Cheap Toys

Almost free...:)

I'm sure you heard this many times that kids prefer simple toys they make out of every day objects to colorful expensive toys we buy for them in a store. Very true for Aaron. As one of our friends mentioned, toddlers are like little scientists: they test the laws of physics, chemistry and parents' patience:) There are very few toys Aaron plays with. He likes putting objects into a container, like books into the box, toys into the box, or sometimes he just takes a container (a cup, a pot, etc.) and tests what objects around the house would fit in. A lot of things end up in a trash can:) He started paying more attention to his stuffed animals. I showed him how to feed his Teddy Bear "Mishka", and now he wants Mishka to eat what Aaron does not want to.

I thought of listing some of Aaron's every day vocabulary for fun here (and in case you get to babysit for him:)):

"Meeee" (Mishka)

"Aa" (potty)

"Didi" (Izzy)

"chu-chu" (train)

"Mamoh" (Elmo)

"dah-dah-dah" (Water/vadah)

"tsai" (tea/chai)

"dadi" (when pointing at a stranger, which is similar to a Russian word "djadja", or saying "granddaddy)

"ao-ao" (hallo on the phone)

"kaka"(his cereal, for Russian "kashka")

"goh-goh" (yogurt)

"pu-pu" (belly botton/pupok)

and others:)

He is saying mama and papa very clearly too.

Cancelation of some plans

We had to stay home this weekend as Aaron developed croup Thursday night. I think it was the right dicision as now I am sick too. Aaron seems to be doing better. The doctor prescribed him prednisolone and that seems to help with his stuffiness. And something else has been going on: he slept through the night 2 times in a row. I would think it's prednisolone but steroids usually have the opposite effect-sleep disturbances. So, we'll see how he does once he stops taking them.

We need to get better before the next weekend because we want to enjoy our visit with grandmommy and granddaddy Cislak!

Busy bee and his busy summer

The good part about living in the DC area is that there are tons of parks designed especially for kids. We just need to get a good GPS in the car:) So far you've seen the pictures from the park behind our house. It's great-lots of toys and neighborhood kids to play with. There is also a park about 11 minutes away from us which I posted videos from. Aaron enjoys the fountains and the sandbox the most. He also started Play and Learn class at Gymboree this week. I felt like it was much needed for him as he's in his climbing phase right now and it's a safe place for him to climb there. He has a blast there. Next week I'll make sure to take a video and the pictures there.

We also visited a Baltimore Aquarium last weekend, and this weekend, God allows, we'll be visiting the DC zoo.

Next weekend Aaron is going to his Cousin Nikolai's B-Day party and he can hardly wait, he told me. And two weekends from now we're going to Indianapolis for 4 days to see his grandmommy and granddaddy and the rest of the family. We're so looking forward to these plans!

Talking Sentences...?

Yeah, I could not believe my ears this morning as I took Aaron out to the shopping center. I heard "Bye-bye, beep-beep" "Bye-bye, baby", "Bye-bye aak (flag)" here and there from him:) As you can tell, the sound "b" is his favorite now. He picks up words with this sound immediately. I am also suprised that he's talking English, because his passive vocabulary is definitely bigger in Russian. But it must be that sound "b" that makes him say "bye-bye" instead of "poka-poka"

It also funny when he starts waving "bye-bye" to Cliff in the morning while Cliff is in the middle of getting ready to work. We keep telling him that daddy's not leaving yet, but he keeps waving and saying "bye-bye":) He's hillarious. I love boys!

He's gone through so many changes once he turned 1. As if he grew up in a night. I look at him and I am sad to admit that he's not a baby any more. He talks, walks, almost runs, climbs everything "climbable" and "non-climbable", naps once a day, refuses to be rocked and falls asleep in his own crib in 8 minutes. We're having more and more of sleeping -through-the-nights, but we still have some really rough nights. He's always on the go. He wants to be held only when he wakes up. The rest of the time he's pretty much independent. I definitely miss the closeness that I used to have with him when he was a baby. One year of it was not enough for me. One more pleasant change-he started to ask to potty. He is not consistent with it yet, but I've heard him saying "aaa" couple times during his play, and I put him on the toilet, and sure enough, that's what he wanted.

He's getting his MMR vaccine today and I am very concerned. Please, pray that he does not have any adverse reaction to it.

On the weekend we had an opportunity to say our good-byes to Great Aunt Carol and the boys as they were flying through DC on their way to Tanzania. Aaron graciously allowed to be kissed and gave some high fives to Adrian and Neil. He also enjoyed opening his B-Day presents:)

For the first time in the history of humankind...

...Aaron slept from 9pm till 7am without making a noise. And of course, it was Cliff's night to be on duty:) As I woke up (myself! for the first time in a year and 10 days) at 6 am, I realized that the last thing I remember was to go to bed and close my eyes. I rushed to Aaron's crib, checked his breathing, his temperature, tickled his foot to make sure he moves...and then spent another hour in my bed wondering what was WRONG with my child:) I even had to wake up Cliff to ask if he had to get up at night to comfort Aaron, and he said no. And listen to this...at 7 am I hear some movement in the crib and then silence for several minutes. I get up to look and see Aaron sitting in his crib and happily playing with his toys:) What happened to MY child?!

Aaron did sleep, what I called, through the night before, but it was something like 9 till 4 am or at most till 5:00 am, on rare occasions. I want to hope that this is the beginning of our good night sleeps.

I had to trim his hair the other day, and here is what turned out. It was not this short when I cut his wet hair:) Cliff said this was the last time I cut Aaron's hair:)

Aaron is 1!

When we brought Aaron home he was a wrinkled grumpy little guy who did not seem to be that excited to live outside his mommy's belly. He did not look like either of us, really. He did not act like either of us when we were his age. He was just his own self. Look at him now-he's got his daddy's good looks and mommy's tough personality:) It's a lot of fun to live in his ever expanding world, to see how he grows, develops, learns and matures. He's very smart but challenging a lot of times. He knows a lot and he knows it:) It's by no means easy to rear a child. Or I should rather say, it's not getting any easier. If for the first year it was more of a physical aspect that was hard, now it's also a mental one, or however you want to call it. As the first time parents we want to make sure we make as few mistakes as possible, and yet I know that we will make a lot of mistakes. I am sure in about 20 years we will know exactly how to raise a child:)
He still does not sleep through the night. He wakes up 1-2-3 times but falls right back to sleep when I put my hand on his back or in his little hands. He still does not fall asleep on his own. He wants to be rocked and sung to. It can be taxing at times, but to be honest, I love to watch him fall asleep in my arms, kiss his little face and just stare at him. I know I won't have it for much longer so I use this opportunity. I also love it when he smiles sleeping in my arms. It's priceless. I thought babies stop doing it after a couple of months of age but he still does it. I just wonder what he's dreaming of:)
He still likes to be read to. His favorite toys now (and actually, have been for a while) are the wooden alphabet blocks that his Babushka and Dedushka gave him. He knows 3 Russian letters that he can actually pronounce, so sometimes when you give him a book, he'll open it and will trace the letters in the book with his finger repeating "ABDABDABD..." He thinks, he's reading the book:) I think those blocks are awesome in teaching him the alphabet: he can throw them, play with them, mouth them, chew them, and they still will look like new.
I started Aaron's 1 year old album. I hope you enjoy it (some pictures are from his last days of 11 months).

Here I come, Mackinac!

Aaron got to see his grandparents and Aunt Mary and Uncle Andy with cousin Sarah on Mackinac Island over the weekend. He also got to celebrate his First Birthday with them. How exciting! I started uploading our pictures in his 11 month album and will make a new one for his 1 year old pictures. Stay tuned!