This morning she started saying words in English. She said, "Amen" (after Mark said grace) and "bye-bye" in addition to "chao, chao" when she leaves. I also found out that what I thought was "ako obichash" which means please is actually "aste obichem" which means "I love you." Ivo interpreted this for us. All this time she has been patting my face and saying, "I love you" and I didn't even understand. We also found out that she keeps saying "askimotee" which means "more" and "die" which means "give me." She says "die" a lot.
We ate leftover soup shortly after we arrived and unpacked the groceries, so that we could try to get Grace her nap before we left at 3:30. We gave Petko one of the thank you gifts we brought and he reminded us to send pictures with the post placement reports. He said that they are so important to keep good relations with the Bulgarian government. He also told us that sometimes he needs supportive words and said that the translation for the card into Bulgarian made sense. I guess Google Translate worked fairly well.
Ivo picked us up at 3:30 to take Grace to her Embassy physical appointment. We had to visit 3 different doctors. The first was an ear, nose, and throat doctor who asked us a couple of questions, looked into Grace's ears, nose, and throat while she sat in a chair and sent us on our way. The second doctor was an eye doctor who shined a light into her eyes and sent us on. Before we could see the third doctor we had to wait, and Grace did not cooperate. She wanted to walk in the hallway, knock on the doors of other offices, yell at people on the steps, and act "cute" with the other people waiting. Finally we went into his office. He looked at her xrays, listened to her heart and lungs, and talked to us about her overall condition. As he looked over the paperwork, he mentioned that his wife works in the hospital ward where Grace spent the first months of her life, so he thought that she probably was one of Grace's nurses. He also told us that she had reconstructive surgery on one of her kidneys, not just the removal of a kidney stone. He said that to make her lungs strong that we should have her in sports like swimming and gymnastics, and that surgery on her chest is completely cosmetic. He recommended waiting to have surgery until after she stops growing because the surgery could disrupt her growth. During all of the exams, Grace just sat quietly and did not fuss at all. She even pulled up her shirt for the doctor to listen to her chest. We noticed she has many small scars on the backs of her hands which we figure she got from the months of medical treatment she had after birth. Poor baby.
On the way out of the building, a secretary at the front desk talked to Grace and asked her name and age. Of course, she said she was five...Then the secretary took an ornament off of a small Christmas tree on the desk and handed it to her to take home. We will be putting it on the Christmas tree and telling this story for years to come.
When we got back to the apartment Mark made spaghetti and cooked carrots and she really liked both. In fact, Mark had a hard time getting the carrots cut up, because she kept trying to take the whole peeled carrots off of the counter to eat raw. He sliced off small pieces and tried giving them to her and she loved them. We were told that kids in the orphanages usually have trouble eating more crunchy foods, because they are used to soups and stews, so this really surprised us. She cleaned up a small bowl of both foods, and I mean cleaned up. This little girl doesn't leave a speck of food on her plate or the table. The boys could use a few lessons...She also wanted to try a sip of Mark's Coca-Cola, which made her make a face. She doesn't like it at all.
After supper, she helped wash dishes and took the sponge and cleaned the whole apartment. Truly, she wiped off the table, the chairs, the coffee table, and the vinyl covered corner sofa! (I hope she does this when we get home...) Then we gave her a bath. The minute the water started running, she got a worried look on her face. She cried a little before she got into the tub, but she stopped as soon as the water was turned off. We told her "ne boli" which means roughly "no hurt." She kept repeating that over and over. She sat in the water and played a little bit with the cup and seemed really happy because we left her hair alone.
Then Mark made a bag of microwave popcorn. We gave her a small bowl, because we were afraid she would try to put the whole bag into her mouth at once. She loved watching the bag swell up in the microwave, too. She is also great about sharing, and would take popcorn out of the bowl and give one to Mark and one to me and put them in our mouths. She didn't want us to touch the popcorn, though. I think she ate so fast because she wanted to wash the bowl. The dishwasher isn't a big hit...
After that she was really naughty and silly. She kept trying to put things in the outlets, was throwing things and running around, kept pushing buttons on the TV and the computer, and refused to do anything she was supposed to do. She acted like she was on a sugar high or something. I think the move and the medical appointments today were too much excitement. We had a really hard time getting her to go to sleep. She rocked herself and flopped around for over an hour. But, as she was laying in bed, she patted Daddy's face like she pats Mommy's when she is trying to go to sleep. What a great way to end a crazy day.
"Otivame." We are going...
Waiting at the doctor's office.
I like to help.
Mama, ella...Mama, come here!
Popcorn
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