While we were in Russia, we arranged for a native Russian speaker to come over to help us with introducing the house, and the house rules to Rita. Z is great because she worked with our agency over the summer as a driver and translator in her home region. Therefore, she's familiar with Russian adoptees and the issues they face, along with how to deal with the parents.

Right now, we actually feel very comfortable with the communication between us and Rita. We had studied our kid Russian and feel like we are 85% competent in understanding and communicating with her around her basic needs. These are the most common discussions in our household:

Mama/Papa... (in Russian)

1. ... I'm hungry.

2. ... I have to go #1.

3. ... I'm thirsty.

4. ... I don't like taking baths.

5. ... I don't want to sleep.

6. ... I have to go #2.

7. ... Thani wants to go for a walk.

8. ... Thani is hungry.

9. ... Thani wants to sleep.

10. ... Yoshi! (followed by a growl from Yoshi)

The biggest concerns we wanted to discuss with Rita (in Russian) were opening the outside doors & going outside without us and making sure she was careful about opening and closing the doors so that Yoshi does not run outside. During the evening, Z would ask her to repeat the house rules and we surprisely learned that there are other house rules (presumably taught at the orphanage) she is planning to follow:

1. Children are not allowed to smoke. Only men can smoke and they can only smoke outside because if men smoke inside the house it will blow up.

2. You cannot shoot anyone with a gun because they will die. (Told to the children after they watched something on the television with guns.)

3. You cannot touch the jam without asking.

4. You cannot talk to men on the outside because they are drunks and you need to keep walking and not pay any attention to them.

We were laughing when we heard these rules but they are actually really good rules! Even though I also think that they also suggest a "scary outside world". We also talked about consequences for bad behavior and timeouts and Rita seemed familiar with the concept and talked about a time at the orphanage when all the children in her groupa got in trouble by the security guard because they were talking and not sleeping.

We talked about fun stuff too and reassured Rita that if she needed to explain something to us, or had a question we couldn't answer for her... that she should tell us and we will call Z so we can get things sorted out.

Next week we plan to discuss her first doctor's appt (scheduled for Wed 2/21) and her eye doctor appointment (3/1). We would also like Z to help her write a letter to her foster mom, caregivers/orphanage director and maybe even her groupa. I have to think about that last one...

ps. Oh, and we also have been hearing alot of "Excuse me Mama"s (in English). I taught her to say this whenever she burps or passes gas. Apparently she finds her bodily functions very amusing and we are trying to figure out how to address this with her. Any ideas?