Daycare performance

You had your first show! It was at your daycare, where you get a music lesson twice a week from a lady that comes over with an accordion.

At first you were very afraid of Santa, since he came into the house at the very beginning of the show, but then you loosened up a bit and started dancing and playing the instruments. It was pretty cute. You were one of the few kids who didn't constantly need one of her parents by her side, although at first you saw grandma and started crying so that she would come sit with you on the chair. There were a few Russian songs that I recognized, of course you didn't sing any of them, but you hummed, clapped and danced and since you love the drum you drummed as much as you could. Some of the time you would even stand all by yourself in the middle of the room. You received your first gift from Santa. It was an exciting evening!

Clapping to a song

Drumming away
Who is that scary guy dressed in a Santa Suit?
Quick! Get my present and run!

2 Years old - Happy Birthday little munchkin!

I have stopped thinking about time, there is really no point in dwelling on it. Yes, these 2 years have flown by and you are now a 2 year old! It makes me a little bit sad, but I am also so thankful because we've had so many fun memories and such great times in the last 2 years.

We took you to Disneyland for your 2nd Birthday!

The first few rides were a bit scary for you, especially Pinoccio, it was a bit dark and loud, you screamed a bunch of times and I felt really bad... we should have started out with something more mellow. Peter Pan ride was a bit better, although you still cried a little bit. Then we started making our way to "It's a small world" when I had the biggest surprise ever. As we made our way to the ride I saw familiar faces standing and kneeling all with t-shirts spelled out "Happy 30th Birthday Anna! We Love you!" I nearly fell over when I saw my family, Jeromey's family, cousin Sarah from Florida and lots of our friends all smiling and saying "happy birthday!" So since my birthday was only 5 days before yours I guess daddy decided he could just trick me into thinking we're just going for you, so I had no idea he was putting this huge surprise together. To say that I was overwhelmed, is probably an understatement, I couldn't even finish reading the t-shirts. There were people taking pictures of the group, wondering what in the world is going on?
In the evening everyone met up again at a restaurant where we celebrated! When a little cake was brought out for you, everyone sang happy birthday and you seemed to enjoy it and not get scared off by all the people and noise, you even blew out the candle all by yourself! We ended up going back to the park to enjoy a few more rides and then watch the Fantasmic show, you seemed to really be captivated by it all. What a fun day!

Your new accomplishments:
If you're in the mood, you are very chatty, and you started forming 3 word sentences like "I have poopoos" or "Daddy has it", or ... a bunch of others that I just don't understand. :) You are such a little person now, so playful and so adorable, with opinions and all!

You almost always let us know if your diaper is dirty, and you have asked to go on the potty a few times, but you've actually sat down on it without the diaper once. You have been picking out your clothes, and if there is something you don't want to wear you let us know, and you start taking it off, and basically throwing a fit, which is not fun. You've also started to hit, sometimes when we're in bed and you will just look at us and then you get that playful look in your eyes and you start smacking, that gets you in big trouble!

At your 2 year appointment here were your stats:
weight - 23.5 lbs - 10%
height - 34.5 inches - 75%
head circ. -18 inches - 8%

You're a skinny tall little munchkin!

Bed time has been ok. Some nights are better than others, you are still getting up and leaving your bed, we still have to hold the door, sometimes you get upset. Lately if I walk in to put you back in the bed, you start crying for daddy, you seem to not want to see me at all! You are definitely such a daddy's girl!

So far you've had 2 colds, it's never a good time when you're sick or have a fever. The first one seemed to be pretty mild, but after the 2nd one the cough is still lingering. I guess it's inevitable since most of the kids in the day care all got sick too. Hopefully the rest of the winter season will not be bad and filled with sicknesses.

Your first trip to Disneyland!

Everyone at Disneyland! Spelling out "Happy 30th Birthday Anna! We <3>

Blowing kisses to Mickey

Your first time seeing Mickey with our friends

Happy Birthday Sascha! We love you!

Thanksgiving in Fresno

Well first of all I have to say that you survived the 10 hour ride to Fresno which was supposed to be a 5 and half hour drive. What a little trooper you were. The DVD's helped of course as well as having my mom and either me or daddy in the back seat with you. Needless to say we will not be traveling by car through LA the day before thankgiving. The good news is that we got there safe and had a wonderful time in Fresno. I was amazed at all the colors of the trees, it was almost like New England in fall, so beautiful. We spend all the time hanging out with family, played tennis, basketball and had a delicious feast at Amy and Michaels new home. It was their first Thanksgiving there after they've completely rebuilt it. There were nearly 30 people there, 9 kids including Sascha. Edna and her family came from Connecticut so we got to see them as well. You played with all the kids, Katie always wanted to take care of you and show you around. You loved playing with all their toys. It was nice to have my parents there to help out as well, so we got to relax a little bit as well and they really enjoyed spending extra time with you!

On the last day we went on a hike on a lake about 20 mins outside the city and everyone did so well! It was a challenge to get 5 kids out the door for Amy and Michael but they did it, and most of them even walked half of the trail. You were in the backpack as usual, enjoying the view from above. On our way back, you fell asleep right in there, you must have gotten very tired or it was the fresh air, because you don't usually just fall asleep on the spot like that.

After the hike we all went to have an early dinner and afterwards it was time for us to drive back to San Diego, the drive back was so much better than the drive up, we hardly hit any traffic at all, and were home in no time.

At the long dinner table 9 kids and 14 adults

Fun times playing tennis with the boys

Our hike around the lake

You decided to fall asleep for the last part of the hike

23 Months

Your vocabulary is growing so much. There are a few books which are your favorites with letters and pictures of different things and animals on them, and you name so many of them that it surprises me every time. Also we are making progress on learning letters as well as counting. You at least attempt to count, even if it isn't always right. You are very good at repeating them when we ask you to. You answer yes and no to so many things that we ask you. To food it's usually a "no", unless it's something you really like, and to going outside, or park or to see a friend you usually say "yes". Big surprise there.

You love just about every activity that we take you on. We've gone to the Little gym in Poway a few times which is a gymnastics place and you get so excited when you see that we are there. You're super brave on things that they have you try out there and every time you see me try to help you in any way, you say "Sama" which means "by myself", you want to do it all on your own, which can be a bit scary since you don't know your limits very well yet. At times on the playground when I pick you up and place you somewhere, you will say the same thing and deliberately go back to the place where I picked you up and climb up on your own, you're pretty stubborn about it already. The other things you enjoy are still your swim class, we've skipped a few because you were a bit under the weather but when we returned you were so excited to get into the pool. We still have a few sessions left in your music class. Last week, we didn't get the message in time about a cancellation and took you there anyways and there was no class so we had to leave. You were so upset when daddy had to take you back and you couldn't understand why you were leaving without participating in class, it was so sad. Your favorite instrument seems to be "baraban" - the drum... you get so excited when you see it.

The bed situation is much better, it no longer takes us hours to get you to stay in your room and bed, some nights are better than others of course.
You did get your first cold of the season last week which was really no fun. We actually all got a mild version of it, but you actually had a fever for a few nights and still have the lingering cough, and you seem to wake up a few times a night and start crying until one of us comes over to pat you on the back... usually you go right back to sleep.

You are still a pretty picky eater, but now you really don't like when we attempt to feed you. Sometimes you get mad if I take the spoon, although I am only helping you get some food on the spoon, you will still get upset at times. You are definitely getting very independent.

Tooth brushing is going well. You actually got another molar in the back, and I finally got a Crayola automatic toothbrush and I feel like it's way better than when I am trying to scrub your teeth. We even floss now, at least the couple of teeth that are close together which the dentist recommended that we floss.

Next month you are going to be 2 years old, I honestly feel like the last 2 years have gone by in the blink of an eye! I am already looking at older pictures of you when you were a tiny little infant and can't believe you are growing up to be such a lovely and beautiful little girl. I am so excited to see what is in store for us next year, but also a little bit sad that you're growing up so fast, sometimes I wish I could slow down the time, so I can enjoy it for just a little longer. I am really looking forward to the holiday time when I am planning on taking some time off and have some more fun together. Did I mention that we're taking you to Disneyland for your 2nd Birthday? It's going to be so much fun!

Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

I am so behind on posts, but trying to catch up.
Pumpkin Patch was fun this year, except for the day we picked to go, it was 90+ degrees which definitely did not feel like fall. Instead of hanging out there for a while like we planned, we only stayed for a few hours. We did the hay ride, picked out a pumpkin, took pictures, and were on our way back.

Family op

I loved this one, because it looks like you and Matty are having a deep conversation

Going for a ride

I bought your Halloween costume which was supposed to be a monkey a few weeks ago, however you refused to put it on. We tried a few times and you would start crying really loud as soon as we attempted to put on any part of it on. I did get you to pet it... and you recognized that it's a monkey, and would point to it and call it monkey while it was hanging. So we had to trade it in, your buddy Matthew ended us wearing it on his 1st birthday party. Instead you acquired a Panda bear costume. This time I didn't try to put it on you or introduce you to it ahead of time. The day before Halloween, your day care was going to have a celebration so I dropped you off and your costume so that you can get changed into it. Later I found out, you once again refused, all the kids were dressed up in costumes but not you. The following day was Halloween and daddy took you next door with you where the neighbor said she would attempt to help you get into a costume, they actually had 3 other ones to try, a lady bug, a princess and another one, you ran away each time they tried to put it on you and once again refused. I have pretty must accepted the fact that you weren't going to wear your costume, but before we left to go to Matty's bday party, I decided to try one last time, somehow we were able to distract you and even thought you fussed a little bit, it was no big deal, you wore your costume, and even the head piece part. Yay!
So that allowed us to take you trick or treating this year for the first time, you had such a fun time. We met us with Kingston and Herbie who both dressed up as pirates and you went into the houses to get candy, you wouldn't let go of your basket either. We all had a great time, and you enjoyed the candy as well. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Cutest Panda bear ever

Hanging out with Matty the Monkey @ his 1 Year Birthday Party

Enjoying a juice box

Getting ready for your first trick or treating experience

Off you go!

I forgot to mention that when we got home that night, you were sad when I took the panda hat off you, and wanted it back on. Also in a few more days after I have washed the costume and was putting some laundry away before your nap time, you found the hat and decided to put it on, I went to take it off, and you started crying... so I let you have it, you napped in your panda hat that day, so funny!

From Crib to Little Bed

As I mentioned in the previous post, you've been attempting to climb out of the crib. Last night you succeeded. It happened right in front of me, I just couldn't believe it. You swung you leg over, pushed up with your arms and out you went, I just couldn't get there in time to catch you. Luckily, you didn't hurt yourself. We've just moved your little area rug and you landed right on it, with your back and butt first and then your head hit the side of the crib but it was already after you were on the ground so no damage caused. You definitely got scared and started to cry a little bit, but it wasn't "I got hurt" kind of a cry, you were just spooked.

So it's time to say goodbye to your crib, and hello to your bed. I must say I am a little bit sad to let the crib go... but I guess the baby stage is officially over and now it's time to embrace yet another stage of you growing up. I had a hard time deciding if we should get a twin bed for you or not, especially since we have a queen bed in the guest room that's not being used, but would be way too huge for you for now, so we decided to have a temporary solution with this very inexpensive toddler bed we got on craiglist, until I figure out the bed, room, furniture situation.

We took apart the crib and put the bed in its place and it's so so cute! You saw us putting everything in place and once we were done you seemed happy and you even went down and laid on it for a few seconds, but I had no idea what to anticipate for our first night with you in your new "big little girl bed".

Here is the scoop on the first night. We did the usual bedtime routine, read a few stories, brushed your teeth, changed into PJs and I laid you down, you immediately started to get up. I put you back down, attempted to sing "twinkle twinkle little star" and back on the bed you went. Once again you got up. After 5 or so times I left the room, and as soon as you came out, I would put you back into bed without saying anything. Then after feeling bad that you seemed to be having a hard time getting used to your bed, I thought may be I'll just stay in the room with you and wait till you fall asleep, that didn't work, you still got up, wanted to climb with me on the chair, then you wouldn't stay put there either. Every time you saw me coming in, you'd turn around and start running for the bed, you started laughing and were thinking this is a game that we play, I got tired after 10 times of going back and forth, and called daddy. He did the same thing 40 times! Then he needed a break, it was my turn once again, and I probably lasted another 20 times of you coming out and putting you back in bed. I even tried holding the door shut, which sounds terrible and I really didn't think I would have to do that, but I was running out of ideas and got frustrated. It didn't work, you started getting into the baskets with toys. Daddy came back to the rescue once again and we went back and forth 30 more times. Towards the end you were getting pretty mad and screamed and cried, but finally you got exhausted, and stayed in bed. I thought there would be no end to it. Over 100 times!!! 100 times it took to make you stay in bed. We exhausted ourselves! Our lower backs ached but we were happy that you were finally asleep. You didn't get up on your own this morning, but woke up pretty cranky and crying a little. I'll am hoping that the 2nd night will go better than the first, but we'll see.

Last night in the crib

Trying out your new bed on the first night... such a big girl already!

I Love YOU!

You said, "I Love you!" for the first time.

Here is how it happened. I was putting you to bed, and lately it's been taking you a while to settle down, you jump and kick, throw your blanket and bears out of the crib. You seem to have endless energy and sometimes stay up for another hour until finally falling asleep. So I left the room, and you started fussing a little bit and daddy went in to help you get settled once again and he picked you up and he said "I... Love... you", the way we always say it, and then go in for a kiss, usually by the word Love, you start giggling and your head falls onto our shoulder and we give you lots of kisses all over. Well for a while now you've been repeating, "I Love", but we haven't heard you say all three words at once, until this weekend! You repeated it right after daddy said it. It was so cute, I was right outside the door and heard you. Adorable!

The other thing worth mentioning is you have started to attempt to climb out of the crib. I knew it was only a matter of time. The last 2 nights, you have given us a few scares, you were so close to tumbling out of it, we saw you on the video of the baby monitor and we ran into your room as soon as we could, to tell you to stop, although of course you don't really listen, but eventually you did stop. I guess it's time for a big girl bed or some other alternate solution.

Another thing you do while in your crib before you fall asleep is sing. You start remembering all the different songs, a lot of them sound the same. You sing "Tinkle tinkle... little star", especially because there are stars that project on the ceiling from a cool night light. Seeing the stars probably reminds you of the song. At first you just sang "tinkle tinkle", but now you've added 2 words to it and the rest is baby talk which I don't understand. Also you sing "Bayu, bayushki, bayu" which is the start of a russian lullaby... I only know the first verse so I never finish it myself either. Also there is a "bye, bye" song that you sing in your swim group and you sing that one all the time, for some reason you put in, "eaka" at the end and sing "bye, bye eaka" I have no idea what "eaka"stands for but you've been saying that for a while now.

22 Months

You are doing so many things lately that just crack us up. I don't even know where to begin and I am sure I have forgotten some already.

Last week we were driving in the car, when you decided to make funny farting noises with your mouth. You thought it was hilarious and laughed every time you'd do one! Daddy has been the one encouraging this skill of yours and he's very proud. Sometimes, he'll just say the word and you'll fart on demand... may be funny for now, but I am not so sure for later.

Another funny thing you've been doing lately is you get really silly sometimes and say "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy" over and over again while running in circles or jumping. I have no idea where you learned that. You've been jumping up and down on our bed saying this every morning for the last week. Speaking of jumping, you finally learned how to jump... or almost jump, sometimes only one foot at a time comes off the ground, but you're definitely on your way. Also for the first time you started to jump off the edge of the pool into daddy's arms. You haven't been brave enough, until your last swim playgroup when all the sudden you jumped on 1, 2, 3.

The other silly thing you do is pick your nose, this habit is once again encouraged by daddy, just kidding!

We've stopped using the pacifier. Hurray! At least I was able to win that battle, since you're still using a bottle to drink your milk. First few times, you've cried for it, but now it's really not so bad. The first few days you were asking for it calling it "neimi", and I would tell you "neimi is all gone" and you'd start to cry. Then I would tell you that your bear doesn't have a neimi and you don't need one either because you're a big girl. So far, so good! I just hope you don't start sucking your thumb!

You also love seeing your grandparents, Ded and Baba. One day my dad came to watch a Charger game with Jeromey and I, and you sat on his lap for a while and watched it on his lap. When it was time for him to leave, you didn't want him to go and asked to be picked up. We were leaving the house as well, and when we got back that night once you came in, you started looking for him and saying "Ded" ? When we come to their house, you love being there, and you rarely agree to go home... it's so sweet and they love you so much!

You say your name really well now and you even say "Saschenka" which is your name with a Russian twist added to it. You can add "enka" to any name and it's like a term of endearment, mostly used for kids. A few nights ago I heard you use both an English and a Russian word together. It took me a few minutes to understand, but once I finally did it was so clear. You were asking for your blankie which I took and put outside your crib on top of the hamper. You kept pointing to the hamper saying "diey blankie", the first word means to give me, so you were saying "give blankie". It was so cute! Also you say "high five".

We started going to Music class again, and you love it! You're a lot more engaged in the things that the group is doing, you mimic things a lot more than before, it's a lot of fun and I am so happy to spend that time with you just having fun, without any interruptions.

Hanging out in our back yard

Looking up at the tree

Post doctor's appointment update

Sascha had a rough week, but I am glad it's over with. Monday we took her to get an Ultrasound and VCUG. The ultrasound went ok, you started crying as soon as we laid you down on the table. You are just terrified of doctors, pretty much as soon as you walk in, I can see it in your face. We loaded some mickey mouse playhouse videos on daddy's phone and were able to distract you at least briefly. Then we went back to the waiting room to wait until we get called to do the next test. You of course cried through that one as well. The most awful part of it was that once the dye was inserted into your bladder and the catherer pulled out, you kept holding it, you wouldn't pee. So we just had to stand there and watch you cry and wait for you to pee, because that's when they start taking video and pictures of the bladder and kidney area. It seemed like forever, although I am sure it was no longer than a minute or two. Daddy didn't leave your side, he held up your mickey toy and the video playing... although it didn't stop you from crying. I stood over to the side, holding my breath and counting the seconds till they were finished. At least everyone there was very nice and helpful. We even found out that next time we have to do this, we can request for 'sedation', where they'd give you some laughing gas and you won't remember much after they do this, and hopefully have an easier time with it. Next time it has to be requested along with the referral and apparently those appointments book up 3 months in advance. The radiologist told us that the reflux is definitely still present and it still looks pretty severe, but we'd know more once we saw the doctor because he will review and compare with last years test results.
The doctor visit was pretty short. He said there were no changes in the reflux :( and it's still on both sides, class III and class IV, because it's a high grade reflux, you only have about 25% chance of outgrowing it... which is small, but he suggested it's worth to wait at least another year and keep you on the antibiotics, unless of course you get another UTI. The good news is that the ultrasound showed that your kidneys look good, so the past UTIs haven't done any serious damage, which is why we're able to wait it out a little longer. But most likely he'll start talking about the surgery next year. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, luckily from what I've been reading, the surgery is about 95-98% successful.
I am just glad you don't refuse to take the medicine every night, sometimes you push it away and don't want to take it, but we've figured out ways to distract and not force it.

Another UTI

We've done so well since last November and you haven't had any UTI infections being on the antibiotic, but unfortunately we didn't make it through a whole year without one. You got sick last week with a fever, no other symptoms... how familiar. I decided with your previous history of UTIs and the reflux I don't want to wait till day 3 so on the 2nd day we went to the doctor. Daddy took you in a few hours before our actual appointment to try and get a urine sample. You hate going to the doctors, you don't like anything that they do, even measure your temperature. After a few hours, we were finally able to collect a sample and it tested negative for a UTI, I was a bit relieved and thinking it's just something viral. But of course the sample had to get sent to the lab for a culture, so I knew we weren't completely in the clear. I no longer wait for the doctor to call, I called them the next day to see if there were any results and after checking we were told that the results hadn't come back and we wouldn't know till the following Monday since this was a Friday. Once again I convinced my self that this must be something Viral, the doctor told me to look for a rash after the fever goes away, that you may have Roseolla. Well Saturday came and in the morning I noticed that your upper lip looked a bit bluish, which was a bit of a concern. It was something that I remember my mom telling me that you had right before your febrile seizure last year. We were still giving you Motrin and Tylenol. When you woke up from your nap, you were burning up, when placed you on the changing table I noticed you started shivering and once again your lips looked bluish. Needless to say when I saw that I became very worried. This all was too similar to what had happened last October and I wasn't even there for it. I measured a 102 fever, I saw it quickly going up, and next time I measured it was 103, we gave you Motrin right away. Of course I got really scared and tried to reach the doctors office to talk to the on call doctor. She called us in the next hour and said she will check on the lab. Sure enough we got another call from her later that evening confirming that the test came back positive for UTI and we need to bump up the antiobiotic doses. Aaah! So frustrating!

So your yearly check up tests are in a couple of weeks... I am definitely dreading that day! The ultrasound is not too bad, I think we can distract you with that one, but the VCUG is so hard to watch, I am going to feel horrible for having you go through it especially since the last UTI pretty much lets me know that you have not grown out of your reflux yet (I still hope though!), unfortunately there is no other choice but to still do the tests and then your visit to the pediatric urologist will follow up so I will post an update on that soon.
I am happy to say that you are back to your old self, seems like the antibiotics worked in within 24 hrs once we upped the dose!

Here is a cute little picture of you when you started to feel better and wanted to play. You actually sat down the penguin in the chair then lined up your duckies on the table and sat down yourself. I guess you are already starting some pretend play. So adorable!

21 Months

Talking and understanding are definitely the biggest changes this month. You can say your name, and other kids names that are easy to say. You are saying a few more words in Russian. I am slowly figuring that out. You say "Upal" when something falls down on the ground or when you fall down yourself, which means "to fall". You repeat and understand so much more than I realize. You often nod your head when we are talking to you and you many times give us an answer when we ask a question.

You're a good helper lately, if we ask you to bring something to us, you will usually do it. Another time you helped me unload the dishwasher by handing the plates to me. You love to move things around in your play area. Take things out of their boxes and then put them back. One of your favorite toys is a Russian nesting doll called a "matreashka", you love taking it appart and putting it back together. We haven't gotten you to clean up your play area yet, but you do help put things away when we involve you in the process.

You have fallen in love with Mickey Mouse. We have a stuff animal that we bought for Aaron at Disneyland 5 years ago and somehow we ended up with it, and now you drag it around the house, saying "Mickey". Recently daddy showed you a few cartoons with Mickey in them and now when you see the TV on, you ask for "Mickey". So now we've started to record the Mickey playhouse shows. Funny how downstairs you will ask for Mickey but upstairs you will ask for "Baby" which means to show you the baby signing time dvds that we sometimes put on in the morning while you have your milk and while we get ready for work. A few days ago, I was in the kitchen cooking when you and daddy came home and you started asking for "Mickey" again, and I said "no, not right now" and daddy went upstairs to change. I got busy getting dinner ready, only to turn in a few minutes and notice that you are up on the chair watching Lion King... I didn't even know what to say. I have no idea how you figured out to switch the mode to DVD and play it (it was already loaded). I guess you got what you wanted afterall!

Tantrums haven't really started just yet, but I am noticing more and more that when you don't want to do something or go someplace you will start wining and saying "Net" and lay down on the floor. Lately it's difficult to leave places like the park or someone's house... you don't want to leave and you start crying. I suspect this may get worse with the terrible two's coming. :)
You have definitely been testing us lately. What can you get away with? Well we introduced the corner/timeout, and although we don't keep you in the corner very long... you certainly are not happy to go there. Very often you will come over and deliberately do something that we just told you not to do. For example you like hitting the standing fan, sometimes you hit it lightly, other times you push it so hard I am afraid it might fall on top of you. The other reason we've put you in the corner was when you don't want certain food and it's placed on the tray, you start refusing it, by saying no, and you want to get it off the tray immediately. If I don't take it away, you've started to throw it, and now you throw it much harder than just dropping it on the floor like you used to, sometimes it ends up on the other side of the kitchen. So I guess the disciplining starts! I've contemplated if it might be too soon, but most people I talk to tell me that it's not... so the fun of parenting begins. :)

We've also noticed that your behavior completely changes once I am around, or when first get home from work. You start to get very winy and every little thing can set you off into crying. Not really sure why that is.

Things are the same at the daycare, you are doing well there. You only have an issue with one girl named "Nicky", not sure what your issue is, but as soon as you see her, you run up and push her. I've told you so many times to not push and be gentle, but for some reason you keep bulling this one little girl for no apparent reason.

Other times you are gentle and cute. Most of our friend's babies are boys, and so you're always surrounded by boys. Just recently we were at a friends house and you were the only little girl there. When one of the boys Maxon was leaving, his mom asked him to give you a hug and a kiss.

Usually when we ask you to give a hug, if you're up for it, you start moving forward sideways and give us the shoulder and also lean in sometimes with your cheek or lips for a kiss, it's very cute. Seems like you didn't mind getting hugged and kissed by Maxon and here is a picture Jill was able to grab with her Iphone.

Two little curly heads

21 Months @ the beach

The Lipstick Incident

Looks like you got in trouble for the first time in daycare. Well...this probably isn't the first time considering I've heard you pushing kids and etc, but this particular little incident is just too funny. When daddy picked you up yesterday, Galya told him all about what you've done. Apparently the older lady (Galya's mom or relative) who watches you guys left her jacket in a visible area and you got into it. What did you pull out? Lipstick of course... and you put it on your face, all over your face and your pjs. You also took the liberty of putting some lipstick on other kids faces. When I first heard this, I couldn't stop laughing. How did you know to put it on your face? I don't wear lipstick much so you don't see me putting it on very often so it's just really odd to me that you'd know that. May be you've seen the daycare ladies put it on. They found you jumping on the bed with it (must have been before or after naptime) and you looked very proud of yourself... or you probably looked like you knew you did something you weren't supposed to (I know the look very well!)
So when daddy went in to pick you up you were being held by one of them on her lap. They said you were just full of it that day, so much energy and so mischievous, they had a hard time keeping up with you.... little monkey girl!
As funny as this was, it made me think of the future and how you might be getting in trouble and having to deal with you being in trouble would be no fun at all.

At the pool

Every Saturday we have been going to the pool play group and you love it. This Saturday we planned to do the same thing. It was going to be especially nice because of the 100+ degree weather we've been having. Well little did we know that the pool was actually scheduled to be closed this Saturday. We drove all the way out there for nothing. We got into the empty parking lot and realized now why a few people told us "see you in two weeks" when we were leaving last time. I thought it was just because they were going on vacation or something and were skipping a week. So we had no other choice but to leave. On the way to the pool I got you all excited about seeing your "swim friends", and going swimming that once we started to drive out of the parking lot, you began to cry. I guess you realized that we're not swimming after all and got upset. It was so hard to explain to you that the pool was closed and we couldn't go in today. You cried for a good 5-10 minutes. I was trying to distract you with all sorts of silly things, but there was no use... you wanted to go swimming. I even promised that we'd go swimming another time, may be with Kingston, at their pool. Well the next day we did just that and you had so much fun there. Here are a few pictures of you splishing and splashing!

Excited to see your buddy Kingston

Kicking those legs, kick, kick, kick

In deep thought...

A trip to the pool is not complete without daddy throwing you high up in the air


Cute bum bum

Saved the best one for last!

Making Music

I brought out a few toys which I've put away a few weeks ago. Amazing how if you don't see something for a long time, it's almost like a new toy again. These two were definitely a hit!

20 months

You are one energetic 20 month old. You get more and more independent wanting to do things on your own without any of our help. Most of your meals are now eaten with a spoon or a fork, in fact sometimes you will eat the food off the fork and refuse to have it any other way.

You're repeating a ton of words, although I've noticed that you don't talk much when we are out or around people you may not know too well. You have to be in a talkative mood. Most of the words that we've heard are in English, however your body parts you know better in Russian. When I ask you where something is for some reason it has always been in Russian, and you seem to understand it pretty well. You can say your name, you've been pointing at pictures of yourself and saying "Sascha". Also just the other day I heard you say "Net" which is no in Russian. I couldn't believe it, it's your first Russian word! haha... should have known it was going to be "NO".

You love running, and climbing lately. Sometimes your feet move so quickly that the rest of your body has a hard time catching up and you fall. You have fallen numerous times and either hitting your lip or biting it with your teeth making your mouth bleed. One time your lip got swollen pretty big, and we tried to put a cold ice pack on it, but you start crying even harder when that's attempted. The next day it was back to normal... amazing how quickly things heal when you're so little. You also love to climb, I've seen you top of coffee tables, chairs, sofas... whatever it is that you can get up on. Luckily I haven't seen you climb the stove or anything crazy like the kitchen counter top. Today I saw you hanging on a bar at daycare which you can just barely reach, you grab onto it and hang on while swinging your legs back and forth. I've never seen you do this, but you held on for a long time, and clearly were having such a fun time. Taking you to a park is always an adventure, you go on swings, and then tell us that you're all done, then slides, and I've even seen you climb up a little bridge looking structure... so indeed you are a little monkey girl!

Your love singing and hearing music. I've now figured out that one of the song you attempt to sing is "twinkle, twinkle little star" as well as the "abc" song. You start out singing and the words really resemble the ones in the song, and then it just trails off into baby talk but the actual melody stays.

When it's time to change your diaper, you now seem to know what's going on and if we're down stairs sometimes I see you carry the little mat that we change you on and lay it out, other times I bring it over and tell you that we need to change your diaper and you will just go ahead and lay down right on it. Other times you decide that you don't want to get your diaper changed and you start running away... you seem to love being chased.

Your bully reputation is still true. In addition to it, we've notice how your face changes when something you don't like is going on. You have this frown or a mean look that you give, like you're mad and unhappy. So amazing to see your personality come out in so many ways.
Well I am sure I have forgotten a bunch of other little things you do, but that pretty much sums it up for now.

Daycare & Swim play group

Just wanted to post about how well you're doing in daycare and about other little things that you do now days.

Dropping you off has now become harder on us than you. We are always sad to let you go, while you just run in without a problem. So no more crying, which is great. Last week you and daddy arrived at the same time as another boy and his mommy which means you didn't get to ring to door bell like you usually do. So he went in first and you hesitated and seemed like you didn't want to go in or were just being shy. Galya - the woman that runs the daycare asked the boy to take your hand and help you inside and the little boy crossed the doorway back outside and reached out for your hand, you then took his hand and you guys went inside together. How cute is that?! I only wished I was there to see that in person. Also I heard from another mommy, that her son called you a little princess. :) My little princess...I've definitely gotten so many comments about your curly blond hair and your big blue eyes. Looks like we may be in trouble later on because it seems like the boys have already taken to you.

You also started eating much better, which is a big deal because I've been so picky and are always on the smaller side wight-wise and of course it's always been a consern of mine. I still give you 8 oz of milk in a bottle in the morning and the same in the evening, you still refuse to take milk in a sippy cup. Before you wouldn't have milk with your cereal and now you do, and you wouldn't eat any of the soups that they prepared and now you even use the spoon to eat them. I am so very happy to hear that. Now I need to be more encouraging with you at home and offer meals with utensils, something I am not used to doing because you make such a mess and food gets flung all over the place. Also seems like you love peanuts, I've never given you whole peanuts before, I've tried peanut butter but you didn't seem that fond of it, but at least now I know you definitely don't have an allergy to them since you've had them a bunch of times. Galya always tells me how the day went, how you napped well, and eat well (in the last week or so), and that you are one active little girl. You seem to be one of the youngest kids there right now, but that doesn't stop you from taking toys away from others. She tells me that you know what you want and you go after it. When you don't get your way you scream, grunt, push, and some of the other kids get scared of you. I certainly hope that you don't always get your way there, and that you learn how to share better, I know that doesn't really happen until kids get older, and sometime I do see you offer a toy to other kids, it just seems like you take toys away a lot more often. I was thinking that daycare type of environment would help with this kind of behavior and I am still hoping that it will. Little miss bully. The other thing you love to do is pick leaves and flowers off plants, and they have a few in their back yard that you have now gotten your hands on. I think pretty soon, there wont' be much left.

It's always fun to pick you up, you're usually very excited to see us and you say "mama" or "daddy" and run up to us. Once we get home, I usually try to start dinner, which is such a challenge, unless it's something quick. It's pretty tough to do that and keep an eye on you. Unless I get you occupied and interested in some toy, you are roaming around all over the place, basically getting into everything that you're not supposed to be getting into. Like yesterday you moved the gate that is blocking the tv, tv components and fireplace. You got into there and grabbed the PS3 remotes and started playing with them. I removed you from there 2 or 3 times and told you No. Then you started running around and screaming, not sure if it was just excitement or because you needed to release all that energy you still had. Then you got into the cabinet near the couch that has breakable things in it. Usually you don't care much for that cabinet which is why I haven't really moved the items in there to be out of reach, but yesterday it seemed like all you wanted to do was cause trouble on purpose. You were definitely were testing my patience and at the same time I was frustrated at myself that I wasn't just paying 100% attention to you and playing with you since I miss that so much during the day... all because I had to get dinner ready too. I wish sometimes dinner would just magically appear once I got home, but that doesn't happen, unless we get take out on the way home from work.

Once we're done with dinner, you seem to have a ton of energy and not ready for bed, so we usually hang out and play for a bit. You run away and then come back to give us hugs and kisses, you sing, and dance. You're so playful that sometimes it's hard to stop and say ok... "bedtime". When you hear "bedtime" or "night night" you look at the stairs and once I open the gate you start heading upstairs. You're now pretty heavy to carry up and down the stairs so I let you crawl up or help you up by holding your hand. On the way down, we usually tell you to sit on your butt and to hop down on your butt. You know the routine now. Although daddy wants to remove the gate (mostly because it's scratching up our bottom stair), I definitely think it's way too early.

Another activity that is going on this summer is that in the beginning of July we started a swim group through a place called Aqua pros at the Boys and Girls club in Clairemont Mesa. It's a bit of a drive for us to get there, but it seems totally worth it. It's very inexpensive and a lot of fun for you. It's half an hour long and the main point is just to get babies/toddlers used to the water and learn some techniques that may help you become more comfortable in the water. You now close your eyes more often when you go under water, you still start kicking like crazy, but you're less scared of it, also when sitting at the edge of the pool, you now jump in on 1, 2, 3. When we first started going to the pool this summer you'd get a little scared and it would take you about 5 minutes to adjust and start liking the water, but now you go in without a problem. You have so much fun splashing around and singing the songs w/the rest of the group. It's your special time with daddy! I just get to enjoy watching you guys in the water.

Flying high

Twinkle twinkle little star

Vegas and Zion Camping Trip

You survived your first camping trip! I am way behind on this post, since it's been weeks since we have returned from our trip and it still feels like I am trying to catch up.

I must say I was a bit nervous about going camping with a toddler. After staying in Las Vegas for 2 nights to see Jeromey's family, we drove for 2+ hours to visit Zion National Park in Utah, planning to stay at a campground for 4 nights with friends and their baby. The campground was actually one of the nicest I've ever been to, it was such a great facility, bathrooms, showers, a store that had just about everything you may need or have forgotten, and even a pool which we used every day! But I had no idea how you were going to deal with the whole napping/sleeping/eating situation, but you adapted just fine. Sure the usual routine was out the door, but it was ok and I guess that's part of being on vacation. You still napped, sometimes in your stroller, sometimes in the carseat if we were heading somewhere, and sometimes even in the baby backpack (although I must admit that was probably the least comfortable for you) and you did fuss a lot while in it ... if you were tired. Our friend's baby Kingston napped in his backpack all the time, but we all decided that his backpack was a lot more comfortable and we're now thinking of replacing yours for future hikes. Sleeping at night was great, you didn't fuss much and did your usual talk and sing, and eventually just fell asleep. You did figure out how to open the window that was right next to your pack n' play and your little head would peak out and look outside and say hello to us. It was fun! Our tent was so big that it fit your pack n' play in it along with our blow-up mattress.

Sure we didn't have all the luxuries of our home or a hotel, but I think we made the best of it and I would even say that we'd do it again. The only thing that I wouldn't repeat would be going camping when it's so hot, otherwise everything else was very enjoyable. Great friends, good times, and wonderful memories were made!

Instead of posting a bunch of pictures, I'll post just two of my favorites along with a link to a great slide show our friend Herbie put together that sums up the trip pretty well! We went on a total of 4 hikes, some short, and some long, all drastically different. The scenery was amazing. Zion is truly a magical place. There is definitely so much more to see and come back to, and I certainly hope that we will do that someday.

Zion National Park Montage

This is how far we made on our Angel's Landing hike, the hardest, longest, and the most amazing hike we attempted

Strolling down a path on our way back from the Narrows hike

Doing a puzzle

We got you this puzzle and this is probably your 4th or 5th time playing with it. You get pretty excited when I pull it out. Here is a little clip, you struggled with the diamond, but got it eventually and was very proud of yourself.

19 Months and starting daycare/preschool

You are talking up a storm. I have no idea what you're saying most of the time, but you sure do mean it! You pick up books and pretend to read them, or sometimes you're just in a chatty mood and you go with it, it's so much fun. Other times, you are attempting to repeat what we say... and come pretty close. Phrases such as " Here you go", "all done", "lets go", "thank you" . Water is "wawa". You love saying bye and hi. When you see us go up the stairs you say "bye"! You've also become a lot more affectionate lately, you come up and give us hugs, and pats on the back while hugging, and kisses as well. You've also finally blown kisses, with sound too.

We had your first dentist appointment and that went ok. You of course didn't not want to have her look inside your mouth, even after she let you play w/her tools, you were still uncomfortable with it, so we had to hold your hands down and you cried, but it was quick and didn't hurt at all. Your teeth seem to be fine for now, we do need to do a better job brushing and the little white spot I noticed a while back is not soft which is good, so they'll just keep an eye on it. Also we need to have you stop using the bottle and the pacifier. The bottle battle I've lost once again (for the third time). You cried for it, and wined and would not touch the milk if it's in a sippy cup. Also we tried putting milk in the sippy cup and water in the bottle and you will take water. You don't seem to care if the bottle has milk in it, you just want the bottle, may be it's comforting to you. The pacifier will be another battle.

I think I am going to let you get away with these for now because you just started daycare and it was a tough adjustment for you, so I don't want to add any additional stress on you or ourselves. Day 1 you went for a few hours and you cried a lot when we left, you wouldn't eat much, and you didn't even let them change your diaper, you also cried when daddy picked you up. Of course it didn't help that you've been w/us for a whole week while we went on vacation. Day 2 was a full day but shorter than usual, you cried once again when we left, but calmed down once distracted, and you didn't eat much and you slept for a little bit, but not in the pack n' play. It was so hard for us to leave you there knowing you didn't want to be left alone. Day 3 was the same. Then we started another week, and you are doing better. You start wining when you see the house and you don't particularly want to get out of your car seat either, but once you go in, see all the kids, you don't cry much, they quickly occupy you w/toys and other things. Picking you up is much more fun. You run up to me or daddy as soon as you see one of us, and you say "mama" or "daddy", there is so much excitement in your eyes, it's so cute. Also you immediately start saying bye to everyone and now the kids say "Bye Sascha!". You've become very familiar w/the routine of meal time and nap time as well as all the play areas. You're eating a little bit better, and you started to sleep in the pack n' play! Horray! You play well with the kids and all the toys too, seems like you have a lot of fun when you're there, so looks like you will be just fine, just takes time! Also after 3 days, I saw you using the spoon... which is so cool. I think you'll be learning a lot from the older kids, since you're one of the youngest ones there.

18 Month doctor visit

We went to the doctor today and you didn't like it too much. You didn't want to get measured, or get your temperature taken, you started to cry as soon as they would start attempting anything. You had 1 vaccine done and you hated that as well. You did calm down pretty quickly though. The doctor didn't have very many concerns about you at all, you are still following your growth chart and seem to be doing well.
Weight: 22 lbs 8 oz - 24%
Height: 32 inches - 62%
Head Circ: 17.5 - 6%

While we were waiting in the room you saw lots of pictures of babies on the wall and you pointed at them and said baby. On one particular picture the baby was wearing a hat and you patted your hat telling me that baby is wearing a hat. As soon as you recognize an object you want to tell us what it is, like ball or baby... the words that you know, everything else sounds like baby talk. Just this week, you learned the word "No", once you start saying it, you don't stop. The way you say it is so adorable, w/a soft "N" sound. Also you started to come up to me and hug my leg. Love that! I think we're finally going to eliminate the bottle, it's time for you to start drinking milk out of a sippy cup, hopefully you will adjust ok, we tried doing this at least two times already and you stopped drinking milk, so I would feel bad and give you the bottle back, hopefully it goes better this time around.
We went to the park and I got to take some pictures of you, we had a lot of fun, you were running away from me, then you found birds and started to run after them and also we saw bunnies and you tried to catch those as well.
Here are a few favorites

Smily girl

Running away

Curious

Playing with sand

Running after birds