. The afternoon brought out the freckles on her nose, and now she is even cuter!
Nelly also draws well and does calligraphy. She is a well rounded, smart, kind, wonderful kid. Today she bought some Portland postcards for her friends in Ukraine and is excited to show them her city.
We are going to a party tonight, so we'll see how that goes. I told her all she has to do is smile, say "hello" and "thank you". There will be lots of other kids, and a big screen TV, so she'll be fine. :-)
This has been a way easier adjustment than we deserve...I let you know if/when the other shoe falls!
Love, Liz