Andrew, Natalie and Rita 'meet' for the first time

I was just reading a comment left on the blog from a friend about not having a quiet child yet. Yes it is true, it looks like Ted and I will never have a shy child. I was tellling F earlier in the week how with all of our adoptions we have kept hoping for a quiet or shy child. He just laughed and said that if we were hoping Rita would be shy, we should keep adopting!!! Rita is so silly and funny. She is so much like her siblings at home but just as they all have very unique personalities so does she. Today has been a fairly quiet day. We went to the flea market just a few blocks from our apartment with B. We found some great souviers. We then went to lunch and had traditional Armenian food....hmmmm. Rita does have a little problem with over eating and today it wasn't too pretty. Even though she came from a very nice O I believe this is post orphanage behavior. She has never eaten many of the foods that we have had at the resturant and everything taste so good to her.....so she eats and eats. There really isn't any child's meals so if is hard to limit her portions. Well while we were waiting for the bill I reconized the words "lav chem" that she spoke to B (I don't feel well). She then threw up a little bit in her clean plate. So she and I quickly went outside and then she threw up again. She said she felt fine so we continued on to the park as planned. Not to far from the resturuant she did it again. I said that we must go back to the apartment until her stomach had time to settle. Of course B translated this and she became upset with B thinking that it was her decision to not go to the park. As we walked back to the apartment she refused to talk to B. I had B tell her that I was the one who said we would not go to the park until later. By then she was too mad. As the mother of 4 other kids I wasn't too concerned about her being mad because she wasn't getting her way. B is very soft hearted and didn't like Rita being upset with her. As usual Rita came around fairly quickly so everyone was happy again. B's birthday is tomorrow so she won't be with us. Rita was sad because she loves B so much. I said that we would go shopping for a small gift for B tomorrow and give it to her on Monday. Rita was thrilled with that answer!!! (the girl loves to shop, even if it is just for snacks or even paper towels).

Before Rita got sick, she asked B if She would have surgery on her arm once she was in America. F had told us yesterday that people have asked this question in our presence but has not translated for us. Plus when we were eating buy ourselves yesterday without a guide I could tell that 2 waitresses were asking her if she would have surgery on her arm in America. I'm thinking that her arm has never really been discussed with her. So all of these questions have got her thinking. Anyways we told B to tell her that it was her choice if she wanted to have any work on her arm. She said that she could use her arm fine and she didn't want any surgery. I told her that we have decided the same for Paul...if he ever wants a prosthesis, it will be his choice. We told her that we think she is still beautiful with a small arm. She told B that she was worried that the doctor would cut off her entire arm and give her a new one. B asked why did she think this and she didn't have an answer. I told B that she didn't have to translate this but I said that we would take her to a specialist once she was speaking English fluently and not before. I told her I was mor concerned about her chest and back than her arm. Some how Rita caught on to what we were saying, probably from my motions. Rita told B that she has pains on her small side sometimes. I told B we would only do treatment without Rita's permission if it was a health issue. Rita seemed content with our conversation.

Rita got to speak with Andrew and Natalie for the first time (and cousin Emily too). Natalie was shy in talking with Rita but Andrew and Rita seemed to have found something to discuss ( I think they were just saying "hello" back and forth).

I almost forgot a touching moment that I experienced today. The cleaning lady was at the apartment today. She was talking to Rita and Rita was telling her the whole story...O in Guymri, mama and papa America, etc. The lady finished her job and was waiting for her ride. She spoke some English so I was showing her one of the photo albums that I had sent to Rita of our family. She took my hand and kissed it and very sincerely said "Thank You." It was a humbling experience for me. So, I'll leave you with this until tomorrow...........Alison