Greetings from Siberia! The foreseeable forecast shows not a moment of temperatures in excess of freezing, so our initial coating of snow from yesterday will be just the beginning.
Our visit with Alea today was lovely. We learned today that the correct pronunciation of her name is AH-lee-ah, not ah-LEE-ah as we had been saying. Once we fixed the pronunciation, she was much more responsive to her name. Most of the time, she goes by the Russian diminuitive AH-lee-USH-ka. We also learned that Alea is an Israeli name meaning “immigrant to a new home,” which of course is pretty striking, and perhaps not a coincidence. We don’t know whether her name was give to her by her birth mom (who was very young, and single) or the delivery ward at the hospital. Looks like we’ll be keeping it, though we may modify the spelling to make the pronunciation more apparent to Weserners.
Today, little Alea snuggled against me toward the end of our visit, put one of her hands in her mouth, and used the other to grab my finger, and started to drift into almost-asleep land. At that moment, it was time for me to put her back, and I got all teary-eyed, though Alea was not phased at all. The Baby House provides excellent care given the circumstances – still, this constant lavishing of attention and babbling that she now receives each day from us is a new thing for her, and I’m not sure she knows what to make of it.
OK, it’s time to go ice skating. Thanks to everyone for all the sweet notes, and special thanks to those taking care of the mutts. It sounds like they're having a great time.
6 comments:
Oh - she is so-o-o cute! And what a fitting name - I wonder who named her? I just finished talking to her OTHER Grandma (the one in Pittsburgh)and we agree that Alia - however it's spelled - is perfect!
And we both can't wait to hold her! Love to the three of you...Mom
Nina and I have been loving reading/seeing the two of you with Alea (Alia). We can't wait to meet/hold/play with her as well.
kisses to alea and love to you both.
j+n
Tam-I love her name. It's perfect and the correct pronounciation is much softer sounding and sweeter.
Oz is doing well. Don't worry about him. He's a big hit with all the clients! What a charmer.
Stay warm.
Karen
She is perfect.
Thanks for the photos and the updates. I can tell that you are all falling in love. Your warm feelings extend across the seas.
We can't wait to meet her!
Lots of love,
Shana and Bryant
I'm so happy that all are doing so well and having such an adventure! Alea is adorable...give her kisses from her Mel!
such cute green booties, too! ugh! can't wait to squeeze her! can barely even stand it!
Mel
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