Princess

p.s., The Little Princess (inside story based on a singing Valentine card we sent her that told her she was a princess and played Beauty and the Beast, which is why she sees herself as the Beauty as well) loves bubble baths! As a bonding experience, Mama decided that since we had a tub in our last apt., she would play "spa night" and do girls tub-time. For bubbles, she used the dishwashing liquid (our best option). It was Karina's first bubble bath. We pretended like we had glasses of champagne and chocolate (even though we didn't have either and glass is not allowed in the bathroom by Mama's standards). Pretending was fun. Well, tonight, Mama asked if she wanted a bubble bath on her own, and she got so excited, it was more fun for us than her, I think! Papa told her she was a princess and Mama let her use her lotion. She is having a blast. We did go to swing in the little park outside of our new apt. and the kids there were curious because we spoke English. She told them she lived in America. We know enough Russian to talk to 5 year olds, and they kept asking, are your parents Ukrainian and English? It was funny. She can't wait for Anastasia to be adopted, and for Ivanna to be adopted, and for Nikita to be adopted so she can see them again (this came out at the park today; surprise!) We think she has a little crush on Ivanna, and agree, he is awfully cute! (This blog has to disappear before she is able to read it! She is very shy about him.)

On beauty lotion and transliterating Russian: if you know the Russian alphabet and how the letters sound, you can play "code-decipher" games and figure out how many words, once you sound them out, sound the same or very similar to their English counterparts. Here is an example: стоп = stop. Pretty straightforward. Well, we kept seeing a nondescript building with a big sign outfront that read Oriflame. Ann, being from Texas where natural gas was the way people cooked, and knowing that Ukrainian neighborhoods are laced with yellow pipelines above ground where natural gas is piped from home to home, she assumed that Oriflame was like Lone Star Gas - a place where people got gas service, bought gas appliances, and learned how to cook with gas. Surprise! Oriflame is a beauty company selling lotions and cosmetics! How funny!