Thursday, July 25, 2013

It's that time of year again

We are once again preparing to file a post-adoption report with the Russian government.  All in all, we need to file four post adoption reports: at six months and one year after adoptio (ones we've already completed), at two years (due this year) and a final one in 2014 at three years after adoption.  We're filing these primarily because we promised we would: Elena is still a Russian citizens, and the state has an understandable interest in her welfare.

Last year, though, there was the added incentive that not filing the required post-adoption report could affect those families that were currently in the middle of their adoption process in a negative way.  This year, however, the Russian governement halted US adoption of Russian orphans, so there are no  American families currently in the middle of their adoption process.

We're still filing, of course, and preparing the report gives us an opportunity to look over the last year's worth of pictures; always fun for any reason.  But it's a bit sad that our timely filing won't actually make a damn bit of difference to anyone.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

The power of stories

Elena's always been fascinated by books and stories, ever since she first came home - likely because, I think, no one ever sat down and read a book to Elena in the orphanage, and so the experience was new and fascinating.  I've told this story before, but bear with me:

For a few weeks or so, when Elena first came home sitting down to "read books" meant having her randomly page through the book, pointing out objects, and naming them.  She didn't yet understand that a book is read from front to back and contained a story.

That is, until one night when I forced us to read through "The Cat in the Hat," (or the "кошка в шапка" -- koshka f shapka--as we read it) reading every word in order. She was kind of fussy, but less so when I did it the next night.  More importantly, the act of reading the whole book showed Elena it contained more than just words and pictures - it contained a story. I could almost see the lightbulb go on in her head when she figured that out.