Thursday

I tell ya, the more time that we spend with Anya, the more in love with her I seem to be. There is something to seeing our little girl’s face in the morning light us as we walk into her room. And the look of disappointment at the end of the day when we tell her that it is time for us to go.

I know leaving this time is going to be very hard.

Anya didn’t want to play outside today. We can’t figure out why – other than to notice a change in her personality when we go outside. There are always lots of other kids playing, and Anya clings to us. Maybe showing that we’re hers? One thing I noticed is that when we pay any other child any kind of attention (even to say hello), Anya instantly wants to be picked up. We stayed in for the morning, but were told that she must go outside in the afternoon. She was even taken to the doctor’s office, so the doctor could tell her that it is good for her health to go outside.

We’ve been playing a lot of catch with her. She loves that game. These are some photos of us playing outside this afternoon:










And yes, she has worn the same pants since we gave them to her on Sunday. I bring her new outfits every day, but she insists on wearing those jeans (that are falling off of her booty).

Anya loves to pretend play. We have had several tea parties, we ate a dinner of cabbage, soup and meat at her restaurant (the cost was 5), and we watched her play house with some dolls. She is so imaginative, and so good at imitation. We’ve been working with her every day on English. She likes to show off to the other kids in her group using English words. We will try to put up a video of her speaking some English.