Tima - age six

When Eric was trying to pull the second tooth, Tima found it too painful. "Daddy, please let's just wait until it falls out." And then he turned around and saw the tooth lying on the table. His tears dissolved into giggles. He feels very grown up to have lost two teeth this week! (Though we are a little concerned that the permanent teeth are 3-5mm back from where they should be. Fulfilling the prophecy of a dentist we didn't believe!)

Tima is getting ready to start Russian kindergarten. It's called the 'prepatory class' of preschool, for six-year-olds. (Russian kids usually start school at age seven.) He seems to understand enough Russian to get by, though I'm sure there will still be a steep learning curve. His playground group has helped him start to speak more. I am more anxious about it than he is! According to the other parents, the group he is entering is not the 'good' one. There has been a lot of turnover in the teachers, and it's always difficult to enter a class that has been together for three years. We are praying that God would help him thrive there, emotionally and linguistically.

Tima has finished our kindergarten curriculum for American homeschool. We are about a month into first-grade reading, and he is doing great. I have loved the easy, step-by-step approach of the Sonlight curriculum, using Explode the Code. He can read the readers easily, and is starting to notice the simple words in other books. Not reading complicated words doesn't stop him from constantly looking through books. He spends at least 30 minutes at bedtime looking at books.

The favorite games right now are: Rat-a-Cat-Tat, War, Connect Four. (Just this week Tima figured out how to beat the computer on level 1.) He still loves to play with little figures (animals, Star Wars, soldiers) and Lego ships, and he only occasionally builds them. It's hard for him to play totally quietly, because these characters fly and shoot and make all sorts of gutteral noises.

Outside, Tima has enjoyed being a part of the school-age crowd (see Playground Chronicles post) but he also loves to swing, slide, and play in the sand box. Until the kids group jelled, he spent about half the time playing soccer with Danya, and half playing on the playground with Ella.

This year had been great for Tima's relationship with Ella. Until this summer, the two of them played so well together, that sometimes I didn't know what to do with myself! After homeschool, they would play happily for an hour together in the room. (Unless, of course, I was depending on that and had scheduled a phone call. Somehow, then, it all fell apart!) However, the last few months, there has been a lot more conflict between them, and it seems I can't leave them alone for more than two minutes without screeching breaking out! Time knows how to quietly provoke, but often it seems that Ella demands whatever toy Tima is playing with. And she doesn't like to wait! Tima has a lot of patience, but he also refuses to give up every toy the minute that Ella wants it. (And I think he must derive some pleasure from watching her get angry!)

Tima loves to figure out and explain how things work. He describes (and inscribes in the air) elaborate diagrams of the playground, how a certian play in tag happened, or how the fort was constructed. When my dad was here, he mentioned that Tima had a certain aptitude for construction--he paid a lot of attention to the instructions, was willing to watch tedious activity patiently, and picked up how to do it intuitively.

Ella's Dramatic Flair

"I'm sad that I'm a guy who's not a baby..." [why?] "Because I like to whine and cry."

"Momma, that's so sad. There's only one flower here."

"Look, Momma a dog. That's so sad. He's all alone. He lost his owner."

"I didn't have any fun." [Usually said after a particularly fun time, when she's been forced to leave the activity and come home."

She loves making sad faces at herself in the mirror. In fact, if she's already sad, a mirror is the worst thing to make her feel better. She really likes watching herself cry, and exaggerates it more if she can see the results.

After the second day of preschool, she reported that two of the kids cried because they missed their mommas. (It is considered normal for kids to be miserable at first, since it's full-day childcare for kids 1 1/2 and older, as long as 7am to 6pm --not preschool as you imagine it!) Then she said, "I was sad without you. But I didn't cry. I was just quiet."

When I suggested that she go to her teacher for a hug, asking in gestures if she doesn't know the Russian words, she thought, then said, "But I love YOU!"

(The next day she was excited to go, though said she would be sad without me. And she was, but not too badly, I guess. We'll see how next week goes!)

Playground Chronicles

Danya, Tima, Dasha, Ira, Ira, Lena... This is the core of the local gang. Danya's classmate Elya and her brother Ernest connected them, but then they left for a month. The rest of the kids are here for the summer--a rather unusual situation for kids in St. Pete, where most children spend months in the village or dacha with relatives. Now, everyday, from 11-1 and then from 6-8pm they all play tag, freeze tag, skeleton, teacher or shark on the playground in front of our building. They play soccer sometimes, but mostly prefer their other, made up, games. They have also built a little fort against the preschool fence, with one big branch and some rope to define the edges. They decorate it with sticks 'planted' upright in the dirt, and have a liter of orange unedible berries as 'food'. Dried nettles are part of the weapon collection, which they anticipate using to keep other kids away. (And yes, I'm sad to say we occasionally hear reports of other kids 'attacking' and being driven off from destroying our kids' fort.) Mostly, though, it's a fun, creative and linguistically developing situation for our kids. I'm hopeful that Tima is learning a lot and gaining confidence in having Russian friends. (Danya doesn't need anymore confidence, but refining his grammer and gaining vocabulary are plusses, of course.)

That is the usual playground situation. It has been hard for me to fulfill my dream of daily walks in the woods, though the boys love riding their bikes, and I can only keep up running (with Ella in the jogging stroller). But our kids are so addicted to their friends, that it's like pulling teeth to get them to give up an hour of playground time. Thankfully, there is almost always another mother or grandmother, so I can run to the store or go around the corner to the sunny playground with Ella. However, I don't feel quite free to take a 30 minute voluntary walk.

This evening, Eric brought the baseball equipment outside. Danya surprised us with a watershed moment. "Dad, I think I want to go play with my friends instead of you," he said, for the first time ever. But later, when Eric and Tima's play attracted a group of boys, Danya came back. As more kids kept coming, Danya was energized and Tima wanted to hide in a hole.

Russian kids are intrigued by baseball. Most kids identify baseball bats more as weapons than sports equipment. So we have to watch them closely! Some had a pretension of knowing what to do. At one point 10 kids were playing, though it was hard to count, for kids would bat and then drift into the outfield and then drift away. But Eric encouraged and coached and they all had a great time.

Guess Who....

... lost his first tooth?

Building with Grandpa

My dad taught the boys a lot as they built this table for our balcony planters. It is delightful to watch him as he patiently explains each step and coaches them in how to do it correctly.

Singing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ih_kv-lgo


A little B-I-N-G-O entertainment from last month. Anyone notice anything odd in the song?