Today
Sunrise 09:31
Sunset 16:03
Total hours of sun 6:32
In one week
09:44
15:56
total 6:12
00:20 shorter than this week
In two weeks
09:54
15:53
total 5:59
00:33 shorter than this week
and then we're almost done with the getting darker part.
BTW, in six months, we'll have 11:28 more hours of sunlight than now!
http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/saint-petersburg.html
Baby Horse
"Mama horse?"
"Yes, baby horse."
"I a baby horse. You my Mama Horse. I suppo'd be under your 'kin [chin]
'Neeeeigh' [nuzzle, nuzzle]"
[I must say that my nuzzling baby horse is one of the most pleasant things I've experienced in motherhood. She loves to snuggle, rub cheeks and noses, and cling tightly to me. I just soak it in, hoping that this affection keeps coming for many more years!]
Of course, every other minute, she doesn't want to be a baby horse, rather:
"You a Mama Horse, I a baby leopa'd."
And she has a very exact definition of words, apparently without understanding catagories. Many things I say, she 'corrects':
"I not a big gi'l. I a little gi'l."
"Them not pants, them tights."
"Them not pants, them 'geens [jeans]
"Not my arm, my elbow."
"Not my finger, my 'tumb."
"Not a video, a D V D."
Some of her favorite books in the last few months:
A Pocket for Corduroy,
Ten Little Ladybugs,
Old Hat, New Hat,
Cooking with The Cat [in the Hat]
Ten Apples up on Top
Bears on Wheels
She is delighting all of us by reading books to us. Even Tima commented, "Ella hears a book read, and she learns it and reads it back to us." I think she especially likes the melody, since she reads them with exagerated intonation.
[Now, she's pushed her way on to my lap. When I said I was writing about her, she said, "I can't see myse'f. A little gi'l wif pon-y-tay-els?"]
Oh, and movie quotes. She started quoting lines from movies. Some favorites:
"I go, you 'tay, no follow" [from the Iron Giant]
"Sooo-saaan. Ooh, I 'cared myse'f." [Monsters vs. Aliens] This one is delivered with great drama and accuracy.
"Yes, baby horse."
"I a baby horse. You my Mama Horse. I suppo'd be under your 'kin [chin]
'Neeeeigh' [nuzzle, nuzzle]"
[I must say that my nuzzling baby horse is one of the most pleasant things I've experienced in motherhood. She loves to snuggle, rub cheeks and noses, and cling tightly to me. I just soak it in, hoping that this affection keeps coming for many more years!]
Of course, every other minute, she doesn't want to be a baby horse, rather:
"You a Mama Horse, I a baby leopa'd."
And she has a very exact definition of words, apparently without understanding catagories. Many things I say, she 'corrects':
"I not a big gi'l. I a little gi'l."
"Them not pants, them tights."
"Them not pants, them 'geens [jeans]
"Not my arm, my elbow."
"Not my finger, my 'tumb."
"Not a video, a D V D."
Some of her favorite books in the last few months:
A Pocket for Corduroy,
Ten Little Ladybugs,
Old Hat, New Hat,
Cooking with The Cat [in the Hat]
Ten Apples up on Top
Bears on Wheels
She is delighting all of us by reading books to us. Even Tima commented, "Ella hears a book read, and she learns it and reads it back to us." I think she especially likes the melody, since she reads them with exagerated intonation.
[Now, she's pushed her way on to my lap. When I said I was writing about her, she said, "I can't see myse'f. A little gi'l wif pon-y-tay-els?"]
Oh, and movie quotes. She started quoting lines from movies. Some favorites:
"I go, you 'tay, no follow" [from the Iron Giant]
"Sooo-saaan. Ooh, I 'cared myse'f." [Monsters vs. Aliens] This one is delivered with great drama and accuracy.
Long Nights, Dim Days
Since the temp went back above freezing a few weeks ago, it's been raining A LOT. We've gone out in a few pounding rain storms, but usually the rain is light and off and on. We played American football with some other staff members on Thanksgiving morning, and got completely soaked!
The clouds are very low, and the sun is even lower. It's hard to explain the dimness of the day, except to say it's like a lightbulb burned out in the sky. Ella cries when we go running in the woods in the afternoon, because it's too scary. It really is dark, even in the early afternoon.
The sun rises this week about 9:30... Right now, in fact, I can actually see a strip of orange sky at the horizon. It's pretty unusual to even see that strip of sky. I'm not sure what time it sets these days, but by 4:30 it's fairly dark. We walk home from soccer practice in the dark.
But I'm feeling more hopeful about surviving the winter emotionally. Somehow, with less than a month until the solstice, it feels like it should be dark. A few weeks ago, it felt hopeless. The pessimistic view is the 'It won't even be this light again for two months!'
Our big question is why our kids don't need more sleep! Seven a.m. they're up, every morning. (Though to us it still feels like midnight.) At night, the boys aren't going to sleep for about an hour after bedtime. We put up a brighter night-light so that they can read in bed, instead of getting up and complaining that they're not tired. Eric and I are trying to go to bed earlier, since it seems we need more than 8 hours of sleep.
The clouds are very low, and the sun is even lower. It's hard to explain the dimness of the day, except to say it's like a lightbulb burned out in the sky. Ella cries when we go running in the woods in the afternoon, because it's too scary. It really is dark, even in the early afternoon.
The sun rises this week about 9:30... Right now, in fact, I can actually see a strip of orange sky at the horizon. It's pretty unusual to even see that strip of sky. I'm not sure what time it sets these days, but by 4:30 it's fairly dark. We walk home from soccer practice in the dark.
But I'm feeling more hopeful about surviving the winter emotionally. Somehow, with less than a month until the solstice, it feels like it should be dark. A few weeks ago, it felt hopeless. The pessimistic view is the 'It won't even be this light again for two months!'
Our big question is why our kids don't need more sleep! Seven a.m. they're up, every morning. (Though to us it still feels like midnight.) At night, the boys aren't going to sleep for about an hour after bedtime. We put up a brighter night-light so that they can read in bed, instead of getting up and complaining that they're not tired. Eric and I are trying to go to bed earlier, since it seems we need more than 8 hours of sleep.
School Days
We are amazed when we think of our prayers this summer for Danya’s school experience. We are so grateful for how positive it has been.
There's been no bullying, little teasing, increasingly positive relationships with the kids in the class. Good relationships with parents—especially two families. We have been blessed largely through our need for help. When Eric has been travelling, or I have an unexpected delay, we need help getting Danya to school or picking him up. Three different families have helped on different days. And other mothers and grandmothers are very friendly. I’m looking for culturally appropriate ways to get to know them better. One family is Sasha’s (who was at the desk with Danya the first day). On the fall vacation, he and his mother came over one evening to play. And yesterday, he declared that Danya was his best friend. (Maybe because Danya brought him a present for his birthday?) Another is Elya, (Eleanor) a girl with a brother, Eric (Ernest) in the second grade. Strange names for Russian kids—their mother is ethnically German, and the father is a sailor who will leave this week for a six month trip to South America. They live in our building, and walk past our entrance, so it’s not difficult for them to help.
Cultural Differences
Russian schools value beauty and perfection. The first graders learn cursive letters by practicing, and practicing, and practicing. Special-lined graph paper teaches them the ‘slant’, and they are expected to make the letters well! This contrasts with our experience in American kindergarten, where kids were pretty much encouraged to write any way they could, with pretty poor results. One day, Danya filled a sheet of paper with random math problems—addition and subtraction. When I asked if it was for homework, he said he wanted to show his teacher that he could do math well. “She says that if I don’t make my numbers well, that I can’t do math. But I wanted to show her that even if I don’t make the little curl on the ‘2’ or ‘5’ t hat I can still do math.” We talked a little about cultural differences, and a lot about the fact that his worth is based on her opinion of him. We see that he internalizes the Russian appreciation for beauty and quality, and want him to learn to work hard to do well… but also understand that he doesn’t have to be perfect.
Mushroom Poem
One place where Danya’s intelligence is apparent is his ability to memorize. And that is highly valued in Russian schools. A few weeks ago, he recited his mushroom poem for the fall festival. He and two other kids memorized the same ‘Opyatka’ poem, and presented it together at an assembly. (Tima and Ella recite parts of it all the time, too!)
And now, each weekend, he is sent home with a poem to memorize—about eight lines, and not too easy by my standards. Even the first weekend, we only started it Sunday night. But after Eric talked him through it at dinner and breakfast the next morning, he had it down. A week later, he still knew it!
Imaginative Play
Tima:
We had a short break so that Ella could meet the other kids. Their names are Magazine and Dean, and Migsy. That was the first game, called Pass the Ball. The second game is called Hit Wall, because you get points for throwing the ball up on the wall. Now, I have 70 points, and Ella has three.
.. 90...92...94.
Ella!
...96..98..100!
Momma, I just 100. And I won that game!
Mom, you know how I got 100 in lots of shots? Because I got good ones. And remember what good ones are? You get more and more turns. And that's how I won the game.
We had a short break so that Ella could meet the other kids. Their names are Magazine and Dean, and Migsy. That was the first game, called Pass the Ball. The second game is called Hit Wall, because you get points for throwing the ball up on the wall. Now, I have 70 points, and Ella has three.
.. 90...92...94.
Ella!
...96..98..100!
Momma, I just 100. And I won that game!
Mom, you know how I got 100 in lots of shots? Because I got good ones. And remember what good ones are? You get more and more turns. And that's how I won the game.
Tima teaching Ella to read
The day he read his first 'real' book (thanks to Sonlight) Tima spontaneously decided to teach Ella to read.
Frozen Beauty
I never finished this, and now it's hard to believe how beautiful and frozen it was a month ago.
Ice skating on the 'canals'. The woods are criss-crossed with small canals. And except in the winter, when the ground is frozen, most of the ground is a swamp.
I let them go on the very edge of the frozen lake. Others were braver, but we'll wait until later in the winter to try that!
One of my favorite parts of life in St Pete is the number of athletes. Perhaps it's a local effect from the big forest-park across the streeet. Even in rain, snow or darkness, there are many runners and cyclists. And in the winter, of course a lot of cross-country skiiers. It makes me smile every time! 
Our building, from the forest. The near corner is entrance No 1. Our entrance, number 8, is at the far end, near the corner with the red brick building. We live on the 13th of 15 floors, with windows visible from here (facing the south).
Ice skating on the 'canals'. The woods are criss-crossed with small canals. And except in the winter, when the ground is frozen, most of the ground is a swamp.
I let them go on the very edge of the frozen lake. Others were braver, but we'll wait until later in the winter to try that!
One of my favorite parts of life in St Pete is the number of athletes. Perhaps it's a local effect from the big forest-park across the streeet. Even in rain, snow or darkness, there are many runners and cyclists. And in the winter, of course a lot of cross-country skiiers. It makes me smile every time!Our building, from the forest. The near corner is entrance No 1. Our entrance, number 8, is at the far end, near the corner with the red brick building. We live on the 13th of 15 floors, with windows visible from here (facing the south).
A Good Saturday
Sun too bright!
After weeks where we rarely saw the sun, we had five straight days. Ella complained. Seriously. This photo was staged, but it was based on an actual experience.
Could a Saturday morning be better? The boys decided to make their original lego kits, which involved a lot of sorting. (I like sorting legos.) Ella emptied the closet, tried on all her summer and fall clothes, shoes and eventually starting playing with legos, too.So, could a Saturday morning be better? Only if Eric were here to share it with!
I went back to find Tima's waterproof mitten. It took awhile. The kids waited paitently.... and pretended to be asleep.
(Note the incredibly nice elevator. We are truly blessed!)
This is on the way outside to play in the snow and ice skate. I'll put more photos in the next post! Check back soon!
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