Tima was so excited this morning that he built his first lego airplane. The one in the picture is actually his third of the day.
What they are thankful for
Here’s some week-after-Thanksgiving thanks. (Yes, I forgot to post it!)
Danya
A family
That you’re my dad.
that Jesus came to die for us
Tima
My stocking
That I have stuffed animals—doggies. You know why I’m thankful? Because I like them!
That I have a daddy
Ella likes to list the members of our family. We’ll trust she’s thankful!
De-Da
Da-da
Ma-ma
Pa-pa (It’s become a joke that she used to say ‘Dah-dee’ but now says the Russian ‘Pa-pa’. And even if she says ‘da-dee’ and I ask her to say it again, she changes it to ‘Pa-pa’, looks at Eric and chuckles.
Danya
A family
That you’re my dad.
that Jesus came to die for us
Tima
My stocking
That I have stuffed animals—doggies. You know why I’m thankful? Because I like them!
That I have a daddy
Ella likes to list the members of our family. We’ll trust she’s thankful!
De-Da
Da-da
Ma-ma
Pa-pa (It’s become a joke that she used to say ‘Dah-dee’ but now says the Russian ‘Pa-pa’. And even if she says ‘da-dee’ and I ask her to say it again, she changes it to ‘Pa-pa’, looks at Eric and chuckles.
Fun with Neighbors
Two neighbor girls, Liza and Veronichka came over last week with their mother Galya. They had fun...as you can see, a little too much!
Yes, Galya did catch Ella before she fell... since I was busy taking the picture I was too slow.
Let it snow!
Last week, we finally had our first snowstorm. The boys were delighted. Unfortunately, by the time we got outside to play mid-morning, it was raining. But we went anyway, and the boys even made a very humble (and dirty) snowman. Rained on snow does stick well, which is a plus. But we got soaked!
The boys spent a lot of time just watching the snow fall.
Ella even brought her stuffed animals to show them.
The Day After
Ella is not feeling thankful today. Yesterday, I let her nibble some pumpkin pie. I guessed that it had milk in it, both the filling and the crust. But she’s had a few things like cookies made with butter that haven’t bothered her terribly. In fact, she usually wakes up once that night and cries until I comfort her. But previously, that was all. Last night was much worse. She cried four times, and would quiet in my arms, but then start crying again 5-10 minutes later. She was belching and passing a lot of gas. The lasat time, I kept her up a while, giving her some water, exploring the apartment in the dark. Then I rocked her for a minute and put her to bed.
Today I forgot to say anything to the babysitter, assuming that all had passed (literally). But she commented that Ella had a lot of gas, and diarrhea. So she only let her have mashed potatoes and bananas for lunch. I decided not to tell her that the mashed potatoes had real milk. So now I guess we’re going to have another hard night, and another day at least of diarrhea. Aaah, the joy!
But, let me put this in context of how well Ella is doing in general. We stopped giving her reflux medicine over a month ago, and she has been fine. And, as I mentioned, we’ve been less careful about things like margarine with real dairy. Overall, she is so much happier than she was even this summer. The whiny evenings are rare, the clinginess much lessened. As the Bible describes a peaceful soul, “Like a weaned child with her mother.” So, I’m thankful that today is now a rarity!
Today I forgot to say anything to the babysitter, assuming that all had passed (literally). But she commented that Ella had a lot of gas, and diarrhea. So she only let her have mashed potatoes and bananas for lunch. I decided not to tell her that the mashed potatoes had real milk. So now I guess we’re going to have another hard night, and another day at least of diarrhea. Aaah, the joy!
But, let me put this in context of how well Ella is doing in general. We stopped giving her reflux medicine over a month ago, and she has been fine. And, as I mentioned, we’ve been less careful about things like margarine with real dairy. Overall, she is so much happier than she was even this summer. The whiny evenings are rare, the clinginess much lessened. As the Bible describes a peaceful soul, “Like a weaned child with her mother.” So, I’m thankful that today is now a rarity!
High King Josh the Astronaut
Josh is a 10-year-old friend of our boys.
High King Peter is from the Chronicles of Narnia.
and the astronaut--we watched a Sesame Street clip about astronauts, which showed how they went into air locks to change into their space suits.
So High King Josh and High King Danya, the astronauts, left the spaceship (our apartment) through two airlocks (the first is the hallway with locked doors and the second is the elevator. )
They went exploring among the stars (trees) of outerspace until their Mom said they were almost out of oxygen in their tanks and beter return home. High King Danya said, "But there's a long tube that goes back to the spaceship, so we won't ever run out of oxygen."
High King Peter is from the Chronicles of Narnia.
and the astronaut--we watched a Sesame Street clip about astronauts, which showed how they went into air locks to change into their space suits.
So High King Josh and High King Danya, the astronauts, left the spaceship (our apartment) through two airlocks (the first is the hallway with locked doors and the second is the elevator. )
They went exploring among the stars (trees) of outerspace until their Mom said they were almost out of oxygen in their tanks and beter return home. High King Danya said, "But there's a long tube that goes back to the spaceship, so we won't ever run out of oxygen."
Rules
When i asked my kids what rules we should have, here is what they said. [I had to work hard to not coach or encourage or even ask a single question except for "What else?"]
not to buy two things at the toy store (cause when we do that, we have a big argument when we get home).
not to play in Mom and Dad's room
not to lie
not to push people off the ladder on the bunk bed
put things away after you play with them
no touching the computer without asking
spend money wisely (Tima responded: What does that mean?)
take vitamins everyday
go outside everyday
not to buy two things at the toy store (cause when we do that, we have a big argument when we get home).
not to play in Mom and Dad's room
not to lie
not to push people off the ladder on the bunk bed
put things away after you play with them
no touching the computer without asking
spend money wisely (Tima responded: What does that mean?)
take vitamins everyday
go outside everyday
School
Every morning, we spend about 2 hours doing school. I was worried about the transition as Ella dropped her morning nap. But so far, it's working well. She just putters around and plays with toys while the boys and I cuddle up on the couch for read-aloud time. Once she gets fussy, I put her in her crib for 'rest-time' with a few toys. She doesn't usually sleep, but is usually content there for an hour. After Danya reads to me, we move to the table to do math, word games and handwriting. On days that our babysitter comes, she reads to Ella in the kids' room. But on other days, Ella joins us, scribbling at the table or just wandering around and playing more.
Danya has been wanting to start 'real' school. I'd like that, too. But for now, I'm treasuring the (probably) short months left of having late mornings, and my brood gathered in my lap for story-time. And, I think the biggest benefit of homeschool has been the boys' friendship. At a time when most kids are finding friends at school, Danya has found his best friend at home. They spend hours each day playing all sorts of made up games... and working out their conflicts of course!
Tima has been very non-academic until just recently. He didn't even know all of the letters. I'm still not sure he does, but lately he wants to write, and is practicing all the letters and numbers he can find, plus dot-to-dots.
Tima enjoys his preschool workbooks some days, and not so much other days.
And then he wanders onto other activities...
reading his animal and nature magazines,
playing with little animal figures,
or other fun tasks, like cleaning his 'new' booster seat
reading his animal and nature magazines,
playing with little animal figures,
or other fun tasks, like cleaning his 'new' booster seat
Tima was delighted to figure out how to add 0 or 1 to any number. And he surprises me with other figures sometimes, like 5+3. When Danya does flashcards, I give Tima the easy ones, but he doesn't want to wait. So there are usually competing math problems being flung around--until Danya gets exasperated and begs Tima to wait until he's done.
Favorite numbers:
Tima- 7 and 4 (his age, of course)
Danya- 6 is okay, but his favorite is, "the biggest number in the world."
Favorite colors:
Tima- "I don't like orange anymore." He usually chooses blue. We're sad, but not convinced the orange era is truly over.
Danya- blue, purple and red.Ella's words and phrases, updated!
Ella, tickle Tima!Can you interpret these sentences?
Uh-oh. Dada ney pal.
Dah- no- coe.
Eh-ya koo-kay , koo-kay Koo-kay !
Here’s the key, plus other new words.
Uh-oh. Dada ney pal.
Dah- no- coe.
Eh-ya koo-kay , koo-kay Koo-kay !
Here’s the key, plus other new words.
Ella’s English Words
Ney-ney horse (toy)
Baa-baa sheep (sheep pajamas) bottom,
Da-da Daddy, Danya, Doggy
Dah Doggy
Dee-Da Tima! Neighbor friend Dima
Da-Dee Daddy (sometimes)
Coe cold, gold (as in the winner of the gold medal-for getting dressed)
Eh-ya Ella (sometimes it does sound like Eh-la) said constantly while pointing to herself or her things. She only uses ‘ma’ about a few specific things, see above.)
Baa-baa sheep (sheep pajamas) bottom,
Da-da Daddy, Danya, Doggy
Dah Doggy
Dee-Da Tima! Neighbor friend Dima
Da-Dee Daddy (sometimes)
Coe cold, gold (as in the winner of the gold medal-for getting dressed)
Eh-ya Ella (sometimes it does sound like Eh-la) said constantly while pointing to herself or her things. She only uses ‘ma’ about a few specific things, see above.)
Koo-kay cookie – a very popular word, and more fine-tuned than any other, in my opinion.
Boo/ Poo poop, boot
Ma Boo my boots
Ma Da Da my Danya
Uh-oh Used universally for anything that’s wrong or unusual. My favorite is when the boys do something they’re not supposed to, and Ella says, “Uh-oh!”
Boo/ Poo poop, boot
Ma Boo my boots
Ma Da Da my Danya
Uh-oh Used universally for anything that’s wrong or unusual. My favorite is when the boys do something they’re not supposed to, and Ella says, “Uh-oh!”
No! How did I forget to add her favorite word. Often said with her eyes tightly closed and head shaking dramatically back and forth.
Russian Words
No (Nogi) legs
Pall (Upal) it fell
Kaka anything dirty
loo-lee-loo-lee not a word, but a lullaby
So, here’s the translation:
Danya’s horse toy fell
The doggy’s nose is cold
Ella wants a cookie!
So, here’s the translation:
Danya’s horse toy fell
The doggy’s nose is cold
Ella wants a cookie!
Puppy Poems
A poem about dogs by Tima:
I like puppies and dogs
Because they’re cute.
And I love them very much.
I would like a puppy by Danya:
I want a puppy in my house
Because they’re sweet
And fun too,
I like everything we do!
Sometimes we go outside
And play and run on the playground.
I like puppies and dogs
Because they’re cute.
And I love them very much.
I would like a puppy by Danya:
I want a puppy in my house
Because they’re sweet
And fun too,
I like everything we do!
Sometimes we go outside
And play and run on the playground.
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