January 19 2009

The kids have been doing surprisingly well adjusting. Both have gained some weight and for the most part are eating well. They are also quickly warming up to all the family and friends. Dasha recently had her hearing tested and she tested moderately severe, to severely hard of hearing. Her hearing range starts around 50db for her best frequency. She will be fitted for hearing aids likely this week or next and is expected to do very well with them. Dasha also recently started gymnastics and is doing awesome at that. She wants to go every day unfortunately its only once a week. Our furniture has been taking quite a beating with all the flips and rolls. We discovered from day one, she will be the one going to the hospital for stitches and broken bones on a regular basis. She has absolutely no fear and will attempt any thing. Our first day back in the U.S we stopped at grandma and grandpa Conrad's house on the way home. Within 15min she fell and split her eye open and we had to take her in for stitches. She has been doing really good at understanding sign language but recently has started using it to communicate back to us. She even attempts to explain unknown signs with gestures and expression. Dima has a new bike and with in a few days was able to ride it without any training wheels. He has been picking up both Sign language and English very quickly.