Misha and the haircut

We finally gave in and gave Misha a haircut yesterday. His hair was so long, it was getting in his eyes. Based upon the past couple times we have done this, I was expecting the worst.

Misha had been outside playing in the water and was all wet and probably dirty, so Ira put him in the tub with Nikolai. Then she called me upstairs to do the deed. When she told Misha that we were going to cut his hair, he began to get excited/agitated. It usually takes a presidential order and some physical force to get him out of the tub, but when she announced a haircut, Misha stood up, climbed out of the tub and made a run for it. I caught him before he made it out of the bathroom and have no idea where the streaker was planning on hiding, but he was determined to escape.

It actually didn't go so bad. He didn't like it, of course, but I didn't have to tie him in knots to get him to sit still enough to cut it. And it turned out fairly even.

Copycat!

This sibling rivalry thing is getting out of hand. Misha gets so upset when Nikolai get a diaper changed that one day recently, I just pulled him up on the couch, removed his shorts, un-velcro-ed his diaper, re-velcro-ed it, put his shorts back on and he was happy as a bug.

Misha gets jealous when I trim Nikolai's nails too. The funny thing is, when I get to Misha's nails, he doesn't even like getting them trimmed, but if Nikolai has them done....

Yesterday, I noticed an all NEW behavior. Nikolai, like all little kids is in a phase that he likes to swat you in the face if you get close. We are trying to teach him not to do it. So, yesterday, when he smacked Ira in the face, we said, "No-no, Nikolai, don't hit. Be nice. etc." And what does Misha do? He runs over and smacks Ira in the face. Earlier I had been playing the guitar while sitting on the floor. Nikolai had crawled over and was hampering my attempts to play by putting his hands on the strings. No sooner had I told him not to and removed his hands, Misha was there putting BOTH his hands on the strings.

I have yet to use this to my advantage. I really need to try the bed time thing. I am also thinking that it's time to potty train Nikolai.

The Farm and the War

A couple weeks ago, Ira talked her friend into going down to her friend's parent's farm in The-Farthest-Point-From-The-Bright-Center-Of-Civilization city again (It's right outside Capitol Reef National Park). The last time they went down, I had just started a new job, didn't have any PTO, so I drove them down and then picked them up. In the meantime, I managed to get raw milk poisoning and tear my meniscus. When Ira mentioned how fun it was, I reminded her that my memories were less than fond.

Anyway, this time around, there was too little warning and really a bad time to be absent from work, especially with our corporate taskmaster PHBs breathing down our necks. So, I drove them down Tuesday evening, spent the night, drove back to work Wednesday and then back Friday afternoon to pick them up. So much fun. Misha stayed home with Baba Liza cause Ira didn't think she could keep track of Misha and Nikolai at the same time. Misha and I did go swimming, which he absolutely loves. And we ate french fries. I think he really liked the 1-on-1 time with Baba and Me.

Friday when I went down, I drove quickly home from work and picked him up and he absolutely was thrilled to go on the 3 hr drive down there. So, coming back home, Nikolai was tired and he isn't as enthusiastic about road trips as Misha is, so he was crying and squawking nearly the entire ride back. Misha doesn't like it when Nikolai squawks, so Misha would belt out his own annoyed squawk every so often....I love going down to the farm!!! At least Ira and the kids had fun.

Church every week has turned into a battle. The older 3 monsters actually usually conduct themselves fairly well. The two youngest monsters have declared war. The Nikolai-Misha squawkfest continues there. Nikolai is just a one year old who doesn't want to sit on laps anymore. Misha doesn't like it particularly either, but if you let him go, he immediately goes for the accordian door seperation and starts pushing it back and forth. Even when you hold him, he start hooting, trying to get a good echo. He loves nursery though. Loves to go, loves to leave. He has even slipped out on occasion, from what they have told me. The only way to get both of them to somewhat calm down is to occupy them with animal crackers or other such goodies. I guess it's a blessing in disguise though, cause if I didn't have one or more worm on my lap, I am sure I would be dozing off.