a Coopers in Kazakhstan: September 2006

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Epilogue pt2 (of 4)

We will post once or twice more before closing this blog out - Alex and Mary will contribute the final pieces. Then we intend to physically publish this entire blog as a Coffee Table Book so that we can keep this as a momento; we will also publish one for Zarina to keep so that she may see the adventure that brought her into our life.

Zarina is always a joy to watch. She may drive me crazy often (and on purpose oftimes), but even when she gets into stuff she shouldn't or she's still just plain wonderful - she's a joy whether she is being sweet or making mischief.


This little girl, my little girl, is my literal and figurative "golden treasure". It's as if she sprung directly from the image I created in my mind of the sort of daughter I wanted to have. She's funny, smart, physically gifted, and just plain perfect. And as you will see in the following photos, she's got her brother wrapped around her finger.












When I said funny, I meant as in actually having a sense of humor. To the right is her interpretation of a pirate. Once of her favorite shows is something on Nickleodeon called "Backyardigans" - in their adventures, the characters have various make-believe adventures in their backyard which is transformed into the backdrop of whatever they are doing, i.e sow mountains, the high seas, a prairie, etc. In one, they play at being pirates. This taught Zarina among other things, that a pirate says "Arrrg!" So Zarina will also say "Arrrg" when she see a pirate in an ad or in a show. As a matter of fact, I have an t-shirt with a pirate flag on it and Zarina will point to it and say "Arrg" and when I ask her my name while in the shirt, she will also say "Arrg".

Recently she has begun to copy our mannerisms - she learned from Mary how to put her hands on her hips and to day she was copying me sitting at the table with my hand on my chin - I will try to get photos of this behavior somehow. She will sometime wag her finger at us and say "No, no, no!!!"




Alex is a very good brother to Zarina, even though she claims as many of his toys as possible. He's very helpful and is on track to be a very good babysitter someday...soon...oh please ...oh please (just kidding). :-)

Zarina loves spending time with Alex - even if Alex wants some quiet time to himself to read, watch tv, play videos, etc. His new nickname is "Ah-da" since that is how Zarina pronounces Alex. All we hear all day is "Ah-dah...Ah-dah" and then hear Zarina zipping off in one direction or the other chasing him down.

posted by Lawrence @ 9:16 PM   0 comments

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Epilogue (pt 1 of several)

I've had a lot of time to mentally compose this post and yet I am not sure of all that I should say - not because I don't know what to say, but that there is so much good and fun stuff (and more happens each day) that I can't really decide on what I should include and what I should leave out:

Suffice it to say that Zarina is doing well; that we are doing well; that every day has been a joy and this adoption has been far more successful than I could have imagined.

Zarina means "golden treasure" and that is exactly what she is literally and figuratively. Her skin tone often seems golden, her smile is a ray of sunshine and her voice is like honey. Either of them can cut through any gloom and bring out a smile in anyone. She can always raise my spirits when I come home from a long day at work - all it takes is her smile or her yelling "Dada dada!!" But usually she smiles, yells "Dada dada!!", runs up and grabs my leg. Then after I pick her up, she goes through my dress shirt pocket and removes the pen, business cards and anything else she finds - she then hands them over to me and says "Dat You" which is how shes says "Thank You."

But you don't want to hear this - you want some pictures, so here are a few to tide you over.

1. Alex pushing Zarina , 2. Alex, Mary, and Zarina sightseeing at Mount Vernon. That's the Potomac river in the background.


Now back to my speechifying ways.

Zarina has done incredibly well in the last 10 months. She has grown over 6 inches and six pounds - she is now over 32 inches tall and over 25 pounds which puts her in the 75th percentile in height and 60th percentile in weight. She has hair down past her shoulders, however it is naturally curly so you can't tell how long it really is unles she is in the bath.

Zarina is quite smart and very physicaly gifted (I know all parents think their child is special, but in this case I'm not exaggerating. Really!!!! I mean it!!!) For several months now she has been able to do a pull up - she grabs counters, hangs, and then pull herself up. She can also do 5 situps, stand on tippy-toes like a ballerina, balance on one foot and pull the other one up in the air like a ballerina (really! I need toget a picture of it and then I will post it). Last month she taught herself to do somersaults.

And now for a word from our sponsor. Okay, okay - a picture or three of Zarina being incredible.















Here we are pedaling at Ocean City.

Alex is in the picture, but he is directly behind us on his own tricycle - see pic below.
















This is Alex on his trike. We pedaled up and down the boardwalk several times. He wanted to keep going, but I was oo tuckered out from pedaling the surrey.

Here's the two smartest and most beautiful women in my family. This is Zarina's first time on the beach andin the ocean - I think she found it a bit cold, although she did run in and out of the surf for a few moments.

Unfortunately, she is a bit of a neat freak (she gets it from her Mom), so when she played in the sand, she kept trying to clean her hands and then when she sat down, she couldn't get up because to do so would require her to put her hands back into the sand, but that would require her to get her hands dirty. Can you say "frustrated"? A short amusing anecdote, but maybe you just had to be there.

Part two is coming up soon with more photos.

posted by Lawrence @ 8:16 PM   0 comments