Spring at last

We finally see a glimpse of sun after a very long and very cold winter. For the past few days, the weather has been getting nicer, so we are hoping that we will be able to shed the layers in the days and weeks to come.
The kids are feeling much better, Sophia has returned to her normal levels of activity, and Emil is almost there, too. The little guy is definitely growing up - he's definitely more alert of the environment in which he is in, and has his favorites (didn't want to leave me to go to Galina in the morning, which sort of made me feel good). He and Sophia are already playing together, and it's really cool to see that.
We have booked a vacation to the sunny Mexico for the 2nd week of April - yay! 5 days of sun, water and drinks with the little umbrellas in them - cannot wait. We'll definitely be posting pictures once we come back.
We have decided to forego the private school that Sophia was accepted to, and are shooting for the public Pre-K program in our zoned school. I will let you know whether Sophia gets in soon (it's a lottery based admission).

Musical beds...again

This past week was a little difficult. Sophia's school called me on Wednesday, telling me that Sophia is not feeling well, her temperature is rising, and I should come pick her up. I didn't get the message until around 11am (they left it an hour earlier), and once I realized that everyone was trying to get in touch with me, I rushed to pick her up. Since the fever was going up, and the school is near the doctor's office anyway, I decided to bring her in to the office. As predicted, the doctor really didn't say much except that she is obviously sick and needs rest. They gave us some motrin to bring the fever down and sent us home.
Sophia stayed home on Thursday, too, and wasn't up to doing much. The only thing that she expressely wanted was to sleep with me or Sasha in the living room. So, again, we played musical beds moving around in the middle of the night at the whimper of one kid and then another. It wasn't long before Emilka got sick, also, so the two kids kept busy for a few days.
We had an exciting trip to the post office on Saturday. We have decided that it was really time for us to get passports for the kids, and so we went to apply. Sophia was very proud that she was getting her own passport, and was upset to find out that she wasn't going to get one right there and then. Hopefully, we won't have to wait long, as we are trying to book a vacation somewhere warm in April.
Now that the kids are both in bed, I think it's also time for me to go get some rest. Sasha is on call tonight, he won't be home until at least midnight.

Pianist

 

Emil is definitely getting bigger - he's so mature now! He's very active, and since he started crawling, is constantly on the go. I can't turn around for a second - as I find him sprinting across the room to chew on yet another wire that is left "untucked". We really do need to childproof the apartment, but haven't quite gotten to it yet. Our little boy has been very devoted to his piano lessons. It's a daily exercise now, and he's tirelessly practicing. I'm posting a short movie with these exercises. Sophia never really took to the piano, but Emil is surely taking it by storm. Sophia is back at school this week, and was very excited to see all her friends. She has also been accepted to the only private school we've applied to (Corlear's), despite the fact that we haven't taken the required test and Alex hasn't shown up to the "parent interview". We suspect that they are really hurting financially.

Sophisms:

Едем в метро. Рядом с нами мужчина читает газету, фотография Обама. София: "Мама, смотри - это - Барак Обама, президент. Их два - один синий, а один - красный".
За завтраком: "Мама, мы должны пить много воды. Мы все сделаны из воды. Мои слезы - это вода, но они соленые, потому что огурцовые.
Папа, а что ты ел? Из тебя дым идет.

Travel week

I haven't written in two weeks, so I have a pretty decent size update. Emil's first tooth came out a few days before we left, and he started crawling. When we were leaving, he could only crawl a few steps, but he's really on the go now. I don't know what will actually be easier - child-proofing our apartment or just moving into a new one. What do you think are the chances that he will actually stay away from everything he is not supposed to touch?
Sophia, Sasha and I just came back from our trip to San Fran. Despite the rainy and gloomy weather, we've actually managed to do quite a lot. We rode the tram a few times, ate seafood at Fisherman's Warf (no, Sophia didn't eat seafood - but good try), visited the Tram museum, checked out Giradelli chocolate factory and Boudin sour-dough factory, went to the Golden Gate park, etc. etc. Oh, and of course, spent a day in Napa - which was quite an awesome experience. We had a fe dinners and went to Napa with Jenny, Azad and Leela, and the girls really had a blast playing with each other. It seemed as if they've been best friends forever. And, of course, we spent a few days with Dima and Katya, hung out at their apartment in San Jose - which, by the way - is HUGE!!! You need to take some of our stuff and store it there!!!
I'm posting some pictures so that you can see how much fun we had and be jealous... It's on the left side, in our Picassa album

Birthday week

The celebrations continue - Sophia's birthday was this Wednesday, and we have celebrated it in style. We also said good buy to my family, who've been here since Dima's wedding - they were leaving back to Israel the next day :-(. We will really miss them - we had a wonderful time with them here. Sophia got more gifts than we can fit in the apartment. She got everything she wished for and more. Sasha and I got her a doll house, and we couldn't peel her off of it for a few hours in the morning. I couldn't get her out of the house to school that morning (you can see the pictures of it in our album). I don't know what we'll get her next year to beat it - seems like the gifts are growing in size every year. Emil'ka doesn't have much space for any of his toys. Emil is getting bigger by hour. He's not quite crawling yet, but able to get himself from one place to another by hopping on his belly like a little frog if he wants to get something. So far, the things that interest him the most are candy wrappers, wrap-paper and exposed wires and outlets.. I think it might be time to child-proof the house. Sophia is obviously very much affected by all the festivities. She played "pregnant" all the time before, ever since Emil was born, but now she has moved on to playing the "wedding". She screams "gor'ko" all day long and pretends to throw the bouquet. She nominates Emil to be the groom, but sometimnes, we all have to play that role. She is unvariably the bride. Sasha is on call this weekend, so we've stuck at home. That's ok, thought, since it looks like February is going to be quite active for us. Do you know we're going to San Francisco for a few days? We'll visit Dima and Katya, and also our friends - Jenny, Azad and Leela. Emil will stay home, but Sophia, Sasha and I will go. Then, in the end of the month, we're going to Detroit to celebrate 50th birthday of Sasha's uncle. More drinking for us....
Here are some of Sophisms:
-Когда я вырасту, я тоже пойду в такой корбалет (кордебалет)
-София, хочешь кабачок? -Я не люблю кабак

Taking the slopes

We had a great day yesterday - we took Sophia skiing! I have to say - I was quite impressed by the kid - she seemed to have no fear and went down pretty confidently. The first few runs were slow, but after a couple of tries she seemed quite steady on her skiis. Check out the pictures.

And here are a few Sophisms of the day
-Пустые колготки (колготки без узора)
-Паска - это такая хала с узором

Sophisms

Hello

My brother is married (Congratulations to Kathy and Dima), and the excitement of the wedding and all social activities associated with it have now passed. Sophia had a whole week off school to spend some quality time with her family, but is now back to the routine. I am fairly busy at work and home, and so may not be able to post much, but I did want to share a few Sophisms that came out during these couple of weeks.

Лотрел - это лекарство от Гали
Врачебная колбаса (доктроская)
Мы сегодня ехали на локоте (local train)
-Мама, покажи мне Обама
-София, а кто такой Обама?
-Это такое кудрявое и пушистое существо (Баран Обама)

Выйдя из душа, я обернулась полотенцем. София: "Мама, так ты получаешься - невеста!!! Я тоже хочу быть невестой!". Я обернула полотенце вокруг Софии и понесла ее в комнату. София: "ой, получается -невеста невесту несет. Разве так бывает?". Я: "Да, Софиша - бывает".

Do you have reservations?

Hello

As you know probably already know, my brother is getting married this weekend (Sunday), so it's been a little crazy in the past few weeks. Its 5am on Saturday here in New York, and I can't sleep - so I figured I'll be productive and write something.
Sophia, as expected, wanted to make sure that she looks her best for her uncle's wedding. Sparing no expense, she decided to get her hair done by the best hair-stylist known in the city - her own magnificent self. Layers are in, lately, so without any hesitation or concern that it wouldn't suite her face frame, Sophia snipped off a few inches from each side. It didn't come out too even at a first attempt, so she proceeded to correct it by snipping a few more inches on one of the sides. You could tell the professionalism in the way that she had done it - short and confident strokes were applied (I could tell by examining the hair that was carefully left on the table for me).
Now let's just hope that Sophia's next appointment is not waxing...

Happy New Year

A few days ago, we set out to buy and decorate a New Year's tree. We've sent out our nanny to get us a small tree, only to see an hour later that we shouldn't have delegated the task. Dragging a 7 or 8 foot thing all the way across Manhattan, Galina showed up tired but happy. I was shocked and terrified, while Sophia was jumping around happy as a clown. We finally put up the tree and decorated it that night, so now we have a huge ball-room style Elka in our living room apartment. Emil seems also very attracted to it, and keeps trying to grab the lights. I'm posting some pictures of it in the album, so feel free to brouse the album. Also, here are some winter concerts for your enjoyment.
Sophisms:
Мама, а ты знаешь, что у быка в носу тоже есть обручальное кольцо?
-А кто эту картину нарисовал? -Кандинский -А папа ему помогал? Саша играет на дудочке в позе лотуса. София: -Папа, а ты что, змею заклиновываешь

Happy Holidays

Winter festivities have begun in our house. A few days ago, Sophia and I set out to write a letter to Ded Moroz. Below is the final product of this composition - apparently, Sophia is quite modest in her gift requirements.
We also needed to prepare for the annual Elka celebration at Sophia's school. The homework for the week was to design an ornament that will be used to decorate the tree. I've been dreading completing this assignment, since - as you all know - craftsmanship is not my strongest suit. Last night, I finally realized that we can no longer procrastinate, and decided to try and complete the task. Since we don't have arts and crafts materials readily available in the house, we had to use what we had. The actual result was actually pretty impressive - see below for the picture. If you can't quite figure out what it is - these are bells. We made them by wrapping two plastic cups with foil, threading a butcher twine through the bottoms, hanging candy inside to make the jingle... and wrapping the bottoms of the bells with the Christmas ribbon. Sophia wanted a boy bell and a girl bell, so we wrapped one with the blue ribbon and the other one with the red. I really am proud of this.
It was snowing in New York on Friday, and Sophia couldn't wait to go out and play snowballs. I resisted for a while, but then decided that it wouldn't be fair for me to rob her of this experience, so we went outside to play in the snow. We even made a snowman - he was little, but very very cute. Below is his picture. His eyes were made out of blueberries, and, of course, a carron nose. Looks good, doesn't it?
Elka celebration was yesterday, and we had a great time with all the kids from school. Turns out Sophia is not at all microphone shy - she recited a poem to Ded Moroz (who, according to her, looked like a rooster)--loud and clear. Too bad it lacked any form of intonation. A good start, though, I think.
Hannukah begins today, and we still have to do something in its honor. There is a class that Sophia was invited to, we may decide to go and check it out.

Sophisms of the week:
-На красный свет разве можно идти?
-Да, если очень спешишь

-Я не могу танцевать, у меня каблуки

-Коньки - это кроссовки на каблуках, острые и больные

-Мама, ты горячо зеваешь

Letter:
Дорогой Дед Мороз!

Меня зовут София. Мне почти 4 года. У меня есть мама Карина, папа Саша и маленький братик Эмиль (ему еще только 6 месяцев). Я очень люблю Новый Год. Это всегда веселый праздник. Я с нетерпением жду, когда ты придешь и принесешь мне и Эмильчику подарки (кучу подарков мне и кучу подарков Эмильке). Я бы очень хотела, чтобы ты принес мне метлу (детскую), чтобы я убирала в своей комнате. Еще мне хотелось-бы фермы и звер"у"шек.
Эмилька еще очень маленький, и сам сказать, что он хочет - не может. Но мне кажется, что он хочет, чтобы ты ему принес крокодила Гену (маленького, который играет).

Заранее тебе большое спасибо, с наступающим Новым Годом,

София

This weekend

We had a good weekend. Had a ballet class on Saturday, which was uneventful this time. Sophia really changes when she goes to the class - I never see her more concentrated. She really is enjoying it, and tries to do what the teacher says, so a very different side of her comes out - very serious. We also went to the ballet performance yesterday, the older kids in the school had a Winter Celebration performance. Sophia loved it, so hopefully, it'll be an incentive for her to want to work hard.
Emil'ka is getting really big, he is sitting up all by himself (which is a new trick, just learned it last week). He's also trying to crawl, but still looks like a little stocky catterpillar.

By the way, the Social Security has finally updated his last name!!!

Sophisms this weekend
- У нас в школе тоже есть надворожденый

-А что ты сидишь, яйца высиживаешь?

-Мама, можно я вытрусь твоим полотенцем?
-Да
-Какая ты щедрая

Home alone

Sasha has a meeting at work today, so Sophia, Emil and I are spening the evening "alone. Sophia questioned why dad had to go to a meeting "А что, у него проблемы?" Reassured that there are no known problems to speak of, she went on to try one of the tuxes that my dad brought for Emil (for those who do not know, Emil is going to be the ring-"bearer" in my brother's wedding, so we're in the process of looking for a tux for him).
We got Sophia a new bed. Quite excited about it, we got home, showed Sophia a picture of the bed in the catalogue and excitedly asked her if she liked it (it is a low loft, meaning that it has a "second floor", and there is a tent on the bed - so we were sure she'd be extatic). Sophia didn't share our thrill, though. She, you see, wanted to have a slide (there was a picture of the same bed on the next page, only with the slide attached to it). I gave it a 2-second thought and decided that there would be no sliding in the bedroom.
Once the bed arrived, Sasha was tasked with assembling it. Sophia carefully monitored the process, and when I asked her to step back not to get hurt, she said "Но я же тогда получаюсь не помошница?".
Sophisms
-Это не курица, это индюк
-Я не вижу куда идти, я без очков
Проезжая центральный парк: "Это что, дремучий лес?"

First ever field trip

This was written a few days ago, but I'm just getting around to posting it...
Sophia had her first ever field trip today. Despite the cold weather, Sophia's class has decided to venture out to the riches of the Central Park. All parents (or caregivers) were asked to come along, so at 9 a.m. we all met at the entrance of the park, ready to march. Sophia took the role of "заводила", screaming the oh-so-familiar to the children's ear songs of "Солдатушки, браво, ребятушки" и "три танкиста". The kids couldn't wait to begin the planned performance - as soon as we got to the planned destination, they started the chorus performance of the songs they've been learning in school. The parents joined in, and soon enough, our joyful singing attracted spectators. In retrospect, we could have collected enough for a whole semester at the Pushkin Academy.
After everything was danced and sung, we quickly consumed сушки that Sophia and one of the teachers, Ira, brought along. Sophia said that we should have also taken the tea in the thermos, we agreed. Too bad she didn't think about that back at home, because we definitely could have used some tea.

Social-Security
Some of you may already know this - I have been desparately trying to correct Emil'ka's social security card to include all three "v"s (someone at SS decided that it was one too many, so they took the liberty of abbreviating the name to Volvosky). I've been corresponding with them for almost 7 months now, and the name is still not changed (I do have to be fair to our government employees and say that they have corrected the birth certificate to identify him as a male without a physical proof of his masculinity). I have today once again called them, trying to set the record straight. The first person I spoke with told me that I should drop my attitude, and there is noone superior to her in the Social Security office. The second person I spoke with (after another wait of 30 minutes) said that I would need to bring in two pieces of identification, including a photo ID, such as a driver license for the child. I finally decided to adopt a "oh-you're so helpful" attitude, and was able to somehow get a name of the main manager in the local SS office, to whom I have promply called and sent a fax. So, end result - Greg (that's the manager's name) is now looking all over the SS office in efforts to find Emil's birth certificate and get the name corrected either today or tomorrow. Wish us luck.


Мама, я уже по-беременнела. Вы этого ждали?
У меня чистые руки, я их уже облизала

I was finally able to download a few videos that I took a couple of weeks ago. Here you go - enjoy!

General update

I know all of you are craving updates, but sadly - I don't see the kids all that much, so I don't have much to report on. This Saturday's ballet class went better than last weeks', but she still didn't really dance much. I was able to convince her to stay in school, but we spent 1/2 of the class just sitting on the floor together and "watching" the class. I was able to convince Sophia to get up and dance for the second part of the class, but only with a provision that I would dance, too... I really hope there were no hidden cameras there, since I haven't danced.. well.. in a long time. I must have looked really gracious as I was dancing on my tippy-toes.
Sophia has been obsessed with playing "pregnancy" for the past few weeks. "я уже побеременнела", she said to me as I walked in the door yesterday. And I thought I had another 15-20 years to deal with this!! She told me that she is having a girl, and her name will be Emilia... So, congratulations, everyone - we have another baby on the way.
Emil'ka is doing great, he is getting really big. Still not doing any new tricks, but he's been demanding our food more and more. I almost feel embarrased to eat in front of him.
I have recorded a few videos of Sophia, but we need to figure out how to get them uploaded to our computer. We'll post some soon.