Netta's Pages

Well it’s been a month! I go back and forth between thinking of it as ONLY a month and
ALREADY a month.
A lot has been happening and yet it feels like we just came back from Moscow with Netta.
The perspective of time (though only a month) is showing us that a process is taking place. Netta is becoming one of us and a part of us. She is fitting more and more into our lives and accepting us as hers.
Netta has become much more relaxed. Her episodes of tantrums and bursts of anger are, though not completely gone, nearly disappeared. The jealousy between Netta and Ella has subsided. It is still there but doesn’t always resolve itself by a grab or swatting at the other one. They can actually spend long periods of time playing next to each other. Netta no longer exhibits discomfort and anger when we show affection towards Ella.

The first couple of weeks with Netta were definitely trying (that must be the understatement of the year). It turns out that for the same price we got two Nettas. Netta one is the Russian orphanage child, not used to solid foods, everything is new to her, boy have we changed her life.
Netta two is a long lost Tsarina. The last strand of the lost Romanoff family, used to servants waiting on her right and left. Things need to be ready for her, and they need to be ready now! Or heads will roll.
This second Netta was a surprise to us and unexpected in such a small and cute package.
Netta (both of them) is an extremely intelligent child. She is curious and she figures things out very quickly. Those things include us which she figured out in four minutes.
She learns where things are, what goes where and when.

Netta loves running around the house with her hat, scarf and sometimes gloves on. She will come to me with one of these items and want me to put them on.
Not sure where this comes from, and whether it is connected to her initial fear of having any part of her clothing taken off. This is still there though in a reduced manner. She complains (though in a milder way) if you take off her sweater, shoes or socks.
Just likes being wrapped up. Funny though.
She needs confirmation, constantly that we are around and attentive. Netta is happy to walk around and check things out. She isn’t one for spending long periods of time with toys. But she will come over every few minutes to see that we are still there and to make contact, confirming that we acknowledge her. Maybe to make sure we haven’t changed our minds we still want her.

The flight home was not nearly as bad as we had expected. First of all, Netta was really good all through the flight and layover. And second, on both legs of the flight we had a seat for Netta which made it at least bearable.
Netta busied herself with her zippy cup, a couple of toys we had and the TV screen. She would point at it hand say ‘da’. I tended to agree with her.
We arrived bleary eyed but mostly intact. Tamar and Aunt Karen were there to take us home. I can just imagine what this trip must have been for Netta. A taxi ride in the middle of the night, a plane ride, then wandering through the airport in Zurich, only to board another flight (a long one) and then a car ride. ‘Pretty strange’ would be the understatement of the year.

This is our first full day with Netta Polina.
She slept the whole night easily in the hotel crib and had breakfast with us at the dining room. Again we saw that solid foods were out, we will need to work on that. She did accept the sippy cup nicely and uses it for drinking all the time.
We are discovering things about her that are a direct result of the way they do things at the orphanage. Netta does not like to be undressed. In fact the more layers you cover her with, the better. An overall, coat, gloves, scarf and hat… The best.
We suspect she didn’t get many chances to get to know her body. When we leave her with no socks on, she examines her toes intently.

Today was a dramatic day, and a cataclysmic one for Netta.
We started the day by meeting Katya at the hotel and driving to the orphanage. Today we are to pick Netta up and then go the American embassy for Netta’s visa.
We arrived at the orphanage and (as usual) waited for the director to see us. She is always busy with something else. Finally after about an hour of waiting, we were let into her office, there is no small talk with that lady, she barked a few commands and Netta was brought in to her office. What followed was a strange scene that later, when we talked about it, we couldn’t understand why it needed to happen this way. We were to undress Netta of her orphanage cloths and dress her with ours as fast as possible, scaring Netta (literally) out of her pants. Michelle, Katya, Me and sometimes the head doctor all went at it fast motion. By the end of 13 seconds Netta was wearing the clothes we brought for her, the orphanage cloths were on the floor and Netta was screaming to high heaven.