Elena is still uncomfortable when she goes places that are big or loud or have too many people. We're slowly getting her accustomed to visiting other places, but it takes some time.
Remember that she's used to a relatively quiet, predictable, and regimented life in an orphanage. Doing different things or going different places--something we take for granted--is something that's a new experience for her.
In small doses, though, she's OK. I've brought her shopping a number of times, and she's usually pretty good about that. She likes riding in the cart, and I think rolling down aisles while facing me makes even a large grocery or department store seem smaller, because she can concentrate on a small space.
We just brought her on her first restaurant trip (not counting supper in the DC airport seven hours past her bedtime). Not a restaurant-restaurant, but a fast-food-restaurant. The Wendy's in Hamtramck, to be precise. Elena was mostly OK, but the large and bright dining room (it was sunny outside) was clearly overstimulating, even though there were only a handful of people inside. It didn't help that the women in front of us, although nice enough, seemed not to grasp the "fast" part of "fast food," and spent a full 7-8 minutes clarifying various menu options. Elena took a little walk, though, and was pretty good once we sat down. She got gradually more and more antsy, so we cut the visit a little short, but she did make credible headway into her chicken nuggets and fries, so I think that counts as a success.
Large numbers of people are still overwhelming, though. We attended a small Thanksgiving gathering at Auntie Mary's house, and Elena kept out of the way and stayed with just two or three people the whoe time--seeing all eight or nine people was a little much. Contrariwise, we went to a friend's house, and eight or nine people gathered in the kitched was instantly way too much--too many people, all talking, in a small place. There, we spent some time outside and left soon after.
We just spent dinnertime yesterday at Auntie Val's house (with cousin Helen). This was the second visit there. The first time, it took Elena a half hour or so to feel comfortable (she actually kept her coat on for a while, I assume so that she could make a dash for it if need be). This time it took only about 30 seconds, due in part to Helen's new tramopline, which Elena thought was wonderful. She's now asking when we can go back.
We're on the left. Elena's on the right. She was in Russia. That's why we went.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Merry Christmas
This is Elena's first Christmas here in the US. We opted this year for what we call a "more traditional and natural Christmas tree" but one that most would call a "Charlie Brown Christmas tree." It's main selling point with us was that it was lightweight and Andy could easily carry it tucked under one arm, while I carried Elena back to the car. She quickly got overwhelmed (as we suspected she might) at the busy farmer's market and we made a quick exit--but with a tree!
Though it is less than beautiful, it still has room for presents underneath. Thinking that we didn't want to get someone too excited, we waited until Christmas Eve to put gifts underneath. Hilariously, Elena didn't actually notice (or, rather, didn't categorize the new boxes in the "things to open" category) until we pointed them out on Christmas morning, even after running round and round right past them about a dozen times or more on Christmas Eve.
Anyway, let's see some pictures:
We bought a large sized, 10-doll set of matroyshka dolls on Ebay and used the biggest ones as gift containers. Elena likes these. She calls them "kuklas"--Russian for "doll".
More pictures after the break:
Though it is less than beautiful, it still has room for presents underneath. Thinking that we didn't want to get someone too excited, we waited until Christmas Eve to put gifts underneath. Hilariously, Elena didn't actually notice (or, rather, didn't categorize the new boxes in the "things to open" category) until we pointed them out on Christmas morning, even after running round and round right past them about a dozen times or more on Christmas Eve.
Anyway, let's see some pictures:
 |
| Christmas morning. Can we start now? |
 |
| Elena opening a scary fish bath toy; gift courtesy of Liam Monoghan. |
More pictures after the break:
Saturday, December 24, 2011
UPDATE 4: Television
According to the staff, the kids in the orphanage would occasionally watch music-themed cartoons during their music class. Now that we're back home, we haven't exposed Elena to much television. That's not from any deep discomfort in the idea, but more just because our television is up in the attic, away from the rest of the house, and it's inconvenient to head on up there. We tend not to watch much TV.
There have been a few exceptions, however.
One is watching football. I took Elena upstairs with me to watch part of a game. We've blocked off the attic stairs with a baby gate (they're pretty steep), so it was new and exciting territory for her. I flipped on the television and told her what to watch. The conversation went something like this:
"Ready, Elena? Ready? Watch...go! Run-run-run-run-run-BOOM."
"OooOOOooooo." (Delighted laugh) "More football?"
"Sure. Wait a minute. Ready?..."
Repeated a few dozen times. She eventually tired of watching the screen, but the upstairs was still novel, and she played up there for a half hour or so. After that, she's asked to "watch football?" multiple times, and we've done so occasionally. I half-suspect that she thinks "football" might mean "television," but she's also correctly identified football on the radio, so perhaps not.
The other exception is watching Russian cartoons via YouTube. We thought she might recognize some, and at least be familiar with the cadence of the language. We started with Cheburashka, an iconic Soviet stop-motion cartoon. It's supposedly as familair to Russians as Bugs Bunny or Cookie Monster would be to Americans. We bought a talking Cheburashka doll in Moscow (which Elena loves), so it was an easy place to start. Elena sat on my lap and we watched a few episodes on YouTube. She liked them, but there aren't very many, so as I was looking around for more, I stumbled across "Masha i Medved."
"Masha i Medved" ("Masha and the Bear"" is a pretty recent 3D cartoon; you can check out on this Youtube channel, or, if you're daring, on the official Russian "Masha i Medved" page (ummm... ignore the advertisements on the right-hand side). My personal favorite episode is "Ski!": beautifully told in reverse, from different viewpoints and with almost no words. Teresa likes the "Masha and Kasha" episode. (kasha is oatmeal.) Masha i Medved is based on a traditional Russian folktale about a girl who wanders into the woods and stumbles upon a bear's house. The cartoon version is something of a twist, though; as a hint, Masha calls the bear "Mishka," which means "teddy bear" as opposed to a real bear.
Merry Christmas.
There have been a few exceptions, however.
One is watching football. I took Elena upstairs with me to watch part of a game. We've blocked off the attic stairs with a baby gate (they're pretty steep), so it was new and exciting territory for her. I flipped on the television and told her what to watch. The conversation went something like this:
"Ready, Elena? Ready? Watch...go! Run-run-run-run-run-BOOM."
"OooOOOooooo." (Delighted laugh) "More football?"
"Sure. Wait a minute. Ready?..."
Repeated a few dozen times. She eventually tired of watching the screen, but the upstairs was still novel, and she played up there for a half hour or so. After that, she's asked to "watch football?" multiple times, and we've done so occasionally. I half-suspect that she thinks "football" might mean "television," but she's also correctly identified football on the radio, so perhaps not.
The other exception is watching Russian cartoons via YouTube. We thought she might recognize some, and at least be familiar with the cadence of the language. We started with Cheburashka, an iconic Soviet stop-motion cartoon. It's supposedly as familair to Russians as Bugs Bunny or Cookie Monster would be to Americans. We bought a talking Cheburashka doll in Moscow (which Elena loves), so it was an easy place to start. Elena sat on my lap and we watched a few episodes on YouTube. She liked them, but there aren't very many, so as I was looking around for more, I stumbled across "Masha i Medved."
 |
| Cheburashka doll |
 |
| Masha |
In any case, Lena loves the cartoon. In part, I suspect, because she identifies with the main character. Here, see for yourself:
 |
| Masha i Lena |
So this prompted a Christmas gift this year: Elena's getting a small portable DVD player and a couple Russian DVDs, so she can watch Masha (or Cheburashka) most any time she wants.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
UPDATE 3: Pictures (but not what you think)
This isn't what you think because it's not about us taking pictures of Elena, it's about Elena looking at the pictures we took. We've taken a lot of pictures of her at different times: in the orphanage, in Moscow, and here at home with the idea of documenting things for her, as best we can. The pictures tell her story--at least part of it. We want her to remember her story, understand her story, and think about it when she needs to.
Like I said, we have a lot of pictures; the best ones you've seen posted on the blog here. So we collected the ones we thought would be most important for Elena and made them into a book:
We used Blurb to print the book--they have a downloadable program where you can drag-and-drop pictures into formatted pages, and the final product is pretty high-quality. We tried to organize the pictures so that they tell the story from Elena's perspective. We made four copies: one for Elena to look through now, one to keep for her for later, and two more for the grandparents (so if you know the grandparents, ask them for a peek!)
An interesting thing about the book is not just the pictures, but which ones Elena pays attention to. We've paged through the book numerous times, and there are a handful of pictures Elena returns to. First are the pictures at the very front that show her playroom in the orphanage. Elena points out the toys in the room that are on the shelves behind the kids. A doll stroller, a little telephone, play spoons and teapot. There are not too many toys there for the kids to play with. In that same section of the book she also asks to see the pictures we have of "snacktime" at the orphanage, with her and the other children at their little tables eating wafer cookies and pears.
Next are the handful of pictures at the very back that show her bedroom in our house. I think Elena likes having a bedroom of her own, but she also likes the recursive nature of sitting in her bedroom chair and pointing out the picture of her bedroom chair, as well as the other objects in the room.
She usually looks at the picture of the small propeller airplane that flies from Kotlas to Arkhangelsk. I like to think she recognizes that flight as an exciting, new point in her life. But she repeats the droning propeller noise, so it may just be that she was favorably impressed by how boneshakingly loud it was on that plane:) RRRROWWWRRROOWWWRRROOWWW!
She also likes the couple pictures of her in the bathtub that were taken when we stayed in the fancy Moscow hotel. For whatever reason, bathtime is one of her favorite times of the day, so seeing herself in the bath is a plus. Those baths in Moscow were probably her very first to be enjoyable, where she could take time, feel relaxed and play with someone in the warm water. I'm pretty sure the orphanage schedule and budget leave no room for bath fun and toys.
Over the years, the pictures she notices and feel most important to her will probably change as her outlook, emotions and knowledge grow and mature.
Like I said, we have a lot of pictures; the best ones you've seen posted on the blog here. So we collected the ones we thought would be most important for Elena and made them into a book:
 |
| Elena's book |
We used Blurb to print the book--they have a downloadable program where you can drag-and-drop pictures into formatted pages, and the final product is pretty high-quality. We tried to organize the pictures so that they tell the story from Elena's perspective. We made four copies: one for Elena to look through now, one to keep for her for later, and two more for the grandparents (so if you know the grandparents, ask them for a peek!)
An interesting thing about the book is not just the pictures, but which ones Elena pays attention to. We've paged through the book numerous times, and there are a handful of pictures Elena returns to. First are the pictures at the very front that show her playroom in the orphanage. Elena points out the toys in the room that are on the shelves behind the kids. A doll stroller, a little telephone, play spoons and teapot. There are not too many toys there for the kids to play with. In that same section of the book she also asks to see the pictures we have of "snacktime" at the orphanage, with her and the other children at their little tables eating wafer cookies and pears.
Next are the handful of pictures at the very back that show her bedroom in our house. I think Elena likes having a bedroom of her own, but she also likes the recursive nature of sitting in her bedroom chair and pointing out the picture of her bedroom chair, as well as the other objects in the room.
She usually looks at the picture of the small propeller airplane that flies from Kotlas to Arkhangelsk. I like to think she recognizes that flight as an exciting, new point in her life. But she repeats the droning propeller noise, so it may just be that she was favorably impressed by how boneshakingly loud it was on that plane:) RRRROWWWRRROOWWWRRROOWWW!
She also likes the couple pictures of her in the bathtub that were taken when we stayed in the fancy Moscow hotel. For whatever reason, bathtime is one of her favorite times of the day, so seeing herself in the bath is a plus. Those baths in Moscow were probably her very first to be enjoyable, where she could take time, feel relaxed and play with someone in the warm water. I'm pretty sure the orphanage schedule and budget leave no room for bath fun and toys.
Over the years, the pictures she notices and feel most important to her will probably change as her outlook, emotions and knowledge grow and mature.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
UPDATE 2: Food preferences
I've had a couple posts on food preferences, and now that we've had some time to experiment, it's time for an update.
The neat thing, from my perspective, is that Elena's pretty game to try new foods. Sometimes she won't like the new thing, and she'll spit it back out (neatly, into my hand, or a napkin), but the important thing is she's game to try. And she's liked a suprisingly wide variety of things so far. About the only things she consistently turns down are spicy or pungent foods. She's not a fan of hot sauce or spiced foods of any variety, and there's a limit on how flavorful a cheese can get before she turns it down. She loves pointing and calling calling hot sauce "eh-ooh-ur-ee-ah-ook-[make a face, frown]" Huzzah for onomatopoeia.)
After trying horse radish, it was a "Nyet" for a minute of watery eyes, then it was a Da. "More!" "Are you sure Elena?", and she said "Da, Fun!" Its hard to predict what she will like.
Also--and this is probably not surprising to many of you--her like of certain foods is situational. She's more apt to request more of something when she's grazing, or if trying a food when helping with cooking or baking--she likes to sample ingedients to become part of the process herself. As an example, she's perfectly happy sampling a raw carrot when Teresa's making a salad, but no way will she eat one as part of a meal. If she can pick it herself she is more likely to eat a little of it--tomatoes, arugula and cabbage are examples, but not brocolli.
As for her favorite foods, she's a big fan of milk products. Milk itself, of course, but she also likes mild cheeses, and she especially likes sour cream and yogurt (even unsweetened). I think she enjoys the texture of the yogurt more than anything. At first she only liked the dry-mix-made milk. We suspect that was what she had at the orphanage, but now she drinks regular vitamin D milk from the store.
Meat products are a little more difficult. There are a few things she'll eat without any real enthusiasm, and we were hard pressed to find anything she liked until (at the suggestion of multiple sources) we gave her some chicken nuggets. Those were a big hit. We also found these little meat pies from a local Russian market that she likes. I'm a bit suprised at that, because the meat is noticably spiced (although not "hot"). I suspect she likes, in part, the experience of holding the meatpie and biting off pieces. Maybe the pies are a familiar flavor from Russia?
However, we've had better luck with non-meat protein sources. Eggs she likes, and peanut butter, and she'll even eat hoummus (the texture thing again, I think). However, her absolute favorite new food bar none so far is refried beans. I doubt she got a lot of refried beans in the orphanage (not a huge Mexican immigrant population in northern Russia), but when we get takout Mexican (from Mi Pueblo, which she hilariously pronounces as "Ne Plop-plop") she will demolish the rice and beans.
Oh!...and she still loves caviar. "Ikra" in Russian, which she pronounces "Eeka".
Elena's usually pretty good about bread products; I think she's only turned down crusty bread that's hard to bite off and chew. Tortilla chips are also a big hit, so she's turning into quite the Mexican food lover.
Fruits of course are much easier to feed her than vegetables. Fresh fruit, juice, or applesauce are all welcomed; vegetables, barring the occasional grazing during food prep, not so much. Bananas and pears are OK but not oranges, "Nye apleseen-(no orange)!" We did find a Gerber toddler's stew with a nice mix of meat, pasta, and vegetables that Elena likes. She's been eating that quite a bit, mostly for the vegetables while we find things to expand her accepted menu, but recently has shown signs of being sick of the stuff. And, interestingly, she loves spinach pie. Go figure.
And, of course, desserts haven't been much of a problem. She has, I think, only recently discovered chocolate and adores it; even the faintly bitter high-cocoa-content stuff.
The neat thing, from my perspective, is that Elena's pretty game to try new foods. Sometimes she won't like the new thing, and she'll spit it back out (neatly, into my hand, or a napkin), but the important thing is she's game to try. And she's liked a suprisingly wide variety of things so far. About the only things she consistently turns down are spicy or pungent foods. She's not a fan of hot sauce or spiced foods of any variety, and there's a limit on how flavorful a cheese can get before she turns it down. She loves pointing and calling calling hot sauce "eh-ooh-ur-ee-ah-ook-[make a face, frown]" Huzzah for onomatopoeia.)
After trying horse radish, it was a "Nyet" for a minute of watery eyes, then it was a Da. "More!" "Are you sure Elena?", and she said "Da, Fun!" Its hard to predict what she will like.
Also--and this is probably not surprising to many of you--her like of certain foods is situational. She's more apt to request more of something when she's grazing, or if trying a food when helping with cooking or baking--she likes to sample ingedients to become part of the process herself. As an example, she's perfectly happy sampling a raw carrot when Teresa's making a salad, but no way will she eat one as part of a meal. If she can pick it herself she is more likely to eat a little of it--tomatoes, arugula and cabbage are examples, but not brocolli.
As for her favorite foods, she's a big fan of milk products. Milk itself, of course, but she also likes mild cheeses, and she especially likes sour cream and yogurt (even unsweetened). I think she enjoys the texture of the yogurt more than anything. At first she only liked the dry-mix-made milk. We suspect that was what she had at the orphanage, but now she drinks regular vitamin D milk from the store.
Meat products are a little more difficult. There are a few things she'll eat without any real enthusiasm, and we were hard pressed to find anything she liked until (at the suggestion of multiple sources) we gave her some chicken nuggets. Those were a big hit. We also found these little meat pies from a local Russian market that she likes. I'm a bit suprised at that, because the meat is noticably spiced (although not "hot"). I suspect she likes, in part, the experience of holding the meatpie and biting off pieces. Maybe the pies are a familiar flavor from Russia?
However, we've had better luck with non-meat protein sources. Eggs she likes, and peanut butter, and she'll even eat hoummus (the texture thing again, I think). However, her absolute favorite new food bar none so far is refried beans. I doubt she got a lot of refried beans in the orphanage (not a huge Mexican immigrant population in northern Russia), but when we get takout Mexican (from Mi Pueblo, which she hilariously pronounces as "Ne Plop-plop") she will demolish the rice and beans.
Oh!...and she still loves caviar. "Ikra" in Russian, which she pronounces "Eeka".
Elena's usually pretty good about bread products; I think she's only turned down crusty bread that's hard to bite off and chew. Tortilla chips are also a big hit, so she's turning into quite the Mexican food lover.
Fruits of course are much easier to feed her than vegetables. Fresh fruit, juice, or applesauce are all welcomed; vegetables, barring the occasional grazing during food prep, not so much. Bananas and pears are OK but not oranges, "Nye apleseen-(no orange)!" We did find a Gerber toddler's stew with a nice mix of meat, pasta, and vegetables that Elena likes. She's been eating that quite a bit, mostly for the vegetables while we find things to expand her accepted menu, but recently has shown signs of being sick of the stuff. And, interestingly, she loves spinach pie. Go figure.
And, of course, desserts haven't been much of a problem. She has, I think, only recently discovered chocolate and adores it; even the faintly bitter high-cocoa-content stuff.
Friday, December 9, 2011
UPDATE 1: Language
It's been a while since we've updated this blog, and that's mostly on purpose: the intention of the blog was to let people know how our trips to Russia were panning out; now that we're home, I don't really want to turn it into a "funny thing our kid did today" blog.
But there are still some things that are related to travel, and Russia, and orphanages, that are interesting, so I'll do some occasional updates. The first one is on language.
Probably the most common question we get asked is how well we can communicate with Elena, and how quickly she's learning English. I'm going to answer that question, in the form of "Tips for parents thinking of adopting Russian chlidren."
TIP 1: Buy a Russian-for-adoptive-parents book. We bought "Russian Phrases for Children;" it includes two pocket-sized phrasebooks (one for each parent!) and an audio CD. The phrasebooks (and CD) are divided up by use: basic questions (are you hungry?), directives (come here), endearments (sweetie), and the like, so it's pretty easy to find what you want. We memorized a few phrases and were able to look up more, so we could actually hold a mini-conversation with Elena in Russian right away. Totally worth the money, because it really smoothed the language barrier.
TIP 2: Memorize a few basic words. It's not that hard. Yes and no. Come here. Would you like this? What's that? Who, what, where. Hungry, thirsty, pee, poop. Hi, bye. That collection of words got us a long way in communication.
TIP 3: сказать. "сказать" is Russian for "say," as in "say please." That's one word that *wasn't* in our phrasebook, yet is extraordinarily useful. How can you teach English without asking someone to say the Englich word?
TIP 4: Caca. Yeah, caca, but not what you think. (more after the jump)
But there are still some things that are related to travel, and Russia, and orphanages, that are interesting, so I'll do some occasional updates. The first one is on language.
Probably the most common question we get asked is how well we can communicate with Elena, and how quickly she's learning English. I'm going to answer that question, in the form of "Tips for parents thinking of adopting Russian chlidren."
TIP 1: Buy a Russian-for-adoptive-parents book. We bought "Russian Phrases for Children;" it includes two pocket-sized phrasebooks (one for each parent!) and an audio CD. The phrasebooks (and CD) are divided up by use: basic questions (are you hungry?), directives (come here), endearments (sweetie), and the like, so it's pretty easy to find what you want. We memorized a few phrases and were able to look up more, so we could actually hold a mini-conversation with Elena in Russian right away. Totally worth the money, because it really smoothed the language barrier.
TIP 2: Memorize a few basic words. It's not that hard. Yes and no. Come here. Would you like this? What's that? Who, what, where. Hungry, thirsty, pee, poop. Hi, bye. That collection of words got us a long way in communication.
TIP 3: сказать. "сказать" is Russian for "say," as in "say please." That's one word that *wasn't* in our phrasebook, yet is extraordinarily useful. How can you teach English without asking someone to say the Englich word?
TIP 4: Caca. Yeah, caca, but not what you think. (more after the jump)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)