Russkis will save the World (why do we have to do the dirty job?!!)

After learning about Russian Space Agency's plans to build a spacecraft that will change the trajectory of meteorite Apophis coming to Earth in 2036, Alyosha created a trilogy depicting this future action. My suggestion of possibility for Alyosha to be a pilot on that spaceship also served as a good motivation to learn "all the sciences there are and work really hard".

Here is the trilogy (Earth, Sun, Apophis with rockets all around him ready to burn the bastard)

and here is the story

ROSCOSMOS – the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation – launches the project to save the Earth from a clash with the asteroid Apophis, which can happen in 2036 according to forecasts of some scientists.

As the ROSCOSMOS head Anatoly Perminov stated on air of the Voice of Russia, one scientist had lately told him that the trajectory of the asteroid is constantly approaching the Earth. Also the astronomer told him that the asteroid is three times bigger than the Tunguska meteorite.

“Calculations show that within the time frames we can create a special space vehicle that will allow avoiding the collision, without annihilating the asteroid or blasting any nuclear explosions” – Mr. Perminov added. “Once the decision is taken, we will promulgate it. The threat of collision can be staved off” – the ROSCOSMOS head emphasized.

It should be mentioned, that NASA specialists consider this collision as quite a remote possibility. Earlier Russian scientists also stated that Apophis is not a Threat to Our Planet.

http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/9484/

Kid Talk Overdue

Niki the red hot chili pepper eater. I guess I have to officially admit that his first words are 'no-no'. He does hear them a lot being the 3 child and a baby who loves to explore, taste and climb everything he can touch. He's really coordinated in that he can do something he shouldn't while saying no-no and shaking his head with exaggerated side to side 'NO' movements.
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Alyosha goes to school in the morning. I (Roma) tell him to zip up his jacket because it is cold. Alyosha mumbles something while trying to zip all the way up.

"What is it that you are saying? - I ask him.

"Oh, I am just saying that my touching buddies are going to be OK with that." "What touching buddies?", - I ask casually, trying not to have any alertness in my voice.

"You know, those touching buddies."

"No, I actually, don't know who are you talking about, but what is it
that they will be OK with?"

"With me having jacket zipped up all the way!". By now I am very interested in our conversation and thinking in my head of how to approach this subject carefully.

"So, are these buddies of your, do they go to your school?", - I ask again casually. "Well of course they do! How can they not?! Look, they are right here!" - Alyosha points to his chin.

"Oh, you mean taste buds on your chin?!!" - I exclaim after a few seconds of processing the intricate logic of a 5 year old thoughts.

"Well, yeah, I am saying that the taste buds on my chin are OK with me
having jacket zipped up all the way, because sometimes jacket rubs against it,
but right now they are fine with it!"

Phew... That was close!

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Yesterday we were walking from CHAP a block away and Alyosha was running the block and circles around me. It was sprinkling/almost raining and Alyosha squeezed in between breaths while still running circles around me that he is so fast that he isn't even getting wet! When we got home he said, "look how much I ran, I am soaked from sweat!"

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Ice Skating class began last week--the boys are in snow bunnies level. It will take some time to get balance down, but they are both closer to the ground and unaware of any kind of danger so that allows them to learn much faster. We (Jen and Rome) on the other hand put the skates on and skate smooth circles around the rink. I'm sure the kids will be spinning around us in a matter of weeks.

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Grandma took us to the airport in Texas by herself when we flew back to Portland after Christmas holidays because Grandpa still had the awful stomach bug we all went through the couple of days before we were set to leave. So, Grandma dropped us at the gate, we took our 4.5 hour flight and landed in rainy Portland. When we stepped off the plane to head for our taxi, Luka said "Where's Grandma?" fully expecting her to be still at the airport waiting for us after we had a day of just flying around in the air.

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While in Texas the kids got to watch some extra PBS TV because it is so easy to just turn on PBS and it worked! (I guess that is what you get when you pay for cable, or in this case satellite TV) Anyway, Sid the science kid is about a bunch of kids who do science experiments and ask the teacher a lot of questions to figure out whatever theory or mystery they are exploring. While we were eating dinner one evening, Alyosha asked me how old I thought Sid was. I said he may be 7 or 8 years old. Alyosha's reading buddy is 8 years old in the 3rd grade and Alyosha immediately responded to my answer that it wasn't possible for Sid to be 8 because that would mean that he is in 3rd grade and Sid doesn't know everything yet. He asks too many questions. To clarify, I asked him what he meant and he said "Third graders already know everything, they don't have to ask questions anymore. Sid couldn't be in 3rd grade yet because he asked too many science questions." I used it as an opportunity to tell Alyosha that he only has two and a half years left to learn everything there is in the world so he should keep studying hard!

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Back to weekly OMSI visits (Thank you Auntie Trish for the nice Christmas present). Niki loves it, he feels like it is his own place. Luka and Niki both love the sand area. Luka was sitting filling up the garbage truck with sand to recycle when he looks at me and asks "Mama, do I have Pampers on?" I said, "No, Luka, do you need to go potty?" He replied no, and went back to work. About 10 minutes later, the same question...and I gave him the same reply, he just went back to his play. He was just making sure, I guess. On a positive note, we are out of daytime diapers!! Yeah!!! AND no accidents yet.

Luka's world is special I think. He is really smart and he is even more determined. If he knows the answer to something, then his answer is the only correct one--when he doesn't know the answer he comes up with it himself and holds fast. Alyosha mentioned something about wearing his school shoes or his new cowboy boots, I don't remember the exact conversation. But Luka jumped in, not to be left out saying that we should also include his Music School Shoes because it is important to keep them nice and clean.

One more: Luka likes his green apples (favorite color green, by the way) NOT five-and-a-half. What does that mean, you might ask? Well, if you are Mama, you had better know, because if you give him an apple five and a half in any way he will fall on the ground and have a huge fit-HUGE. Does he mean not five and a half apples? No. Does he mean not five and a half pieces of apple? No. He means he wants his apple cored but not cut in half.

Official

Official Class photo. They don’t do it the old fashioned way anymore—a group picture. Instead they just do a composite to make sure each kid is picture perfect. It is cute, and you can see each face, but I kind of like the group picture because you get to see a little character.

Official temperature. LOOK at the temp here in Portland!! AAHH! The temp in Texas too!! But I saw the temperature for next week when we are supposed to be there: 71 and sunny. I know it can be 30 and Snowy the next day, but I saw 70 and sunny. (for our European family 13F is –10C, that just translates to freaking cold!)

Official Santa picture. The first one ever. Niki wasn’t in to it, but these two brothers are sweet.

Official love carrots. I just like this pic.

It will be a Texas Christmas

A couple of weeks ago we told Alyosha that we are going to Texas for Christmas. He is very excited about that, but I have to share the very first question and the resulting thought process he had after realizing that we are going to be away from home on Christmas morn. The obvious question is how will Santa Claus know where we are. That is easy, just write a letter, right? But, think about it, if we don’t write a letter and Santa leaves our Christmas wished presents at our home in Portland, then he sees some extra kids in Texas, he will have to leave presents there too—as long as there are cookies and milk set out— we will all get double presents! So, Alyosha asked if we could make cookies before we leave for Texas and put them in the window.

Although, he informed me today that he has way too many toys and he does not want any for Christmas. He only wants real science equipment-like a tele-microscope to look at fossils and he wants a dinosaur claw and/or tooth (real). Alyosha made sure that we know that LUKA wants a racecar with a track and extra train tracks. But, no toys for Alyosha. In fact he wants to go ask the homeless people who have built a camp a couple of blocks away if they have any kids so he can give his extra toys to them. (We ride our bikes by the camp every day-no kids though)

Other than just scheming for Christmas presents we have been busy little bees. Luka and Niki and I did the fall Polish the Pearl, picking up what little trash there was laying around our Tanner Springs and Jamison Parks. Roma and Alyosha were at Emanuel donating blood-we get the good citizen of the day award for that Saturday. (Alyosha doesn’t donate blood, by the way. He just goes with Roman once a month as support.)

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We also attended the Portland Art Museum’s free Family day that showcased the China Design Now exhibition. There was Chinese dance, music, food, art-making, and cultural activities. The kids really did have a good time, despite the looks on their face in the picture!

Luka and Claudia enjoying a walk on a beautiful Saturday morning. This was how we chose to wear the kids out before going to the Symphony in the evening. It worked for Luka, but Alyosha is too old for resting and naps now.

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Here we are walking to the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Yes, we walked all the way to the Schnitzer (basically across downtown) pushing the kids in strollers. Classy! I love living downtown! The kids earned the tickets from the library during summer reading—No parking, no problem! But, speaking of Luka’s nap earlier-he fell asleep during the performance. The sleeping part would have been ok, but he snores. Not just a cute baby snore; Luka snores a full blown hipposnore. Alyosha always tries to fall asleep first so he isn’t bothered by our little hippo. When Roma stepped out with Luka so we didn’t disturb the adagio, Alyosha said that it was ok because it was boring anyway. “Not the whole thing, just the music part” We thought about our time leading up to the symphony: reading this summer and talking the kids into taking symphony tickets rather than another water squirt gun as a prize; waking early for a full breakfast so we could hike just enough to wear them out for a good nap; cleaning up and dressing up for a fancy night out; walk across the whole town (in heels); patience waiting for the thing to start; snoring during the performance; the kids waiting in lines during intermission to try out each instrument (Alyosha has perfect ‘mouth pucker’ for the French horn and Luka rocks on the harp); 10 pm pizza because everyone is starving; bed at 11 only to still wake up at 7am the next day….is this cultural experience worth it? 110 percent.

We had a pre-visit from Cheryl. She is coming to have Thanksgiving with us next week, fun! She doesn’t give small kisses—only really, really big ones.

P.S. on this post….Roma has an interview! Yeah! I don’t believe in bad luck sharing this before it happens. In fact I believe in good luck because now all of you will pray and think positive things for Roma and if he is meant to get this job he will and if not, we will wait for the right one to come along! (Don’t bother him with questions though-it is an interview for a job he will like and that is enough for you nosey people. We will share more at the right time- patience is a virtue :-))

Yoka and other Fiction

This morning I drove Alyosha to school. He usually rides his bike with Roman, but Rome was up late working so I took the car. It was raining…Anyway, Ms. Ansell, Alyosha’s teacher, sends out a letter every Monday saying what they will be doing during the week. This week’s focus is real versus fantasy stories. I told Alyosha about fiction and non-fiction and he thought about his interests for a moment. Then he said that he couldn’t read fiction yet because he didn’t know enough facts. He is a scientist and facts are important! Thinking about the books he has chosen on his own at library time from school—they are all the same type: Snakes, Fossils, and this week Eagles. He said we should go through our books at home and arrange them into fiction and non-fiction—putting the fiction on the lower shelves because those are the kind of books Luka likes. Kindergarten has taught him so much but obviously not enough. The other day he asked me if he thought OMSI would want him to come in and talk to the other scientists and paleontologists. He said that he knows that he still has a lot to learn, but he is a scientist already and they might need the help. I told him it wouldn’t hurt to ask.This is the picture that Alyosha drew in school today. The purple is his heart—a purple heart is very special and Alyosha knows all about it. We told him how important purple was when he refused to use a purple toothbrush. Now either purple hearts or purple rain, Luka’s favorite, come up anytime you say the color purple. Try it out on Luka next time, just say the word and he will start singing “Purple Rain, Purple rain” You might not be able to read but the words are “time stone” Alyosha told me he learned what that was from the Halloween Arthur book—it is the stone that is in the cemetery that says your name after you die. The person in the picture is Pra, Roma’s Babushka. It is actually a picture of her spirit.

Alyosha has a spirit house night light in his room that he made at art camp over the summer. Now, we have been talking to him about spirits for a long time and he said many times that he knows that the spirits of Big Fish and Stop and Go and Pra come to the spirit house and he is really glad that he has it. Sometimes it seems like he knows more than me, I hope I can get him to talk more about what he is thinking.

Meanwhile both kids are on a ‘yoka’ fit. They want to do yoga every day, and honestly so do I. Luka’s favorite is the tree pose and Alyosha loves Warrior III, or he calls it flamingo pose. I think that we are going to do some Yoga videos soon. I hope that will make it easy for us to fit it into our schedule.

Active Kids

Alyosha had his last soccer practice on Tuesday and we have the Soccer party on Sunday. All in all I think all of my boys enjoyed playing soccer—Papa included. Alyosha is so active and very competitive. He was always right in there when it came to playing the games, not just picking flowers like some kids might do.

Luka wasn’t much of a sideline cheerleader. He preferred hanging out at the playground playing with the other younger siblings.

The hardest thing about soccer practice was dealing with the kids utter exhaustion after a full day with no naps then such vigorous outdoor play so late. The kids bedtime is pretty much 6:30—we put them to bed at 6 today!

Niki was just interested in seeing everything and eating the grass. Well, we all have our own interests

Soccer is over, now Alyosha asked if he could just take one Wu-Shu class. (Wu-Shu is the new Kung-Fu for those of you who don’t know your martial arts terminology.)

Alyosha’s School Picture

Isn’t he so sweet that you want to cry? Roma thinks he looks like he is fake smiling but I think it looks like he is laughing.

Here are some ‘kid talk’ tidbits from the past week:

Sorry for the potty talk, but Luka was hilarious! He runs out of his room desperately saying where is the potty, I have to poop! Then he makes a little Luka toot, and says “oh, it’s just toots!” and he goes back to his room to play.

Luka “Mama, it is clocked—can you please open the door, it’s clocked.”

Alyosha came in scratching his leg: “Mama, something is porcupining me in my leg.”

The best: Occasionally when Luka looks in the mirror at himself he says. “Look, I’m happy!”

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Перевод:

Он на фото такой милый, что хочется плакать, правда?! Рома думает что он фальшиво улыбается, но мне кажется, что он просто смеётся.

Вот несколько последних высказываний наших деток:

Извиняюсь заранее за "туалетную тему", но Лука очень рассмешил нас. Выбегая из своей комнаты, Лука в отчаянии пытается спешно найти свой горшок: "Где горшок?? Мне надо покакать!!!" Бегая в поисках по дому, он вдруг останавливается и пукает. Поняв что тревога ложная, он говорит: " А, это только газики", и спокойно удаляется дальше играть в свою комнату.

Идёт Алёша и чешет свою ногу: "Мама, что-то дикообразит меня в ногу".

Лука смотрит на себя в зеркало: "Смотри, я счастлив".

Mandala of Compassion

The Buddhist monk with the kids is Venerable Ngawang Chojor and we got a special viewing of him building the Mandala of Compassion here in Portland a few weeks ago. The kids were great at such a quiet event, they were so interested in what he was doing they just sat and watched for 15 minutes. The message of the Mandala of Compassion is supposed to give us the important elements that can make us a happy and a caring person. The fact that he built the mandala here is supposed to give a special blessing for the area and for the people who live where it is constructed. Through the power of the Mandala the negative energy of the area is removed and positive energy established.

Sand painting is an ancient Tibetan art form. Until 1989, the creation of Mandalas was a secret practice. Then the Dali Lama opened the practice to teach all people the main message behind the Mandala itself. The creation of a sand mandala begins with an opening ceremony. Monks consecrate the site and call forth the forces of goodness through chanting mantras accompanied by flutes, drums and cymbals. The construction of the mandala begins with the drawing of the design on the base. The artists measure out and draw the architectural lines using a straight-edged ruler, compass and ink pen. Once the diagram is drawn, in the following days you see millions of grains of colored sand painstakingly laid into place. The sand, colored with vegetable dyes, is poured onto the mandala platform with a narrow metal funnel which is scraped by another metal rod to cause vibration for the grains of sand to trickle out of the end. The two funnels symbolize the union of wisdom and compassion. The mandalas are created whenever a need for healing of the environment and living beings is felt. When finished, to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists, the colored sands are swept up and poured into a nearby river or stream where the waters carry healing energies throughout the world.

This is the really special part. Lama Chojor saw the boys watching quietly and interested in what he was creating. He drew! them into the Mandala. Have a close look at the white sand on the red line close to the bottom of the Mandala. The one on the left is Alyosha and the one on the right is Luka. The Mandala of Compassion is made to inspire people to live with a compassionate spirit for the sake of all beings and to help end suffering for all. I think my boys are on the road to being compassionate. It was beautiful.

Soccer time

Alyosha is playing on his first organized team sport. Hillside Soccer Club has teams for kindergartners through Jr. High (5-13). The little kids only play scrimmages and they don't really keep score, but they play serious ball. I think the kids are having a great time...when they aren't breaking down because someone stole their ball. It is great to see the boys play together and tell secrets and work as a team.

Coach Roman and his team--pretending to be cheetahs

The crowd watching the soccer players in action

Coach Roman giving advice--"kick the ball and keep your tongue in your mouth"

Look who is about to get wet!

What a sport; Roma was dunked by his team.

Playground talk

Who knew seven kids could fit on one tire swing?

The other day Alyosha woke up in the morning and the first thing he announced was that he didn't sleep all night long. I said that was too bad because his body won't be able to run and play so much because it needs to sleep every day. After that, he amended what he said to say "My body was sleeping, actually, just my brain was awake all night. And in the morning (at 6 am--the new normal) my brain started screaming at my body to wake up."

Luka always defends me to say that my eyes are blue while Alyosha and Roma make fun and say they are grey/green. Luka was mad at me for some reason or another the other day and he said with a squished angry little face that " Your eyes are NOT blue!"

On the slide after school today I heard Alyosha say "I am so tough I beat up a seven year old and now he is afraid of me" The friend he was playing with on the slide said he was 5 and a half and he is the oldest and toughest in his family (he has a 2 year old sister and a 10 month old sister). Alyosha said he was 5 and a half and the biggest and oldest brother in the family too. Why do little lion cubs have to prove who is the toughest?

Luka came up crying and saying "my elbow, my elbow!" I looked at both of his elbows and there was nothing there. He continued to cry and say he got a bobo on his elbow. Finally he pointed down to his knee and with a sly smile and tears still running down his face he said "my elbow has a bobo!" He calls his legs his 'arms' and apparently his knees are 'elbows'. But, with the smile, I know he knows the difference, it is just his joke. I tell you though, he can keep it pretty straight because he consistently calls them his 'arms' and now, 'elbows'.

Alyosha got in a wrestling fight today--it was playful but his necklace broke. He has gotten into a habit of fighting on the side of his friend Amelia against an other team of boys. They wrestle at soccer practice and, as I learned today, at recess too. When his necklace broke, the participants helped him pick up the beads and they are all friends now; especially Amelia, she might even be his best friend right now he said. On the bike ride home Alyosha had a question that he almost didn't ask me because he thought it was too funny. I got him to ask and he said "Mama, do you think it would be funny to marry your best friend?" I said that I thought it would be a great thing to marry your best friend--but asked him what if his best friend was a boy. He said, no that isn't possible then started naming off the names of all the girls he knows. "Amelia, Hailey, Sofie, Milana, Danicia--I have five girlfriends!" He was so happy that he ran into a parked car--no damage done, physical damage that is!

First Day of School

A traditional First day of School video

Well, Alyosha went to school--kindergarten-- we are about to go pick him up--He was excited, nervous and I think he loved it...we will see!

Kids Talk

Alyosha has completely worn out 2 pairs of shoes in the past 2 weeks. I made him say goodbye to them and that was where the mourning began. He cried giant tears of sadness because he had to say goodbye to his beloved fast shoes. Then he got the idea to take pictures to be able to remember them forever. He does not let go easily!

Here are the boys looking over every inch of the shoes--Luka has a micro view.

The photo montage of his beautiful tennis shoes. From top to bottom, inside and out, not an inch was missed.

Photo attempt for the passport photo--Niki doesn't know you aren't supposed to smile!

Other kid sayings:

Alyosha called me into his room to look at the castles he built with the blocks and said "Mama, look how I have just gone wild with my imagination!

Luka asked me for a drink of water before bed so I brought him one. Before I handed it over Alyosha announced that he should get a drink first because he asked me inside his brain first for a drink, he just didn't say it out loud.

Britney Spears song came on the stereo "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman" And Luka began to sing "I am just a boy. That is just Nikolai and that is just Mama and just Papa and just Alyosha. I am just a boy"

Art Camp at CHAP

This is Alyosha's first masterpiece--first of many now! I will give you his description:
Once there was a bird on a big rock. The bird saw all of the salmon in the ocean and decided two of them needed to be big. So the bird said Peeee Caw Pee Caw and the Salmon in the ocean got to be huge! They were sad that they couldn't go into the rivers because they were so big. So the big salmon told the other regular salmon to swim up the river. They became the spirit of the salmon that gave the direction for the salmon to go to help them reach the start of the river. On the way there were bears and many dangers, but the strongest and smartest salmon survived and make it to the top of the river.

Here is Frank holding Niki.

The kids after their first day of Art Camp. The camp is a mixture of kids from the community and kids who got to know CHAP through the hospital program. There are great kids from ages 5-10, in wheelchairs, without arms and all excited about art. All doing the same projects and working together to have fun and experiment with their creativity. I think that kids are just amazing.

They have been so great to us letting Alyosha and Luka and myself work on the garlands for their Christmas project in exchange for the kids painting and playing in the art factory. They are learning a great lesson--Alyosha says he is doing the work so Frank can go teach in the hospital. I am so thankful for the Art camp, it has been great. The kids are making spirit lamps and hula hoops. They are doing yoga and ti chi. Alyosha loves it.

Israel Called On To Stop Settlements

Alyosha overheard the news this morning about Obama's Cairo Speech and Israel:

June 4, 2009 · President Obama was addressing Muslims Thursday, but his speech in Cairo was closely followed by others. One of his most pointed messages was directed at U.S. ally, Israel. Obama called on Israel to halt all construction in West Bank settlements as a step toward reaching peace with the Palestinians. Obama also addressed Palestinians, saying they need to abandon violence.

Alyosha said "Mama, can you believe it, the Israelites are still walking! Where are they going, to Estonia?"

Kids and their thoughts

I was telling Alyosha that the books I was reading to him were the books I had when I was a kid. And this house is the place I lived when I was a kid. And he said "yeah, it is sooooo old"

Every time Luka sits on his potty or stands in front of a tree he announces "it's coming, it's coming!"

On the way walking home, Alyosha asked me out of the blue if he looked brave. I said why? And he said because he was making his brave face.



Swinging in the swing while waiting for the hot dogs to be hot!
We picked Turnips from our the neighbor Elmer's garden. Nothing fresher than that!

A Day at the Park

Three boys in the swing, a little precarious for a moment, but I had to get the shot!

Alyosha doesn't even use the equipment how he is supposed to anymore, he is climbing over the tops and hanging from the bottom--any way except the the traditional one. He can do the entire length of the monkey bars! That is about 25 bars-He is determined to be prepared because this will be his playground next fall when he starts Kindergarten.

Luka can crawl up the cork screw himself! He is so proud he can do it he did it 25 times. Up the cork screw, down the spiral slide...up the cork screw, down the spiral slide.

Niki is looking out at all the fun, thinking about joining but perfectly comfortable where he is at. I think that he is in no big hurry, although he is totally rolling over already from his back to his tummy.

Three Little Angles

We had one of those mornings! But it all turned out good in the end.

Making our Neighborhood beautiful

Today was an Oregon state wide day organized to clean up the neighborhoods. We live in a great neighborhood with wonderful maintenance workers who sweep the curbs every day-so luckily there wasn't too much to clean up. But the kids spotted every cigarette butt or stray gum wrapper and picked it up with their extended arms. Here is the group-Luka didn't want to wear the orange safety vest-OR his sun hat. He was a true pirate.

Luka is helping his brother make his Bobo feel better. Alyosha got a big scratch on his chin-you will see in future pictures how we decorated it with Zelonkia.

We also planted wild flowers in the field in front of our bridge. Hopefully they will all sprout-it will be beautiful.

I (Jen) carried Niki most of the time because Roma was carrying the big trash bag, but in the end I was releived by Roma and the Baby Bjorn--Niki isn't really supposed to face forward yet, but he likes to see the world.

In the afternoon we trecked over to Wallace Park beside the elementary school Alyosha will go to in September-It was a beautiful day. You can see where the scratch is hidden by the green paint.

Luka is a monkey robot. For some reason, he decided to talk like a robot all afternoon.

Alyosha thinks he never goes to sleep because he just lays down and then the sun comes up-like the night is only a minute long. When he got into bed he said that this was a really great day and he wanted to do it all again tomorrow!

Alyosha visits the Dentist

Alyosha had 2! cavities that he needed to have fixed-- curse you dried fruits! Apparently dried fruit and not flossing are the culprits. He was a great patient, bribed by cheap surprise toys from a token operated machine. I guess it was good that we never gave him a chance to buy anything from one of those becaue it was so special that he was willing to go under the drill to try it out. Though now he is an ultimate flosser, his special magic token toys were lost 5 minutes after we got home and I let him watch the Lion King to forget his numb cheek.

Fifth Disease

From somewhere, Luka picked up fifth disease...or the slapped cheek disease. It is mostly harmless but highly contagious so here we go with the rounds of illness again! His little cheeks or bright red. I thought that he was just wiping his snots on his cheek and they were getting chapped, but no! Well, at least he doesn't feel too bad--but he is getting annoyed with skin rashes! He said "spots, spots, spots like chicken pox!"

Here comes the bride and there runs the groom! Run, Run Alyosha! I heard the girl say that she was going to have the most perfect princess wedding that is so beautiful, EVER. And she is going to marry Tom, if Alyosha isn't Tom then she will just change his name to Tom--there you go. I think it is time we start training Alyosha which girls are acceptable and which ones are to be avoided!

Niki isn't worried about fifth disease, he is under the immune protection of Mama's Milk. It's funny that these little infants are so vulnerable yet they have such a veil of protection.

It's a good thing that Niki has some special protection, because with two brothers that love him as much as Alyosha and Luka do--there is no way to prevent germ sharing!

Kids talk, with 2 now...

Alyosha listens to the radio news, where they talk about swine flu outbreak and the how Egyptians are planning to eliminate all pigs in the country. With loud voice Alyosha gives his summary: Mama, mama, Pyramid People are going to kill the pigs!

Alyosha saying:
"Mama, look at this rock. It is cool, can I take it home and science it out?" (that means examine it at home with a magnifying glass and put it in his paleontology collection box)

Luka saying:
Every time we leave friends, Luka departs with "Bye, Bye, thrend"

Alyosha saying yesterday evening:
"Mama, now that I am growing up, I like to watch the news. Luka still likes cartoons."

Birthday #5

More to come

Haircut

Summer and warmer weather are approaching so we are all going for the short styles. I really like the kid's hair when it is long a crazy/wild, but I didn't even bother washing Luka's hair before cutting it; I just cut out all the big chunks of dirt and knots. Alyosha uses his head as a sand bucket, instead of the cool yellow bucket that the Easter bunny brought--so with shorter hair it will be more difficult for the big pieces of dirt to get lodged in and create a penthouse for the bugs of summer.

But, I will have to admit, the kids are beautiful with their long crazy hair--at least eye catching.


They are pretty cute with their short buzzes too though.

Nature School Tuesdays

Sellwood park again for Tuesday Nature School. This past Tuesday was the most beautiful Tuesday of the year. Roma studied in the park while everyone else attended their own duties, then we had a picnic lunch and stayed the rest of the day, lured in by the sun to forget any other responsibilites we may have.

Luka likes the see-saw, but I get a work out doing squats so he can go up and down. I noticed that in all newer parks that have see-saws, they have springs so the kids can do it themselves--I'm not sure which ones I like better.

Alyosha is a good tree-climber. We will work on this all summer so we can go apple pickng in the fall. Now he just climbs to shake the flowers down from the tree. Thank goodness it wasn't an apple tree--even the flowers fall pretty hard. That's gravity for ya.

The boys climb on Papa whenever they get a chance. It is great that he has the chance to spend so much time with them--but, even school takes up a lot of time so they take advantage of every minute.

Papa running with 2 boys. Look how long their hair is--tomorrow it will be all gone. :-(

Jamison Park 2009

Well, it seems like it is almost summer time and that means Jamison park in the afternoon. One of the interesting things about living in the city is the people watching.

No matter where we are, Alyosha is always looking for bugs--they are seeing how the ant swims.

Luka likes to do the same things that Alyosha does.

Green Frog Toy Store...the place we must pass almost everytime we leave our place. The boys never get tired of looking in the window.

A day at the Park

Saturday marked the first day of beautiful, beautiful warm sunny weather. We went to the farmers market (see video) and played at the park. It feels a little like we have been living in a cave, really hibernating for the past few months. It's great!

Alyosha can do the entire length of the monkeybars now..that means he is ready for kindergarden.

Even Niki enjoys the sun.

Family picture.

Keri Russel is in town filming a movie...Crowley. She spent her beautiful Saturday with her family at the farmers market and playground too. Luka and her son were staring each other down on the slide at the playground.

The Boys

What is going on

Back to Nature School. Alyosha had his first day of spring nature school today. Unfortunately they had to move it to Sellwood, which is a farther drive for us, but the park is great and with the better weather coming along we will enjoy it. The good part is that the class is bigger, 8 kids, so I think it is more fun. Alyosha is keeping a nature journal with a picture of what he learned for the day--that is what he is working on in the photo; they learned about leaves and veins and how the leaf turns its food into sugar.

I made the kids pose for a photo in front of the pink tulips at Sellwood park. Niki wasn't too happy.

Niki getting some rest and some sun. I think that he is the king.

The Easter Bunny found us even though we weren't in Texas--he hid clues in the whole building that the boys found together. BUT that silly Easter Bunny dropped Luka's airplane bubble blower so we had to ask the toy store if they would let us exchange it for a new one. Luckily they take Easter Bunny exchanges.

Alyosha is working on his music school homework for his piano class. He already knows what each of the types of notes are. I can't wait for him to start Kindergarten next year.

Alyosha's Art Work

Alyosha has been practicing his drawing with the "I Can Draw" books and I recently found a jackpot of them at the thrift store for .49 cents--which is great when they are usually $5 or more each. Here are some of his drawings that we sent to his pen pals around the world--some haven't arrived to the recipients yet, so even though you see it online, it can still be a surprise to you if you get it in the mail. This first one was for Alyosha's friend Jacob, who lives in Houston with Justin and Stephanie and little sister. It is Jacob and Alyosha standing under the sky on the grass. Their hair is standing straight up because they haven't had a hair cut in a long time and the wind blew it straight up.

The Sea Dragon is from one of his new drawing books. Lines up are the spikes, and the big round circle is the open mouth with lots of teeth. The black line/dot on the right side of the sea dragon is his eye. Alyosha did this, along with the letters totally himself.

This one is an underwater scene. The Scuba Diver is Alyosha when he is grown up. He is searching for lost treasure under the ocean. I did a pencil drawing of the scuba diver, then Alyosha traced it and did the rest. The fish swimming on the left side of the page is a Siamese fighting fish, like the one we have in our aquarium named StopN'Go--Alyosha did that one totally himself. This fish swimming in the picture is also named StopN'Go.

This drawing has a lot of action going on in it. There is a boat with an arrow on the sail that describes which way the bot is sailing. There are two passengers on the boat and the spiky wheel at the front is the 'rule' (steering wheel in Russian). The boat is about to run into the erupting volcano, and the two passengers are at the back of the boat so they don't get burned up by the exploding lava. Under the ocean there is a blue octopus swimming beside his friend the squid. The squid was going to save the octopus but the octopus squirted his black ink first to protect himself and the squid from the dangerous shark that is in the middle of the ocean above the starfish. Alyosha drew this scene almost totally himself, I just gave him the outline of the boat. But the scenario was totally his, as well as the descriptions I have here!

The artist.

The Bible

I have been reading the Bible to Alyosha during nap times. We have a really good Children's Bible from 1965--the same one I remember Grandma having. I don't know if it was Daddy's or John John's originally, but I remember it myself. I found a never opened one at the thrift store a year or so ago and bought it for $2. Alyosha looks at the pictures all the time and recently asked me to read him some stories from the pictures. It tells the real stories, not all dumbed up like some newer children's bibles, but also not as complicated as the adult version. We just finished reading about the 10 plagues and are still reading the Exodus story with Moses and the Israelites.

Does anyone know what the 10th plague is? The plagues really interested Alyosha; we read them a week or so ago and he is still asking questions. The 10th plague is the one where God comes for all the 1st born of the Egyptians but passes over the homes of the Israelites. So that God knows the people who live in the house are faithful, he asked them to sacrifice a lamb and paint its blood on 3 spots of the doorway and the first born of that household will be saved. Guess what today is? Passover. I told Alyosha that today was passover and he got a very serious look on his face. He said we need to go get a lamb right now and paint blood on our doorway. He is the first born child in our household, I understand where his concerns come from. We haven't gotten to the Easter story yet!

*Speaking of things children say, while we were at the dentist Alyosha asked what they were going to put in the holes where the cavities were. The dentist said either white paint or silver paint. He told the dentist "My daddy's teeth are all painted silver!" *The kids were eating ice cream and it started dripping over the cones they made. Alyosha said "My ice cream is Kapping!" (kap kap kap is the sound drips make in Russian)




Happy Easter weekend to everyone!

Teeth

The big boys were playing on the playground with a thousand other kids on the sunny Monday afternoon. They took time out to entertain their brother who can't climb on the ladders and slide the slides yet.
Niki showing off his toothless smile. He is lucky enough that he doesn't have to go to the dentist yet; he doesn't really feel left out of the bunch because of that. In fact, it looks like he is pretty happy about it.
Luka is getting an x-ray of his front teeth. He was amazing, just letting the dentist do anything and everything she needed. He even held the film between his teeth like a pro.
Alyosha did great with the dentist too. He whispered that he was a little afraid , but the dentists were so great with kids that he is counting down until the next time he has to go. He doesn't know the difference between getting a cleaning and a filling though! (The dentist said he would get laughing gas--so he will be happy and floating in space)

They found 4! cavities. One I knew of, but the other 3 were a surprise. They are tiny little cavities between his teeth. The dentist said we probably didn't need to do anything about them because he should be losing his teeth in a year or so, but it would be a good idea to get rid of them just to make sure. On his x-rays we could see his adult teeth just waiting to come out. She said if he flosses every day- he wouldn't have any cavities at all.

The pediatric dentists at OHSU are great. They made the kids feel comfortable and somehow hypnotised them into doing everything and anything they asked. Luka didn't have any cavities, but he has a little dent in a front tooth that he got when he fell down once, so he will have a filling put in just to keep everything healthy for the future. I like it when we find good doctors and dentists :-)

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

We had a Friday Nature Walk with friends at the Rhododendron Garden--which might as well be called the duck and goose playground. Along the entire walk we had a company of ducks waddling along behind us. Luka was afraid of the ducks, and geese (the geese I don't blame him for, they are bigger than he is!). Alyosha put on a very brave face around his friends--but once he was surrounded and we were ahead of him on the trail; when I looked back to see if he was catching up there was sheer terror on his face because the gaggle of geese and ducks encircled him and his bag of bird seed, a full zip lock bag. I saw him pour the entire bag out, then he made a run for it. By the time he reached us you could still see the wet, blotched tears on his cheeks and the redness in his cheeks, but he was trying to smile.

The kids and Nikolai staring each other down to find out what they are made of.

In front of the waterfalls. I don't know how, but we made it over the steping stones without falling in... Niki on my chest in the sling and Luka dangling from my hand--Alyosha was on his own.

The Canadian goose that was chansing the others away from his food--there were also mallards, wood ducks, scaups, red head ducks, northern pintail, shovler, cinnamon teal, chinese swan geese, and more....

Busy Kids

The kids had a Jackson Pollock art class today--an American artist famous for his action painting. Action painting is the best style for the 5 and under artists--and can even be fun for the adult artist! Alyosha is pointing to their section of the canvas--the brown back ground was created by 'skiing' with brown toes and feet--then the splatters are the ones that were lucky enough to land on the canvas rather than the ceiling, walls, my hair etc...



Luka is a good big brother





Luka is a monkey on the bunk beds.





Thank you Gala and Ded for the welcome gift for Nikolai!



The kids concentrate when there is any kind of important work to do--like coloring frogs and dogs.

OMSI

We spent a day at OMSI this week--it is an easy place for me to take the kids right now because they can get involved in lots of great activities and I don't have to run around or worry about them because we are in an enclosed space. There is a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit going on right now teaching the kids all about inventions; since getting back from exploring that exhibit, Alyosha has invented a few things. My favorite invention is the machine that picks up all the toys for Alyosha and Luka, cleans the bathroom and kitchen and does everything we need to do so we can sit and watch cartoons all the time while the machine is working. He already has the first part to build the machine, an egg carton. He wants me to guide him where to go from there...

Alyosha is letting a walking stick walk along his hands and dinosaur shirt in the top picture; he said that he was very brave because he knew the bug was alive and even though it was 'freaky' to let the bug poke on his hands, he had to be brave because if he dropped it it would hurt the bug.

The flying hair pics are from a discovery that the kids made while floating balls on the air

Chicken Pox Upon Our House!

We rang in the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Ox, with the chicken pox. Saturday morning, the day we thought everyone was healthy for the first time in 2 weeks, we were dressing to go to the New Year festival when we noticed red spots all over Alyosha's body. The Pediatrician on call was sure from my description that Alyosha didn't have chicken pox because no kid gets the chicken pox anymore. His assurance wasn't because he listened to the description, it was because chicken pox has been wiped out by 95% in the United States since the vaccine has been mandatory in the early 1990's. He said that we were fine to go ahead to the festival because half of the kids there have viruses anyway and we would fit in just fine. So, off we went to enjoy the dragon dances and the new year of the ox.

Monday morning we decided to go have the spots checked out, but I had my first acupuncture appointment, so the boys went to the hospital on their own. It is so rare for kids to get the chicken pox nowadays, that when the first competent (ie. experienced) doctor saw them, the boys got put into the quarantine room and about 10 doctors who had never seen them before came in to see a real live case. Some thought that we were crazy parents wanting our kids to get sick with this deadly virus. Others wanted to take Luka and immunize him right away, or else they thought we would be admitting him into the hospital within a week for a case of 'sibling' chicken pox so bad he would never survive.

Roma didn't make the final decision until I got there and one of the pediatric professors (not a resident) talked to us again. I told her that we don't know where our future will bring us. Since it has been proven that the chicken pox vaccine needs a booster every so often, perhaps like a tetanus shot, I wanted the kids to have a natural immunity that will last a lifetime--like the rest of the world has. The Dr. Professor was open enough to understand where we were coming from and even agreed that the chicken pox aren't dangerous for healthy kids. We got our final diagnosis and left just as we came, only with a little more information.

Our complication was the little one still hiding from the viruses and crises of the world inside my tummy. It isn't good for a newborn to be exposed to the chicken pox. I totally believe in vaccines; I know that they have saved many lives. I am against unnecessary drugs, precautions and vaccines that prevent our bodies from being exposed to things that our bodies should be able to handle, even if it is difficult. If our body doesn't practice fighting things it is capable of fighting, it will not have the practice to fight the new illnesses we might not have vaccine for. God, genetics and evolution are pretty intelligent and the baby will be safe against the chicken pox because when I was 6 years old, I had the chicken pox which gave me a lifelong immunity (we tested my blood just to make sure) and newborns have all of the mother's immunities -- as long as they are 100% breast fed -- for the first 2-3 months of their lives.

The goodest and the knockerdowniest.

We all are sitting at the dinner table finishing meal, Mama Zhenya asks who is going to clean dishes. Alyosha stands up and claims the job. Papa Roma tries to compete with him and says that he is going to clean instead, these days jobs are tough to find, after all. Alyosha contends, saying that he will take the job because he is the "goodest" cleaner of all times. "Knockerdowning good".

Alyosha talks about his self-portrait

Today Alyosha painted himself or at least as he sees himself. Сегодня Алёша нарисовал свой портрет, или по крайней мере так, как он себя представляет.
Download video

Treasure Island

Well, we finished reading Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson tonight. Alyosha understood a lot of it, there were some parts that were beyond him, but he hung on every word. He loved the entire novel! Tonight when he was playing in the bathtub he had a little boat, that he made into a pirate ship, naturally. He called me in there have a look at his boat. He said he "beached it (on his legs) when the tide went out." Then he said, "what does that mean?" (they beach the pirate ship Hispaniola when they lose the anchor)

So I told him this story: When I drop this sponge, where does it go?
Al: It falls down.
Mama: Why does it fall down and not up?
Al: Because gravity. What is gravity?
Mama: Gravity is what pulls everything down to the earth. And the moon has gravity too, but the Earth is stronger. The moon tries and tries to pull things up to it, as hard as it can, but it can't. It doesn't quit trying though. The moon isn't strong enough to pull you up, but it does pull the oceans a little bit. It pulls and pulls at the water and the water rises up toward the moon a little bit. That is when the tide goes out and you can see more of the beach. The water is being pulled towards the moon. Then the moon gets too tired and the earth pulls the water back to where it belongs. That is when the tide comes back in and there is more water on the beach. That is why you can beach the pirate ship. If you put the ship in the water close to the beach when the tide is in it will float, but then the moon pulls at the water and the ship will be stuck on the sand since there won't be any more water. And that happens all the time, because the moon never quits trying to pull things from the earth.
Al: That is the coolest book ever!

Video for download here
Alyosha playing his new guitar (a real one) and singing like a pirate--click play!