And... action!

OK more. My brain is so jumbled right now.

First, about communication. Katya understands a good deal of English. Especially simple phrases. Roman understands less, but she explains it to him. They both use a lot of English words. So between our Russian, their English, and acting everything else out, and using an online translator for more complicated things, we get along communicating day to day stuff really well. It's the deeper explanations that are proving to be difficult. They need a form of discipline that requires a lot of reasoning because of their silly pouting when we tell them no, and we can't do it! It's so frustrating!

After the previous post, we set off to meet the Minister of Social Affairs, or something like that. It was so she could meet us and we could ask questions about the adoption. After that we came back to the hotel to hang out till time to eat dinner. From that point on, we had several ridiculous pouts and temper tantrums over dumb things. "No chocolate before dinner, we're leaving now" - OK that means Roman can lay down and start crying! "No ordering your own food in Russian, look at the price - this price ok (less than 100 kroons, which is about 10 US dollars), this price not ok (130 kroons or 150 kroons, etc.). Ask before you order." That means: order $50USD worth of food, quickly, in Russian, then make us ask the waitress what the heck just happened. Then have her explain to the kids that they will make us run out of money and we've already spent a lot on them, and they have to pick one of the two dishes they ordered and share it. They angrily agreed and said the food was terrible afterwards. I gave them each a half slice of the $8 pizza Jason and I were sharing, since they didn't like their food. I forced them to thank me.

After that we got super strict with them. We started telling them no about nearly everything because of they way they acted at dinner. We made sure they understood that it was the tantrums that get them into trouble, not whatever they were doing before we said the terrible word "no". Since then they seem to be taking us more seriously and behaving better. The last two tantrums were very short and completely overacted. It was clear that it was completely fake. Katya still wanted to hold someone's hand while she went to sleep, even though we had to raise our voices firmly to get them to settle down and go to sleep. (Her roll away bed is on one side of our bed, about a foot away. Roman's bed is along the foot of our bed. Small room!)

I got really upset at the restaurant that they were being so snotty. We called Diana, the adoption agency lady, and she said she would call Igor and explain to him in Russian what was going on, so he could in turn come to help whip them into shape. They know him, like him, and trust him, and Diana says he's great at talking to kids when they are acting up. So we'll see how that helps. We wanted Diana to explain it to Igor in Russian because, believe it our not, his English isn't that great! We can't be too deep with him.

Jason worries most that when they are affectionate (which they are, all the time), that it is insincere and means something to him and nothing to them. That they only care about getting stuff and getting to use the computer. I don't think that's true, but I do think they are sometimes trying to manipulate us. We see through it, at least. But it is hard not to take it personally and feel taken advantage of, and replaceable by any parents who would give them some things.

We'll see how things go tomorrow. I think they need to just adjust to these rules. We found out that in the orphanage they basically get nothing special. Broth to eat EVERY DAY, not even any veggies in it. So when they are out, they get a lot more than they are used to, so they don't understand where the limit is. Everything they get is so amazing, they don't understand why some things are "no" and some things are "yes." And they don't understand money at all.

As far as other trip details - Tallinn is absolutely beautiful. We're staying in "Old Town", which is all cobblestone streets and old gorgeous buildings. It's perfectly clean, and almost everyone is attractive. Only the tourists are ugly. LOL We walk everywhere and it's just great. Can't wait to show you all pictures. We'll post them on here as soon as we can. There are some really great ones. In fact, Katya and Roman have probably taken over 1000 pictures. They hold Jason's Nikon and shoot away while we walk in the town. So we don't have to take pictures and look like tourists. They get everything. And Jason and I take pictures of them playing with each of us. So there are some really good shots!

That's all for now. I could say so much more but unfortunately the only time I have to write, it seems, is late at night. It's after midnight here and I'm exhausted. So I'm off to try to sleep. Jason hasn't slept but maybe 6 hours since last Friday night. I don't know how he's still going, giving piggy back rides and running playing tag for an hour at a time. It's a good thing we're young. Parents the "correct" age for them would not keep up with them.

More tomorrow hopefully. Comments are welcome in regard to the kids behavior. Email me with longer ideas. LOL

Love,
Molly