Life at home...

It is really hard to believe that we have been home for about as long as we were in Ukraine. Time has gone much quicker here. We have settled quite well into somewhat of a routine and are really enjoying our daughter. She has adapted incredibly well and at times we really have to remind ourselves that we've only had her for 7 weeks. She is such a wonderful little girl and has really just blossomed since we've had her with us. It's been incredible to watch. She is most definately well attached to us, but also is quite attached to both sets of grandparents and all her cousins, aunties and uncles. We have pictures on our fridge of the cousins that she looks at and points to (and often kisses) several times each day - it's pretty cute! She's got her own version of most of their names down (for example Will is 'wow' and Sam is 'tug' - we're not sure of the connection but it suits him!) She knows both her grandparents' houses and gets quite excited to get out of the car or stroller as soon as she sees them. She has settled in so well to our families that in many ways it is like she was always here.
We continue to learn alot about Ivanna and experience many firsts and watch her expand her little world. While at first, water was quite terrifying to her and she HATED her bath time (as in kicking and screaming hated), now she has turned into a little fish in her Nana and Grandpa MacKenzie's pool and loves her bath. The transformation started by watching her cousins (Eilidh and Will) having FUN in the bath and then progressed to having a bath with her cousin Sam (who loves the bath) to now she goes to the bath and holds up the plug and points to the taps and says 'please' with a very cute expression on her face. The pool has also helped. While at first she was a little tentative (at least I think I remember her actually being tentative the first time or two - she's so different now!) and clung to me (Shona) and her daddy, she eventually discovered that splashing is FUN and then that water is fun. After a couple of visits she was jumping in (to my increased stress) from the edge without hanging on to me and was quite happy to go right under the water (with me to pull her up). Now we mostly put her in a life jacket (and she's progressed to jumping off the diving board)! In the life jacket she will kick and try to swim and will purposefully put her face in the water and will 'dive' under the rope dividing the shallow and deep ends lifting it over her as she goes under it. It's amazing -- and actually hard to remember just how tentative she was about water a few short weeks ago!
Ivanna also really loves to be outside and will play for hours (if we let her) on the play structure in the backyard or in the parks near our home. We have realised that she is really quite a physically-gifted child as she is quite strong for her age, is incredibly flexible and has no fear. She will try to climb anything (and is able to climb most play structures - even those made for much older children!). She definately keeps us running!
In the last month, we also went camping and she had a lot of fun. She and I (Shona) went with Tanis and her boys to a nearby camp-ground (Pike Lake) and stayed for most of a week, camping with other friends. It was so much fun. The pool there is ideal for kids (zero-entry) and also has a water slide (which, surprise surprise, she loved riding down with me). Our days were fantastic and lots of fun but our nights were a little rough as she and I both had bad colds, and she had croup the first night there (not fun to deal with on your own without medical assistance close by!). We both survived and learned that she reacts with cold medication, so we will NEVER EVER give it to her again (lets just say that 4 hours of a manic/hyper child in a small tailer from 11PM to 3am is not a good experience!). We have since learned that the nightime version is tolerable and she doesn't go wild with it. Ah. Life lessons learned the hard way.
We had her 2nd birthday party out at Pike Lake and that was a lot of fun and provided a lot of space for the kids to run around. She hadn't napped that day (other than 10 minutes in the car - which apparently she thought was enough) so by the end of the party as we put her in the vehicle and said goodbye to family she sleepily said (and signed) to me 'tired, night night'. So we fed her wieners and put her to bed. A good day.
Food has been another adventure. As we got NO information from the orphanage about her usual foods, we've been kind of winging it. We've discovered that most of the time she would gobble up oatmeal in the morning and thick, chunky soup/stew for lunch (yes she'd even eat all the vegetables). Those were my 'sure things'. Well, a week of camping with her cousins now has her eating hot dogs like CRAZY and fries and ketchup. That's a balanced diet right? She also will now eat cheese (especially cheese strings - what Sam has, Ivanna wants - how that has helped her to eat more things!) and yogurt cheese (Minigo) and she'll eat a few other options for fruit besides bananas, so at least she'll now eat something in all the food groups! I'm learning to be more relaxed and let her eat what she will and not to push what she won't (she is 2 after all - the more I push, the more she pushes back! DN: yeah, I'm learning that one too. I figured that since I am older, I ought to have a stronger will. oops. not so). It really is an adventure all round.
Anyway, that's all I have time for now. She will be waking up from her nap soon so off I must run. Know that we are all doing well and loving being home. We'll post more recent pictures soon and will try to continue to post at least monthly updates for all our loved ones who live far away and don't get to experience the adventure first hand!
Shona, Darren and Ivanna