Merry Christmas/9 Month Anniversary!

Wow.  Has it really been only 9 months since we flew back?  Holy cow!  In other ways though, I can't believe it's ONLY been 9 months. :)  And, since it's after midnight now I suppose this post will have the 26th as the date instead of the 25th.  Ah well.

These last three months I've noticed even more huge strides with Ira.  She has come SO far in these months.  She is usually kinder to Little One.  I see real bonding going on between them and not just a toleration on both parts.  Getting baptized was another huge step for her.  It's been so fun to see her transition and watch her budding testimony.  That is a post in and of itself though.

As I commemorate our latest 3-month achievement, I thought I would share some of my favorite "Ira" sayings.  Enjoy!

• This no very nice to me.
• No Mama.  This no very happy.
• She scary me. (She's scared of me.)  This also works with "I'm scary" meaning she's scared. :)
• Me: Little One?  Ira: This is Big One
• 2 nuh 2 (2x2...she's got the English names for the numbers but was adding the Russian for multiply.)  We told her that no, tuna was a fish, not a math problem.
• Please I you me? (She's got a thing with pronouns.)
• Also popular is "Can I please you for me?"
• If you no like, you say me. (If you don't like it, tell me)
• Where is my one more this?
• Allova (This is used to mean lots of something)
• Wantsta (As in "I wantsta            )
• Better I dead (If she doesn't like something like having to wear her glasses or some such horrible thing.  I haven't heard this one for a while though.)
• Can I please erase my nails? (Take nail polish off)
• And my favorite right now, "I know this, Mama."  Or Grandma.  Like with math.  She'll tell Mom, "I know this, Grandma.  Maybe." LOL  Or if I'm heaping her read something.  "I know this, Mama." :)

Fun Adventures

I've had a couple of little incidents that I've been wanting to mention.  Most of these have been awhile now, but I wanted to remember them, nonetheless.

• Ira had the option of raising her PE grade slightly last term by running 2 miles instead of the 1 they usually had to.  She needed to be at school before it started and be all done before music class.  She made the mistake of telling me this was an option.  Her grade was down (though still a B) because of a written test that she didn't do great on.  It was a hard test and I was in no way upset with the score she got on it because we'd studied and she tried.  However, if there is a chance to do some extra credit then we do it.  Therefore I insisted she run the two miles.  She cried and cried and told me she wasn't going to do it and she was fine with the B all that fun jazz.  I'm trying to teach her that we do our very best.  On the test, that meant a bad score, but in the over all class when there was a way to improve the grade, she needed to do it.  When it came time to actually arrive at school though, she did just fine and no complaining.
• Next comes shopping for a choir outfit.  She needed a black skirt and a white blouse.  Here comes my incredibly picky teenager.  Mom and Ira and I went shopping all over town looking for a skirt/shirt that would be okay with her as well as me.  We went to no less than 11 different stores.  11.  I think that counts as trying to be accommodating, don't you?  We finally went back to Walmart where we'd found an adorable skirt.  She'd tried it on and cried because it was SO ugly.  It has a slight flare and isn't skin tight, for heaven's sake.  She hated the blouse too.  I told her it was for 2 concerts and she would live.  She'd found another skirt that she liked that was knit but straight. The waistband was super high though and the blouse wouldn't work for it.  Then the little stinker wears the thing to church because (get this) it really isn't as bad as she'd thought. *rolls eyes*
• Speaking of skirts we've also had issues with a slip.  Mom made her a super cute skirt that Ira picked the fabric out for.  It has a white background though so it really needed a slip under it to be most modest.  I got her one but you'd have thought I'd asked her to jump off a cliff or something.  She cried and sobbed and said she wasn't going to wear it.  It goes UNDER the skirt.  It's not like anyone can see it!  She was in the laundry room complaining to Mom about it (she wasn't getting any sympathy) when I came in.  She made the mistake of yelling, "YOU put it on!" at me.  I just said, "Okay." and proceeded to put it on her.  Now, lest you think I was not being appropriate, I only got it around her legs.  It was quite funny though.  I'm standing there holding her leg and trying to get the slip on the other leg when she's kicking at it.  Quite entertaining, actually.  Mom and I left her in there to put it on and we heard her yelling, "Yuck!  Yuck!  Yuck!"  Then she walks out like nothing has happened and hasn't had a problem wearing it since.  Go figure.
• Kontakte.  We have a love/hate relationship.  For those of you that don't know, it's a Russian version of Facebook but it also had videos/movies/TV shows, etc...  I love that she can keep in touch with her Ukrainian friends, but I hate the site.  It's filled with filth and she isn't mature enough to handle it.  I've really struggled with what to do.  I wouldn't give an American 13 year old free reign with YouTube, and Kontakte has a lot worse stuff.  I tried saying she can get on there but NO videos.  Then I catch her watching videos.  More than once.  Nothing bad, mind you, but she still is watching when she was told no videos at all.  I also know there is a lot of porn on it.  I finally came up with a plan that was a fair as I could possibly make it.  She kept saying that if I deleted her account then she wouldn't be able to contact any of her friends when they were all grown up.  What I did was change her password on it.  I am the only person that knows it and I will give it to her when she moves out.  In the meantime, she can get on there (with me sitting with her) and post a message telling her friends to get a Facebook account (which I can monitor much better.)  I have very strict rules about her and Facebook.  After that, she is done with Kontakte until she is all grown up.  The ones that want to keep in touch with her will make the change.  She really took the news quite well.  I've been impressed.  There were only minimal tears and I haven't heard her complain about it once.  It's been weeks now.
• And last, something on the more humorous side.  I'd finally had enough of hearing, "You love Little One more!" and all versions of said jealously.  One day when she was complaining about it I told her I could show her what it would be like to have me love Little One more.  She would always get ______.  Ira never would.  I told her more than once that I really didn't love Little One more, but if I did, this is what would happen and the kinds of things that would be going on.    After I'd named a few different things that she would never get, she finally said that she didn't really think Little One was loved more.  I haven't heard a word about there being a favorite child since. :)

Next, I've been keeping track of fun saying Ira says.  It really is very much like having a small child when they are learning a new language.  I'll get that up this week sometime.