Pretty in Blue

Robin here. Upon our arrival at the doorway of Kristina’s group this morning, we were met with a vision of sweetness as she stood up from her chair wearing a pretty blue dress that we had not seen before. Julia looks beautiful in pink and we learned today that Kristina looks lovely in blue. The color seems to awaken the pallor of her skin, giving it a healthy glow and brightness.

I think the color blue also energizes Kristina, as she was non-stop action today! As soon as we entered the playroom she hopped onto the mini-trampoline and bounced for at least ten minutes straight. Then, after catching her breath, Kristina picked up a softball sized rubber ball and began bouncing on the trampoline again while batting the ball to Greg. This back and forth went on for another ten minutes or so without interruption as Kristina slapped the ball back to Greg just about every time he bounced it at her. She also kicked the ball a few times with amazing precision as she continued to bounce on the trampoline. I think she will make Uncle Jim proud with what appears to be natural soccer skills!

After a LOT of physical activity, we set up the computer to play a Disney Christmas DVD. The first of four movies on the DVD is about Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck competing with one another in an ice skating performance. This particular movie was Julia’s favorite when we bonded with her. It bridges the language barrier by conveying simple emotions to tell the story. Kristina sat quietly through the movie and seemed to enjoy it. It didn’t matter that she could not understand the words spoken. She understood the feelings of friendship, jealousy, rivalry and ultimately true friendship in the end between Minnie and Daisy as the story unfolded. I will be curious to see, if like Julia, Kristina will pull it out of Papa’s briefcase every single day for the rest of the week and ask to see it again and again.

Today marked the halfway point of our bonding period. Next Tuesday will be our fourteenth day. Our lawyer will submit paperwork on that day and we will hopefully stand before the judge less than a week later. We don’t know yet if Kristina will be allowed to stay at the apartment with us during the fifteen day waiting period after court. We hope so for many reasons, including the fact that having her here will eliminate the need to drive almost two hours roundtrip to the Poulidino orphanage as we wait out the days. The jury is still out as to whether or not Greg will head back to the States right after court, or spend some time here with Kristina and me during the waiting period. We’ll have to wait and see how well the stars are aligned when the time comes.