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.

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.)

Niki Dancing to the Music

Niki loves music and he is already groovin'.

This was from Art in the Pearl--where one of Alyosha's paintings was hung in the CHAP camp. It was an amazing festival--the artists are phenomenal.

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"

Curly-Q's on your Heart Strings

Fresh Pictures of Nikolai here, he is growing and changing so fast it is unbelieveable. He is so ready to be like his big brothers and run and roll all over the floor.

Niki is so sweet that we just want to eat him up.

Look at this little boy, he can sit all on his own! I was letting him pretend to drink from my cup this evening at dinner and we heard a "clink, clink, clink"--A tooth! There is a little bottom tooth starting to pop out!

The boys finished their summer reading program...the 6th one for Alyosha and the 1st one for Niki--Of course it is the 3rd for Luka. They have each of their shirts from the previous years and are very proud of their reading, um, listening to me and Roma reading, skills. I told Alyosha that if he wants to earn his shirt next year, he must read the books himself by next summer!!

Niki gets to hang out with the bears at CHAP while we are doing our work.

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.

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

Niki the Laugher

Niki has so many emotions. Yesterday I was reading a story to Luka and there was a scary part where we both gasped. Niki was also listening to the story and when he heard us gasp his eyes filled with tears and his lower lip curled under down to his little chin. We quickly told him that it was ok and he squeezed out a smile while his eyes were full of tears. See the video...he is just starting to laugh all the time!

By the way, Luka doesn't have fifth disease. He had a bad reaction to the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. It gave him a slight measles rash and a cold, which he is now getting over. This was a vaccine that he was supposed to get when he was 1 year old, but I waited until two and a half because that is a serious one--I'm glad I did. I know the vaccines are good, but it is important to follow your own common sense rather than just depending on what others tell you. Doctors give advice for the general crowd, unfortunately, and each person is an individual.

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!

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.

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 :-)

Weekend

We had a great weekend spending almost the entire time outside! Yeah for spring! It was 78 degrees today (25 Celsius) and it will only be getting better as time goes by. I know that nature needs to rest during the winter months to rejuvenate for the next season, but I think the resting period could be a little shorter because we humans need the warmth of the sun! Here is Luka and Alyosha at the zoo, riding the wolf statues.

A portrait by Aloysha at beside the river at Silver Falls. There are 10 huge waterfalls here, but we only got to see one while we were on our way out. It was too much fun sitting in the sun and playing in the river. We will see the waterfalls next time.

A hiking trail at Tyron Park--it is a temperate rain forest-green and dripping with plants and bugs. Usually bugs, they are just now waking up so it was a little disappointing for Alyosha.

Roma is the leader through the forest, look at how green it is the first few days of warm, sunny weather.

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....

The life of kids

We were interviewed and photographed today for a little story the Neighborhood Notes newsletter is doing about families who live in the Pearl District in Portland. After Rome and I thought about it for a while, we decided that we most likely have the biggest family that lives in the Pearl! If our family of 5 isn't the biggest, we must be on the top of the list! Most people have the idea that not many children live downtown because it isn't child friendly. Well, that totally isn't the case--downtown is very child friendly. The main hinderance is there aren't any first time homes to buy downtown. We are lucky to be where we are right now, even though we are renting. All of us have enjoyed living in the Pearl. I don't know where our future will bring us, but for the first few years of our kids life, this has been almost perfect. Now, if they would just build us a 1,500 sq. ft. condo, for about $150,000, next to Centenial Mills and the new park, we may stay longer. We can't rent forever, but we will enjoy it while we can!

April Fools' Day! We went to OMSI this morning -- Mom and 3 boys, for the first time. The boys made April Fools' Day Jester Hats. The 3 boys together are doing great!

Found in the Graham Leader we got in the mail today. All 3 boys were announced in the Graham Leader, I have Alyosha's somewhere, here is Nikolai's but Luka's is missing. If anyone out there in the world has the paper from December 2006 or January 2007, we don't want a kid to be left out! That reminds me, I have to look for the May 2004 one to make sure!

Luka likes to nurse his baby while I am nursing Niki. Two minutes later his baby is laying face down under the futon behind the skateboards. Fortunately, Niki isn't so easily forgotten.

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.

Whose Baby is it?

Leave a comment, who does Nikolai look like? If I don't have your picture in the collage and you are related, send me your baby picture and I will add it (Mama??).

Edited to add: See that Rosi's baby picture is there now! Anyone else to add???

The Brothers Three

Three baby boys

Baby boy

On February 19th, at 2:22pm the Kultajev Family in Portland grew in size by one.
... to be continued (the story, not growth) ...