Week 5 - Half-Way Home

Just 5 more weeks or so before my stronger half gets back and we head back to NC. Let's see, what were we doing this week...

Ah, so M got sick. So we pretty much stayed home most of the week. And since we stayed home, we made stuff, mostly toys but also a magazine.

First, we made the TIE Fighter using a toilet paper roll, some empty tea candle holders, styrofoam ball (big mistake since it managed to both absorb a ton of spray paint and melt in the process), left-over styrofoam take-out containers and some odds and ends.

Then we made a robotic capsule that uses two kinds of fuels (disgusting syrup and liquid methane, as explained by M). Then we played a bit with it pretending that it first landed on a wild planet full of hungry dinosaurs and then - on the Moon.

We also made a drawbot, but I can't find a picture of it so I'll post it later. Tomorrow we're staying home again 'cause M is not completely over his cold. So we plan on making another bot, this one - to knock the building blocks down and then to have an epic fight with the drawbot.

Another thing we tried making was our own magazine. M seemed to be interested. You see, I bought him an issue of Popular Mechanics that he really wanted 'cause it had a picture of a giant space ship on the cover. But turns out, the actual article wasn't very long and, more importantly, didn't have many pictures at all.

I suggested that if he was to publish his own magazine, he can control what stories appear in it. He, of course, said that the magazine had to be only about the Outer Space. In fact, he wanted it to be called "The Cosmos Magazine". So we went through our collection of clippings and M put together a cover.

Then he chose two pictures - the Moon and the Big Dipper - and created stories about them. I, of course, wrote them down. He then wanted an article about galaxies, but didn't want to come up with any more stories himself. So he went to ask Grandpa for a story and that's how we ended up with an interview.

Also, before M got sick we went to a lake nearby. The weather was very nice and M wanted to get some decomposing bark for some experiments. I asked him what kind of experiments and he relied "I am going to pour some water into a bowl and put bark into water and wet it and then I will observe what happens". He did collect enough bark and then he did do the experiment. Afterwards I asked him about his observations. His response: "The bark got wet, floated, but didn't change at all".

So that's about it. This weekend we'll be doing a ton of kitchen experiments, I guess. Oh, and go on a walk to look for bunnies 'cause M wants to catch one and bring him home and feed him bunny food and call him "Zaika".

Week 2 - SNOW

It's been snowing every single day this week, I think. And when it didn't, we were busy digging ourselves out. I've heard on the news that so far NY has seen 8 snow storms this winter. I bet all of them happened this week. (Yeah, I know, it's not true, but boy it sure feels this way!)

I mean, sure, lots of snow is super-cool. We go out 2-3 times a day for about half an hour each time. And we dig and throw snowballs and run around the yard pulling the sled. Ok, I do run around the yard. I feel sort of like Rambo (when running downhill) and sort of like a barge hauler on the Volga (on the uphill part).

I also get to save money by not going to the gym and instead shoveling snow off the deck and digging out the cars. M and Grandma are building not one, but 2 snow slides. Yeah, that's how much snow we have. Need any?

The not so cool part is that I don't drive in the snow. And so we stay home all day. Thank goodness, M's Grandma (aka Babushka) took a whole week off of work to spend with us. The original plan was to go to Philly or to NYC. But obviously it didn't happen.

Uncle Arkadiy braved the cold and the snow and took the train from Jersey City last weekend. He drives in the snow, no problem. He also brought a sled. So last Sunday we drove half a mile down the road for some sledding down a real big hill. But since it was like the coldest day so far this winter and A and I wore jeans, not snow pants, we stayed there for about 20 minutes. Then we went to a bagel shop for some coffee for A, hot choc for myself and a black-and-white cookie for M.

Here's what did happen (apart from all the snow play):

We cooked. Ok, Babushka and M cooked and I mostly just took pictures, or slept, or tried to catch up with work. We made juices (we make fresh juice every day now and M now drinks veggie juice, like kale and celery, as long as it's mixed with orange, carrot and apple juice - hooray!).

Then we made Russian meat dumplings called pel'meni. M made his own dumpling, which we decided to call "pel'menburger". He was really satisfied with the result and ate it up.

Next, Babushka and M ground some chicken, added lots of kale to it (!) and made little fried kebabs and fried patties. The patties turned out so green, you'd think it was St. Patty's day already. But M ate them up too! Awesome! He's much less picky with food now. And he's gained some weight in the last two weeks.

In addition to cooking, we played. We didn't bring many toys with us and by now he's a bit tired of all of them, including his Christmas gift. Fortunately, grandparents have a ton of odds and ends all over the house, the attic and the basement. We normally call it "trash", but now it's being re-branded as "awesome junk". I mean, check it out - little boxes and baskets, tiny blown glass figurines, old kitchen utensils, glass beads, leftover tiles from tiling the kitchen backsplash 8 or so years ago... Totally playable, don't you think?

So the candle holder houses "friends" and their "magic tree" that grows, depending on the day, lollipops, candy, toys, or whatever else. And the tiles and glass beads are a cool mosaic.

The tree branches, cut into pieces, became a lighthouse and a little house next to it and a garden for Pandora the Cat, Seabold the Dog and Huck the Bird (if you didn't read "The Lighthouse Family", it's your loss).

And the seashells - families. M told this story about one of them: "Papa Shell went to Home Depot to buy saw and told the boy Shell to stay home and do house work. Then Mama Shell and Papa Shells went to play with the cat and the boy Shell just did house work." Lol, like this ever happened to him!

But I sure do hope that next week we'll get out more even if it's just down the road to get groceries or something.

First Poem

Big, HUGE update - tonight M recited an entire little nursery rhyme. Here we go:



In case you're wondering, the little rhyme goes like this:

Маленькая мышка по городу бежит,
Глядит во все окошки
И пальчиком грозит.
А кто не лег в кроватку?
А кто не хочет спать?
Такого непослушного я буду щекотать!

From 2 Weeks Ago

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth right after turning 32. It's just now that I'm older and wiser and more responsible, I decided to devote more time to work and less time to frivolous activities such as blogging. Wait 'til next year, when I turn 33 (although I just might win lottery by then and get filthy rich).

So anyway, where was I? Ah, right, 2 weeks ago, right after turning 32, I decided to be a bit more diligent in homeschooling M (you see, I get these moods now and again). So I drew up a very flexible plan for the following week that included all sorts of activities for gross and fine motor development, arts and crafts, pre-reading and pre-math, etc. The theme was supposed to be SPACE. Yes, we were even going to build a rocket out of cardboard boxes. And I was going to finally make use of my land-water globe that I recently made.

Except, of course, M didn't care for any such thing. We still ended up doing lots of stuff, but if I was to try to pull it together under one theme, it'd be something like Farm-Kitchen-Anatomy (which, come to think of it, is weirdly logical).

Here is M playing with the shaving cream "snow" and making a fine mess out of it. The nice thing is he actually helped me to clean up by washing all the toys and utensils he used in the process (and that was lots and lots of stuff).

We also drew this cheerful dude. Yeah, body tracing seems to be catching on since M also did lots of chalk drawing and hand- and foot-tracing. You see, I was thinking that we'd do body tracing and then M would draw an astronaut (remember - SPACE). Instead, he wanted me to draw all the internal organs and various body parts. We split the work with me taking care of the heart, veins, lungs and digestive system and M drawing the brain (most important), facial features, arteries, hair, and muscles.

In case you don't know - ever since last winter M's been fascinated with various body parts and internal organs. It started of right after the Halloween (think - skeletons) and blossomed after we got him "Uncover the Human Body" book (he really-really wanted it). Since then we've read it to him countless times (we have to skip some of the longer explanations since the book is for ages 9-12). So he knows all his organs and "systems" by now with digestive system being his favorite (poop - funny).

Moving on now... After the body trace was thus decorated and labeled, including the content of the stomach, it was time for the kitchen play. Yes, he still plays with his toy kitchen that Chris made a while ago (truth be told, the blasted thing has never been finished which doesn't seem to deter M). He also did some art work, finger painting and using different size bottle caps to make prints.

I also gave him a new open-ended activity that I read about in one of the Mary Ann Khol's books. Mine consisted of a large piece of florist foam, 3 wooden BBQ sticks, a bunch of wooden spools, and a handful of fuzzy sticks (have no idea of what they are really called). I put the BBQ sticks into the foam and then let M invent. He came up with a structure that he called a Big Birthday Cake for Eeyor. And we had to sing the birthday song too.

Oh, and we've been reading tons and tons of books - Tales from Fern Hollow, Жили-были кролики, Именинный пирог Финдуса, The Big Pumpkin, Cloudy with Chance of Meatballs, the already-mentioned Uncover the Human Body book, Кит и Кот, and a couple of others.

Daytrip to Wrightsville Beach

Chris took a day off from work last Tuesday. Why? I think it was the "I need to get out and breath some fresh air" kind of situation. So we packed loads of food, a picnic blanket and swimsuits and headed off to Wilmington, NC.

Mr. M was all excited about going. He's been enjoying Berenstein Bears vacation story in which the bears go to the beach and Sister and Brother play in the sand and cover Dad with the sand from head to toe. M wanted that exact experience or as he nicely put it, "закопать папу в песок".

We've never been to Wilmington which is funny 'cause it's the nearest ocean-side town from us. Turns out, it's the loveliest one as well. But first, the beach. We chose Wrightsville Beach instead of Carolina Beach because on the map it seemed that there was a big pier at Wrightsville Beach. Piers are exciting and, in case M refused going into water or walking in the sand (like the entire last season), we'd at least enjoy looking at the beach from on high.

Well, at first things looked pretty bad. I mean, we snagged a great parking spot just steps away from the beach. But M refused to change into his swimsuit or take shoes and socks off. Then he refused to walk in the sand or sit on it or have anything at all to do with the beach and the ocean. He cried and wailed and raised hell about wanting to go home. Not even an offer of snacks helped.

I was in tears. Yet another year without even dipping our toes in the ocean! Well, maybe we could take turns and go for a very quick dip in the ocean before heading back? So Chris went first and M and I stayed in the shade under the pier.

Next thing I knew, M started crab-walking in the sand. Turns out, sand is ok! He kept walking like that for a while and then wanted to dig in the softer sand. But we didn't bring any digging tools or sand buckets. So he used his hands. Found a chicken bone (yeah, the area under the pier isn't the cleanest, I s'pose).

We then moved to the water's edge just to show him that he could draw lines in the wet sand. That worked out great. He kept drawing lines and watching them being erased by the waves. Then we kicked it up a notch by handing him a shell and playing "throw the shell and run for it before the wave gets you" game. Got him in the water alright. Except now M's jeans shorts were wet and heavy and kept falling off of him.

Finally, we pursuaded him to change into swimming trunks (he kicked off the shoes and socks even before then). Things kept getting better and better - walking into the deeper water, jumping in the ways, sitting in the sand and rubbing sand all over us (so we don't get sunburned, M said - such a thoughtful kiddo). 2 hours later, shivering and lips turning blue, he refused to leave the water and kept asking to jump in the waves just a bit more! This was HUGE!

But our parking meter was about to expire and we were getting hungry. So we left the beach, changed, got into the car, handed out sandwiches - turkey breast on a roll for us and PB&J in a pita for M - and drove off toward the Historic Riverfront. Even before we left the beachside, M fell fast asleep, still holding half-eaten pita and smearing PB&J all over his face.

Playdates Overload - Outdoors Edition

Hooray, the spring is finally here - warm, even hot, sunny and just totally awesome. And so this past week we've tried to spend as much time outside as possible. I think our record was set last Tuesday with a 4-hour monster playdate at a park.









First, we met with a friend of ours who has a son M's age. These two get along so well together (I wrote about it earlier). Boy, you should've seen them playing at the park together and in general being as happy as they could be. Then we all had a small picnic and M's friend had to go home.


We, on the other hand, didn't have to go anywhere.











So I called my friend who has a little girl M's age. They were on their way to the park. While we waited for them, we wandered off the playground and to a nearby creek. M really liked watching the water and throwing pebbles into it. There's also a nice little grassy area next to the creek and I think next time we'll just have a picnic there. (M's in his picnic stage now - wants to have a picnic every day, real or pretend one - doesn't matter).

Unfortunately, by the time they got to the park it was already lunch time. So they had lunch first (M was invited and scored a cookie and yogurt). Then he played some more. But he was already tired and it was time for us to go home by way of a nearby toy store.


The next day we met up with my friend Lana and her husband Patrick and their little almost 2-year old son for a stroll around the farmers' market. After lunch we decided to head over to the Yeats Mill for a little walk. There's no playground there, which is just fine with me. I feel that while playgrounds are great for gross motor stuff, they simply aren't designed for diverse sensory input and quiet games of discovery. So I like to mix it up a bit by going to places with no playgrounds.




M and his little friend loved the mill. We walked along the trail to the mill (saw some wild turkeys foraging just a few steps from us). It's a watermill with all the trimmings - a dam, a waterfall, a small bridge over the creek, big slimy boulders... Great place! So we walked around and took some pictures and let the kids run around.


Everything was just fine until I slipped on one of the slimy boulders, fell and pulled M with me (he was holding my hand). I got off with a light bruise and some dirt on my jeans. M wasn't so lucky. He didn't get hurt, but he fell right into the water and the slimy algea and his clothes got wet, dirty and stinky (and that's something he doesn't tolerate easily). And he got scared too.


So after the fall, he didn't want to hear anything about going around the pond. All he wanted to do was to get back to the car. So we all headed back to the parking lot.


Except, of course, him and his little friend got very interested in a water pump and splashed around a bit (with our help). Then they got busy running around an old grinding stone. Then - throwing pebbles from the picnic area into the pond. Then M started arranging the pebbles around the trash cans. Next thing I knew, he didn't want to leave and insisted that his clothes weren't wet after all!






But it started looking like rain and we pursuaded the kids to head towards the little visitors' center where they got to rock in the rocking chairs on the big porch. Now, this little visitors' center has a little museum, all about Yeats Mill, with an old hand-crank machine for cleaning corn off the cobs and with a short video describing mill's operations. Well, let me just say that by the time M and I left the building 30 minutes later, he was totally into corn grinding and mill operations.


We got home and assembled his marble run (ex-chocolate factory) which quickly became his corn mill. He then proceeded to explain to me and all his friends - Winny the Pooh, Tiger, Rabbit, puppy, frog and duck - the basics of mill operations: "water goes here, woosh, zoom, turn gear turn gear shift and come flour". He also kept mentioning how he fell into water at the mill, but he didn't sound scared any more, but rather proud.

Cutting Down Trees is So Much Fun

I'm all about conservation and all, but when a huge half-dead tree in the farthest corner of your backyard threatens to topple over come next hurricane season (or even just some strong wind) and destroy your fence and your neighbor's shed (and maybe even part of the house), you gotta cut it down.

That's what we were so busy with. Ok, we didn't exactly cut the tree down ourselves. Instead we hired a tree-cutting service (good rate, great work, ask us for references if interested). And so last Tuesday I had to stay home with M most of the day. I thought it was going to be very boring. I am glad to admit, I was wrong with a capital W. In fact, if we only had some more cash on hand, I would gladly pay to get the tree cutting guys back to cut a couple more trees just so M and I can watch.

When the guys showed up, M pulled a chair next to the big door overlooking the deck and the backyard; sat himself there and requested milk and carrots. He then sat in the said chair for about 30 minutes (wow!) just snacking and watching the workmen.

And that was before we went upstairs for a birds-eye view of the industrial-strength wood-chipper in action. Talking about fun!

So after the tree was cut and the guys left, M wanted to go to the backyard and see the logs. And he took his little saw with him. For the next two days he insisted on calling himself the lumberjack. Pretty cute, right?

Oh, then, turns out that now we can climb on the stump and watch the neighbor's free-range chickens (2 black ones and 3 speckled ones). And our cat, Xander, liked this idea as well. But don't worry about the safety of the chickens as they are being guarded by 2 dogs at all times (plus they are bigger than our cat and look like they can defend themselves).

And after such an eventful day, our little lumberjack fell sound asleep.

P.S. Did I mention that we kept all the woodchips for the (future) garden and some other projects? Yep, the whole entire dump-truck full of chips.

P.P.S. M also collected some twigs and we added them to our Ride of Terror (a simple ramp for his toy cars made out of a chair, a toy drum, a mailer tube and a left-over peg board). We then added some Scary Plastic Critters to make it even more fun (a spider, two huge grasshoppers, a chameleon and an oversized ladybug).

The Case of a Missing Twin Brother

We finally found a little boy who seems to be M's missing twin brother. Ok, we found him over 2 years ago, when M was only 9 months old (and the little boy was 11 months old). But then it wasn't very apparent how much alike these two were.

Then last year little L went to Japan with his family. And now he's back and we had a big playdate. It went great! Better than great, actually. These two - M and L -clicked right away. At some point they were actually finishing each other's sentences, as when they were having a snack of pineapple and some black bean chocolate brownies and M said "chocolate", then L said "brownie" and both of them said "oh, yummy!" (and then they laughed silly).

The two of them painted a beautiful art project; played with the shaving foam "snow", then helped me clean up the kitchen;

drew with chalk on our new blackboard wall;

played lumberjacks in the backyard;

pretend-fished off the deck (M's idea);

Built a railroad (with my help) and a big Lego tower. Then broke it. Then built a big Lego tree (L's idea);

Shoveled sand on the playground;

Rode in a toy fire-truck and in a real car (ours) ; then took turns riding in our little plastic wagon around the front yard.

Smashing success and we'll be doing another playdate again (but maybe a slightly shorter one since I was totally exhausted at the end of this marathon).