Summer time for Mara!

Having overcome her fear of water, we now can't keep her away from it! She takes 2 hour baths. And now loves her baby pool and beach toys - thank goodness we can block the sun!

At the rose garden feeding the ducks.

Here walking through the water fountain downtown while waiting for Clare to finish jury duty (thankfully the judge excused her after hearing Mara's story).  She walked and walked, completely soaked by the end of it! Keep exercising and building those leg muscles Mara!

Mara loves to try on new clothes - her a fancy new outfit from Irene.  She was very proud of the little purse. 

She has also discovered sunglasses and can't stop posing & looking at herself in the mirror!  Maybe she is reading too many of Clare's Vogue magazines?

With the battery of tests they are running on her, they discovered she has giardia, a parasite that lives in your intestine.  Poor thing - we think it may be why she is sleeping, eating so much and why her belly is so bloated.  The prescribed a pill and we are having a heck of a time giving it to her.  It's been a slow process since she hates the flavor of it and we have to dilute it A LOT.  Even with what we've given her, we can start to see improvement.  Once she is treated they think she will start to start gain weight and add to her 24-pound body.

Trying new things

Mara is like a sponge - absorbing new words by the minute (sun, moon, pizza, love you (Clare's personal favorite), good night, pooh, pee) and wanting to do new things!  Just like her parents, she seems to seek adventure, always wanting to explore and try new things!

Here her first time on the swing with Leanna and Clare (she will be swinging herself in no time!).  It was also Mara's first play date with Maddie (who has grown like a weed since I last saw her!).  It's shocking to see how well kids communicate without any words.

Mara's appetite is subsiding (a bit) but not her love to go out to restaurants to eat.  She interacts with everyone, clearly enjoys being outside and listening to music.  Sunday we had dinner at Dio Deca (where she ate squid?) and then walked through downtown Los Gatos.  This is where she added "moon" to her repertoire, giggling each time she said and pointed to it. 

Another new favorite for Mara - PIZZA! Both saying the word, eating and playing with her pizza puzzle.  Here at Pizza Antiqua and her visit with Maia on Monday night.  Afterwards we walked through the mall where she said "hi" to everyone.  She also let us sit down for a glass of wine - a perfect summer evening!

Another first - Mara taking her own bath!! Screaming is gone - she splashed and sung for almost an hour!!

Thankfully Mara is also making progress on potty training.  She is also a healthy sleeper - long naps in the afternoon and 9+ hour sleep at night.  I guess it's exhausting to catch up being a healthy 4 year old!!

Her bloodwork came back and everything has checked out okay.  She is vitamin D deficient (no surprise) so the doctor prescribed a supplement, along with over the counter omega-3.  Aside from this, the doctor says she couldn't be happier with the results!  We are investigating physical therapy and also looking into local programs to help her along her development cycle.  But even without it, this little girl is certainly catching up for no time!

Life of the Party

Mara's new favorite thing is to visit her Granny's in Santa Cruz, to see the animals and hang out in her house (since she has such cool & usual things like a piano and paint brushes!).  She is an absolute joy to drive with since she loves to listen to music.

Here she is playing with Granny and her new Rhode Island Red chickies!

This week she had another visit at the pediatrician to have additional blood work and the start of her vaccinations.  The blood work has confirmed that she is anemic, protein & vitamin D deficient.  We will see if she needs additional supplements, in addition to the wonderfully balanced meals that she has been eating voraciously.  She was a real trooper at the doctor, even with what seemed to be a LOT of blood drawn from her!  Afterwards we treated her to her visit to Toys-R-Us.  Upon entering the door she immediately said "WOW"!

Here showing off her new threads.

 

This week she also came to a work function for Clare's work.  Talk about the life of the party:  she wandered outside to sit down to talk with Clare's colleagues and some complete strangers!!  We are amazed at how outgoing she is!

The other highlight of the week is that she is starting to potty train - who would have thought we would get so excited for poop?!  It's absolutely amazing at how quickly she is growing up and even more of a spirited little girl.

Each day we are working with her to learn English and her A-B-C's and 1-2-3's.  She is learning about 2-3 words a day and emulates everything we do.  She also loves to sing and learn nursery rhymes.  Her with her dog and cat babies (while coloring).

The fashionista trying on Clare's slippers (while looking at her reflection in the window).

Hanging with the Fam

Everyone in the family is anxious to meet Mara!  We visited Auntie Mimi's work to meet her and Richard (where she got to experience her first helium balloon with Minnie Mouse which Mara calls "Mimi").

Earlier this week, we met Granny, Auntie Amelia, Dallas and her Uncle Scott at Santana Row for lunch. 





It was a wonderful afternoon with our family together.  Mara loved the attention, new clothes (thank you Auntie Amelia), eating out and walking around Santana Row. 

 

Mara loved shopping and receiving another helium balloon.  She waves and says hi to everyone!

Here helping Clare fold clothes - playing with socks and wearing Clare's headband.  She has a thing for headbands!

Our ritual walk to the Rose Garden Peet's coffee. 

Eating out and her new found passion - pizza!

Tonight thanks to advice from Auntie Denise, we had our first successful bath!  She must have been traumatized by a bath before (maybe soap in her eyes?) and no matter what we tried, she would scream bloody murder.  After Clare jumped in with her, she had the time of her life:  kicking her feet, playing with the suds, talking to Elmo and even asking for her hair to be washed!!  And no - not sharing pictures of this one....

Growing up before our eyes!

Each day she does something new - re-asserting herself as an independent and smart little four year old.  Thankfully we have made progress on teeth brushing (although it will be interesting to get our dentist's feedback on the discoloration of her teeth which we think is due to over-medication of antibiotics). 

She likes to climb into our bed in the morning to sit between us and to play with Clare's rings and flip through her Vogue fashion magazine?!!

She has even stole the heart of our cat Biko - who is fascinated with all of her activity! I wish you could hear her say "Biko".  It's the cutest thing ever!

She received her first doll from her Aunt Linda and can't stop taking on & off her clothes and shoes. 

But even with a doll, you can't take away a girl from her Tigger! 

She loves people - waves and says "Hi" or "Baka" to everyone around her.  She even experienced her first happy hour at Madera with her Aunt Janelle! Before we met up, she picked out her own dress (thank you Aunt Denise!) and shoes and was so excited to go out! (If we could just get her as excited about the bath too - Nick bought bath crayons and letters/numbers.  These along with Elmo should do the trick eventually.  She obviously was traumatized by a bath at some point in her history - maybe she got soap in her eyes?)

Giving Dad a kiss!  The kiss giving just started a few days ago.  We were thrilled when she asked to give us both one - we think it means that she is really starting to bond and feel comfortable with us. 

One happy family!

Still fighting the measles

She had her visit real pediatrician visit.  The doctor was wonderful.  We all really liked her.  She even asked to hold off on her vaccinations so that she could build a trusting relationship with Mara.  The bad news is that the test results came back and she still has the measles - so much for the German variety!  Hard to tell how much it's affecting her, although she is sleeping a lot (which she needs).  With Nick's good cooking, sleep and lots of TLC, we expect our brave little girl to up & running in no time!

On a more positive note - Mara met her Granny for the first time!  There were many tears of joy shared between Clare and her Mom.  Mara had a grand time playing with Yo (Granny's yorkie), her Rhode Island Red chicks and Granny's grand piano.  We may have a musician on our hands!

She is starting to sing, count, say her A-B-C's and learning English - "okay", "please", "ready" and "apple". 

Of all her toys, Mara enjoys drawing the most.  She likes it when Clare draws with her and asks to spell "Mara", "Daddy", "Mommy" and most recently our cats "Ezzie" and "Biko".  (And yes the cats seem to be adjusting too.  It's almost a blessing that Mara needs help walking.  We don't think they are as intimidated of the fear of her chasing them.)

And even better with Post-its! 

She is also starting to eat like a big girl (and no, her appetite hasn't reduced any!) Today was her first time using a straw (hopefully we can ween her off her water bottle with nipple since that may be causing the candida to stick around!).

Every time she walks by her room, she points to the wall with the letters of her name and says "Mara".  Here she is playing in her room with her piggy bank. 

Every day it's a new experience with her.  She's growing up so fast and is bonding with us more & more.  She even asked for her first kisses! 

Hanging with Mara

What's Mara been up to the past few days?

Unfortunately, she is still congested so we had to take her into critical care over the holiday.  She has a fungal infection and "thrush" which is due to too many antibiotics and the damp, dark conditions of her former home.  The doctor also said she is anemic, although thankfully all of her other blood work came back fine, as well as her chest x-ray.  How the heck do you get a 4 year old who's terrified of anything going into her mouth to allow a swab in her mouth 4 times a day?

Even at the doctor's office she was bright & cheerful, exploring the waiting area.  She is really starting to jam on walking!!

She absolutely hates getting a bath but is so happy afterwards when she is clean!  And yes, she loves the babushka!!  She is already learning her 1-2-3's and A-B-C's, struggling with pronunciation of her "F's".  What a smart girl!!

And yes, the fashionista playing with her Mommy's hair stuff.  If only we could get her to brush her teeth???

They must have not had mirrors at the foster home - she loves to look at herself and say "Mara"!

Her morning walk in her neighborhood to visit Peet's for morning coffee. 

Here just learning how to suck on a lollipop - it was actually kind of incredible to watch!  (Yes, we may have a solution to applying her fungal swab medicine!)

Tomorrow she visits her regular pediatrician to receive her vaccinations (which has to be done in 30 days per the US embassy adoption laws) and a full physical.  Thank god she has learned to like lollipops!

 

Welcome Home Mara!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!  We are celebrating and GREATLY appreciating the birth of this great nation as one happy family at home. 

We are proud to report that Mara is officially a world traveler and a US citizen!  After 36 hours of travel, 5 airports, 4 flights, 20 hours of flight time (including 2 in first class), she arrived safely home.  She traveled surprisingly well - she loved taking off and landing, but squarely situated in her Mommy's arms.  She is such a courageous and special girl - by the end of the trip she was sitting in her own seat eating bananas and snoozing with her Daddy.

Mara even met the captain of one of her flights and received her first flight book that was signed by all of the flight crew.  The captain shared his story of adopting 2 boys from Guatemala.   The entire flight crew couldn't have been nicer and made our travel experience really special.

She was even a trooper with the delay we experienced going through immigration in Dallas and our 2 hour flight delay in Dallas.  With this trial run, she has many trips ahead of her in the Markovits-Szluk clan.

We arrived home at 2 am in the morning, but nonetheless she was ecstatic to see her room and giggled at the sight of her name "Mara" on the wall and her new Princessa dress up clothes - thank you Pamela and Auntie Liz!!

Since we've been home her transition has been miraculous.  She walks through the house saying "Lamizia" (pretty in Georgian) and seems to be quickly catching up in being a little 4 year old.  She loves her new clothes, drawing on everything (and having Nick & I write Mara, Mommy and Daddy everywhere), watching Daddy cook (and anticipating the food that will be coming since she still has a ferocious appetite, especially for protein!) and playing with her Mommy's hair accessories.  Yes, we've had a couple of melt-downs but inevitably this is related to her jet-lag, her lingering slight fever, cough & stuffy nose and inevitable separation anxiety & being overwhelmed by it all!





In less than 48 hours, she is already starting to eat solid foods by herself and drink from her own cup?!  She loves Nick's cooking constantly saying "gargia" on how good it is (which is especially great for a chef to hear!).  She has even picked up the ritual of clinking a glass before you drink.  We couldn't be happier or more proud of our daughter!!  Hard to believe that only less than a week ago she was terrified of going into a car and only eating/drinking what was hand-provided to her.  She is growing up by the minute!

 Modloba Mara!

Adjusting

It's been a busy couple of days!  Thankfully Mara only caught the German (3-day) measles and is feeling much better.  No risk of us not coming home as planned.  We visited the US embassy for her final interview to receive her VISA and all went well.  They only asked for the mountain of paperwork to be notarized with no major questions.  Our only challenge now is changing Mara's name on all of her tickets flying home - you wouldn't believe how difficult it is!

We transitioned Mara from the foster home to the flat.  It was an emotional transition for us all.  The foster family were incredibly loving and attached to Mara.  It was very hard for us to watch the separation.

Mara is a true fashionista - she perked up as soon as she got into her new clothes.  She loves to take thing off and put them on again - over & over again!

The transition to the flat has been amazing.  She has blossomed in the new environment.  She has been exploring, stomping on the floor in her new shoes. 


She is holding the walls for balance but clearly enjoys moving around in such a spacious environment.  And of course watching cartoons on the flat big screen TV.





Playing with lights.



She has walked more than we have ever seen her walk since we have been here.  We also think she enjoys being in a cooler environment.  Last night she even asked to go for a walk so we took her outside in her stroller.  She was in heaven, looking at and waving to all of the people walking by.

Here Mara in Mickey Mouse Jammies at what Nick calls her "drawing station".  This kid loves to draw!



She is even adjusting to eating healthier food.  She has enjoyed baby food and tried her first French Fry for which she replied "Gargia" or good!

Our last night on the town before we picked up Mara we enjoyed dinner at Mandari - an upscale Georgian-Asian fusion restaurant in Tbilisi's swanky Veki park.  It's fascinating to see the disparity in economic classes - men drive Maserati's, women are wearing Vuitton & Chanel and they all drink French champagne.

One last walk through old town to visit the Armenian & Jewish quarter.

And Nick's pal, which we named "Josper".

There is a weird strange bug here - we cant figure out if it's a cricket or a locust?  They seem to attach to our pant leg at night and we have to show them off so we don't bring into the flat.

Today we visit the US embassy to pick up Mara's visa and a final visit to the Georgian Social Services Agency to introduce Mara to the case worker who helped us.  Our plane leaves tomorrow at 4 am so we have to get up at midnight to get ready.  We are not looking forward to the journey with Mara since with her new found freedom, she seems to want to move a lot.  Oh well - a small price to pay to come home and start our new lives together!!