We are excited to have Eric back home, for three solid weeks! I think he’s felt the strain of the 6 trips in two months even more than I have. In fact, the last few trips, I was amazed with how well we did. I didn’t get a lot of ‘extras’ done, but I had energy for all the things I needed to do. I didn’t start the trip dreading it, and I counted the days only because the boys asked so often. But I didn’t have the dragging, “How am I going to make it __ more days?” feel. Our routines feel sustainable. It helps that Ella is napping longer. So suddenly, I have an extra half an hour each morning for homeschooling, and we’re keeping up with the curriculum. Most days, she’s napping twice for 1 ½ hours, and sometimes even two hours! Her nighttimes are okay—we had four days in a row when she slept from 11-7 without crying. But then the last week, she’s back to waking once a night.
I have about 14 hours of babysitting each week, but I’m thinking of reducing our babysitter to only three mornings 11 hours) It seems that Tima is still acting out a lot—both in disobedience to me and also anger toward Danya. And Ella is definitely in need of extra attention and discipline, especially at meal times. Unfortunately, all I get done with the babysitting time that I have is usually to go running 2-3 times a week, a few errands, and a prayer meeting via conference call. But I’m learning to be more disciplined about using my time for things (like updating you!) that I really want to do more often.
DanyaEric has started reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Danya is very enamored. He begs for more after each chapter. Last night at bedtime, Eric promised that he would read another chapter this morning. So, at 7:00, Danya came into our room, “Daddy, it’s 7, so can you read the next chapter?” He’s enjoyed the chapter books that we read for school, as well. He doesn’t really like his ‘reader’ book, which has pretty silly stories. I think he’d like it a lot better if I read them all to him, instead of insisting that Danya does the reading. He’s doing a good job, sounding out most words, and learning a few new sight words. I am so grateful for his fall semester in kindergarten, because he really understands how to read, but just needs practice. Danya also loves the science books, often asking to read extra pages when he finds interesting pictures. Right now, we’re studying plants, and enjoying planting our own seeds, and observing bean seeds sprouting in a jar. (Though I chose my major to avoid the course titled, The Flowering Plant, I’m enjoying it, and learning a lot, too!)
Danya has a seemingly intuitive grasp of addition. He rarely counts on his fingers, or uses the techniques that the book encourages for learning addition. He’s memorized some addition facts, and refers to them in his mind in order to figure out problems that he doesn’t know. He’s learning to do the same with 10’s.
Because of the demands of school, chores, and even being 'forced' to play outside, Danya and Tima really love having time to play. It's worked out that they have individual play time each day --Danya during the afternoon naps, and Tima during school. But most of the time, as soon as we come home, or finish school, I hear, "Tima, want to play?" And they run off to their room and play with toys for as long as I let them. Of course they have conflicts, but the last few weeks, it seems they are doing well at resolving them quickly and well. What I usually hear when they are upset is, "Fine. I'm not going to play with you anymore." (And then there's the, "Stop, Stop! Teeee-maah! Ouch!" that isn't a good sign!)
TimaTima: “I’m going to tell you a joke. I’m going to stick my water cup…to the door. Ha ha ha! Isn’t that silly?”
Tima’s make-believe world is expanding. He has so much trouble deciding what to pretend to be, so he’s started ‘layering’ them on (even when he doesn’t have a costume).
“Mom, pretend that I’m Larry Boy, but inside, I’m still Dot.” (That’s from ‘Bug’s life’)
“Pretend I have my Dash costume on, but under it, I am super monkey, and my clothes are my fur.” (Super monkey is entirely his own creation.)
Sometimes there are three or four, including a lion, a baby, Manny (praying mantis from ‘Bug’s life’) and Superman of course.
EllaI mentioned above that Ella is needing more discipline. Lately, we’ve been frustrated with how out of control she is. This is very concerning at mealtime, as we’ve let her get away with a lot of behaviors that we never should have! (Shrieking and pointing at what she wants, batting away the spoon to refuse what she doesn’t want, grabbing the spoon from us.) I was feeling pretty hopeless, wondering if I need to read about ‘the strong-willed child’ and prepare for a few years of daily battles. But I picked up a few books at a friend’s house, one which I’ve read before, Shepherding a Child’s heart, and another Train up a Child that is new to me. While I don’t agree with all the authors’ methods, it has given me hope that we can teach Ella (and the boys for that matter!) to act more appropriately. I decided to get strict with Ella about how she asks for things. When she points and screeches, I show her the sign for ‘please’ and say, “Say please.” The first day I thought we were getting nowhere. But I held out a long time in each situation, not giving her what she was screaming for. (I usually finally forced her hand to do the sign, and gave it to her.) The second day, she started signing, “Please” for everything she wanted, often without me even telling her to. And I’ve noticed in other situations that although she has a very angry and loud reaction to any discipline, she seems to quickly stop the undesired behavior. So, that gives me hope to hold firm through the wailing, knowing that she has a teachable heart. And I find it very true, as both books claim, that 100% consistency on my part is key, for all the kids. It’s hard to discipline myself to not threaten and warn the boys when they aren’t obeying. But instead, when I punish them the first time, then I don’t get exasperated and angry.
Ella’s really enjoying walking. I would say she walks 90% of the time around the apartment, with great hand flourishes to balance. A big help for me is that she’s learned to safely get down from beds and couches. That was one of the first things she responded to, about a month ago, where I could really see her learning. I just say, “Feet first” if she’s heading for a fall, and she turns herself around without a problem. She still doesn’t understand how to safely maneuver from a crawling position to sitting—she’s often in danger of sitting down off the edge and falling backwards.
I suppose it was three months ago when I first saw her pick up a pencil and then make drawing motions on the paper. Now she’s really mimicking using objects for their real purposes. She loves the magnetic drawing board, though she doesn’t draw much with crayons or pencils. She uses any long rectangle as a phone. The trains, cars, airplanes zoom around. And the animals all bounce along, usually saying, “ooh-ooh” which is her dog bark noise. Ella’s favorite books are Brown Bear and God Made Me (which has pictures of noses, eyes, feet, hands, etc.) She loves to turn the pages, and open the flaps of books that have them. She sits fairly patiently for the boys’ books, too, although once she is tired of them, it’s good to have a board book nearby for her to flip through.
(Josh Stemple shared his drawer of lego's. Do all boys wear sweater vests for Easter?)
(Lev Brovko liked to pull Ella off the mini-trampoline.) 
