mine

We had our first encounter with another little girl yesterday when we were out for lunch.

Zenya interacts with adults very well

the orphanage taught her some serious manners

and she makes eye contact with everyone she meets

and offers out her little hand to shake

but I had yet to see her strike up a conversation with another child.

We were sitting at our usual table at the italian restaurant down the street from our hotel

when this family came in with a little girl in tow

about the same age as Zenya.

She had blonde hair and blue eyes

just like my girl

and it wasn't long before she came over to say hi.

Although I didn't understand everything that was being said

the gist of it went something like this:

Zenya (perched on my lap eating her soup)

"Hi.  This is my mama.  

See that?  That's my new coat.  Touch it.  Go on, touch it.

Its mine. 

MINE.

These are my shoes.

This is my skirt.

That's my bunny

MINE."

As the little girl reached out to touch it, Zenya pulled it closer to us and started to frown

She began to slide everything closer to us

her plate, knife and fork, previously untouched

her glass of water

She stopped talking and just stared.  

The little girl sat down on Zenya's chair for a bit

taking it all in

and then Zenya dismissed her with a flick of her hand

"Paka paka."

So the little girl got up and left.

Ok

She's not as warm with other children as I'd hoped

but she didn't bite the kid's face off either 

so I can live with this.

We can work with this, right?

Looking at it from her perspective

if I was in her shoes

her new red shoes with the bows on them

I'd probably be shouting

"get away from my new stuff" too.