Meet the Sicilians

The girls met their new Aunts, Uncles and Cousins this weekend, and I think it went great.

Vica and Natasha were shy for approximately 6 seconds and then I didn't see them for most of the night as they were thoroughly enjoying being the center of attention (are these my girls, or WHAT?)

Naturally, they were unloaded upon by said family members to the point where it will take another trip back to Uncle Mike and Aunt Donna's house to bring the remaining loot home.

One of the most memorable scenes stuck in my mind is watching my two very girly girls being taught how to hit a ball with a bat by their two cousins, Anthony and Joey, who showed infinite patience and interest in these two little creatures. Anthony and Joey even took it upon themselves to learn some Russian via the Internet and asked me to teach them a few words. How cool is that? I get choked up every time I think about it....

What will also stay with me forever was the phenomenal outpouring of love these girls receive every where I take them. What more could I ask for than to watch them just soak up every last bit of it. If an abundance of love can make up for the hardships they've already experienced in their short lives, I'd say they've already reached, then surpassed that point- if only it worked that way. But, what's important now is that they are surrounded by people who love them and want to see them thrive.

I'd also like to point out that the girl's behavior really is not the norm for kids just home from Ukraine. I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture of what those waiting to adopt can expect. All of the books you will read will tell you to sequester the kids for at least a month, to keep the stimulus to a minimum and expect frequent melt downs and temper tantrums, and in the majority of situations, this is exactly what should and does happen. On the other hand, some children, like Vica and Natasha do well being right in the middle of it all, but that's due to a combination of things. Most importantly their individual personalities allow for it, but we also did much more bonding while in Ukraine than most parents get to do. Once we had Vica back in Yalta we took her to restaurants and out walking around, she was able to get used to being around groups of people on her own terms- and we also had the benefit of having our translator right there to explain things to her. This went a long way with establishing trust in us for her. The great thing about Natasha being so much younger than Vica is that she takes many of her cues from her older sister- the only time this backfires is when Vica decides that she doesn't want to eat what I've made for dinner- THEN Natasha will also decide she doesn't want it too- even though she just spent the last 5 minutes shoveling it all in shouting "Koosna, Mama!" (kinda like, Yum! Mama!) :) :) :)

I think the important thing is that your kids have to understand that YOU are their Mama and Papa- no one else. In some cases the kids grasp onto this quickly, and in others it takes more time, but once they have that down, they are good to go. You will know what your child can and can not handle very, very quickly- believe me, as this comes from a woman with absolutely NO parenting experience- heck, I barely even babysat as a teenager so this Mama thing is really coming to me as I go. I though for SURE I'd never be able to interpret anything regarding their needs, etc. and I'm continually amazed at how this "Mother's Intuition" thing REALLY kicks in! With my kids, I try to make sure they get enough sleep, limit the sugar and I certainly don't let them have access to the overwhelming abundance of "Stuff" they have collected in being home one short week. I let them play with some of the things, but then it will magically go into our spare room to be brought out another day :) The girls are very loving, they are generous with hugging and kissing, but when it's time for comfort, it's all Mama, Mama, Mama and even Papa sometimes. By no means am I saying that the bonding process in complete- nowhere near it, we are baby stepping this the entire way and I'm oversimplifying this just so you stay awake while reading!

But, the new Motherhood hysteria is material for another blog all in it's own.

oh, btw- poop patrol is almost complete, 4 down, 2 to go.......