Mena Leaves the Orphanage in 3 Days!

Well these next few blog entries are going to be quite bait shorter as I have to type them on my iPhone, which is going to give me a hand like a lobster claw. Somebody should invent a Homer Simpson style dialing wand for this thing!

Mena & I had a cool visit today.we've been playing tea party with these 2 little teddies, Mishka (who is the naughty one) & Mousey, who is good. Mishka is very impatient & demands tea all the time & then he drinks Mousey's tea too, & he jams his entire head in the teapot & gets into all kinds of trouble. Then I have to wag my finger at him while Mena is falling around the place laughing. It's our new favorite game- good thing I have a tea party set waiting for her at home!

Anyhow, after tea party we drew pictures again. We do this almost every visit, she really likes to draw. Perfect, right? But today she did something really cool, she drew a picture of Daddy, Mommy & Mena. She was making these deliberate interlocking circles, and I was trying to see her rationale for what she was drawing. So I pointed to each shape and asked her to confirm who it was. Then she tapped my arm and picked up this floppy large bunny and brought him over. She cradled him & smoothed his face & kissed his nose, then she put him back. It was when I saw where she put him that the circle idea made total sense: a bigger bunny was cradling the smaller bunny! I said, "Mena! I get it! I get it! Daddy is cradling Mommy, and Mommy is cradling you!" and I made rocking motions with my arms. "is that right?" and she answered, "Tak!" (Yes in Ukrainian)

What a concept for her to think up. My heart melted into a puddle. Also for the first time today she called me Mama totally unprompted when she was trying to get my attention from across the room. Up till now, she has been responding to instructions like from other people- give Mama the book, etc. But today it was Ina completely different context, it was the mark of understanding our relationship as me caring for her. It was so cool! I can't stop smiling about it. When I told her that I was so happy about that, she did it again shortly after when she wanted to give me a toy to put away on a shelf that was too high for her to reach.

So milestones, milestones. For about the last week when I leave, she tries to get her jacket to come with me. Another good sign that she's getting pretty ready to go. We talk about this every day, that soon it will be time to say goodbye to the names of all the kids, and then Mommy & Mena will go on a big airplane and then we will see Daddy again & we'll be a family forever. The women atthe orphanage are incredible too. They are also trying to teach her some English words like hello & goodbye. They are also explaining to her in Ukrainian that Daddy went up in the sky in an airplane to Canada and soon she will too. Again, we are so incredibly lucky that Mena's orphanage is so nice, but especially so for the quality of the people who work there. They are so dedicated to the children, so warm, so loving- it is the very reason these children are so bright, caring, polite, and adjusted. I can say that any child waiting for a family there is in amazingly capable hands & it is a good place to be. The kids are happy, well fed, and receive lots of attention & affectionate care. The Director is clearly passionate about her job and the caretakers reflect that. All things considered Mena has had a pretty good start in life, thanks to all of them. We're going to take lots of pictures so when she grows up she can see the women who took care of her, and raised her so well.