My Life with Anya

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Tue, 22 May 2012 03:20:00 +0000

The new blog has an email subscription button now-please sign up. Don't want to have to remember to post it here too-can't count on my brain to do that!!

http://mylifewithanya.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=233&action=edit

you'll have to cut and paste as this feature doesn't work on this site anymore.
Monica

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:48:00 +0000

http://mylifewithanya.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/its-all-about-the-sisterhood/
Please cut and paste.

There is a subscribe button for email on the side of the new blog!
~Monica

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Sun, 06 May 2012 19:40:00 +0000

http://mylifewithanya.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/oh-those-fabulous-dogs/
Cut and paste for today's post-or go to Facebook.
Monica

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Here is the link to my new blog site with the latest blog. Working on getting it all up so speed with subscription link soon. Have to learn the new site!
Monica

http://mylifewithanya.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/sunshine-delicious-or-my-new-glasses/
You'll have to cut and paste (part of the reason I'm leaving, links won't post) or go to Facebook to link over.

So, Which Dog Is Yours?

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:49:00 +0000

How is it that I ended up at the dog park, with my daughter and without my dog? Anya really wanted to go and asked me to take her there. So I did. Our dog is almost sociable with other dogs, but not enough for me to watch her and Anya at the same time.

We went to the large dog side and Anya had the biggest smile on her face. I really couldn't even believe how big it was. We saw all kinds of dogs and a couple of Pit Bulls made me nervous. They were jumping up about 4-5 feet high on a chain link fence to get to a horse on the other side and when they came up to Anya and were almost jumping on her, I just didn't trust them, they had too much energy and their owner was a bit doofisy. So, I channeled my Cesar Milan and stood down the dogs. Later, Anya was especially thrilled with the St. Bernard-"Look! It's Beethoven!!" she called. Then she added, "Eww, the goobers are really BIG." That would be the drool. Several Goldens and Spaniels followed her around too and she threw a ball for one of them for awhile.

Next we headed over to the small dog side, where Anya found a Pug she liked. It was a bit shy and kind of lame-in the sense that it just sat there. Really. Right in the middle of a bunch of small yipping running dogs. Found out the new owners had the dog for almost a year and she was turning four soon. The dog had been the property of a 94 year old woman that had died! Who gets a puppy when they're 90?!?! That may explain why it was a bit docile. This is also where I was asked, "So, which dog is yours?"

I posted this photo on Facebook last week. I heard horse winnowing and looked up and Anya was posing like Black Beauty. She's pretty good at mimicking, on many fronts!

On another note...

I often wonder how Anya developed such an amazing command of the English language so quickly and then I hear myself say things like, “If I hear one more snot nosed remark come outta that mouth of yours…” Sounds mean, but trust me that was a well deserved, well controlled response considering the circumstances. Anyway, I may have something to so with her vocabulary and choice of expressive phrases.

I'll keep ears open for more expressions, from her.

~Monica

Matt The Dog goes on vacation.

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:10:00 +0000

Anya's teacher told me about her friend that took her child's stuffed animal with her on trips. Hence, here we have the story of "Matt The Dog."

Hello Anya, it's Matt The Dog. I was a bit nervous about getting on the airplane with you mom, but she told me it would be okay.

I got to sit in this seat all by myself, but your mom wouldn't give me $1 for every 15 minutes I behaved like you said she would.

We went to lunch in New Jersey, and I had a sip of your mom's Chai Latte-they didn't have hot chocolate.

There was so much lunch for me to eat. The fork was really heavy too.

I am missing you and decided to take a nap after lunch. Because of how the sun shines on different parts of the earth, it is actually 3 hours later here than there.

Hi Anya, it's Matt The Dog. I told you Papa was walking me in the hotel.

It was one of those really long walks he takes and I was sooo tired.

We met this man and his dog at the dog park.

You love German Shepherds, but this one definitely thought he was the boss of me.

Anya, I grabbed the phone in the park to talk to you, but you'd already hung up. I'm sorry.

Anya, I a SO bored from shopping with your mom. Does she ever stop?

Anya, I was reading the menu with Papa at the restaurant tonight. I ordered dog food.

On the train getting ready to eat breakfast with your mom (to go to New York City).

Waiting for the show to start on your mom's birthday.

This is the show we saw!

Can you believe we went to Times Square?!

I wanted to go home with your mom's friend, but they both said "No." See you tomorrow!!

~Monica

What NOT to Do in NYC

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:29:00 +0000

While Anya practice being away from me for a whole 7 days, this is part of what I was up to...

What's Going on Here? What Not to Do in New York.

~Monica

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:35:00 +0000

Well, here I sit in a lounge chair in a sunny lobby in New Jersey after being booted out of my hotel room by housekeeping. Life is so tough. I could have asked them to leave, but that would just be too many days without the bed being made, so I acquiesced.

Dave is training in helicopter simulators here for over a week, so since my parents, my boys and Anya’s teacher all felt they could handle her if I left, I did leave. A real live vacation after 15 straight months of servitude to the girl. Willing servitude, but draining servitude as well. The second morning I woke up here I still felt like I’d been hit by a truck. My muscles, my mind and my soul were all really tired. I am glad to say that I am finally getting energized again.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I concocted a plan to celebrate. Dave will train most of the day, so I am on a commuter train to Manhattan for a quick overnight trip with a friend. AND we are going to a Broadway show to see my favorite stage actress, which I have been wanted to do for about 10 years. We will see Anything Goes with Sutton Foster and I just found out she is only with the show for more 5 days after my birthday! I’ve given you the link to my girlfriend’s blog-it is a hoot to read and she takes tons of great pictures. Hope there is a really good one she takes of me in NYC. I’ll link to her blog again once she contrives a story about our trip from her pictures. She is up to see anything in NYC and her only possible request is to go to a hot dog place she saw on a TV show once!

What's Going On Here? Anything Goes

This morning I went to the front desk to ask about the shuttle to the train station. The lady that worked there tried to be nice, but said, “You mean the one, right there (pointing to the left)?” I said yes. After all, I am from California, it is cold in the morning here, I hardly walk anywhere the way city folk do AND it’s gonna be my birthday. But, she shamed me into walking and I passed it today on the way to Staples. Okay, so I timed it-a literal 10 minutes. I guess it will be good for me. I am mostly just annoyed at having to pull my little wheeled briefcase/suitcase over all the clickity, clackity, rickety, rackety streets. I need to bring my bag with all my getting-ready-for-a-show-on-your-birthday-stuff. Maybe I can convince Dave to pick me up in the car the following afternoon…

Anya was pretty good about me leaving. We did a few things to help and I did one thing that did not help-gotta ease her into being a Nordquist somehow. First, I asked her to give me a small stuffed animal to bring with me. I take pictures of it in different places and post them on Facebook, tagging either my parents or a brother, whichever house she will be at when I post. She has been wearing a dog tag Dave gave her from when he packed boxes of gifts for soldiers. So, I gave her a dog tag that I have from a friend (she’s been eyeing it since she first saw it) and she decided we should swap them. Each time she started getting nervous about me never coming back (that is still an issue since her birth mom never came back) I make her feel the necklace. She KNOWS I’ll come back for my dog tag, since hers is so very important to her.

I took a direct flight after taking Anya to school and staying for a bit. Didn’t realize how late I’d get back, nor did I remember that I told her I’d call her when I got to the hotel. I was wiped out, it was late and I didn’t think about how important that would be to her. Whoops. Sorry Mom and Dad. Got a message from my dad the next morning asking me to PLEASE call my daughter. She was sure something bad had happened to me.

I did apologize multiple times and try to explain time zones, uh yeah, and then taught her a little about her mom’s motto. “No news is good news”. I told her that if the plane had crashed, the police would have come to her and if I were in hospital, Papa would have called. I hated to be crude (although she does respond well to examples like that), but unfortunately, I tend not to check in. I am a bad mother to all of my children and bad wife to my husband. Perhaps this will change my ways. But, I wanted to prepare her anyway for the inevitable. I have been very faithful to call her at least twice daily since that initial 43 minute conversation about me being safe and her being scared.

Maybe one of these times, I’ll post about Matt The Dog and his adventures in New Jersey and New York.

Here’s to resting and rejuvenating!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Monica

Snow, Snow, Snow…or Not

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:35:00 +0000

Earlier in the fall of 2011, we planned a trip to the snow to visit Dave’s brother’s family at the beginning of the New Year. There was to be snow for sure and Anya could get some of what she misses so much. Well, if you are from Southern California, you know there was no snow. There was a tube run made from fire hoses shooting out near a fan a night when it was cold, so we had a bit of snow to play in.

Our oldest daughter came down to visit us in January and decided to join us on our trip up to the Sierra Nevada’s. Matt’s girlfriend was able to join us too. It was about a seven hour trip when you add the eating and bathroom stops and Anya did exceptionally well, especially if you compare it to the same trip one month after she arrived in America. The only problem was on the way home when none of us noticed Anya drink most of her sister's coffee. After the initial buzz and LOUD AND CRAZY caffeine high, she didn't like the way she felt. Make a mental note for future reference.

I purchased (on eBay, at a thrift store and on sale) three different snow suit sets for Anya. I altered them all and felt kind of weird with three sets-isn't that a bit obsessive? Even with that little snow, I needed the two sets I brought. Anya was all over the snow and dirty and wet everywhere. The first thing she did was to take a handful of it and smear it all over her face. Any time we stood in snow, she was on the ground, rolling and wiggling in it like very young child would. Regression in these kids leads to healing and for her first time in snow since she's been here, she was very regressive and very young. Glad for the chance to heal in the safety of family!!

"Really, Mom?"

"Better watch out!"

Nailing Uncle Tom.

Just love how her hair looks in this one.

Anya was able to go tubing down a hill and loved it! She went by herself the first time and then went in trains of people many times after that. That night we went ice skating. Boy oh boy, was that up her alley. She hadn’t done it before and they had skates available that had a double blade on the bottom and straps to hold it on your own shoes.

Help from big brother...


and from big sister. The two of them skated around like they were in the Olympics, we'll one did more than the other (and that would be the one who actually knows what the Olympics are).


The easier way to skate.

Below are actual videos of Anya skating. In the bottom one one she is propelling herself backwards as her cousins skate around her and in the top one, she demonstrates the key to learning how to skate-dancing along with the music.

She was in “the body meets the earth in an organic way” heaven. She decided it was easier to skate by bending in half and propelling herself with her hands, even at the risk of possibly losing a few fingers. Her entire being was covered in the snow dust your find in a skating rink and was, despite my protests and her cousin’s disgust, delighted with eating the dust. She kept going and going for ninety minutes; I know it would have been longer if the ring hadn’t closed. We were the last ones off the rink. Hopefully later this spring we get some real weather in the local mountains so she can have a bit of her Motherland Winter.

Uh, yeah. What I said before. And, I let her do it.

~Monica

No matter how smart you get, you could use some kindness there girl.

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:22:00 +0000

Anya’s teacher says the change in three weeks in her understanding of all things school is amazing and all of a sudden it will click and she will jump ahead. I, however, feel like I will be sitting next to her in this class until she is 26. I am too close to the trees to see the forest.

There are 70 phonograms that the kids are learning. A phonogram is basically a letter or group of letters that makes a sound and has a rule. For instance, “dge” is shown on a flashcard and the kids say, “j (the sound of j), three letters”. They also take tests where the sound and rule are given and the kids write the proper phonogram. Obviously I have to learn them too in order to help her. So, the teacher held up a card and Anya chanted off the three sounds it made. I didn’t know she knew it nor did I know if she were correct until the teacher gave the answer. She is learning them faster than I am! She took a test and told me, “I am remembering in my brain!!”

Anya was melting down at number 17 out of 20 on the test (it was the first one I had her take alone while I watched) and the teacher pointed out that during the first three weeks of school for rest of the class, they only had to learn 10 phonograms and Anya is trying to learn 70 in her first three weeks. After meeting with the reading teacher for her weekly assessment, she had done really well and came back in the room saying/singing and dancing to me, “I’m getting really smart, I’m getting really smart!” Of course that set her into a bit of regression (changes and advancements she didn’t know she could do cause that and this one has great possibilities) and the rest of the day was pretty difficult for her.

Compassion 101 by Anya

The previous weekend I’d taken Anya for a burger and a couple in their late 70’s or 80’s were getting out of a booth to leave. I told her, “Someday Papa and I will be really old like that. Then you can help us walk.” Pause. She squints one eye a bit.

“No way. Use your stick.”

That’s my girl.

~Monica

Guess Who Is Going to School? And Guess Who Else Is Too?

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:09:00 +0000

We took a visit to the school Anya will attend three days a week. She’ll do her seat work at home on Monday and Tuesday. She is beside herself about the uniforms. Something about the officiality of it all excites her to the bones. They have little logos on the shirts and she loves it. She is still concerned a boy will call her “carrots” and she will break a slate over his head, but other than that, she can’t wait to start. The only thing is this…Anya is going back to school and I have to as well. I’ll be with her until she and the teacher can handle the transition. There are already several kids in the class that are hard to handle with their lack of focusing ability.

First Day of School

Need a picture with big brother and our backpacks.

Anya arrived at school very excited. The teacher had asked for information about Anya before she came to school, so I sent a brief bio about her, her dwarfism and some photos to be forwarded to the families at school. So, all the kids knew her when she arrived and many of them were excited to help her.

She shares a table with another girl, we me in a chair at the end of the table next to her. In true Russian form, she was seen cleaning up after her table mate. Pencils were put in the shared pencil bucket by cleaning maniac Anya. Earlier in the day I decided to sharpen all the pencils in the bucket to prevent her being fixated on an unsharpened pencil later.

We did a math page together and Anya got 100% and a star on her page in red. You would have thought the president had awarded her a medal.

Her table mate is getting over the flu that is going around and has a wicked cough. She was coughing and Anya looked sternly at me, used her head to point over to the girl and said in anger, “She’s gonna get me sick!” She already had this illness and doesn’t understand antibodies…that lesson is for another day.

At recess, Anya had a group of four to five girls following her around and she had them formed up in a kind of game of hockey at one point. Luckily there are three recesses each day, PE on Thursdays and playtime before and after school. She's been rolling in the grass and throwing the sand all over her body. I didn’t think she’d be so sweaty after a full day of school, but she will definitely getting a shower or bath each night before bed. I used to be able to get away with every other day.

I am the one who has a problem with being back in school. Anya might too, but she isn’t showing it yet. It is LOUD in a class room with 16 six to eight year olds from 8:30-3:00. I am used to the level of Anya’s chatter and she didn’t bother me, but all the other fidgeting and noise wasn’t what my depleted body and mind could handle. Let’s just say that after lunch there was a Nordquist lying on pillows in the reading center during story time and it wasn’t Anya…

I am also on phonics/letter overload. It will be perfect for her, all the repetition and oral work. I just need to learn the sounds to help her learn them at home. Right now, I listen to the sounds, write them and then Anya copies what I wrote.

She only needed to hug me three times during the first day and only lost her ability to cope the last 10 minutes of the day. I did stop her from taking a girl’s long hair and from trying to stuff it through a punched hole in a card and from knocking over the teacher’s water bottle several times. I also had to hide the drawing of a girl she made (I heard giggling and she pointed to the two circles on the chest of the girl and said, “Look! She had breasts!”) On a lighter note, I was invited to a 7 year old boy’s birthday this weekend. He also asked me, “So. Why did you decide to adopt Anya?”

The day ended with Anya winning a small prize during “magic trash”. If you clean up an item the teacher has chosen ahead of time, you get a prize. She wasn’t happy on day two when she didn’t get a prize.

Day two-we are facing time issues today. Anya can’t keep up with her writing and processing all the new things and she’ll just have to let it go. She did some writing and announced, “I’m doing a beautiful job!” The teacher and I laughed. I told her that eventually Anya will provide her with a little comic relief throughout the day. This second day, she also is moving away from me, trying to make the other kids laugh and is only concerned about recess. Miss Adaptability stands on the tire of the tether-ball set up to hit the ball or uses a hockey stick. She cracks me up. During PE in the afternoon, after about 20 minutes of playing a game, Anya came over to me and lay on the grass with her arms outstretched. She looked up at me and murmured, “I want In-N-Out.” So, off to class we went to get her a snack, since in this new life, you can’t just leave for In-N-Out burgers when your body needs some protein.

After school was a trip. I had been telling people for a month or so is that the only word Anya doesn’t seem to understand is exhausted. Now, she does. She was sure she was close to death. She has been sleeping for 12 hours and probably would take more. She tried to go to bed that night at 6pm, I should have let her!

Day three=melt down. “I am not coming to school anymore.” This was said with her arms crossed. “Uh, yes you are.” She is fluctuating today between melt down and cooperating. She is eating up a storm and if I keep feeding her, she does okay. This new life is depleting her coping ability pretty quickly. Soon we’ll have four days of rest. Well, if you consider your mother making you instantly memorize half of the math facts and a huge stack of phonograms for reading as “rest”, then that’s what we get.

~Monica

The Best Day of Her Life, Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:47:00 +0000

Well, we contacted our friend Lehti about riding their pony again. This time, it was Anya's idea and she really wanted to do it. All the other things Anya has experienced over the last 14 months have been thrust upon her. Riding now, after learning about horses and falling in love with them, maybe even more than dogs, is really an Anya thing.

She told me the day before we were to ride all about her expectations for the next day.

"I will walk the Logan, I will ride him, I will jump over the fences..." You can't say the girl doesn't have high goals.

I wanted Anya to experience all the parts of horsemanship and since the pony was being boarded at stables for the time being, we went to Lehti's house to help muck out their four stalls. Let me tell you, this Russian can outwork almost anyone I know. She just goes and goes and goes, especially when it has to do with cleaning.

Anya with their new 3 month old gerbil.


Aren't the colors in her hair amazing?

So we left the house to head to the stables. We had the horse trailer hooked up to the large truck so we could bring back one of their horses from the stables. What else to you do on the way to the stables with a horse trailer on your truck than take it all through a drive thru? I double checked that this would work. Once there, I saw that there weren't any walls or enclosures (well, just one at the pay window) on the passenger side so it wasn't as dangerous as I had imagined!

It was so neat to go to the stables after watching so much of The Saddle Club. First we went to see one of their ponies that was there (Casey) and met some lovely horses. Then we took Logan out to the paddock (I think that is what it is called, a fenced off pen for the horses). Next we helped them get Casey get ready for Lehti's daughter to ride. We watched that for awhile and Anya asked Lehti if she could go over to the paddock and give Logan an apple. Sure enough we let go by herself about 300 feet away to the pony and we couldn't even see her. She did it and even fed the apple with a flat hand like Lehti showed her and came back with both hands in tact!!

Look at Anya's delight at being able to carry a saddle!!

"Hello nice horsey."

"Logan, where are you?"

Putting Logan into the paddock.

Bringing Logan over to get tacked up for his rides.

After that it was time to cool down Casey. Anya watched Lehti wash the pony and then took her turn at it. The horses open their lips really big and expose their teeth when you shoot water at their mouths! Some horses that were worth quite a bit of money were being washed too in the showers next to ours. They were really beautiful.

Washing Casey.

Casey was tied up to the trailer to dry while we got Logan ready for his rides. Anya was allowed to get Logan out of the paddock, while I stood by. Like I can chase a horse down if it chooses to run from her. Lehti's daughter rode Logan around for exercise and to wear him out a bit for Anya's ride. But, lo and behold, it was Anya's turn. As we were getting ready, before she rode, I was giving An some food and water at the truck. A young lady came by saying, "Excuse me, is this your horse?" She had Casey by the lead and was bringing him back to us. I really didn't know if he was ours or not, I had to ask Anya! Apparently, he saw Logan and escaped to be with him while drying off.

Anya rode really well. It did help that Logan is 9 and is trained so well that he responds to a clicking noise to go. Little Miss Miss held her hands just right and pulled them correctly for stopping and turning. Lehti is a great teacher for her too. She just loves seeing Anya discovering and learning.

We talked with lots of people at the stables and looked at many other horses. Finally it was time to wash Logan, pick up some hay at a feed store and bring Casey home.

What a day, what a day, what a day!

~Monica

Saddle Saddle Saddle Club. I LOVE the Saddle Club.

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:06:00 +0000

Yes, I truly thank God for the show The Saddle Club. It is a show about three girls who ride horses and the ranch they train at. Anya is enthralled with it which means I have a tool to use for discipline-and it is on every stinkin' night!

Anya says "No, I won't ____(fill in the blank about what she is supposed to do"

Then I say, "Do you want to watch The Saddle Club tonight? I'll put a check in the box for Saddle Club."

"No, no! I'm sorry!!" She even agreed to clean up the dog poop in the yard instead of missing four nights of The Saddle Club. It's never a good idea to tell me to shut up. She wanted to be paid for the work too. I told her cleaning up poop would help her to remember to not let stinky words come out of her mouth. And in case you were wondering, no, she did not get paid.

After watching the show for the first few weeks, she really got into it. A couple of times after the 30 minutes passed and it was over, she proclaimed, "Noooooooo, that was too short this time!" No, sweetheart, it wasn't any shorter than normal. Anya sings the title and ending song as if she were performing with the three girls on the show.

Now she is really into horses. That is what she told Ded Meroz (Santa) she wanted for Christmas at the Little People Christmas party. Then the Santa at our friends' party gave her a four pack of small horses (with the helpful rule that the parents of the child bring the gift for them). She was delighted!! For our family's Christmas party, my little sis gave Anya her toy horse from when she was a girl and it was given to her by our twin babysitters too! Anya LOVES the thing.

Thanks for the pics Bobby Chezem!!

Anya enjoying the horses from Santa with our friend Lehti (who was, by the way, the only adult on the staircase with all the kids waiting to see Santa! She was so excited to enjoy it all with Anya).

The horse from my sister.

Also, we have been listening to Christmas music in the car. Anya really likes the song Sleigh Ride. There is an instrumental version and we hear it often. The other day, Anya got really upset at the whip sound in the song. "What is that sound? Are they hurting the horses?!" she asked with a horrified look on her face. What a sweet heart she has.

Wait until she gets her other gifts! And NO, it is not a real horse by the way. Lehti has some we can hang out with.
~Monica

What have I done?!

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:39:00 +0000

Isn't this the opposite of every thing Anya was when she came? And slightly capitalistic? It was a fluke shot I took because it just caught my eye as she walked on ahead of me. I took Anya to the mall (which rarely happens) for a shirt for Christmas. I knew I'd get several fights about wearing a dress and knew she'd want to run around with her cousins and friends anyway at all the gatherings-pants are best for that. I didn't see anything she'd agree to that was fancy enough at Target that she'd like, so of to the mall we went.

I took Anya into Macy's and went to the girls' section. "Do you like this? This? What about this?" "No. No. No." After Anya found a toy Dora guitar on the floor and played it over and over and over, I put four shirts on a rack (that I had earlier slipped over her head to see them on) and pulled her over to them. The conversation that ensued was strange at best and there was a woman that pretended she was shopping, but kept circling around to see WHAT was going on. Some of the conversation went like this.

"Anya, come here. COME OVER HERE. Put the guitar down. DOWN I said. Pick a shirt."

"What DON'T you understand Mama. I DON'T like them. I'm not wearing a shirt. They are disgusting."

"Well, you won't wear a dress so you have to pick one."

"I DON'T LIKE them."

"Okay. Which two are the MOST disgusting?" (trying to eliminate two of them) "ANYA! Put the guitar DOWN! No you can't have it, it is $40. No, I will not give you $25 dollars. I said, WHICH...TWO... ARE... THE... MOST... DISGUSTING?!? This one? This one? This one? This one?"

Grumpiness followed.

"I''s sorry, you HAVE to pick one. You ARE wearing one. Which two? (point and point). Good. Now which one of these two is better?" She finally chose one. Obviously, not with any delight.

After I paid and we headed out, I passed Kids' Gap, where a dear friend works. We saw her inside and went in to surprise her. Anya actually wove in and out of clothing racks to scare her. Anya actually liked a pair of boots in the store. Finding a boot for an Achondroplasia dwarf is next to impossible. The length of the foot is very short. The width of the foot is very wide. The leg bones are short but the muscle length is the same as if the bones were long. That means that all the muscles in the legs overflow onto the ankles, knees and wrap around the hip to the butt making it look really large. So, her ankles are hefty and quickly angle out even wider to her knee. So, finding a boot that closes over her calf is rare and one that isn't so long that it crams into the back of her knee is almost impossible. And that is a 3/4 length boot on an average height girl too. But, this pair fit the bill. I really didn't care how much it cost if she liked it (what, she likes something fashionable?!) and if they fit. Then I asked Anya about a lone coat in the store. She LOVED it. And my friend put a Russian type snow hat on Anya's head and then I heard the "please Mama?" with the sweet begging eyes. Need to remember to keep that girl our of the mall or at least out of the Gap...

I call her my Russian Snow Princess.

~Monica

One whole stinkin' year.

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:33:00 +0000

I can't believe Anya has been here for one year. It just amazes me. At times it was going so slowly and I was sure she'd never begin to heal and adjust and that I would surely lose my mind. At other times, it has just flown by. I can really see the difference as we have passed the one year mark and experience events with Anya for the second time. What a difference a year makes!

Last year, we were able to go to Knott's Berry Farm (an amusement park) for free and took Anya for over two hours and stayed for their chicken dinner with Dave's mom and his brother's family. She had only been here about 10 days and was obviously overwhelmed by it all. Knowing this idea could be a nightmare in the making, I paid strong attention to her over stimulation signs and processing inabilities and often took her in my arms off to a corner to sit with her and rock her. She did well, but she was of course stunned by it all.

Notice the difference...this is her first ride ever.

2010

2011

This year we went to Knott's with the same deal. Wow was I amazed. Anya was at the park from 11-5 and then we ate dinner. She handled it as well as any other kid would. She even went on the roller coasters!! Here is a picture of the one she went on several times.

And she NEVER would have run up to Snoopy with delight last year.

As I think through what Anya tells me now and look at things I wrote down that she has said over the last year, I am astonished. Anya has been telling me, "I love you, you are my mother. You are so precious to me and you are so shiny and lovely." Last March, when she had been here only four months, she told me, "I am bad. I have no mother or father."

We also have been faced with the fact that our Pug, at almost 8 years old, has cancer and the discs in his back are deteriorating. Anya is handling it very well and lets us know how much she'll miss him. Then she lists off all the fun times and different things she's done with him. But last March as well, while watching Old Yeller, when the dog was shot due to having Rabies (sorry if I spoiled the movie for some of you, but really, aren't you old enough to have seen it by now?), Anya yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," and landed in a heap on the floor over Chico and wept at the thought of him dying.

I also noted that in March, for the first time Anya started talking about hurtful things that happened to her in her Russian past. And I was reminded that bath time when she was first here lasted from two to six hours and afterwards was a strong time of release for all her stresses. Now, I can tell her to go in and shower and it's as good as done!

For Anya's one year family anniversary we all went out to dinner and she was very honored as the restaurant applauded her anniversary.

The training I received at a conference for raising "Kids from Hard Places" was so full of information. One of the things I learned was that for every year spent in an orphanage, there would be one month needed for full attachment. Twelve years in an orphanage means twelves months for true attachment to occur (if all the other work is done properly). Like clockwork in November, Anya relaxed and just knew that we loved her. It was truly astounding. Here are a couple of photos of us. You can see she is really feeling like a part of our family and isn't as terrified anymore.

I have also seen such a change in my ability to simply care for myself. She has relaxed and can play by herself for quite some time now. I also have been getting sleep and am finally feeling a bit more like my old self.

I am no longer walking around in public with my hands like this...

It's hard to get one photos of both of your hands-I did try, so I know. The chin just doesn't push the button on the camera very well.

Nor my earrings like this... (that one Anya put in and I never noticed until later)

One of the things that really touched Anya's heart was receiving a family heirloom-her Raggedy Ann doll. My father's mother used to make them for every child in the family starting with me, the firstborn grandchild. I received Raggedy Ann for my first birthday and then apparently loved her so much and wore her out so quickly that Grandma made me a made me a Raggedy Andy as well. I am the only prodigy that has two of the dolls. My sisters and cousins got their dolls on their first birthdays. Once I had our first child and he turned one, a package arrived in the mail from Grandma-his Raggedy Andy.

To tell you the truth, I had forgotten about them, mostly because they were stored up in my closet. Last week, Anya received a package in the mail from my dad's sister. I let her open the gift that was ensconced in Christmas paper as too many gifts at once on Christmas Day is still overwhelming. It was Anya's Raggedy Ann!! I read the card from my aunt and Anya teared up. The only other time I have seen her do that was when watching Anne of Green Gables. The card told An how she is part of the family and everyone who is part of the family gets one of these dolls. Something clicked in her little head. She really understood the truth of it all. I took out my dolls and the boys' dolls and we put them all together for photos. Anya was dancing with hers and then went on to dance with her brother's doll. The part she loves the best is the embroidery on the belly that says "I love you Anya".

She still has so much to learn about life though. I gave Anya some water in this cup. All of my old Christmas glasses had broken, so I picked this one up for her so she could have a Christmas cup memory. Whatever.

ANYWAY, I gave her some water and I noticed her with her hand in the cup. She was trying to get the "stuff" out of her water. She had never seen anything like it. I had to empty it and shake it around to show her that it all really was encapsulated in the cup, not in her water!!

She also has a few more things to learn. I was throwing out half of a really hard, stale bagel. This is what I was told. "In Russia, God gets angry with you if you throw out bread, even if it is hard." There you have it, Theology 101 by Anya.

~Monica

Life just ain't fair (written Dec. 8)

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 02:19:00 +0000

Oh my-one car accident wasn't enough excitement for five days. Last night someone broke into both Dave's and my cars while they were in the driveway. I was taking the car in to be repaired in the morning too. Very unusually, I didn't lock my car. Someone decided to open it and take a few things. My glove box, center console and the back of the car were refiled through. I guess since only some CD's, a key to a client's house (not you Jane!) and a survival backpack with spare food, water and a down jacket were taken, the guy decided to look in Dave's Corolla. Sure enough, his laptop case was in the back. So, the window was smashed and the laptop and several other important items were taken. Yes, he knows not to leave a laptop etc in a car, but now he realizes how crucial it is to stick to those rules.

The police officer was in our home from 6-8 am and luckily, Anya slept through it all.

Later int he day, I saw Anya walking around with our dog Liza (more on that later) and heard her say, "It's okay Liza, we're safe.

We also heard a lot today about the bad guys. But here is the favorite.

"Mom, the bad guys didn't listen to the sign. Papa and I were walking and we saw as sign with this on it (she held her fingers up as an X). No bad buys can come here." I realized that this was what she was talking about.

If only the bad guys would follow the rules...
~Monica

Ded Merozh and the Auto Club

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:09:00 +0000

Oh man, just add a raffle, sitting with Santa and a car accident to Anya's holiday learning adventures for the night. We were in a building when our car was hit, so we're all fine, but.....Anya did give the old man who hit us the stink eye as she walked by.

Let's back up. The holiday season is upon us. The Los Angeles chapter of Little People of America (LPA) was having their Christmas party in Culver City, about 40 miles away from us, into Los Angeles. Dave was working so I packed up Anya and headed off to the party. Anya was excited to be able to dance. I think it would be exciting to dance and have people at my head level instead of dancing with your face in everyone's backsides.

I parked out in front of the Elks Lodge and at the last minute decided to hold fast to my frugal side and not pay for parking at the meter. Plus it didn't appear you could get in from the street side. So, I pulled out and headed into the back parking lot. I headed down the alley which had parking on both sides. Just past the alley, it opened into a larger parking lot and there was a row just past the end of the alley. I noticed that the first car in that row was our friends' car. Anya did too and pointed at it excitedly. I actually meant to call them before the party to see if the mother and daughter needed a ride (in case the father was working-he's an actor) since they live so close to us. But, I never did. There was an empty space next to their car, so I took it.

view of alley from lot back to street

Into the party we went. I was pretty proud of Anya's emotional growth. Previously she would melt down being around so many little people. It is very different if you aren't used to it. In fact, I made a bit of a mistake, and luckily the woman involved didn't notice. We were getting ready to get dinner and I told Anya, "Come on, let's get in line." I am really used to her being the only 3 1/2' high person standing around my hip. I started walking and lost her for a moment. I kind of barked out, "Come ON, let's get in line!" only to discover I was basically yelling at a 40 year old woman, not Anya. Whoops. Anyway, Anya was pretty calm and not going into a frightened younger girl state.

We sat with our friends Art and Dawn and ate dinner. As we finished someone came up to Art and told him his car was hit. I joked to Dawn that if there was damage, I could take them home. As soon as I said that, a lady came near out table and asked who owned the white Lexus. Uh, that would be me.

I asked Dawn, who is legally blind, to watch Anya. Shows how much I was thinking. But I only knew three people there and Art was already outside. I just knew that if I needed to get information and such out in a parking lot, trying to keep an eye on Anya, who would surely be melting down due to the "catastrophe" in her eyes, it wasn't going to be a good situation. So, I told An to stay and went outside. As a side note, I walked out our front door on the way to the party thinking, "Boy it's cold, I should get a coat. No. I am just going from the car to the building and back," I had a similar thought about the cute heels I wore too.

There it was. An old man and his Honda, t-boned into Art's car which had pushed my car. It looked like he came down the alley and just kept going into the line of parked cars. I just had a dent in the bumper, but our friends' car was considered totaled. Came to find out from a man at the party that was outside when the collision occured, that he turned off the man's car and had to take the old man's foot off of the accelerator. Turns out the man jumped the concrete parking stop and mixed up the gas and brake pedal and kept giving it gas.

The burgundy car is now in my parking spot and I am moved over into a bit of the next one.

Look how close my white car is to the van on the left. There were two men in that van, one changing into a Santa suit for the kids, when the accident occured. But they weren't harmed at all!

After a call to the Auto Club, the police officer arriving and the tow trucks showing up, two hours had passed. I wanted my compact down coat I keep in the car for such purposes, but in a tizzy, couldn't find it. A sweet young woman named Sandy, who also took these photos, offered me her pea coat, but it didn't fit over my other velvet shrug I had on and I wouldn't be any warmer with just her coat. I got a blanket out of the car and had it wrapped around me for some time. At one point, a man from the party came out and put his big wool coat over my shoulders. I just kept trying to remember not to put my keys in his pockets and send him home with them.

Many people came out to talk to us and the other lady I knew a bit, Anel, came out as well. I asked her to watch Anya and apparently, when Anel went to restroom, Anya hightailed it outside to see where her Mama was and what was going on. I did let her come over to me after we had finished the main business and were waiting on the tow truck. She gets all worked up if the dog walks by and brushes her so I knew a car accident was going to be epic and that she would fixate on it. She handled it much better than I expected. I explained all I could think of to her and she walked over to the back of our car and was caressing it. Then she passed by the elderly gentleman and as I mentioned, gave him a long version of what we call the Stink Eye. Anya was moving around the scene trying to help Art too. She even got to shake the officer's hand. Once the tow trucks were finished, we moved back into the party. Didn't I mention that Art is an actor? And that I was FREEZING and my feet were HURTING? Art has a role as basically the Simon Cowell of Spanish TV's variety show Estudio 2 (on Estrella TV network)-he's el Machete. So, he's talking to the tow truck drivers in Spanish and it comes up. They get all excited and keep chattering on (later I turned around and one of them was posing in front of the smashed cars with Art while the other took a picture). I literally said, "I hate to interrupt all this excitement, but I want to go inside and here is my Auto Club card for you to see." They laughed.


Anya "helping" Art, right in the middle of it all.

There I am wrapped in a blanket.

When I sent Anya back in after Santa at one point, I yelled out, "An, go inside and talk to Ded Marozh! (Grandfather Frost or Santa-and this was her first visit with him)" at which point someone asked if I spoke Russian and a short version of Anya's whole story came out. Anel came outside during the wait and told me Anya sat with Santa and that she is an escape artist as well! Anya told me that Santa gave her nail polish. Her response to Santa was, "I DON'T LIKE nail polish." Oh, the things the girl still has to learn...

Once inside the party got better after a buffet that included macaroni and cheese and all the dancing. Anya chose different women to dance with, pulling them out on the floor.

She REALLY feels the music.

We bought some raffle tickets and I never explained how it worked in detail to Anya. We stood in front of the items and put our tickets into the boxes in front of the item. As we approached the Kindle Fire, Anya reached over to take it. I guess she thought that the tickets enabled her to have the items. As the numbers were read, Anya was frustrated that she wasn't getting the items. "But it's mine." For the last item, the man who brought me his coat let Anya shake the box and read out the winning number. For the previous items, other kids read them slowly and softly, but as you know about Anya and PA systems, she doesn't know she has to speak lowly into microphones and such. She announced very loudly, firmly and clearly the numbers. Very cute and very Russian!

Somewhere close to 10pm!

After more dancing and the raffle, I loaded up Anya, Dawn, her daughter and their friend into our car (Art went home with the tow truck) and headed home for some well deserved sleep.

Still alive the next morning!
~Monica

Slack Lining and Turkey Day

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:43:00 +0000

Thanksgiving this year was a red letter day as far as I am concerned. Anya’s temperament is one that doesn’t handle new things well. Once something has already been experienced, she is just fine and mellow about it all. But this last year has been one of ALL new experiences, with all the turbulence that it created. So, a repeat of a holiday Anya had already had with us was something I was looking forward to. It’s funny, we are going to Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park again in a couple of days and I started telling her stories of her 3 hour visit with us last year. It’s like telling your child or niece about a cute thing you remember from when they were little, but our remembrances of Anya that we share with her are only a year old. Her response is usually, “Oh…......yeah…I remember that!” as if it were years ago.

She hadn’t met with Dave’s whole side of the family before, as last year Dave’s brother had an accident in December, so that group didn’t make it to the Christmas celebration and we arrived home with Anya the day they wanted to have Thanksgiving. So, this past weekend, we met at “Gramooshka’s” (Anya’s mushed together word made from Grandma and Babooshka) for Thanksgiving. On the way home, she told me, “Mom (she doesn’t really call me ‘Mama’ anymore-boo hoo), I had a really good day today with my family.” AND she gets to go to Knott’s in two days.

Anya set most of the table for Thanksgiving dinner this year!

I have grown to LOVE that smile and the mischievous eyes that usually are trying to hide a trick that is being planned.

Big brother brought his slack line for the cousins to use.

Anya's turn!

Literally dancing on a skateboard.

Look what she let's me do. The braid stays in all day and keeps most of the shorter hair out of her eyes. Awesome.


(Notice the stool Anya dragged across the yard to be able to get up on the slack line alone? I went over to make sure to catch her when she fell at Matt's request.) Matt took this picture and basically told me, "Mom, you're going to love this photo. It reperesents the past year and what you have done for Anya." Look at her confident independence on the line, yet her secure dependence on her mom, poised right there, almost falling under the weight of it all, ready to catch her when she falls. And who, with the two of them still laughing, will let her do it all again. ~Monica

Anya's Bucket List

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 04:48:00 +0000

I found this list in a pile of things I intended to blog about.

Updated comments are in blue.

3/8/11 Things Anya Wants To Do

(she'd only been here 3 1/2 months at this point)

*Drive (it's "a little bit scary" though)

*Go to a fair~Dave took her to the Ventura County Fair in August to see the animals and the Beach Boys. She called on his phone just before it started to tell me that the real men were going to sing, it wasn't just a CD like she thought.

*Ride a hort’ (horse)~Did that Memorial Day weekend at our friend Lehti's house. Did a blog on that one.

*Shave inside her nose (so she doesn't look like a grandpa)~haven't allowed that yet.

*Not to get her ears pierced~no sign of wavering on that one, she is terrified of the pain involved.

*Not to wear exercise pants~can't imagine that EVER happening, she is so disgusted by the sight of them.

*Not brush her teeth well~she finally does do it well!

*Have a big ponytail~she can put her hair in one by herself!!

*Have an iPhone~yeah, right.

*Grow her hair out~TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!

*Be able to go out front alone~she can and does. She gets the mail at the curb, takes Chico down four houses for a walk and often takes things over to the neighbors.

*Go to the beach~done and done.

* Fish~gotta plan that one. There is always next spring!

My how we've grown in a year!!!!!!! Phew.

~Monica

Anne Girl, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:36:00 +0000

I forgot to mention that Anya said soon after beginning to watch Anne of Green Gables, "Mom, she is just like me!"

And while watching the scene at the Christmas ball when Anne and Diana waltzed with each other,

Anya said so gently, "Oh, it's so beautiful."

Anne Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:23:00 +0000

Well, this story is about Anya or Anna and Anne, with an "e", if you know what I mean. Probably only the female bunch knows about Anne of Green Gables.

Before I begin, just a little, somewhat related back story. I have a friend named Viveca. We have been friends since 1995 and she tells me that when we first got together, I told her all about how I was going to adopt two African children and that I had it all figured out with my bunk beds. I remember none of this, but she's stickin' with the story. Interesting, huh? Anyway, Viveca generally goes by Vikki, but her husband calls her Viv and I occasionally do too.

As Anya and I were headed to Vikki's (one of Anya's favorite places to go), I used the name Viv and then proceeded to explain what her full name is. Anya get VERY angry with me and repeatedly told me NOT to call her Viveca. "She will be really angry with you Mom!" On and on it went as only a fixated person can do. When we got to Viv's, we recounted the story and Vikki insisted that Viveca is her name and it is okay to call her that.

"Well, I told Mom that you don't like it. People called me my Russian last name and I didn't like it." Okay, enough about that. Only one more thing. Anya can handle their large black lab pretty well. It is amazing to watch. Obviously, if the dog chose to run away, he'd be dragging her behind, but he listens to her. Anya showed up at the back door as we were talking and she was wet on one side from the waist down. She had permission to hold the dog in the yard while Viv's brother was out there and we were just inside. However, she decided that she'd put the dog into his kennel by herself. Well, she was in the kennel with him and her legs got wrapped by the leash (even though Viv told her over and over to not have any slack in it) and she ended up in the bowl of dog water!!

A day or two after our visit, I turned on the TV for Anya, which isn't that common. Two shows came on that we watched on KCET-Saddle Club and the cartoon Anne of Green Gables. Within the first three notes of Saddle Club's theme song, Matt's girlfriend yelled from the kitchen, "Is that Saddle Club?!" and came running in and jumped onto the sofa. She and her sister used to watch that show when they were younger and it had been taken off the air. Well, after watching the AGG (Anne of Green Gables) cartoon, I got the idea to put the "live'' version in for her.

When my 26 year old was about 9 months old, KCET was having a marathon/fundraising drive and ran AGG on their station. I sat mesmerized by the show for a whole hour, keeping the baby up that much past his bedtime. Now, 25 years later, I was going to try it on An (or Ann, still pronounced On). So, we sat watching it. She grew more and more fascinated when she realized the girl's name, Anne, saw her red hair, found out she was adopted at 12, was in most of the show as a 13 year old and that she had trouble controlling her temper (as I am learning most adoptees do). She was in love.

Then, into the scene came Anne's best friend, Diana Barry. A quick inhale followed by, "Mom, she's just like Vikki!" So, now Anya sees herself as Anne and Viv as Diana. Check it out...

Anne


Diana


Our very own Anne and Diana. Kindred spirits indeed.

HEY DAVE!!

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:38:00 +0000

Check out the girl's hair!!

I have never seen so many adults so excited about the length of a child's hair before!!

I really, really wanted to go get a pedicure while Dave was working for many days. I have only had no more than 6 pedicures in my whole life too. But alas, I had used up all my “Hey, son, will you watch Anya for me for a few hours?” time, so I decided to do it myself. Hey, why not ask the girl if she wants one too. I added literally 4 drops of dish washing soap to the foot bath. Well, lots and lots of bubbles are made from the forced air that is shot into the foot bath. Anya liked that! At first she wasn’t too sure what was going on, but then she loved it. Note her little chair. My awesome upholsterer that I use for clients made it for her. It is sized to her exact measurements. Her feet touch the floor, her arms rest on the chair arms and the her back is flat against the chair. This is not normal for a dwarf, but now it is for her.

Dave was working for that long stretch and Anya and I went to see him at work very other day. During this time I was really a mess physically. Due to my thyroid being out of whack, I had a racing heart and had to have an EKG and an appointment with a cardiologist. They weren’t sure if my aorta was too small or if it was caused by my thyroid, luckily it was the latter. So on our last visit with Dave, I was wiped out and really needed a break from my precious talkative 13 year old. Being so out of it, I left my phone and a few other things I was going to bring to Dave on the coffee table.

Usually when we arrive at the station I call Dave and tell him we are there and he comes out to meet us. But not this time. I sent Anya into the kitchen to ask for Dave and stayed alone in the car. After a few minutes, through the closed car windows I heard a deep strong announcement going out all over the station. Next, Anya came out of the kitchen toward the car skipping, dancing and laughing.

Apparently, when Anya asked for Dave, one of the guys told her she could call him on the PA. He held down the button and she announced really loudly (not knowing how a PA works) in her strongest Russian voice, “Hey Dave!! We’re here!” And out it went over the airwaves, to be heard far and wide. She had the firemen in the kitchen laughing, that’s for sure.

Dave ate some dinner with Anya and let her run around and play ball with him on the racquetball court while I stayed alone (except for our Pug that was with me) in the car for a whole 45 minutes. Sheer bliss.

Anya loves her hair and tells me all about how the wave stays in it, even after sleeping. She is just trying to make me jealous. When I tell her how straight and “bad” mine is, she says, “Yes, I know.” What a little goober. She fits in just fine. Speaking of that, November 10 was the one year anniversary of our paperwork being official and November 20 is the one year anniversary of her arriving home. On the 10^th, we had a cake and sang to her. Dave was working so he sent her flowers and chocolate. She called him and must have said ten times, “I just love it so much, they are beautiful! Thank you!!” Next week we’ll go out to dinner with Dave for her arriving home.

Here are the three of us singing to Anya “Happy One Year Anniversary to You.” It’s pretty pathetic, but Anya loved it!

Three of us singing to Anya

~Monica

The Wine Country Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:07:00 +0000

I forgot on the last post to mention that Anya thinks we should just call Children’s Hospital and tell the doctor (that will put tubes in her ears on Thursday) that he should wait and hour or so because Anya needs to go to swim lessons. I love the combination of the adult mind ideas mixed with the naivete of a young child.

At the first wedding we went to last March, I had to pull Anya away from the cake table while the bride and groom we beginning to cut the cake. She was enthralled by watching that event. Well, not much has changed. Our whole family went to my cousin’s wedding, my oldest was even a groomsman, and Anya still loves the cake cutting. Being family, our table was at the front, right next to the cake table. We all sat and watched them cut and serve each other cake. I turned to my cousin next to me and was admiring her two year old son. The next thing I know, someone tapped me and pointed to the cake table and said, “Look at Anya.” She really wanted to say hi to the bride and groom and got permission from someone in the family to go over to the cake table to do so. But, when I looked up, the groom was taking a fork out of her mouth. He decided to offer her some of the cake! I like to say I’m trying to teach Anya that the world doesn’t revolve around her, but, I don’t know, maybe it does sometimes!

The groom feeding Anya.

"See, I got cake!"

The other thing the girl loves about weddings is the dancing. She is a maniac dancer. I actually made our departure at the first wedding we attended straight from the dance floor. It was all so over stimulating to her that after too much literal head banging, I just scooped her up and said my goodbyes. I wasn’t sure at the time how she would behave if left to dance it out and I didn't want to pay for it later. But this time I let her. It ended up being fine, she just unwound. More on that later. After the bride and groom danced, Anya asked if she could dance. She ran right over to the groom and sure enough, he danced with her. At the end of that dance, I ran over to the dance floor to dance with her. Then my dad came out to dance with her too. Next Dave danced with her. For the first half and hour my dad and I basically tag teamed, I really tagged my dad’s hand as we switched places. It was so exhausting. When I woke up the next morning, for the first time I felt old. Every muscle in my body was stiff and aching as I tried to get this old bod out of bed.

The music just flows through her veins and she responds to the pulse of it. As she wound down, she marched around the floor slower and slower like the energizer bunny actually running out of energy. Dave said she reminded him of the little Keep On Truckin’ character from the seventies. Her head was leaning back and her feet were more forward than her body. It was so funny.

Keep on Truckin'

I decided to keep her away from the woman who was bumpin’ and grindin’ on the guy she was dancing with. If you aren’t sure what that is, it’s about as obnoxious looking as it sounds. Anya kept doing that dancing/walking thing back and forth and was breaking up couples as she went. I got between her and the take it to the bedroom couple to keep her attention averted. She was so focused on her dancing that she was oblivious to anyone else. Then there was the air guitar dance. I’m not really sure what brought that on, but she was jammin’.

I love how my little cousin in green is staring at her!

Getting into it.

This must be major riff in the middle of the song or something else important.

I tried on several dresses for the wedding since I figured we'd get our first family of seven picture. Didn't have much time for trying on and didn't like too many of the dresses. I decided to wear one I already had and just not stress about it. I don't have time or energy to worry about things like that and plan everything out with Anya. So at the wedding I was talking to my aunt and her friend. The dear friend went on and on about the dress and was it a this expensive label or that expensive brand.

"Uh, I got it for $5 at Penny's ahwile ago." All true. Actually I got two dresses for $5 each-it was amazing that I found two things I liked on the $5 rack. And, at that price, I wasn't worried about never wearing them. I wasn't really thrilled about wearing the blue one as it is pretty bold and I'm sure will look really dated some day. Yes, I do sit around and think about all this stupid stuff. AND one of my big blue earring broke the morning of the wedding. Plus I was too tired to get a necklace out when I was packing, even though I have four of them that go perfectly with the dress. Ah, such is life. But I tell you, I always look back at the pictures and ask myself "why didn't I just take the extra steps since it bothers me years later?" Wouldn't you love to live in my head with all the noise going on?!
At least I don't get too lonely.

Anya spinning with my sister and me sporting the latest fashion (that is about 5 years old).

My babies!

Dave and his girls.

Dave and me on the vineyard where the wedding took place.

Did I mention the ride up? It was a 7.5 hour trip according to MapQuest and other SoCal family members who also drove up north to the Wine Country. Our trip was 11 hours. With Anya. Who hates car rides over 30 minutes.

There was an accident, road work and the many pit stops for Anya. Oh well, what can you do? Although I was the one having a meltdown in the first couple of hours when we were still in SoCal. The ride home was 8.5 hours, much better. Did I mention that Anya gets car sick easily and spent some of the trip in the front seat, leaving me as the next smallest person to sit on the bump in the middle of the back seat? And that the back of the car swerves around and that now I can see why Anya gets car sick in the back seat?

~Monica

ps thanks to my dad for many of the pictures!

Anya's favorite school subject.

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:53:00 +0000

We decided that a swim class during the school year just might be a good idea. The pool my son Scott lifeguards at has twice a week swimming lessons and the outdoor pool stays heated to 84 degrees. So, today was our first lesson. Scott told me which level class to place her in, so I wasn't worried about that. But, Anya was crazy nervous this morning. We finally got to class and all went well. She learned to float on her back on the first try and was actually swimming the crawl with her arms AND legs at the same time. Oh boy was she proud.

Once in the car, she asked, "Are you so proud of me?"

"Oh yes!"

Then, a command came out of her mouth. "Clap!" So there I was trying to drive and clap at the same time. A huge smile came over her face and then another command, "Kiss my cheek!" Hard to do that kind of multitasking while driving.

"Mom, swimming is my favorite school." She's probably not the first kid to say that.

"See Anya, I told you that you didn't need to be worried or frightened, did you?"

"Nope. I love it the swimming!"

Right now she is asking to take tap dancing as she taps away-we'll see about that. I bought her tap shoes at a garage sale for $1 awhile back. But you have to be on you toes (pun intended) when she asks about her shoes because to her they are "snap shoes".

I hope to blog more tomorrow on the family wedding we went to this past weekend and the 11 hour drive (supposed to be 7.5) to get there...

~Monica

Keys and Maps and Rabbits.

noreply@blogger.com (Monica) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:38:00 +0000

These are all over the house.

I usually find them on the floor waiting to be gobbled up by the vacuum, should anyone ever decided to vacuum. But, they are also on the kitchen counter, in the bathroom and sometimes in the pool. They are the ring part of a key ring. Anya is fixated by keys, key rings, carabineers, clips, dog leashes, dog collars, padlocks, key leashes and all the associated pieces.

They belong in here.

This is one of the glittery, pretty girly boxes she got for her birthday. And that’s where all things keys go. But, just at first glance I can see many pieces that belong in here aren’t in here. Well, at least when she complains about not knowing where the ______ is, I can claim that I didn’t take it out of the box.

She will literally spend hours taking all the things apart and reassembling them. She put a charm (formerly on a key leash) on a ring on her necklace yesterday. I swear it took only 6 seconds. It’s like I turned my head and when I looked back, she already had the charm around her neck. I hate those key ring things. I would rather sit with her weeping in my lap for 30 minutes than to thread one of those. They always separate the layers in my nails and sometimes I have to use a tool to get the thing started. They just plain old annoy me. And my daughter LOVES them. I have to watch my mouth when I help her so I don’t blurt out any words I don’t want her saying! I find the dog with a different collar on every day. It's either a real dog collar, or party ribbon or a ball chain, but the tags are always hanging from his neck. She even puts her charms or bells on the dog with all his tags, then quick as lightening, they are off. We even bought new sneakers and just had to get the pair with the charms on them. They have since been taken off and put on toy dogs as dog tags.

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Then there is the whole, “That’s not America. It’s not orange.” Scott said a phrase in Spanish to Anya and in order not to confuse her, he thought he’d explain how all countries speak different languages. He brought down the globe for a visual explanation. “In Russia, see over here? You spoke Russian. In America, see here? We speak English. See here below America? This is Mexico, they speak Spanish.”

“That’s NOT America. It’s not orange.”

Please reference the place mat she uses daily pictured below with the globe. Whaddya know? She’s right. America IS orange!

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About four months ago, my parents and I took Anya to a Chinese restaurant. She was really grumpy as we sat at the table. Previously we had been having her circle the mac-n-cheese picture on the kids' menus at restaurants (or the cheeseburger or grilled cheese). Well guess what was on the place mat at the restaurant? The Chinese animals based on what year you were born ie:The Year of the Monkey. So, poor Anya was looking at the place mat, thinking it was the menu and saw monkeys, dragons, bears, etc. It took her a LONG time to calm down after getting so worked up over the gross menu!

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Then there is the time a couple of days ago I caught her quietly headed out into the backyard with a green trash bag. I’d previously told her that the wild rabbits in the yard will scratch if you try to catch them and put them in a box in your room. Well then, doesn’t it seem logical to use the bag to protect yourself?!

Off to work on the reading. Hopefully by the holidays she’ll be reading at about a 3^rd-5^th grade level, by finishing the book. I might even get an hour or two of quiet every once in a while as she reads a book!! We’ll see.

~Monica

I wasn't kidding-I just found this on Anya's chair in her room.