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.

Женька с детишками отправились в Эстонию

Сегодня утром первыми словами заспанного Алёши были: "А где мои билеты?"

Хорошо, когда все путешественники встают с правильной ноги и вообще в курсе происходящего.

В Портленде шёл дождь, в который так хорошо уезжать, настроение было на подъеме, вещи были заранее упакованы накануне, поэтому отъезжающие не спеша позавтракали, проверили наличие паспортов и пелёнок и отправились в аэропорт.

Когда Алёша заносил в машину свой маленький чемоданчик на колёсах, то попросил, чтобы его (чемоданчик) кроме Алёши никто не трогал. Мы как-то не обратили внимание на эти слова, о чём немного пожалели в аэропорту. Уже проходя перед кассами авиалиний Алёша остановился и тихо сказал, глядя на чемоданы, которые забирала служба безопасности для досмотра и отправкой как багажа: "Я не отдам свой чемодан им". Мы его успокоили, что мол его чемоданчик это ручная кладь и он всегда будет с ним. Однако при регистрации на рейс всю ручную кладь нужно было взвесить и прицепить наклейку, то бишь чемоданчик надо было отдать тёте, причём с подозрительным немецким акцентом. Неожиданно для всех, включая весь персонал Люфтганзы и пассажиров, Алёша, вцепившись в свой чемодан, дико заорал во всё горло и бросился бежать из зала регистрации.

В конце концов Алёшу вернули с чемоданом, но наклейку так и не смогли поставить.

Ну, будем надеяться, что полёт пройдёт удачно: 9 часов до Франкфурта, 6 часов во Франкфурте, пару часов до Таллинна и потом ещё часика 3 до Силламяэ.

Спасибо Олежке за встречу моих цыганят в Таллинне.