Monday, December 22, 2008

No School!!!

Yesterday we had church. Anastasia is handling meeting new people much better, not that I blame her for being shy! She went into church with me for praise, then I took her back into the children's theater. She sat with me and watched, then once it was over she ran around like a crazy girl, just like the rest of them, dancing and singing.
Then last night we had our Welcome Christmas party for the children in Atlanta. It was a little more planned than I would have liked, but it was nice and very much appreciated. Each child had a sponser that bought them 3 gifts and sat with us for dinner. Our sponsers were very sweet and we enjoyed talking with them. Being around the translators was a little intimidating. Although they seemed very pleased with how well Anastasia was doing, and how pretty she looked. She calls all caregivers Mama, which I already knew, but I must say it did spark Mommy jealousy on my part. I have notices she does make a point to call me Mommy most of the time now, which I do think is different than Mama. One of the chaperones/translators took a picture of Anastasia and I to send back to our orphanage to show them how well she is doing.
Anastasia told the translator that she is having fun and she likes it here. She also told her that Ginger the dog pooped on the floor in her room, she was not happy about that. The translator just laughed. She also said she was very upset that she had left her other purse behind at the orphanage because it would have matched the dress she had on, and that the purse she had with her did not match!!! Oh, my we are in for it!
Santa was there for the kids and she told him she wants a purse and a phone for Christmas! Oh boy.
First thing when we got there I took her to go to the bathroom. She told me that she is Nastia, not Anastasia. When she first got here she told me "me Anastasia". When she comes home forever we don't plan on calling her Nastia unless she insists as it could cause some teasing. So we have decided for now we will call her Anastasia most of the time with a Nastia thrown in there to make her feel like we are not making her choose, or that they are referring to 2 different people. ALTHOUGH Cooper may be up to something, he has told her that his nickname for her is Stacia, and that is what he calls her most of the time.
She has definitly bonded more with the boys. This morning she picked up to foam swords and said "brother" and took off for the bedroom to play swords with Cody. He is very good with her, he paused his computer game to play with her! We went to Target to exchange the PJs her sponsers got her because they didn't fit. Then I took the kids to see Despereaux, they all said they liked it, but I must say not so sure I did. It was a little dreary and somewhat complex. Also it shows a father giving up his daughter as baby (he cannot take care of her), she is then enslaved, and later just happens to be reunited with her long lost father. Not really orphan friendly, but I don't think she noticed it.
At dnner she ran to her room to get her Target bag and show Papa her new pajamas. She seems to have a very healthy bonding with even Gary, so I suspect that she has had positive male figures in her life. After dinner Gary went to rent movies, it was supposed to be Cody's turn to go, but he said he didn't want to, so I asked Anastasia if she wanted to go. At first she said no, then when he went to walk out the door she changed her mind. So they brought back a Christmas movie and Cinderella, which she has been singing around the house, so I know she knows it and she was so excited to watch it.

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