Michael & Liz are Bloggable

I have been waiting all day to write this post. Mainly because over the past few weeks I have been blogging and commenting on Liza and Gryffin and what Liz and I are doing and there has been almost no mention of Daisy. It really came clear today what I want to say and that's why I've been waiting to blog about it.

Originally I was going to make this an actually poem the way "odes" should be but there is no way I'm going to post a poem in our blog(let alone write one) so this will just be in normal story-telling, blog, format. And no I won't sing it either.

To put it bluntly, Daisy has been taking a lot of crap lately.

We adopted Gryffin in May. She immediately had to get along with another dog in the house. She has embraced Gryffin and they have become best friends. The one problem is that Gryffin is an attention stealer. If Daisy is getting pet, then Gryffin steps in front to get the love too. If Daisy is laying near the window, Gryffin squeezes in between her and the window. Remember when I said Gryffin was a snuggler, well Daisy bears the brunt of it a lot. She graciously relinquishes her spots without any fuss or anger. She holds no grudges and quickly finds another spot just as good. Here is an example, what was originally a spacious resting place, is now a crowded, uncomfortable corner of the chair:


Now that we are taking care of Liza, Daisy has to handle more inconveniences. Daisy doesn't mind being held but she doesn't prefer it. On Sunday we all went to the Children of Chernobyl orientation picnic and Daisy and Gryffin were hits of the party with all the kids. I pretty much just sat in the grass with them as an endless line of kids sat with me in a circle to play with the dogs. Daisy was uncomfortably picked up, passed around, and one time kicked and one time dropped and she never changed her behavior. Not a human in the world contains the amount of patience that Daisy possesses and with such little animosity or frustration. Call it being a dumb dog but to me it's admirable. And for any dog owner you would understand what I'm about to say, I wish this was something I could express to her. I could just see the look in her eyes the whole time saying "well... ok... be careful... ouch that hurts... I'm not sure I like this." She was clearly uncomfortable the whole time but there wasn't a moment during the picnic did I think Daisy would have snapped at the kids. She was a true lady =P.

Like I said above, she was kicked and dropped during the picnic by a couple of the kids and she doesn't react or show any signs of snapping at them. It was so cute, the second she got kicked (although accidentally), she put her tail between her legs and ran to stand between mine. It was very precious.

She also has become such a wonderful house dog. She has not pooped or peed in the house in many many months. She never ever barks or makes a sound. She is hardly ever demanding of us in any way as far as whining or crying goes. She sleeps hard but plays hard too. She is extremely fast and loves to run around the back yard and can have a TON of energy if she gets a fire lit under her. When we have to leave the house, all we have to do is show her a treat and start walking to her crate and she'll hop in without any fuss or disagreement.

I am not going to act like we can take credit for her. I think dog behavior is hard to change and for the most part, an owners influence usually just amplifies or dulls the traits of a dog. So really I think we just inherited this wonderful animal and got incredibly lucky. But I am going to go out on a limb and say that Daisy is the perfect dog and the last month has really convinced me of that. I can't believe she's ours.


*DISCLAIMER* - I realize there are many readers who also have dogs and think theirs is perfect as well... ... ...that's cool too... we're both right.

We were asked to upload a video of Liza talking. I am SURE we are going to have more of them, but here is the first:

We were trying to get her to say "rain". For some reason the second she saw rain, she wanted to be out in it. So she went out and danced in the rain and that is the conversation we had after it.

Some of the words said in the video:

Ya nee pahnee mayoo: "I don't understand."

Kak: "how?"

Here is the video of her dancing in the rain, she's such a goof ball:

This will be a long post because there is a long story behind it.

Yesterday after work we were trying to tell Liza our plans for the weekend. We wanted to go to the pool on Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. We also tried to tell her we wanted to take her to dinner at a restaurant and then Frankie's Fun Park on Friday night. That's all we tried to convey.

She did not want to go to the pool and had no interest in it. She tried to tell us that she couldn't swim and so she can't go. She was dead set on not being involved in pool activities. In every way possible we tried to say "you don't need to swim to go in the pool", "you can stand in the pool", "the pool is shallow", "the pool is fun", "the pool not deep". But in her own little way she shakes her head with a very strong "no"! I'm sure you can imagine both our and her frustrations.

We also tried to say we were going to a "fun park tonight", "We were going to a restaurant tonight" and she would constantly shake her head no and finally I had her write down what she wanted to say and she did with 4 exclamation points. Of course the translation site I use didn't translate it(we have a feeling her spelling isn't great). I finally said "you want a boring night? do nothing?" and she said "da".

This is the part of the story where Liz and I made a big mistake. We decided to call the interpreter to help understand her. Mistake doesn't even describe it though. I explained to the interpreter we wanted to take her to the pool, a fun park, and a restaurant and Liza is trying to tell us "no", we don't know why, and is very insistent. The interpreter says "umm... ok". She gets Liza on the phone and it was full of very quiet da's and nyet's. Liza hands the phone back to me and this is, word for word, the conversation we had at that point:

Me: Hello?

Interpreter: "I got a letter from Liza's Aunt and I haven't spoken to Liza since she arrived and I already told her Aunt that she was OK. I guess I was wrong."

Me: (Obviously, I was taken aback) "Oh my gosh! Liza is great! We have no problems! We are not unhappy at all. We just want to understand her and she's insistent on telling us something"

Interpreter: "Well she's fine, what's the problem?"

Me: "Well I just wanted to understand why she doesn't want to do anything fun? I asked her if she wanted to have a boring night with nothing to do and she said 'da'".

Interpreter: "She is a child. You should not treat her like an adult. She doesn't know what these things are. Just take her and don't tell her where she is going. Once she gets there she will have fun."

Me: "OK, we will do that. Thank you very much... OK... bye".

We felt scolded. We felt unfit to take care of her. We felt like we made a big mistake by calling the interpreter for help in understanding Liza. I thought that's what the interpreter was there for though? Right? To help with these situations?

One thing about it though, she was right. Liza is 8 years old. She knows nothing about our culture or the fun we want to give her. So from that moment on, we were going to take Liza without giving her information on activities and assume she'll enjoy it.

We took her to Chilie's where she wanted chicken and potatoes. We ordered chicken fingers and mashed potatoes and pineapple juice. Before dinner they gave her crayons and a coloring book and she loved it. She at one point got bored with it and I started coloring in the blocks in the crossword and she took it right back and went to town. She got her dinner and loved it. She seemed amused by the squirty ketchup bottle and how it came out in a long stream. I think she really enjoyed the restaurant atmosphere. She constantly was looking around and observing other people and food walking by. Even I am still enamored by the look of a steaming pile of fajita ingredients walking by. So that was a success without a doubt.

We then left and went to Frankie's Fun Park. Anyone who doesn't know what that is, it's a big huge complex with a massive arcade, 3 18 hole putt-putt courses, 2 go-kart courses and tons of climbing things for kids. The second we walked in she was curious but very reluctant as always. Every single game we wanted her to play, this was the routine:

1. She would shake her head no.
2. I would play once.
   
3. She would then want to play 5 or 10 times in a row.
   

The best one was Air Hockey. She didn't want anything to do with it. Liz had to practically pull her hand onto the table. After beating me 7-5, she was elated and clapping and so incredibly happy. High fives all around. The only two games she didn't want to play was skeeball and basketball. We think it's because of her culture. Boys do sports, girls do not. We weren't going to be able to change her mind on that. So at the end of our time there, we were 17 dollars poorer, 200 tickets richer, and we bought a goofy yellow little poof ball with them.

Here are a few pictures from the event:

So this morning we woke up and had some breakfast, went to the Raleigh Farmers Market, came back and watched Ice Age, had some lunch, and then went to the pool. During lunch we found out what Liza's favorite food was: Watermelon. She practically ate an entire quarter of a watermelon. Which is a ton. We finally had to tell her "ok, kvateet" (enough). Here is documentation:


So then we went to the pool. Liza in clothes and Liz and I in bathing suits. She didn't want to wear it because she didn't want to swim but Liz snuck it into our bag without her knowing just in case. When we got there, I told Liz "I'm going to act as much like a child as possible so she can see how fun it is." So after some cannonballs, splashing around, and doing hand stands, we pretty much sealed the deal on her getting in. She picked up her bathing suit and in front of the entire pool she started getting undressed. Liz then escorted her to the bathroom and she came out in a bathing suit and slathered in sun tan lotion.

The rest is history and thus the title of the blog, "remember when she was shy?" She immediately hopped in and splashed around, attempted to swim, and started an endless cycle of getting out and jumping in. Soon it was Liz and my job to get out and jump in with her. She also put on the goggles we brought and really loved going under.

Since she came here on Tuesday, she has been reluctant to speak at all, much less english. But ever since she hopped in the pool she has changed. To get us to jump in she would say "adeen, dva, three!" and we would jump (three is three in Russian, very funny). The next time it was "One, two, three!" She was just talking up a storm.

Finally when we wanted to go, we said to her "pitnadsat minootooh" which means "fifteen minutes" and she said "da" and once the time went down to 7 or 8, we'd say "7 minutes" and she goes "no! ten ten ten!" and then repeat it in Russian. That went on for 15 minutes. She originally didn't want to go, now she doesn't want to leave. Finally we got her to get out to walk home with us and the whole time we were trading responses on English and Russian words. We'd say "sidewalk" and she would say "said... whack" and try a few times until she got it and then say it in Russian and we would attempt it as well. The words exchanged on the walk were "car", "storm" (because of the black clouds moving in), "sidewalk", "street", "dogs". This is the kind of conversations we pictured ourselves having, but she didn't want to speak English before. Boy I hope it continues.

We don't have any pictures from the pool but we have a feeling it will be a favorite of hers so we'll get plenty. When we got back she picked out The Little Mermaid to watch for the second time this week and sat down with a Popsicle while Liz braided her hair.


Remember when she was shy? We hope this trend continues. Tomorrow we have a party with all the families and kids from Belarus so that should be a blast! We will do our best to seek out the interpreter and mend any damage we might have caused by our conversation.

Sorry for the long post, but we are just beaming with happiness over this whole wonderful week. Liza has been such a blessing to us, hopefully we've been the same to her. Can we keep her? =P

It was a relaxing afternoon. I think for a while Liza was really bored but now she's enjoying herself making shapes with play-doh while the dogs are passed out. Here are all the pictures from this afternoon:




The title of the post is from a conversation we had. The way you say it is "ka-toe gloopy". I made a replica of new york city with play-doh, put king kong on the empire state building, and then made a plane that was shooting at king kong. After all my play I started making shooting sounds and monkey sounds and Liz says "gloopy" (which is a word we learned so she'd realize we were a little silly). Liza then says "ka-toe gloopy" which means "who's silly"? After a few seconds of not knowing what she said, I said "YA GLOOPY!" and continued my monkey noises. It was a pretty funny conversation. Anyway, I think she realizes we aren't the most serious of families, and hopefully she enjoys that.

We introduced Liza to the Wii tonight and boy was it an instant hit!! For anyone who has not played the Wii, it is amazing. So amazing that it breaks all international and communicative barriers. Liza picked up so quickly on how to play the games. I couldn't even explain how the games worked and within 30 seconds she knew what she was doing. She is also sporting her brand new Hello Kitty sunglasses that she hasn't yet taken off since we bought them. Here is the sweet video:

In this particular game, we have to wash laundry and then hold the laundry up to see if it's clean. If it is clean our character throws it to the side and we get points. If our laundry isn't clean, we have to keep washing. Liza somehow was a pro at this game and beat me every time. As you can see... I'm actually trying very hard!

Well today Liz worked from home to be with Liza. I would say it went really really well. I think partly because Liza slept until 10AM. She was exhausted from her traveling yesterday so it's understandable. We then met the interpreter for lunch at 11:30 and got a ton of questions answered. Here were some questions and in blue is the answers:

Did you sleep well last night? Is there anything you need?
Very well and no

What was she trying to tell us last night about Minsk in the book?
The picture in her book is where her Mom works. It is a factory in Minsk.

Did you make any friends on the flight that you'd like to hang out with? We might be able to arrange that.
She made very close friends with a 9 year old girl named Mariya. They talked and played the ENTIRE time. We are going to give Mariya's parents a call and they can play a few times a week.

Did you get our letter and pictures we sent you? Did you like them? We hope it helped make the trip easier and you were less nervous.
She knew nothing of our pictures and our letter. We showed her the stickers we sent in the package and she hadn't seen them before, but she LOVES them. Big fan of stickers.

what is your favorite color?
blue, yellow, and rose (pink)

what are your favorite foods?
How untypical of a child is this answer(in order of exactly what she named): banana, watermelon, oranges (but she isn't allow to have any) vegetables, pasta, chicken (pork and beef also), apples. she doesn't like soda or candy. she loves hot tea.

what is your family situation like at your home?
Her Mom and Dad got divorced when she was really little. She lives only with her mom and has no siblings. She visits her "granny" in the "village" a lot. Her Dad comes by and takes her out occassionally.

what are your hobbies, what do you enjoy doing?
play-doh, drawing, reading

is there something you really want to do while you are here? Anything you've heard about that you are excited about?
she wants to see the ocean, she wants to go to all kinds of parks (both amusement and flower gardens)

So to clarify one of the things above. Her stomach cannot handle really sweet things like sugar. So that is why she cannot have oranges. She is absolutely not allowed to have orange juice at all but she is allowed to have an orange "occasionally".

So in the afternoon Liza took some crayons and drew lots of pictures and she watched Beauty and the Beast. When I came home, she was in her room playing with some Barbies we got her. And right now, she and Liz are making origami shapes.

Tonight is exciting for me though. Liz is going to choir so Liza and I are spending the evening together. This is really weird to say, but we are going shopping at Target and I am very excited about it. We are getting coloring books, socks, play-doh, sunglasses, pretty hairbands, hot tea, and a few other things.

We won't be updating every single day, but we thought since it was early on in the adventures of taking care of her, we'd post more often.

Right on time, Liza finally arrived at RDU. We got there extremely early because we were told that sometimes the flights arrive early. Well that only built our anxiety and we were just really nervous for her to come down the escalator. We brought a big fluffy dog for her as well as a bouquet of Daisies. They brought the kids down in pairs so that it didn't overwhelm the families or the kids and it gave the greetings some time. We found out that she was going to be the first one down the stairs and sure enough there she came.

Out of the first pair of girls coming down, we couldn't tell which one she was but it quickly became obvious. The girl she was standing next to towered over her. She was the extremely short, shy one with the baseball cap pulled over her eyes and head down. Shy is an understatement, you could see how nervous she was to meet us. What 8 year old wouldn't be though? It was understandable. Well when we walked up to her she immediately lit up and grabbed the dog. She loved it instantly. She never did say a word to us at the airport but we did our best to butcher the russian language with comments like "are you homesick", "are you tired", "are you hungry". I even had trouble saying "we try" to her. Something to let her know we are trying to communicate and we're sorry we suck at it.

We got a couple minutes with the interpreter and I think it opened our eyes to what we are here for and more importantly, what she is here for. He said he doesn't think she'll have an asthma attack but she has an inhaler just in case. He said she cannot eat sweets or soda or she will vomit. He didn't explain why but for some reason that is something she can't handle. That was pretty much all we talked about and then headed home. I'm hoping the doctors appointments reveal some issues they can resolve for her. Throughout dinner we kept asking, "stomach hurts?" and she continued to say "da", "da".

The car ride home was quiet as you would expect, except for one moment when I noticed her squinting and I offered my sunglasses. She laughed and put them on but took them off after a few seconds.

When we got home, she was reluctant to move anywhere. She stood still and I must say from her behavior, she is extremely polite. We tried to give her a tour but she had no idea what we were trying to do. She wouldn't walk on carpet without taking off her shoes, and when we had dinner, she wouldn't eat until Liz and I had our food. She didn't eat a lot anyway though. We had pizza for dinner and she had only about two bites.

After dinner we ran around with the dogs outside. SHE LOVES THE DOGS! She just follows them around if you can believe that. Usually it's the other way around. I think it's clear she favors Daisy but she loves holding them and getting kisses. I think we could have left her in the backyard playing fetch with the dogs for hours. We don't know what it means but whenever she plays with them, she says the words "koo koo, koo koo" (like the koo koo clock) over and over again. We don't understand but she smiled and giggled when we repeated it after her.

The theme of the night (and I'm afraid the next 6 weeks) is lack of communication. I said to Liz at one point "Before she came, I realized that we couldn't communicate anything to her, but it slipped my mind that she couldn't communicate to us!." There were many times when we were trying to say something and she would correct our grammar or just throw her hands up in frustration. At one point she goes "uh, nyet oh". I'm assuming she's talking about our bad pronunciation. I tried to limit the number of times I said "I don't understand" but it really could have been 50 times. The first time I said it she goes "uuugh" and hits her hand to her forehead. It was as if she was told beforehand "ok, they will say 'i dont understand' a lot, just beware of that". Tomorrow we meet with the interpreter for 15 minutes and go to get her some clothes from a church donation drive. Should be a good time.

As far as who she is, from what we can tell she only has a Mom and she brought two pictures of her. We framed them and put them on her dresser for her, hoping to soothe the homesickness. She tried to tell us about her home and Minsk but obviously we have to put understanding on hold. Like I said she is extremely shy but she quickly opened up and I think Liz and I agree she is a happy child. We are trying to keep the mood light and fun because it's frustrating that she can't talk to us. We will do our best to meet up with other Belarussian kids so that frustration is limited.

Before dinner we were also able to call home for her. It was 2AM in Belarus but it seems like both her and her mom appreciated the call. I don't know if this was something that all kids do, but it seemed like Liza didn't say a word on the phone, it was all very quiet da's and nyet's. And then all of a sudden they hung up. We said "kharasho?"(meaning good?), and she says "da" with a smile. I guess that's good.

Well here is what everyone has been waiting for. Here are pictures of us picking her up at the airport and her meeting Gryffin for the first time. (you can click them to zoom).


We promise to have many more photos soon!

Tomorrow is the big day. As of right now Yelizaveta is scheduled to be here at 6:15 PM tomorrow. Her travel schedule is unbelievable though. She has a 10 hour drive from Minks to Kiev. And then 14 hours of flights from Kiev to Raleigh. That also means that at the very minimum, she has to have left by 3PM today to get here. It's very exciting!! We'll post some pictures and information about our first few days as soon as we can! Just wanted to update everyone that the day is finally here!!