Elvira Days 3 and 4

The past two days have been very busy.  It’s hard to believe we’re already starting our long journey home in the morning.  Praise God that it did not snow anymore!  Continued prayers that the good weather will hold for our plane’s departure tomorrow would be much appreciated.  Good weather for the past 2 days has meant that we were able to get everything done that we needed to, plus a few extras.  We got our forms notarized, did some sightseeing, and of course, visited with Elvira two more times. 

Yesterday, we taught Elvira how to clap her hands and say, ‘Yay’! We were amazed at how quickly she picked it up.  So much for not being able to talk because I also heard her say her nickname, ‘Ella’, and then today she called Ryan ‘Daddy’ and ‘Papa’.  Russians say ‘Papa’, and we have been saying, ‘Daddy’, so she realized he was both.  Ryan says she also called me ‘Mama’, but I didn’t hear it.  It also doesn’t have as much significance since all the caregivers at the orphanage are called ‘Mama’, but it does show that she can talk.

Clapping:

Today we threw a little party at her orphanage, or as much of one as we were allowed.  We couldn’t bring cake due to dietary restrictions, but we could bring cookies and marmalade candy, so that is what we brought.  Elvira’s age group (age 2) is too young (according to her nurses) for cookies or candy, so she had her party with the older kids, and Elvira had to sit there while everyone around her ate.  If I had known this ahead of time, I probably would have just left the cookies and spent more time with Elvira in the playroom.  But she didn’t seem to mind, and the older kids enjoyed their cookies.

I got to put Elvira down for her nap the past couple of days.  It was hard because they were ready for us to leave, and I had to hurry.  I couldn’t rock her as much as I wanted to.  Plus, there were other children in the room (one of whom was snoring very loudly both days, lol), and I didn’t want to wake them up.  I held her and rocked her a little bit, then layed her down and rubbed her back and head.  The second day, the little boy in the next crib was sitting up and rocking himself to sleep.  So sad to see. 

We also realized that Elvira does this thing where she chews/sucks on her tongue when she’s tired.  We think this is a self-soothing mechanism.  She would do it after lunch when she was ready for her nap.

I’ll leave you with a couple more pictures of our last 2 days.

The first is of Elvira playing with a ball.  You can see our translator, Dasha, and our facilitator, Sveta, in the background.  You will not find two sweeter ladies.

The second is of me reading our birthday card to Ella.  She liked the scratchy glitter on the bottom of the card.

And the last is of me getting in some snuggle time.

We leave early tomorrow morning.  So again, please pray for good weather – no snow!  We can’t wait to see our little ones at home.  Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can come back and bring Elvira home to meet her brother and sister.

 Marj