Double Stuff

Who doesn't love a double stuff Oreo? Ted brought us some from home, on his return trip to Ukraine.Valera discovered them in the cabinet today. He thought they were good before I even introduced the concept of dunking. I poured him a glass of milk and then he REALLY liked them.

Today, Anya, Valera, and I took a walk to the river to play soccer. To get to the park at the river, you have to walk over a bridge. It's a nice scenery, with the river to the sides. It's hard to enjoy the scenery though because you have to be on the lookout for the potholes- but that's not the point of my story.

As we were walking across the long bridge, I listened to Valera talk to Anya. Being the control freak that I am, and the interested mother, I am constantly asking Anya, "what did he say?" Today though I decided I was going to "let go" and just let them have their time in Russian.  Valera was very talkative and I wondered to myself, "maybe he is telling Anya how much he loves us, and how excited he is to be coming to America, how grateful he is not to be in the orphanage, etc, etc.".

As we were turning the corner, after crossing the bridge, I just couldn't contain myself for another minute. I blurted out, "what has he been saying to you this whole time?"

Anya says back to me, "He is telling me that he is so strong, he could jump off this bridge and swim across the entire river....from one side to the other".

Uh-huh....just the profound statements I imagined.

He's twelve. He's a boy. I know.

Just toss him another double stuff. Tell him the milk will make him even stronger.