Kids Talk

On the way to the car Alyosha overheard in the hallway a mom threating her son that if he doesn't stop having a fit they were not going to go to the store and get the new toy he wanted and that she would give all his toys away to the homeless kids.

Alyosha didn't say anything until he was strapped into the car. Then he asked me

"Mama, why does that boy have to give all of his toys to the homo kids?"

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!

The Sun and the moon

Alyosha: Mama I don't want to go to bed it is still sunny outside.

Mama: Well, it's spring and soon it will be summer, the sun stays out longer and longer.

Alyosha: But it is still sunny, I don't want to go to bed when it is sunny. I want to go to bed when it is moony.

Что такое "бюджет"?

Всей семьёй едем в машине, Женька и я разговариваем о чём-то и упоминаем слово "бюджет". Алёша, которому 3 года и 10 месяцев, оказывается внимательно слушал весь разговор.
Алёша: А что такое "бюджет"?
Я беру на себя нелегкую задачу объяснить это понятие ребенку. - Это, когда ты планируешь как потратить деньги, которые есть у тебя в ограниченном количестве. Например, у тебя есть один доллар, а тебе хочется мороженное, шоколад и покататься на лошадке. Но, всё вместе это стоит больше, чем один доллар и тогда ты выбираешь то, что тебе больше всего хочется или то, тебе очень нужно. Понял?
Алёша: Нет. Ведь, если у тебя кончились деньги, то ты можешь просто достать карточку и расплатиться карточкой...

Where's the fire breathing dragon?

Alyosha: Mama, tell me story, tell me story, tell me story!! Tell me a story about mushrooms and blueberries....(where he gets the ideas, I don't know)

When I was a kid, I was 8 years old and we lived in Alabama on the top of a hill. And all around the hill there was a forest. And when you looked out over the edge of the hill, you could see all the city lights--it was very beautiful.

One day, I was very sneaky because I wasn't supposed to go to the forest at the bottom of the hill since it was very far away and it was a very dark forest. I snuck down there with my friend Aleuts on my bicycle. We were so excited to walk on the trail in this forest!

We got off our bikes and started walking on the trail. As soon as we walked into the forest it got so dark, like the sun disappeared. We walked right out of the forest and the sun was shining brightly! We realized that the sun didn't disappear, the forest was so thick that it seemed dark as soon as you walk in. We were excited and afraid to start walking on the trail.

We walked just a few steps into the forest and found a huge patch of blueberries. Those were the most tasty forest blueberries we ever tasted. We just sat down right there in the middle of the blueberry patch and started eating. Then, my friend found a beautiful mushroom. She said "Look! a forest mushroom, I bet it is even more tasty than the forest blueberries. Let's taste it"

I wasn't sure, because I knew that it was safe to eat the blueberries, but I never saw that kind of mushroom before. My friend said, "Let's just have a little bite, it won't hurt us!" Finally I said OK...and we each ate half of the mushroom...

It was totally not tasty!

Then, all of a sudden, we heard a "Crash, Rooarrrr" so we got up and ran out of the forest as fast as we could.

We hopped on our bikes and started riding them up the hill, but our fingers started tickling...then our arms, and our elbows all the way up to our shoulders. We were both just laughing and laughing and our back started tickling down to our bottom and our legs. We could hardly ride our bikes up the hill because everything was tickling so much and we were just laughing. We figured out that we ate a poison tickling mushroom!

By the time we got home to our moms and dads everything was tickling from our fingers down to our toes...everything except for our nose!

My mom and dad asked me what was wrong and I told them my friend and I had eaten a poison laughing mushroom in the forest that we weren't supposed to go to--

They said "oh, no!" and took us to the Emergency Room. There, the doctors gave me an awful medicine that made me throw up!! Yuck!! but finally I got all of the poison laughing mushroom out of me and I stopped tickling all over my body from my fingers to my toes, everything except my nose.

Oh, my goodness! I knew that it was not right to eat something from the forest that I wasn't sure about--but we were so silly and did it anyway.

Alyosha: Mama, why did you do that?
Mama: Because I didn't know what it was a I was curious to test it out.
Alyosha: Like Curious George?
Mama: Yeah, but that sure can get you in trouble sometimes?
Alyosha: Why?
Mama: It would have been better to pick the mushroom and bring it home to ask my mom and dad if it was ok to taste it...before I just tasted it myself. It can be dangerous to eat things from the forest if you don't know what they are.
Alyosha: Yeah...but what about the fire breathing dragon?

Three flying bears

Every night I hear the same question:

Alyosha: Mama please tell me a story! The one about three flying bears in the forest, and make it scary. (He has never heard a story about 3 flying bears before, he just assumes there is one...)

Mama: One time there were 3 bears. They were quite unusual bears because they were city bears. They had jobs and everything. Their job was at the very top of the highest building in the city. Every hour, they had to stick their heads out of the window and roar what time it was. So, right now it is 8 o'clock and this is what they had to do...

roar....1 roar....2 roar......3 roar.....4 roar.....5 roar.....6 roar.....7 roar.....8

Imagine, every hour, they had to roar that many times. So when it was 12 o'clock they roared 12 times! After a while they decided that their throats were sore and they just couldn't roar like that any more, so they decided to give up their jobs and move to the forest. They came down from the top of their very tall building and started walking towards the forest.

It was quite a sight to see 3 bears walking along the highway. Cars were stopping and staring at them and the joggers turned around and ran in the opposite direction. It didn't bother the bears at all; they were just ready to get to the forest!

Finally they made it to the wonderful forest, there was peace and quiet and no people around for miles and miles. They just loved it! It was a lucky time of the year too, summer, right when there were tons of berries to eat. The bears thought they were in bear heaven! Fresh air, quiet, blueberries and raspberries to eat and a running river close by. When they got tired they just found a comfy tree and curled up at the bottom of it and went to sleep.

One night they curled up by a very short tree--it was short, but it had large roots that made a very comfy place for a bed. After watching the stars for a while they fell asleep. After a few hours, they were awoken by some loud music!

They thought, where was this music coming from, there are no people in the forest!! So they decided to get up and search around to find it and ask them to turn it down a bit. They looked and looked around and finally found where all the racket was coming from! There was a fairy party going on.

Fairies are little flying creatures who love to have parties at night time under the trees between the roots that stick up above the ground. And this was a huge fairy party! These little fairies had a tiny light on their bottoms that was shiny when they fly around, so you could see hundreds and hundreds of tiny lights flying in and out of the fairy house they built for the party.

The bears nicely asked the fairies to turn the music down, but no one listened. They said again "Please, please turn that music down, we are trying to sleep here. But the fairies acted as if there were no bears around! Finally the bears said ROOOAAAAR, and the fairies did pay attention to that, but just replied..." You bears are in the fairy forest! It is summer and we have lots of parties. We think you should find another forest to go live in.

Well, the bears were not happy with that suggestion, they loved the forest that they had found. There were tons of tasty berries and a fresh clean river and beautiful trees! So they decided they were not going to move, but didn't want to listen to the loud music every night.

Ok, this is the scary part...

Those three big bears, walked right over to the fairy house and just ate up all of the fairies....

Alyosha: Wait, I wanted them to be little bears...

Mama: Well, they are little bears, they are little like the size of Luka. But a fairy is smaller than your pinky finger so to the fairies, the three bears were gigantic. So, the bears ate up every last one of the fairies at the fairy party! They could feel the fairies flying around in their tummy, then all of a sudden the bears grew wings and became flying bears! Now they were three flying fairy wing bears and they flew all around looking at everything.

Alyosha: And they had a fairy light on their popka too! (popka is bottom in Russian)

Super Alyosha

Alyosha: Mama, first I will tell a story, then you tell a story. Ok? Up on one time, there was a Super Alyosha. And he would fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly, fly until he saw a pirate house. There was a pirate flag and a pirate door and pirate toothpaste and a pirate toothbrush and a pirate cup and there was batman toothpaste too. And Super Alysoha would walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk until he saw a spider man. And spider man and Super Alyosha would go to the store and buy pirate toothpaste and pirate toothbrushes and batman toothbrushes too. That is all. Isn't that a wonderful story? Now it is your turn...

Mama: One time there was a Super Alyosha. And he had 3 super powers: the power to fly, but fly very slowly, the power to run very very fast, and the power to help.

Super Alyosha decided to take a trip to a place very far away. He decided to take a trip to Egypt, but not only a trip, he would fly himself to Egypt. Since he was a slow flier, it took him 5 days to get there, but it was a wonderful trip.

As he was flying over the Atlantic Ocean he saw all of the fish and the dolphins. It was beautiful to fly over Morocco and Tunisia, and finally after 5 days he made it to Egypt. He went to the capitol of Egypt, Cairo, which is right on the sea.

The next day he decided to get on the tourist bus and go with all the tourists to the Valley of the Kings and to see the pyramids at Giza. No one on the tourist bus knew that he was Super, and Alyosha didn't tell anyone...he wanted to be a tourist just like everyone else.

The tour bus took everyone to the Valley of the Kings and let them off the bus to explore the pyramids and the sculptures and the artwork of the ancient Egyptians. Everyone had a wonderful time because it was such a beautiful day and they were in a very special and ancient place.

In the evening when it was time to get back to the tourist bus, everyone started looking around and it was as if the tourist bus just disappeared! Everyone was getting worried because since it was evening, that meant it would be night soon and all the desert animials would be coming out of their hiding places. The desert snakes and scorpians would come up from under the rocks. The desert foxes would come from their dens. The desert lizards would come from behind the cactus. Then the desert would be a scary place for a bunch of tourists!

Super Alyosha had a plan. He told all the tourists to go look on the other side of the pyrimid because maybe the bus is just hiding to play a trick on us. The tourists thought that was a good idea, so they went over to have a look. In the meantime, Super Alyosha ran to Cairo to look for somthing to carry all of the tourists in. It only took him 2 minutes to get to the city because of his super power to run very fast. It would take a normal person all day to run that far!

The only thing that Super Alyosha could find was a big wagon to fit all of the tourists in. So he grabbed it and ran back to the Valley of the Kings. By the time Super Alyosha made it back, the tourists were just beginning to come back from the other side of the pyrimid. They told him that they didn't find the bus hiding back there and they were all very worried. Super Alyosha said not to worry and told everyone to climb into the wagon he found.

They were all very skeptical because he didn't even have a car or horses to pull the wagon. But they climbed in. Super Alyosha said hold on, and he started walking slowly--then he took off. The tourists were all amazed!

Since Super Alyosha could only fly slowly, he decided to take everyone on a wonderful trip. He flew over the Valley of the Kings and saw all of the pyrimids and the sphinx from the sky. They saw all of the desert animals crawling and playing around in the sand. Then he slowly took them back to Cairo where they flew all around the city, looking over the city lights and the tall towers. It was very beautiful. Then, finally, Super Alyosha landed in front of their hotel safe and sound.

All of the tourists said "Thank you, Alyosha, that was so great!"

That's all.

Alyosha: Mama, that was an amazing story.

More Alyoshaisms

Alyosha: Mama, I have a lot of names right?
Mama: Yeah
Alyosha: Why?
Mama: Because you are Russian and that means that you have a lot of names...
Alyosha: Alyosha Kartosha, Aleks, Lyosha, Lyoha....But Cheryl only has one name, why?
Mama: Because Cheryl isn't Russian--so she is just Cheryl.
Alyosha: Mama, that's funny, I can make Cheryl Russian... Cheryl, Cheryl, BoBeryl, BananaFannaFoFerral, MeMiMoMerral, Cheryl!
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Al: Mama, why am I bless youing? (translation: Why am I sneezing?)

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Al: Mama, you be the princess and I'll do the saving.

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Early in the day Alyosha was running around and jumping on the bed. He exclaimed that he could feel his heart beating! Later in the day he was reading a book and I was cooking in the kitchen and I heard him yell: Mama!! Mama!! My heart stopped beating! He has just read a book about the skeleton and muscles and organs and how they all work together, so he was really worried. I told him it was still beating, but you only feel it hard when you do exercise or jump around--he started jumping and said, 'oh, there it is!'

Happy New Year

Hello to Everyone in 2008! We had a really nice celebration popping open a bottle of champagne for the Estonian New Year--then we quietly brought in the Portland New Year watching the fireworks explode under the bridge.

Romka is back to work, the kids are back to driving just Jen crazy (Oh, how I am counting the days until spring. I'm praying for a early start in February!!!)

Happy New Year everyone!!!
Thank you, Stacy, for the warm beautiful Christmas present.

The many faces of a pirate.

I just wanted to add a couple of Alyosha's sayings of late...

Alyosha: "Mama, Mama please sing me the virgin song!" Mama: "Silent Night, Holy Night! All is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin mother and child....."

Alyosha playing with his horse and cowboy and spiderman and a pirate or two: Nee nah, nee nah, nee nah! Take the cowboy to the hostable! Take him to the hostable! The pirate pushed him off his horse and they need to give him a shot so his blood soldiers will work better to fix his boo boo!

Yes, we told him that he has blood soldiers (not a far stretch from the white blood cells, right?) and they fight the germs and build blood clot walls when he gets a cut. We'll see if he gets messed up or becomes a creative writer.

Lots of stuff...no time to speak!

Well, the end of 2007 is here. And it seems like the end of the year goes by faster than any other time--not that time is ever slow. I am trying to get pictures backed up and printed out and want to share some I found.

The snow pics are from Dec 26th--we braved Mt. Hood and it was beautiful.


Roma putting the chains on the tires so we don't fall off the mountain!

The attempt at skiing while sledding--didn't quite work.

But we all enjoyed the snow!
Stark contrast--hiking from last month--pictures I found.


AND--a couple more Christmas morning pictures

Aleks with his camera (he is a photographer) and Luka with the red tunnel
Men at work
It snowed on Christmas Day!

Just two handsome boys

Baby trees

I am not surprized at our newest development...

While in bed I roll over and feel a pine cone poke its little pokies in my back. Then reach my hand under the pillow and find a little tiny pine cone and a couple more at my feet.

Why, might you ask, do we sleep with pine cones? They are baby trees! So they need a safe and warm place to sleep at night.

This is what I get for teaching Alyosha about botany and how trees grow!

Night time conversations

Sometimes Aleks talks in his sleep. Maybe he is in a spot somewhere between awake and asleep, because he holds hour long conversations...

Aleks sits straight up in bed around 3 in the morning...eyes closed and says "I'm drinky" then plops right back down on his pillow. About 20 minutes later, he does the same thing "Mama, I'm drinky", so I get up and bring a cup of water beside his bed. About 30 minutes later he gets up and without a word takes the cup of water and drinks his water. Before going back to sleep he says "Mama, I'm scared, sing me a song." As I belt out the ABC's, he is deep into his dream world again by the time I get to D.

Как у утки...

Алёша рассматривает в туалете своё хозяйство и с уверенностью заявляет: - У меня будет ребеночек!
- Конечно же будет, - осторожно говорю я, не зная к чему вся дискуссия может привести. - В один день, ты тоже станешь папой, как и я.
- Смотри,- говорит Алёша детально показывая руками. - Вот это яичко уже большое, скоро оно вылупится, как у утки, и тогда у меня будет ребёнок.

I ♥ U

Alyosha: Mama, I like you.

Mama: I like you too, you are a good boy.

Alyosha: Yeah, I am.

The other night Alyosha and Papa were talking...

Papa: I love you.

Alyosha: I love me too.

Spiderman

Alyosha: Mama, buy me the Spiderman cartoon!

Mama: I don' t think that is a good idea. Maybe you can use your own money to buy it. Do you have any money?

Alyosha: Yeah, see. (he shows me a quarter)

Mama: I don't think that that will be enough! You will have to save some more. (He goes and searches around everything and finds about 20 cents more to show me)

Alyosha: Now is that enough?

Mama: Nope.

Alyosha: Aaaahhhhh!! I am going to get my computer and work until I make enough money to buy that spiderman cartoon myself!! (he stomps off and gets his computer and slams it down on the table to work.) Ohhh bother, this is a lot of work!

Esophagus

Alyosha: Mama, is your esophagus broken?

Mama: No...it is working fine.

Alyosha: Ok, well here then. You finish my soup. I ate so much already that my esophagus will break if I eat any more.

Sleepy Time

As I (Jen) was sneaking out of Alyosha's bed after putting him to sleep, or so I thought, he caught me and said this:

Alyosha: Mama, where are you going, don't leave, I'm afraid. (Something about scary pumpkins chasing him...)

Mama: Oh, I'm not leaving---I'm just checking the clock to see what time it was. (The closest plausible excuse I could think of)

Alyosha says, matter-of-factly: You don't have to see what time it is, I know. It is sleepy time. Don't look at that silly clock, I don't know what it means anyway! It is sleepy time. You are silly Mama.

********************

Lunch conversation:

Papa: Alyosha, do you think that Mama is pretty?

Alyosha: Yeah.

Papa: What is the prettiest thing about her?

Alyosha, without hesitation: Her milks.

Yes, yes, yes, the obsession starts from birth and continues throughout their life.

Remembering Stop and Go

It has been about a month since our beloved Stop and Go passed to the greater beyond. (The fish was so named because when he swam he "Stopped and Goed," to put it in Alyosha's terms)Alyosha remembers him fondly and occasionally says that he is sad and misses him. We explained to Alyosha that Stop and Go died but his spirit is free now to swim wherever he wants and probably even went to heaven and now gets to swim in God's aquarium. Unfortunatly we were having this conversation while eating a lovely baked salmon lunch...and our conversation went something like this:

Alyosha: Mama, the salmon is crying becasue when we eat him he is sad.

Mama: I don't think that the salmon is sad. He is really happy that we are thankful to have such healthy food and when we eat him he gives us all the power he used to swim up the river.

A few minutes pass and Alyosha says: I'm so sad that Stop and Go died.

Mama: It's ok to be sad and miss Stop and Go, but we should remember the happy times we spent with him too because he was a good fishy and now his spirit is swimming around in heaven with God.

Alyosha: Maybe instead of swimming in heaven he is swimming in the fire and God is going to get healthy and eat him up! Can we go to the store and buy another Stop and Go?

Does that mean fishy heaven is God's tummy?!??

Books

After five minutes of laying quiet in bed...I thought that Aleks was asleep and he said:

Alyosha: Mama, why are there so many books here on the shelf?

Mama: Gala and Ded love to read books.

Alyosha: Did they read all of them?

Mama: Yes they did, they love books. Don't you like books too?

Alyosha: No, I like dinosaurs.

10 seconds later he was asleep...

Am I old?

Aleks: Mama, am I a big boy?

Mama: You are getting bigger every day.

Aleks: Am I a big boy to watch scary movies?

Mama: No, you aren't that big yet.

Aleks: When will I be big?

Mama: First you will be big like Max, then like Kristina, then like Mama and Papa....

Aleks: What about like Luka?

Mama: You were already like Luka...

Aleks: Oh, I'm sorry. I see...

I just wonder where in the world his thoughts were going when he started this converstation... I think that I need to record our conversations when we go to bed...Aleks goes into deep thought

People's Jobs

Aleks is starting to understand and remember what peoples jobs are. He knows that Papa works in Kamchatka--something to do with pushing buttons and bears and flying on planes or helicopters all the time. He knows that Ded writes and Gala and Grandma both count money. I am not quite sure what he thinks Grandpa does though...I told him that Grandpa puts bad guys in jail.

Alyosha: Mama look at all those ravens! They are thieves! Let's call Grandpa to put his dress on and come here with his gun and get all those ravens in the police car and put them in jail. I'll bring my gun from home and Grandpa will let me go in the police car too!

I am thinking that he meant uniform instead of dress...but you never know.

Will you admit how many teeth you have?

Gala: Alyosha, how many teeth do you have, 20?

Alyosha (looking at me): 20? yeah, 20! Mama, how many do you have?

Mama: I have 28 and Papa has 32.

Gala: That is almost the same as how old Mama is, 29 and Papa, 32!

Alyosha: Gala, how many teeth do you have? A lot a lot a lot a lot of teeth?

Bye-Bye Papa

Roma left for Kamchatka earlier this evening--actually right before bedtime. While we were laying in bed trying to fall asleep, Alyosha said:

"Mama there is water in my eyes, I'm crying because I am sad. I want to go get a pistoletic and go with Papa to Kamchatka."

Pistoletic is gun in Russian...and he wants a gun to protect himself from all the bears in Kamchatka.

Alyosha dreams in Cartoons

Mama is describing the dream she had last night...

Alyosha interrupts: I had a dream too, about dinosaurs.

Mama: What were the dinosaurs doing?

Alyosha: They were running around and then I got a big stick and shot it at them and poked them.

Papa: You shot them with an arrow?

Alyosha: Yeah! I want to watch that cartoon!

Alyosha's words

• At the dinner table: "More Samalami Please. "
• I'm just chute chuting you. (chute chute is 'kidding' in Russian)
• Gala: You get 3 wishes what do you want them to be.
  Alyosha: mmmm a snowman!
  Gala: Ok, we will see about that one
  what else?
  Alyosha: some flowers...
  Gala: that is an easy one.
  and what else, think really hard it is your last one. Alyosha: mmmmmm Some Cartoons!!!
• The reason that Aleks refuses to speak Russian to me. He even translates what others are saying for me: "I don't want to speak Russian to you Mama. You need to go to school and learn more from the teacher."
• The reason Aleks said that he burned his hand: "The fire walked on my hand then it died. Then there was some dim (smoke) and it died. It walked on my eye too. " He has a little burn under his eye too.
  

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.

The stolen bicycle

We have had 3 bicycles stolen since moving to Portland. We bought them before kids, so they were very nice bikes-you know, when we could afford to buy ourselves fun and expensive stuff. So, they were stolen and now when we go out 'bike riding' with Aleks it is only him who rides the bike.

Occasionally Alyosha asks what happened to Papa's bike. (He knows the answer, but just wants to hear it again.) So, this morning he asked what happened to Papa's bike, and this was our conversation..

Alyosha: Mama, where is Papa's bike?

Mama: The thief took it.

Alyosha: The thief is a bad man?

Mama: Yes, he is a very bad man.

Alyosha: Papa should get a sword and make the thief cry and get his bicycle back!

Mama: I don't think that is exactly the right thing to do...

Papa whispering: Well, that is what I would have done if I saw that thief!

Alyosha: I know, Papa can borrow my cowboy hat and my rope and catch the thief like the cowboys and tie him up! Tie him up to the trees and let the policeman put him in the police car.

Mama: Oh, I think that is a much better idea, but we don't know what the thief looks like.

Alyosha: He is like Max Wild thing...Papa will wear my cowboy hat and catch him with my rope and tie him up and then Grandpa will come and take that thief in the police car. The thief is like Max Wild Thing! But I want my rope back...

(I told Alyosha that Grandpa was a police man. When I asked Alyosha if Grandpa was going to put the thief in jail he said "no, he will just drive around in the police car--and the fireman will help too.")

-ing

Alyosha: Mama look! I'm Basketballing.

.

Mama: Alyosha be careful!

Alyosha: I'm be carefuling.

.

Mama: Alyosha what are you doing?

Alyosha: I'm trucking. (playing with his trucks)

.

(There is one more but I forgot it! I will add it later...)

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!

Aleks and Papa Playing Dinosaurs:

Alyosha: RRrrrrrr Grrrrrr
Papa: Rrrrrr Gggrrrrrr

Al: Where is the spinning light man, he will get you!
Papa: What?

Alyosha: Spinning light man!

Al Runs to Mama: Where is spinning light man in the alien dress?

Mama: He's in the bathroom.

Al running and screaming: Here comes Buzzlight to get you, grrrrrrr!
Al: Papa hold the dinosaur this way and do this....Grrrrr

Papa: Who is that?
Al: it is Buzzlight.

Papa: What is Buzzlight's last name?
Al: It's Buzzlight Man!

Papa: What is your last name?
Al: I am Alyosha Kartosha and Buzzlight Man will get you, grrrrr!

Time is speedy!

I survived a week alone. A week alone with two boys--we not only successfully got through the week, but I managed to eat out only once (well, one and a half times—we treated ourselves to brunch at the Tea Zone on the way to the library) Romka also had a successful week filling his brain with how to make a good case for someone to give him money for a cause he finds important (a grant writing course). We are thinking that our children are a good cause—now if we could only find a foundation who provides funds for little boys who are adorable and energetic we would have it made.

All parents of children under 5 have conversations about poop and pee on a daily basis—so sorry for those of you who beyond this realm, but I wanted to make note of how Alyosha has found his own little how-to manual on bathroom etiquette. Well, the picture speaks for itself—every time I hear little feet running to the bathroom, soon after I hear “I’m ok Mama.” “I’m still ok Mama.” Then a jump off the potty—and the distinct sound of the little “kandoo” box opening and being spun around so Alyosha can make sure he is performing the operation properly (taught to him by Mr. Frog) I wonder if this means that when he grows old enough to put together his own boy toys, he will read the instructions before assembling?

The rest of the pictures are from different things we have been doing around town in the past few weeks. Playing at the river with Alex and Ben (and Heather too); Riding horses at the market; enjoying the summer street fairs; Enjoying Alyosha’s friend Sergi in town (to go with Romka to the grant seminar in Seattle); nature walks and visiting the old west.

Now the next three weeks will speed by and we are off on the adventure of 2007! Which, by the way, is the last year of my 20’s—I will start the year off with a camping trip at Trillium Lake on my birthday weekend, then the next Wednesday off to
Estonia.

click for more pictures

"Я по-русски говорит"

click for video

My Favorite Любимая

There were reasons that I wanted to have the "Kid's Talk" blog seperate. I thought about those reasons, and decided that it is better to have it all together and just use the labels! So, here we go with the Kid's Talk--I have a feeling that this will get more and more interesting as we grow!

News, lots of News

To start off, we have bought our plane tickets to Estonia. The opportunity came up quick, and we got the tickets and now we are off--on July 19th. That is the first big news. Yeah!! Estonia in the summer, I am looking forward to it.

Second, the Secret. To date, still no waiting for the street car. AND on top of that, this evening when I went to the grocery store, I didn't have to stop at any red lights--all green! (and there are about 10 between here and the store) Don't worry, I know that I will have to stop at red lights once in a while, and I will have to wait longer than 2 mintues for the street car. But, there really is something to positive thinking. Through positive thoughts and faith that something greater than you is keeping this world together, life is very different and much better. Like that Italian movie, "Life is Beautiful"

Here is the actual second news: Luka is starting to crawl. His little positive attitude that he can do anything that his big brother can do--and an intense stare at the dump truck, led him right there! See the video: click here (9MB streaming, Windows Media)

AND the third news is the actual Channel 2 KATU news here in Portland. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. They interviewed the kids down at the Park, and Aleksei-our star- went up the the camera guy and shared his own thoughts. He got the last words in the news spot! "Splish, Splash, Splish" We have it recorded and will insert it here in this blog--but tomorrow, because it's not converted yet for the internet.

Ok, here is a copy of Aleks' news interview. (21MB streaming, Windows Media)