Dan and Olia took Dasha, our host child, to the dentist today.  We found out from the translator that Dasha had been to a dentist once in Ukraine. She had had a cavity filled years ago.  Today the dentist just cleaned, examined and x-rayed her teeth.  Dan said he and Olia had to stay in the room with Dasha because she was really scared.  The dentist said she had two really bad cavities that had to be filled.  She has an appointment next Monday to get one of them filled.  I emailed the head of the hosting organization and told him that we need someone available by phone to translate to Dasha so they can tell her what is going to happen.

    Yesterday Olia, Dasha and I washed my car.  Dasha seems more than willing to help with household jobs.  She happily washed and rinsed the car.  She really liked using the hose. After we washed the car, the girls swam for about an hour.  Dasha has become a good swimmer after being in our pool for only a few days.  Dasha's favorite word is "c,mom."  She picked that up quickly.  She and Olia played hide-and-seek for several hours.  They both seem to just love that game.  Later we went to the Russian food market, which is about an hour away.  It is a huge supermarket.  The women behind the salad counter remembered Olia, they said...."hello, Olivia."  I asked them if they remembered her and they said that they did.  I was surprised because we have only ever been in the store two or three times.  Dasha liked being in the market; everyone(except Dan and I) speaks Russian, the foods are all Russian with Russian labels, and Russian/Ukrainian music plays throughout the store.   Olia told the women behind the sald counter that Dasha was from Ukraine and they all chatted in Russian for a few minutes.  We were only going to buy a few things, but we wound up spending over $150.00!  OLia and Dasha (and Dan) each picked out different Russian foods that they liked. They ate one of the cabbage wrapped items(it looked like a burrito stuffed with pork) in the car because they were hungry and it was close to dinner time. After we got home, the girls ate more of the Russian food for dinner.  I had also made corn on the cob for dinner.  We gave Dasha a corn dish and she knew to put the corn in the little dish, but she had no idea what to do with the corn holders.  She tried to stick them on top of the corn!  After dinner, Dan took the girls to Olia's school to play on the playground.

   Several of Renee's girlfriends came over last night because they were all taking Renee out to dinner for her birthday.  All of Renee's friends make a big deal out of Olia.  She ran up to get her camera so she could take their pictures because they were dressed up!http://pak06.pictures.aol.com/NASApp/ygp/Login?locale=en_US&filmId=22631.1568.1214242298402.1&event=ViewFilm

     Olia has to do twenty minutes of math everyday so we are also having Dasha do math.  Her math level seems to be approximately second grade.  Dasha does not like to do the math workbook.  She does not know simple addition and subtraction facts.  She has very little patience for doing the math problems. I am insisting that she work on the math workbook everyday because simple math facts are a necessary life skill. Dasha finished fifth grade so I wonder what level math the children complete in fifth grade in Ukraine. Olia seems to be doing quite well on her school math summer packet.

  Today the girls rode their bikes around the corner to play with Katelyn.  Dasha knows that she has to wear a bike helmet.  SHe is riding Olia's 20 in bike, but she wants to ride my adult bike.  She is smaller than Olia so I am not ready to let her ride an adult bike yet.