We've had alot of firsts this week. I think her favorite meal of the week was Tuesday lunch when we had Spaghettios. I got lots of "yummy yummys" (rubbing her stomach), "I love macaroni" (in Russian), and many thumbs ups during the meal. Over the last month we have also tested out many of American favorites like macaroni & cheese, hot dogs, bologna sandwiches and pizza and she loves them all. The only thing she didn't like on first try is peanut butter. Last Sunday when Z came over, Rita promoted me to "Super Chef" and I received fours stars for my cooking.

We continue to practice on the bike - practicing figure 8s so she learns how to turn. Rita told Z that she learned how to ride a bike last year - not sure if this was at the orphanage or during the summer when she lived in the home of one of the caregivers. We also tried rollerskating... that was more difficult for her. Perhaps it was the safety helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards that I made her wear???

We also decided that we wanted to explore her interest and abilities with tennis. So last Sunday we went to our local mega sport store and purchased a junior Maria Sharap*va racket for her. And we've been playing (hitting the ball to each other - not even back and forth) every day since. She also really enjoys watching the tennis channel. So we are planning to enroll her in a tennis summer day camp organized by the YMCA for 2-4 weeks*.

Rita's eye surgery is scheduled for March 27th.... And we are still working on a start date for school. The elementary school which is walking distance to our house requires us to complete a transfer from our assigned school (about a mile away). Before we left for Russia we checked in with our preferred school (the closer one) and they said that there would be no problem getting her enrolled anytime we were ready. But now there is a problem (overcrowding) and we will probably be attending her assigned school this year, and probably next year (although we are on the waiting list). It's not a big deal, as the assigned school is also really really good (better I think on paper) but we will need to drive her unless we want to walk her along a busy road ... and it would take about 60 minutes of walking to get there and back. The other drawback we see is that some of the kids in our neigborhood go to our preferred school; whereas the other half go the assigned school. Friends at her assigned school will live farther away. It just might make after-school get-togethers alittle bit more complicated but we will survive.