I take the challenge!

I dunno. The hair really isn't me. To see the original: http://fourboysonegirl.blogspot.com/2011/02/you-can-be-as-pretty-as-me-challenge.html

Winter

Me in Sydney. Spent 2 weeks before Thanksgiving and 2 after consulting onsite at a client.
Me at the Opera House right outside the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Palm and Christmas trees side by side....it ain't right.

This is much better. A 3 story tree in a department store.
Went to the zoo one weekend. We thought these were fake until I saw one move.
A view of my work and hotel from the Sydney Tower. I worked in the building second from the right. I stayed in the Marriott 6th from the right, bordering Hyde Park.
A view from work out upon Sydney Central over Hyde Park. The opera house is the two white triangles poking out left of middle.
The deadliest snakes on Earth.
And Dory, maybe. But I can't remember.
I came home to cold, snow, layoffs, Christmas and the inevitable Russian New Year's Party.
Dasha lying around on the job instead of sledding.
Ira and Misha sure had fun.

Long overdue update

Since it seems I will be having a load of free time on my hands in the near future, and considering I have been remiss in blogging the last while, it seems like a good time catch up. So what's been happening you ask? Well:

Asya turned 11. People in our new ward call her "Lee" (that's what she told them her name was when we moved in. It catches me off guard every time.

Ira and I went camping by ourselves and Ira made me go "plain air" painting. I won't show you my painting. I am hoping it was destroyed.
We had our 3rd(?) annual Harding Family Reunion at Heber Valley. Ira had the kids doing all sorts of projects like sculpting and boat making.

Good thing the boys were around to save us all from the big, ole' scary...

...chipmunk.

We also had several picnics, hikes, etc...

Misha turned 5 and really likes riding his new bike. See how he smiles?!?

Blowing out his cake.
And our annual trek to the zoo
And our annual Turkey Trot to Thanksgiving Rock in Dry Canyon...
And I spent a month in Sydney. I'll try to find the pictures (I took two different camera's on the trips so the SD cards are in different places.)

Conference Stuff

We finally made it to the 1p36 Deletion Support and Awareness conference this year. It was, in a word, awesome. Finally we got to rub elbows, hob nob, and mix with all the people we have only see in .jpg format. We found out some interesting facts on the genetics of it and got to listen to the panel of therapists answer questions on a wide variety of topics.
The first day, it was just Ira and I and Misha. The highlight of the day, of course, was Rachel Coleman. As she was the first item on the first day, she was there when we arrived. I pointed her out to Misha and asked him who that was. He answered without hesitation "Signing Time". Her presentation was a mix of songs for the kids and talking about her story for the adults. And she was gracious enough to stay afterward for a photo shoot with any and all the families who desired. After lunch, there was an optional activity at the Gateway fountain. Misha didn't know what to think at first, but then he started running around himself to get soaked.

The next day, we brought the rest of the gang for the Sib Camp. The kids thought it was great too. As you can see, Nikolai was really enjoying a rich chocolate brownie in the hallway.

Thanks Nate, Melanie, Phoenix and the others who got it all organized. It was great.






We also went camping a couple of times with Ira's friends up above Sundance.



And went on a hike to Stewart Falls.

Gobsmacked!

I suppose I should tell you about the weekend before I get to the good stuff.

Friday was Father & Son's. Feeling brave, I decided to take Kiril, Misha and Nikolai with me. I figured Kiril could help out with the two wee ones. For the most part, it worked out. We went up Diamond Fork. The weather couldn't have been better. I was perfect.

We got up there a bit after 5 and immediately set up. I hate having to do that stuff later when you are tired and it's dark. So I got the tent up, the pad inflated, sleeping bags laid out. Kiril was running to the car and back, hauling our gear over. His nose started bleeding and so his hands and arms were covered where he had wiped it off. I was almost done, about to lay out the last sleeping bag, when I hear Nikolai start crying. While Kiril had been running back and forth, Misha and Nikolai had kept close, just wandering around the tent. So I sent Kiril over to look. He brought Nikolai over, who was covered in ants. He was crying of course because they were busy biting him.

I spent the next few minutes cleaning them off of him and squashing the little buggers. They were everywhere. In his hair, in his shirt, in his socks, in his diaper. And the little buggers would latch on and not let go. He was crying for about an hour. He would cry and sob "Колучий!" which means pokey or thorny. And "больно!"-- "It hurts". Finally getting him calmed down with food, we were able to settle in and enjoy the rest of the evening.

During the night, Nikolai also got a bloody nose and we woke up with it all over his face, arms, hands, pajamas, and the air mattress. But no one fell in the fire or in the river, so I call it a success.

During the course of the evening, Misha was wandering about doing what Misha does. At one point, he wandered over to where our dinner was, pointed at the bag of food with the word Taco on it and said, "Taco." You may remember that I blogged about something like this recently. I didn't think much of it cause we had been pulling tacos out of the bag.

It kinda nagged at me though, so I decided to do an experiment yesterday. I got a piece of paper and wrote "Taco" on it. I called Misha over and pointed to it and asked him what it said. He said "Taco". As soon as Ira and I managed to get our jaws off of the floor we tried another word. And another. And another. Misha successfully identified: taco, Misha, pizza, cat, dog, Elmo, Dasha, and a few other words. There were some he didn't know but he guessed at.

I am guessing at this point that Misha is seeing the words as pictures. He doesn't know all his letters yet, but he is very good at visual association. I just had no idea he could read. Today "taco", tomorrow Shakespeare!

Bed time ritual

We have gotten Misha down to a regular bed time schedule. It's great being able to avoid all the fussing he used to have when he put him down for the night.

1. Diaper change and pajamas. Hopefully we can get him potty trained and get rid of the diapers all together.
2. Brush the teeth. Misha still likes brushing his teeth. We sing songs while we do it to keep him distracted. He prefers the "ABC" song, or "Twinkle, twinkle". He gets lazy on his pronunciation if I don't move the toothbrush out fast enough.
3. Prayers. He usually likes to pray in English but sometimes goes Russian. He makes more sense in English though.
4. Little Bear. Our nighttime ritual has become fixated on two stories from the Little Bear series. When Misha jumps into bed he immediately says, "Fshoop". What he means is "Birthday Soup". We have to read Birthday Soup. Every time. He is getting good at some of the bits...he really likes the "peas" and "pomotomomadodoes" part. As soon as we finish Birthday Soup, we have to also read the Goblin story "pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat". His favorite part other than the "pits" and "pats" is when the goblin snaps his fingers at the end.
5. I then leave Misha in bed with is book and the light remains on until Kiril goes to bed. No more crying. No more escaping.

The other day we had a picnic with some friends who made bbq chicken. Anytime someone mentioned the word "chicken" as in "this chicken is good" or "here, try some chicken" or when Misha ate a piece of chicken, he would emit this loud "bok-bok-bok!" Even the next day while telling the family about it, I said "chicken" and Misha immediately "bok-bok-bok"ed.

We are moving this weekend. Moving sucks. But it ought to be good. Misha loves the doorbell pipes.

Can Misha READ???

Last night, we went to Mom & Pop's to visit mom who just got back from Washington. As we were leaving Pop was kinda wigged out cause he said that Misha had been rummaging around the pantry, had pulled out a packed of taco seasoning and said, "Taco". Then Pop said Misha pulled out a can of Coke and said,"Coke". We were kinda gobsmacked. Mom asked if we had Coke at home and I answered that we generally don't have any kind of carbonated drinks at home.

So I called Misha over and pulled out the taco seasoning packet and asked him what it was. He said, "Taco! Yum, yum." But then it did have a close up picture of part of a taco on it. Then I pulled out the Coke and asked. I am pretty sure he answered, "Sok", which is Russian for "juice".

I am not sure though. Last week, he brought an advertisement over to Ira for Pizza that didn't have any picture of any pizza on it at all and said, "Pizza."

Maybe it's time to start teaching Misha to read, if it's not already too late.