Two Months Make a Difference

Nina has been with us for 2 months now. The time has gone by so quickly and slowly she is opening up and allowing us to see more of her personality.

She is adjusting extremely well. She knows that we are her family and for almost everything we do she goes through our names. Like for example, "Nina eat, Ellie eat, Nichole eat, Mommy eat, Daddy eat."

Her speech is coming along so well. Actually, she is doing fantastic. There are times when she will say a sentence with perfect grammatical structure, and other times where we can only make out 3 words of what she says, but all in all, she is learning so well. If we try to say the word in Russian, she tells us, "no, no" and will say it in English. She is communicating with signs and words and most of the time we know exactly what she is talking about. She is great at repeating things and loves to sing! As a matter of fact, I think she is learning most of her speech through song and music.

She gives hugs to her sisters (sometimes) and kisses to us (when she asks for one). Ellie gives her too many hugs, and Nichole pushes her over several times a day (yes, our sweet Nichole acts like a bully when it comes to Nina) but overall they get along pretty well. It is sweet that every night they hug and kiss, and occasionally I find Nina and Nichole smiling at each other from across the room. Ellie and Nina get along very well (for as long as Ellie is not trying to hug and kiss non stop)

We think she could be potty trained, but she likes to wear diapers. Really she does, that is something she can say in English and she has said it to me a couple of times. "No, no Nina toilet, Nina diaper, okay mommy?"

Nina is afraid of being left behind, so anytime one of us puts a coat on she is ready to go, "Oh! Nina coat on! Nina go!" It doesn't matter what it is, she wants to be included.

Nina hates snow. She does not like it at all. She also hates cold. Every time we go outside she tells us it is cold, and most people that have talked to Nina and talk to her have been told, "Cold! Nina cold" or "My hands cold!"

She loves dresses but us getting used to wearing pants, and even though she was only used to wearing tights, she now wears socks and even takes them off just like her sisters! I think she feels so free!

Nina is starting to reject some of her background. She does not want Russian words, but if we call her Ninanchka (which she was called as a sweet nickname) she tells us , "No, no Ninanchka, me Nina." We were so unsure about weather to keep her name or not, we thought after 3 1/2 years we could not change her name, but I do wonder now if she would have liked that, if now it would be her new name, given to her by us, her new family. Too late for that!

I was showing Nina pictures of Ukraine and her favorite worker. She could not even remember it, it was so interesting. And she then said, "No, no pictures. Yes pictures Nina, Ellie, Nichole, Mommy, Daddy." makes us wonder all that really took place, but it also reminds us that the orphanage was a sad place to be, and the love she has now is filling her little heart and she feels loved!

So here are some pictures of her 2 month anniversary.

(Sorry, this felt like a ramble post!)