Baltic Amber

Baltic amber has been used for hundreds of years as a natural cure for many things. It even helped saved the amber transporters from the bubonic plague; The Prussian Priest Matthaus Praetorius recorded that in 1680, "During the plague not a single amberman from Gdansk, Klaipeda, Konigsberg or Liepaja died of the disease"

I actually made it because I wanted Luka to wear one for his teething--those 2 year molars are killing him. The poor guy acts totally out of character and I know it is because of the molars coming in. Natural Baltic Amber has been used for centuries by the people in the old countries of Europe for many medical purposes. And one of the uses has been to make baby teething necklaces from small chips of amber taken from the sea. According to folklore and tradition, placing a simple amber necklace around a baby's neck helps the baby through the teething process by reducing the pain.

Supposedly it is the succinic acid that is released as your body heats up the amber. The ancients thought amber had have magical curative powers. They surely had no idea that they were high in succinic acid, but they knew they worked magic on their ills. Even before mankind knew that there were things called acids antibiotics, the people of Europe recognized that amber had magical curative powers. They used it when we today would use an antibiotic.

So, here we are--Three boys and their Baltic amber necklaces.

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.

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!

Niki and the Scooter Riders

Niki is our smiler--most of the time
I took a scooter ride with Alyosha and Luka...it was Niki's first time in a stroller, I felt very light walking around without him strapped to my chest-but I missed him a little.

I think that he likes it; look at him checking out his toes--he realized his fingers too; he just stares in amazement at the fingers upon his hands

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.

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.

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.

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.

First Bath

Everyone was around to help give Nikolai his first bath. Yes, today he is one month old and this is the first time we officially gave him a bath since the hospital did. (And his little belly button fell out after only a week!) I sponge bathed him a few times, but today he got his first actual under the bath water rinse. I wonder if it will be another month before he gets another one?? Probably not, because the big brothers like to help so much, they are willing to give him a bath even without adult supervision!

Getting out and about

This fine construction is the very first huge project the two successfully completed without a huge knock down disaster. If you can't tell, it is a speed boat.

We made it over to Isobel's Clubhouse to decorate cupcakes this afternoon. Alyosha sat on the opposite side of the table from Luka and I, so he was on his own decorating his cupcakes--he did a good job and managed to get more icing on the cupcakes rather than in his mouth. Luka, on the other had gave a spatula of icing to the top of his cupcake and the next spatula went straight for a taste test. Every other 'spread' had to be tasted.

This big cupcake decorating trip wore Nikolai plum out. Well, just having his eyes open for 30 minutes wears him out right now. He is such a sweet sleeper.

The Brothers Three

Three baby boys