A few weeks ago, Danya started double digit addition in his math book. It was well presented, with the ‘ones’ column in red and the ‘tens’ in blue. I started reading the instructions in my teacher’s manual, which step by step would teach him the ideas, but he cut me off.
“I get it, just let me start!” he said, bouncing up and down in excitement.
I didn’t really believe him, but I figured that after he made a few attempts he would be more teachable. But no, he did every problem correctly, with great joy. After a week of such problems, one day he was so excited when he saw a problem that had a 54 in it. “It’s going to be over 100!” But, alas, the total was less than 99. He doesn’t know that all of the sums are purposefully less than 100 for now. And he was very disappointed. I wrote out another problem for him, 51+52. He didn’t pay attention, and answered 101.
He also loves it when many problems on the page have the same answer. One day there were three in a column that made 10. Another day, five problems in two rows added up to 11. The excitement! However, he makes more mistakes when he’s wanting to have the same answer over and over again.
I guess he thinks about numbers a lot. Lying in bed one day, he asked Eric, “Daddy, is 2 minutes equal 120 seconds?”
Danya counts minutes when he’s bored during naptime. He’s all alone playing, while the rest of us are resting. Sometimes, he wakes me up at the end and gives me a piece of paper with numbers written consecutively 1 to 38. “Look Mom, I counted 38 minutes!” I felt a little guilty when I imagined him sitting and watching the second hand going around for so long. Math skills, right?
How is Ella doing?
That’s everyone’s first question.
Ella is doing much better. I’m still keeping her and myself on a dairy, peanut and apple-free diet. And she’s still on the reflux medicine that she started in the spring. But her sleeping patterns are much, much better! After we returned from the Black Sea, I decided to start weaning her. Unfortunately, just the thought of it made her more clingy than ever! But bit by bit, we’ve cut back from 7-8 feedings to 2. And actually, this week I’m trying to make that 1 ½ . She whined and complained a lot, especially from 4-6 pm, for about a month. But then we cut out the lunchtime feeding. As long as I wasn’t around she did fine. But the third day, when I was at lunch, she threw a fit! She wouldn’t eat or drink anything, just screaming and signing ‘please’ to be breastfed. I just took her to her room to put her down for a nap, and she finally calmed down in my arms. I figured we could try again, and lo and behold, she sat in her highchair and ate her lunch with no complaining. It fits her general pattern of making a big protest to make sure that I’m not convincible. But once she’s sure I won’t give in, she’s fine. For another week, she didn’t have any problems, and even stopped the 4-6pm whining as well. I give her about 4 oz of soy milk, which she rarely finishes. And she drinks some juice at snack time with her babysitter. After her nap, she’s usually happy to sip water from a cup. So I’m hopeful that the emotional neediness component of her feedings is receding.
It’s been easy to merge our dinner and bedtime feedings, since she usually goes to bed pretty quickly after dinner. And this week I’m trying to cut that feeding a little shorter. Hopefully in the next few weeks, we’ll be down to just a morning feeding. She used to be fine in the mornings until 8. And if I slept in, she’d eat breakfast with the boys without complaining. But lately she’s been a lot fussier—the boys can’t entertain her for an hour like before, and I usually go to her before 7:30. Maybe that’s because she used to get a late evening and midnight feedings, and now she’s actually waking up hungry. But I hope we can transition her to a cup of soymilk for breakfast… we’ll see!
On the nap front, I’m surprised that she’s still taking two naps a day. But I’ve been waking her after only an hour in the mornings, since in the afternoon she is easily disturbed while napping. Many days, she wakes up when Tima comes in, and then neither of them goes back to sleep. No morning nap will be quite a transition, since that’s when I do homeschool with Danya. But, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!
Ella is doing much better. I’m still keeping her and myself on a dairy, peanut and apple-free diet. And she’s still on the reflux medicine that she started in the spring. But her sleeping patterns are much, much better! After we returned from the Black Sea, I decided to start weaning her. Unfortunately, just the thought of it made her more clingy than ever! But bit by bit, we’ve cut back from 7-8 feedings to 2. And actually, this week I’m trying to make that 1 ½ . She whined and complained a lot, especially from 4-6 pm, for about a month. But then we cut out the lunchtime feeding. As long as I wasn’t around she did fine. But the third day, when I was at lunch, she threw a fit! She wouldn’t eat or drink anything, just screaming and signing ‘please’ to be breastfed. I just took her to her room to put her down for a nap, and she finally calmed down in my arms. I figured we could try again, and lo and behold, she sat in her highchair and ate her lunch with no complaining. It fits her general pattern of making a big protest to make sure that I’m not convincible. But once she’s sure I won’t give in, she’s fine. For another week, she didn’t have any problems, and even stopped the 4-6pm whining as well. I give her about 4 oz of soy milk, which she rarely finishes. And she drinks some juice at snack time with her babysitter. After her nap, she’s usually happy to sip water from a cup. So I’m hopeful that the emotional neediness component of her feedings is receding.
It’s been easy to merge our dinner and bedtime feedings, since she usually goes to bed pretty quickly after dinner. And this week I’m trying to cut that feeding a little shorter. Hopefully in the next few weeks, we’ll be down to just a morning feeding. She used to be fine in the mornings until 8. And if I slept in, she’d eat breakfast with the boys without complaining. But lately she’s been a lot fussier—the boys can’t entertain her for an hour like before, and I usually go to her before 7:30. Maybe that’s because she used to get a late evening and midnight feedings, and now she’s actually waking up hungry. But I hope we can transition her to a cup of soymilk for breakfast… we’ll see!
On the nap front, I’m surprised that she’s still taking two naps a day. But I’ve been waking her after only an hour in the mornings, since in the afternoon she is easily disturbed while napping. Many days, she wakes up when Tima comes in, and then neither of them goes back to sleep. No morning nap will be quite a transition, since that’s when I do homeschool with Danya. But, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!
Tima
“You know what, Mom? I saw a movie about Birdie. And you know what, Mom? Charlie was there, and Isaac, and all the kids. And you know what, Mom? In the movie… Birdie had a dog, named Sweep. And you know what, Mom?”
[Danya looks at me, rolls his eyes and gives his best imitation of an indulgent smile. He whispers, “I think this is a made up story.”]
“No, this really happened. We watched the Birdie movie,” Tima insists. “And you know what, Mom?”
“One more thing, Tima.”
“And Charlie was there, and you know what, Mom? He… ”
Out of the blue, Tima really wants a pet dog. One day he said, “Mom, you know what? Next to the toy store, there’s a store with real animals. And we could buy a baby dog there.” Since then, I’ve heard almost every day how much he wants a ‘baby dog’ and what he’ll do with his baby dog and what he’ll name it. One day outside we saw a cat, and Tima was overjoyed, “Look, Momma, there’s a cat we could take home!” I realized that he thought we didn’t have a cat because we just hadn’t been able to find one. After about four days of his asking continuously, he complained, “I’ve been waiting and waiting for a baby dog.” He plays with his dog stuffed animals all the time, and we read dog stories: Clifford, Biscuit, and the boys’ favorite--James Herriot’s story about two brother sheepdogs.
Tima has suddenly lost his tubby tummy. The other day I noticed that he is long and lean. His legs are still solid with muscle, but longer and straighter. Handstands are all the rage, and he’s getting better. His babysitter is convinced we need to ‘give him to gymnastics.’ But, the Russian phrase caries the true meaning of sports here. And we’re not ready to have our lives dictated by a coach who will probably be controlling and harsh. Tyotya Klava is distraught, convinced that he has a great future. But I realized the other day (while greatly enjoying the Olympics) that I’m not sure I’d want my child to ‘fulfill his talent’ even if he could win an Olympic medal. Heretical thought, you think, but I wonder if it’s really good for the athletes in a physical, emotional or spiritual sense. Where we live, and with Tima’s build, it is at least a possibility for him to thrive in such a serious gymnastics program. But I’m not ready to ‘give him’ to anyone, yet!
[Danya looks at me, rolls his eyes and gives his best imitation of an indulgent smile. He whispers, “I think this is a made up story.”]
“No, this really happened. We watched the Birdie movie,” Tima insists. “And you know what, Mom?”
“One more thing, Tima.”
“And Charlie was there, and you know what, Mom? He… ”
Out of the blue, Tima really wants a pet dog. One day he said, “Mom, you know what? Next to the toy store, there’s a store with real animals. And we could buy a baby dog there.” Since then, I’ve heard almost every day how much he wants a ‘baby dog’ and what he’ll do with his baby dog and what he’ll name it. One day outside we saw a cat, and Tima was overjoyed, “Look, Momma, there’s a cat we could take home!” I realized that he thought we didn’t have a cat because we just hadn’t been able to find one. After about four days of his asking continuously, he complained, “I’ve been waiting and waiting for a baby dog.” He plays with his dog stuffed animals all the time, and we read dog stories: Clifford, Biscuit, and the boys’ favorite--James Herriot’s story about two brother sheepdogs.
Tima has suddenly lost his tubby tummy. The other day I noticed that he is long and lean. His legs are still solid with muscle, but longer and straighter. Handstands are all the rage, and he’s getting better. His babysitter is convinced we need to ‘give him to gymnastics.’ But, the Russian phrase caries the true meaning of sports here. And we’re not ready to have our lives dictated by a coach who will probably be controlling and harsh. Tyotya Klava is distraught, convinced that he has a great future. But I realized the other day (while greatly enjoying the Olympics) that I’m not sure I’d want my child to ‘fulfill his talent’ even if he could win an Olympic medal. Heretical thought, you think, but I wonder if it’s really good for the athletes in a physical, emotional or spiritual sense. Where we live, and with Tima’s build, it is at least a possibility for him to thrive in such a serious gymnastics program. But I’m not ready to ‘give him’ to anyone, yet!
Raise high the torch
Aaah, the Olympics. As I mentioned above (below in the blog world) we've been watching a lot of Olympics. I guess as an adult I've never had access to Olympic viewing. Now we have two channels that show the Olympics about 20 hours a day. One channel is Ukrainian, one in Russian. But the feed is Eurosport, so we see a lot of different things. Well, when you watch from morning till evening, I guess it's inevitable that we see a lot! From my conversations with family in the States, about the only thing we've missed out on is the beach volleyball. Not too sad about that!
It's been really fun for the boys to discover a lot of different sports, and to realize their familiarity with the globe. Their general ranking of countries, according to who they cheer for is as follows: USA, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, South Korea, Belarus. Pretty much that's a list of where their friends are from. Danya didn't like it when the Americans and Russians played each other in volleyball. He said he was rooting for America, but didn't like having to choose. They also cheer for any country from the "Alphabet of Nations." If you've never experienced that gem, check out the They Might Be Giants podcasts. Some day, when Eric's back with our remaining computer, I hope to post a video clip of them singing it. Now whenever Japan or Qatar or any other country from the song is mentioned, they burst into their rendition.
Speaking of our computer, and Belarus, I'm able to blog because our dear friend Natasha left her computer with me while Eric was gone. She's just moved to Kiev, but returned for a few days to Minsk. Thank you dear friend!
Danya was very disappointed to learn a few weeks ago that he had to be 7 to start playing soccer with the local club. But Eric promised that he and Danya could do 'training' together. Every other day, they go outside and run laps, do push-ups and drills. Eric tries to get him to play more with the basketball, since he feels he actually knows something about that. But Danya is pretty devoted to soccer. Then, they play with any other little kids who are out there. Some kids are more fun than others. The 'little' Maxim, who is 6, has to be reprimanded often for swearing. The 'big' Maxim is much more fun to play with. Eric says that the boy's ball handling skills are better than his own. Eric says he could beat him since he's faster and stronger, but not without shifting into a gear of competition that one shouldn't use when playing against nine-year-olds! (We wonder who his dad is, since our landlord and apparently a few others in our building are professional soccer players. We see our landlord on t.v. in the highlights... our touch with fame.)
The boys are now pretending to be King Peter and Prince Caspian. Their young majesties are standing on the back of the couch and 'diving' into the 'water'.
18 Months Old, can you believe it?
Who knew that an 18 month old would be into pretend play? I guess when you have big brothers who spend their waking days as super heroes or various animals, it rubs off. Starting a few months ago, Ella would get on her hands and knees and give her cute 'ooh' bark to play along in the doggy family.
Now, she brings costumes to us, signing "please" for us to dress her up.
Once in four years, it's okay to watch tv all day, right? Especially if it's one big geography lesson. The talk is all about, "When I'm in the Olympics, I will..." Danya is commited to soccer, Tima has gone from swimming to gymnastics to diving to distance running. Ella doesn't talk much, but by her actions, we see she mostly wants to do gymnastics... or if the blue mattress is a pool then diving.
The last day
And so, the sun sets on our vacation. Goodbye, fair city, goodbye.
Oh, wait, we aren't leaving! But it is sad all the same. The last day was hard on everyone emotionally.
Maybe it was that Eric and I were worn out. (We counted 11 metro trips with the kids in the last 6 days. So we decided to stay close to home today.)
Or maybe that the pouring rain in the morning cancelled our planned marshmallow roast. And the walk in the woods only netted 7 snail-sightings...a paltry count.
But we were all a little tired and sad that our vacation was ending. Eric and the boys had game night, with the now-typical Uno, War, plus the new domino stacking contest. Ella doesn't do so well with card games yet, so I took her on a long walk to the supermarket. Tomorrow, after church, we may add a new tradition of stopping at the shooting gallery-kiosk on the way home. (I think we've done that five times this week, and the boys really like it. Eric thinks it's ironic that the only stand that didn't work out was the kind with the real pellet guns. The triggers were too stiff for Danya. But the refitted machine guns everywhere else work just fine.)
This was our first big-kid vacation--the kind where the kids want to get out and do something fun every day. I'm still not sure what I think of that! My ideal vacation is more the read-a-book-a-day kind. But I also like adventures, as long as I get a nap afterward!
And another milestone--we no longer walk slower when we're going somewhere with the boys. They usually race ahead, competing against each other or begging us to count to their 'time'. Some days they were dragging a bit on the way home, but really they walked a lot and rarely complained. So, next thing you know, we'll be hiking mountains, I guess!
The Beach
There are no swimming pools in Kiev.
Well, we should qualify that. There are no swimming pools that are open in the summer for normal prices. There are athletic clubs, even some that are supposedly middle class. But they're not exactly kiddie pools. And you have to pay a monthly fee. And any swimming pools we've found are closed for the summer. Yes, closed for the summer. To Americans, this is very strange! We spend the summer at the pool! But here, many people take a month-long vacation to the sea. And many children spend the summer at their grandparents' dachas or villages, where there are lakes and rivers to swim in. So they spend the summer swimming--but not in the pool.
Even around Kiev, there are lakes and rivers. We tried one a few weeks ago, and the boys did have fun. But there was a lot of broken glass, and we haven't gone back there. But, there is the river... and a place called Hydorpark. So, we tried it yesterday. And had a great time!
So great, that we went back today. There are beaches along a big island area of the river. The barges and big boats stay in the other part. But there are a lot of motor boats in the channel where we swam. "Just stay out of the shipping lanes." The water is rusty brown, and quite cloudy. As you get in, you can see a faint shimmer of some oily substance on the water. And there is a wiff of gasoline. I don't think we'll expose ourselves to these chemicals everyday!
There are also 'attractions' like amusement park rides, and water slides. The pool for the water slides is actually as big as a small hotel pool. Prices for the slide: $2 for kids, $3 for adults. Unfortunately, that's per ride on the slide. Not even close to being worth it! But there was another price listed, $0.60 for swimming in the pool! Great, we thought, but when we asked, the surly attendant offered us a price of $8 per kid. Perhaps we would have bargained, but he was scooping debris out of the cloudy green water. And the rusty water at the free beach started to sound better and better! Even Danya eventually came around, saying, "It's better at the beach because you can play in the water and build sand castles."
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Well, we should qualify that. There are no swimming pools that are open in the summer for normal prices. There are athletic clubs, even some that are supposedly middle class. But they're not exactly kiddie pools. And you have to pay a monthly fee. And any swimming pools we've found are closed for the summer. Yes, closed for the summer. To Americans, this is very strange! We spend the summer at the pool! But here, many people take a month-long vacation to the sea. And many children spend the summer at their grandparents' dachas or villages, where there are lakes and rivers to swim in. So they spend the summer swimming--but not in the pool.
Even around Kiev, there are lakes and rivers. We tried one a few weeks ago, and the boys did have fun. But there was a lot of broken glass, and we haven't gone back there. But, there is the river... and a place called Hydorpark. So, we tried it yesterday. And had a great time!
So great, that we went back today. There are beaches along a big island area of the river. The barges and big boats stay in the other part. But there are a lot of motor boats in the channel where we swam. "Just stay out of the shipping lanes." The water is rusty brown, and quite cloudy. As you get in, you can see a faint shimmer of some oily substance on the water. And there is a wiff of gasoline. I don't think we'll expose ourselves to these chemicals everyday!
There are also 'attractions' like amusement park rides, and water slides. The pool for the water slides is actually as big as a small hotel pool. Prices for the slide: $2 for kids, $3 for adults. Unfortunately, that's per ride on the slide. Not even close to being worth it! But there was another price listed, $0.60 for swimming in the pool! Great, we thought, but when we asked, the surly attendant offered us a price of $8 per kid. Perhaps we would have bargained, but he was scooping debris out of the cloudy green water. And the rusty water at the free beach started to sound better and better! Even Danya eventually came around, saying, "It's better at the beach because you can play in the water and build sand castles."
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The Cheapest Day
Rain in the morning cancelled our lunchtime picnic. But we were tired from our last few days, and so decided to stay around home for the morning. And in the evening, never fear, the circus is here!
Eric reconnoitered how to buy tickets...and it was a good thing. It turns out, the circus is closed for the summer. An unfortunate echo of the swimming pool situation.
But, since the rainy day was now blazing hot, why not go for our picnic?
Off to the 'big' woods, otherwise known as the Brovko or Stemple woods. (It's a 10 minute bus ride away.) And we gathered kindling on our way in, started a fire at one of hundreds of the firepits, and were roasting hotdogs and marshmallows in no time.
Containing Ella was a challenge, but we taught her how much fun throwing pine cones in holes is... who knew?
When asked what the best part of the day was, the boys answered identically, "The fire!"
The Zoo, Day Two
They let us in! Another trip on the metro with the stroller (harder than you'd think) and this time no one got shut out of the bus or the metro car! A cool, yet sunny day, and open gates at the zoo!
Even Ella had fun, although I think she spent more time watching the pigeons strutting than she did noticing the animals in the cages. When we pointed them out to her, she barked a few times at each in turn.
As Danya said, "The zoo in Colorado cost a lot more, and had more animals." Eric's theory is that American zoos are better for the animals, Ukrainian zoos are better for the people to see the animals. We were generally impressed with large, natural-like areas for the lions and tigers and bears, as well as the vultures. The monkeys had little cages, with whole family groups swinging around, eating and playing. The babies were very fun to watch. Some of the monkeys were busy trying to make babies, but thankfully our boys were looking elsewhere, so we didn't have to explain... Later, Eric also neglected to point out the turtles mating. It must be that time of the year...
As Danya said, "The zoo in Colorado cost a lot more, and had more animals." Eric's theory is that American zoos are better for the animals, Ukrainian zoos are better for the people to see the animals. We were generally impressed with large, natural-like areas for the lions and tigers and bears, as well as the vultures. The monkeys had little cages, with whole family groups swinging around, eating and playing. The babies were very fun to watch. Some of the monkeys were busy trying to make babies, but thankfully our boys were looking elsewhere, so we didn't have to explain... Later, Eric also neglected to point out the turtles mating. It must be that time of the year...
Day of Disappointment and Tears...
So Day 2 of the Great Kiev Vacation was dedicated to the Zoo.
Only one problem.
Guess which day of the week the Kiev Zoo is closed? That would be Monday. Also known as Day 2 of the Great Kiev Vacation.
The problems began when the bus driver shut the door unexpectedly after Tima and Danya had disembarked (but before Kara, Eric, and Ella left) because somehow, in the chaos of getting a family of five and a stroller on to the bus, we forgot to pay. Oops.
Problems continued with the slight problem that the zoo was closed. Plan B - let's head back down to the Podil district, where we were yesterday, and take a cable car ride up the hill and walk down. And shoot more guns.
More tears when, changing metro lines on the way to downtown, Kara and Ella couldn't make it into the metro car in time. So the doors closed, seperating the boys and Eric from Kara and Ella. And our children looked at each other through the glass not knowing if they would ever be reunited.
One metro stop later, the family is reunited with much joy and laughter. It's not often that the metro station resembles the airport waiting lounge. You would have thought Danya and Tima hadn't seen their mother for two weeks.
But the joy was short-lived - the shooting gallery only works on the weekend. Oh, the trials.
The day was redeemed with a cable car ride up the hill, an evening spent on trampolines and riding electric cars at the local carnival (known in Eric's family as a "Rip-off"), and, of course, more ice cream. Maybe the zoo will work out tomorrow....
Only one problem.
Guess which day of the week the Kiev Zoo is closed? That would be Monday. Also known as Day 2 of the Great Kiev Vacation.
The problems began when the bus driver shut the door unexpectedly after Tima and Danya had disembarked (but before Kara, Eric, and Ella left) because somehow, in the chaos of getting a family of five and a stroller on to the bus, we forgot to pay. Oops.
Problems continued with the slight problem that the zoo was closed. Plan B - let's head back down to the Podil district, where we were yesterday, and take a cable car ride up the hill and walk down. And shoot more guns.
More tears when, changing metro lines on the way to downtown, Kara and Ella couldn't make it into the metro car in time. So the doors closed, seperating the boys and Eric from Kara and Ella. And our children looked at each other through the glass not knowing if they would ever be reunited.
One metro stop later, the family is reunited with much joy and laughter. It's not often that the metro station resembles the airport waiting lounge. You would have thought Danya and Tima hadn't seen their mother for two weeks.
But the joy was short-lived - the shooting gallery only works on the weekend. Oh, the trials.
The day was redeemed with a cable car ride up the hill, an evening spent on trampolines and riding electric cars at the local carnival (known in Eric's family as a "Rip-off"), and, of course, more ice cream. Maybe the zoo will work out tomorrow....
Just because the zoo is closed doesn't mean we can't take pictures!
Ice cream makes everything better...
Ah, the joys of the carnival
Only 14 1/2 years to go until this picture becomes reality...
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