Z came over again last night for our weekly discussion in Russian.

We had Rita talk about what we did all week. There were a couple of interesting comments like... (Z's translation)

"We watched boys recite poems and people tell them how they did." (American Idol)

"We played a game where you take bones out of a body." (The board game Operation)

Apparently Rita is really really impressed that there are plastic bags available at the trailhead for us to pick up Thani's #2 when we go for walks.

She also thinks that mama and papa are good drivers.

She said that she got the scar on her forehead "many years ago" (later determined to be Feb 07-ish because she said she went to live with her foster family after the incident) when two boys were playing with a chair and the chair hit her.

We asked her what she thought our jobs were... and she said that Michael is a caregiver and I am a chef. She said that she wants me to teach her how to cook! We told her about our real jobs, and that Michael works from home and when she goes to school I will work at my office. We are planning to visit my office this week. She did mention that she knows that we work sometimes because she sees us play games on our computers.

We also talked about her doctor's appointments. She specifically wanted to know when she is having her eye surgery. We had not mentioned that she was going to get surgery - we just told her that she was going to a doctor to look at her eye (just in case they can't do anything... we didn't want to get her hopes up). But apparently the Children's Home told her that she was going to get the surgery (and she was going to do so in Russia in May if she didn't come here).

And she asked (without fear)...

"Are they going to take out my eye and give me a new one?"

So we told her that the first appointment on Saturday would be with a doctor who examine her eyes and her vision, and then we would probably go to another doctor (or more) who would examine her for the surgery to fix her eyelid. We assured her that they aren't going to remove her eye and give her a new one.

So I'm glad we had this discussion and she seems ready to get the surgery done as soon as possible.

We also talked about school (since we are thinking about starting her March 17 instead of April 15) and she said that she wants the surgery before she goes to school. We told her that we would like her to have the surgery as soon as possible but we will find out from the doctor how long it will take to get it scheduled and what is involved.

Needless to say - another interesting evening...

Something else to note. Since we picked her up from the Children's Home she's been really good about receiving hugs and snuggling in bed or on the sofa. So different from the shy girl we met on Trip #1 and early on during Trip #2 who would freeze up if we put our arms around her. She only really started hugging when we came back for her after the court trip. Now, in the last two days Rita has started to give us kisses on the lips and face. This is a huge step! Previously we were giving kisses to a stuffed animal who would deliver the kisses back and forth. I think we are seeing some healthy attachment.