Long time no see

There has been a bunch of changes in the Cislaks clan since my last post. I should have blogged them along the way but I have not been this busy ever since Aaron was born.
At the end of February Aaron started a day care 3 times a week. To our biggest surprise he adjusted very well. He would chat about all the new teachers and the children and the toys, and would not want to leave. His eating habits improved. Not only I stopped blending food for him, he eats everything with a spoon or with a fork by himself. I do notice that when we take a big break from the day care his old habits are coming back. He also naps there which was another big surprise for him. The way he falls asleep in the day care is faster and different than when he is at home.
The adjustment was not that easy for me. I still miss him very much every time I go to work. It might have gotten a little better but I am not there yet.
We also moved at the end of February, the weekend before I started my job. And we love our new place. It's bigger, brighter and homier.
My mom came from Ukraine to help us during the transition period and I have no clue what we would have done without her help. Unfortunately, she left yesterday, but we're hoping to see her and my dad some time soon again.
Cliff's work is going very well. One day a week he gets to work from home which is nice because then he gets to beat the traffic when he goes to pick up Aaron from the day care.
My work is going well too. It's a challenging and rewarding job and right now I can't imagine doing any different type of nursing. I am in my orientation probation period right now which will last for about 5 more months before I can practice nursing independently from my preceptor. I work 3 12-hour shifts and have 1 4-hour lecture a week.
The weather is getting warm here and we're looking forward to the long days and playing outside.
For his late New Years present from babushka and dedushka Aaron received an electric tractor (just like Nikolai's). He's been riding it in the basement during bad weathers, but we just started taking it outside as the weather became warmer.
And here are some pictures:

Back in business

Apparently, some electronics can be fixed the same way they were broken. Cliff said he hit it couple times and...voila! it works again with the focus:)
The reason I am posting all the videos here instead of the web album is because they take a lot of space there and we already ran out of space in mine and Cliff's web albums. So, here are more videos of Aaron:

These shapes/blocks are Aaron's Christmas gift from the DeSmuls. In the video, I am asking him who helped him build the tower at GG and GGpa's, and he says "Adrian and Neil":



Aaron's first snowman (rather, snowwoman):



I videotaped Michelle's neighborhood. I wish I had a battery in my camcorder yesterday when I went to visit her. The sights would be much more impressive. As you can see, there is a car on the left that is almost completely burried under the snow. Well, yesterday, almost every car in this neighborhood looked like that. The only way to tell that there was a car was by the big hill of snow. I thought it was very cool. I personally have not seen anything like that, or at least I do not remember if I did when I was a child.


The coolest part about this winter storm is that Cliff had 4 1/2 days off. He probably will have to go to work tomorrow (Friday) as today is a big cleaning day and the sun is out (38 F). We might also try to get to the day care tomorrow with Aaron.

More videos

Getting dressed to go outside:


Sledding is fun for mommy:

Winter in DC

As many of you have heard, we had a big snowstorm last week. It was so big that Cliff's work was cancelled on Monday as the metro still can't run. So, we're enjoying a day outside in the snow. A big disappointment of the day was when I broke our camcorder by dropping it on the floor. So these will probably be some of the last videos you'll see for a while. It kind of works but it does not focus. Such a bummer!
A new album is up with lots of snow pictures.
Today was supposed to be the first day of Aaron's day care but we can't even get to the grocery, let alone to another state:)
Today we went sledding down the hills near Potomac river. Half way there we realized that the path is not getting any clearer and it was pretty hard to dive through the snow with a toddler who would not want to ride on the sled. But there was no turning back! We made it just fine and had a good time on our snow hike. As much as Aaron loves snow he's not the biggest fan of sledding.

Tea time and a good conversation with mommy:


Sledding down the hill:


Reading a book together:


(No, we do not have a hoarding problem-we're just moving:)The stuff on the background is what Cliff brought back from Indianapolis last week)

Eggs

Eggs are one of Aaron's favorite foods. He can eat them in any shape and, as it turned out, in any color. The secret of a green omlet is in spinach (1 handful of baby spinach, 2 eggs, 1-2 tbsp of milk, and a pinch of salt). I use my handheld blender to blend everything to the point where Aaron can't taste spinach fiber and then fry it as I would a regular omlet. And then, of course, a drizzle of ketchup:)

I doubt that sneaking veggies into food will teach children to like them, but at least it does not give them the opportunity to spit them out and gives me peace of mind for the day:)

On a muddy day

Today was a muddy day and we decided to put on our gear and hit the playground. Aaron's friends were not there, nevertheless, he was not upset for a long time as he found plenty of mud and puddles to play with. Usually I do not allow him to play in dirt, but it was a special occasion-he was wearing his firefighter's coat and rainboots. Every now and then Aaron would run to a big puddle of mud, splash it with his foot and give me a look like "I just did it! What are YOU going to do about it?" It's the same look he gives me or Cliff when he drops his food on the floor during mealtime looking straight into our eyes waiting for our reaction.

For the love of cars

Aaron loves cars in any shape and color. He knows what each truck is and who drives the trucks. His favorite ones are a garbage truck, a fire truck, a dump truck, a bulldozer, a pick up truck and a mail truck which he does not have yet but he looks out for it when we're on a walk. He also gets very excited to see our mailman. He runs to him asking for a hug "Ug! Ug!" And then he wants to help the mailman to sort the mail. The mailman (I should know his name by now!) said Aaron made his day last time Aaron gave him a hug.

He loves rolling his cars on the floor and throwing them behind the bed and the sofa and then trying to get them which he, of course, can't do. He keeps trying to open the doors on the cars but unfortunately match box cars' doors do not open. Today we saw a Coca-Cola truck outside our building, so that's the word of the day "Coca-Coja tuck"

He had his 18 months wellness check up today and he's doing great. He weighs 28.4 lb which is only slightly more than his previous check up, but considering the fact that he was very sick and lost some weight, we're pretty happy with where he is right now. That's around 80 percentile. He's 34.5 inches tall and every time a nurse gets his height she asks if his dad is very tall:)

Aaron has been doing great at the doctor's office. He does not cry and does not cling as he used to do. In fact, he gets excited when I tell him that we're going to see Dr. Tae today. I think his Russian book about Doctor Aibolit helped him turn around the corner with his medical personel phobia. Or itt could be due to the fact that he has not received any shots for 3 months and maybe he started forgetting it. But today I told him that a nurse was going to give him a shot (chickenpox) and that it was going to hurt a little bit but then he would not get sick later. So, he was a brave little cookie when the nurse poked him. He cried for less than a minute after she injected the vaccine, but afterwards he kept saying "Ajan mejij" (Aaron is brave)

He's been eating better lately. He loves eggs in any form. And he loves ketchup:) He probably can eat anything or at least try it if you put ketchup on it. So, a carrot omlet was a big hit today-he ate an adult portion.

He continues bringing a lot of joy to Cliff and me!