All tuckered out

It's been a trying few weeks. I am ready for a break of some kind. Although today it feels like the break is going to be my knee.

We recently put an offer in on a short sale house. In the meantime we listed our own house. The geographical difference is about 4.7 miles. So hopefully, we would find a buyer and get the bank to sell us the new one at the same time.

We are also trying to get our house presentable. This means fixing chips in the paint, leaky faucets, packing up some of our stuff, etc.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time. I have projects deadlining at work and am working from home in the evenings to try to get them done. Which means that in addition to dinner, homework, music, and work, I also have honeydo projects every evening. And inevitably while trying to fix one thing, I broke another. Sigh. Then work can't figure out what projects are the important ones so they switched. Sigh. And I am not sleeping enough. Yawn.....sigh. But I do realize there are worse things that could happen.

Give me your tired, your hot, your hungry masses yearning to breathe free.

She made it...finally. Tuesday morning, we made the trek up to SLC with all the kids, some relatives, and extras to a theater near the district court for Ira's Naturalization Oath Ceremony.

So with some excitement and a little bit of sadness, she raised her right hand, repeated the oath and woohoo, is an American Citizen.

I gotta say though...it was torturous for me. What I will say is if you have the opportunity to participate in the future...leave smaller children home.

Unfortunately the balcony in the theater was about 90 degrees. The kids were dying. While we were supposed to be there promptly at 9 am. they didn't start until around 10 am. So she was sitting with the rest of the applicants, I was up in the overhot balcony with 6 hot, bored, hungry kids. At least until Mom showed up and relieved me of one of them. Then I had only wiggly Misha to take care of.

Once it started, it was fairly short and well paced. Part of the delay may have been the pregnant lady who went into labor and was administered the oath outside, then sent off in an ambulance to the hospital.

We celebrated by going to McDonalds cause the kids were starving, the Russian store cause Ira wanted to, and the stayed at home. I even got a nap. It was bliss.

All aside, I am glad we have hit this milestone. Now we can invite Baba Liza and she can get a green card. Yay.

Misha update: Misha is saying "hot"...more like "haa", but he is using it appropriately. He is also using "uh-oh" appropriately like when he drops something (intentionally or not), when someone else drops something, or when I start counting. He also started mimicing Kiril's lament, "Oh, man!"

Awww, NUTS!

Asya and Kiril just finished up their short but highly successful career as amateur balleraunts (I am guessing at the PC non-gender version of ballerina). With a couple months of insanity, practices and lessons 4-5 times a week, and a week of running them to and from the Covey Center, I am glad it's over. I don't remember it being this much of a pain when I was a mouse 20 years ago. And I am sad to report that I don't remember it being so awful. Saturday, we decided to buy tickets and go watch it (support the kids). The theatre was nice enough...it should be, it's new. Just as it started, it began to slide downhill. Right off the bat, they started hitting us up for donations. Just a bit irksome, especially considering that the lessons are outrageously priced, they charged us $40 dollars in participation fees, the cheapest tickets were 16$ a seat, and the makeup for the week cost us around $100. The music was from a CD that had seen better days. It was really annoying to hear it chirping as they will do when dirty or scratched. The performances were lackluster. Some of the kids were better than the "professional" dancers. And poor poor Asya. It is not uncommon for a ballerina to biff it on stage. But if it was going to happen, it was going to happen with Asya...and it did. Fortunately, she popped right back up and continued on with the performance. It was a fun thing for them, and I am glad they had the chance, but next year, I think we will take the kids to Ballet West or go see "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Theatre.

Today we were snowed in pretty good. The roads were all slush. So much for going to IKEA. I cleaned the walks 3 times. The last time, I got Misha dressed and dragged him out with me. He hates playing in the snow. He is just like "Randy" from A Christmas Story. Once he falls, he can't get back up and starts calling for "Hep! Hep!". After I got the walks cleaned off, I took him for a walk around the block. He seemed to enjoy that much more and was even upset when we finished even when he lost his boot a couple times and was walking in the snow.

Ewwwww!!! And Gonna Have To Watch More Carefully

The other night, we were in the middle of our weekly routine. It was after dinner. I was on the floor holding Nokolai helping Asya with Math while Iggy was drawing. Ira was reading with Dasha. Baba was off at her ESL class. As I glanced around the room, I noticed Misha under the end of the kitchen table on the carpet. Next to him was a 3/4 empty bottle of ranch dressing from Costco (that means big bottle). After dinner, it had been about 1/4 empty. The half he had anointed the floor with was being swirled around and around with his pudgy little hands. As soon as he noticed we were wise to his caper, he started to eat it. Ira grabbed the camera and recorded the moment for posterity. Here it is for your viewing pleasure. Just tilt your head to the left.


Misha is starting to run. He can actually gets some good bursts of speed on those scrawny legs of his. I realized that we need to be more observant with him. We stopped at Target to grab some shoes for Nikolai (lost one of his last weekend). As were were loading everyone in the car, Misha, who was standing next to Ira, turned and bolted. Luckily Ira caught him in time cause he was headed right out in front of a car. We bought him one of those Monkey harnesses. It works well...when we remember to bring it.

Some new words

Misha has graduated from signing "yes" to saying "yah" (sounds like "e-yah"). On any yes/no question (especially where you know the answer will be affirmative). Misha still won't say no. But if I tell him "no-no", he will shake his finger like he is scolding. Even if you ask him to say no, he gets upset. But saying "yah" is great.

Misha also has picked up say "uh-oh" when drops something intentionally or not. This includes utensils at dinner and objects he drops over the railing to the downstairs.

When he is hurt, he will either sign or will say "bo-bo" (russian cutesy form of "ow"). If he falls, he sometimes will say "bup" which I am assuming is his pronunciation of "bonk". Yesterday, they called from school to say that he had fallen on the carpet but was just fine (district policy, I guess). When he got home, Ira asked him about it. He thought it was funny and kept repeating "bup" and laughing.

When I ask Misha to do something, he doesn't always comply. I will start counting to three and then "assist" him in doing it. He has turned this into a game too. Sometimes he will sit down as soon as I make the request (like, "Let's go brush your teeth." or "Let's get your pajamas on.") He will wait until I reach three and then will stand up and go. Sometimes he waits til I start assisting and laughs.

He also is very jealous of Nikolai. Whenever we change Nikolai and he sees this, he will come over and pull at his diaper and grunt meaning that he wants his changed too...even if we changed him immediately prior to his brother. When I am holding Nikolai, he will come over and try to get my attention or if he is cranky start acting more cranky. He will also run off with toys that his brother is playing with. It's not all jealousy though.

The other day, Ira asked "Who does Misha love?" He signed "I" then "love" then pointed at Baba Liza. Then repeated it for Ira. Then repeated it for Nikolai. He will also pat (pet) Nikolai's head or give him "loves".

On the weekends, I am usually up before Ira to get things going. Last weekend, I got up and slipped out of the room and heard Misha talking in the next room ("bilaaa-bilaaa" and "bee-bee-bee"). I opened the door. He slid of his bed and went to one of his toys, sat down, pushed a button and then looked at me and signed "Mom sleeping". That is what I tell him sometimes when I get up..."Shhh. Mama's sleeping." Again he surprises me with how observant he is.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

"I love to cook"!!!

Proud of the wife. She passed her naturalization civics and English test with flying colors. She has been studying hard for weeks now. I, of course, had the dubious honor of drilling her with her study materials. I could also pass the test at this point.

We drove up early this morning. I had to speed a bit, no too much, to be on time. She probably walked in the door right at 7.30. As per the docs they sent, I was prepared for 2 hours alone, in the car, with Nikolai. I brought a book and settled in. Luckily, Nikolai fell asleep on the way and stayed that way for the duration. Ira surprised me 1/2 later when she walked out. My first thought was that she failed, the second was that we didn't have right documentation, but then she said that she had passed. But she did. Her English written question was "I love to cook." She passed her civics questions easily.

So YAY! We still have to wait til they tell us where/when the swearing in ceremony will be, but the hard stuff is over. Now the most we have to worry about between then and now is keeping her from getting arrested.

Quick update

Nikolai got his first two teeth this weekend. He has been drooling puddles for weeks now and they popped in in the bottom jaw one after another. He is only 5 months, and much earlier than the other kids. Oh well, he is also bigger than the other kids. It will be nice when he goes on solids so he will sleep all night long...not that he bothers me much.

Dasha is on the verge of loosing her first tooth, ironically the same tooth that Nikolai got first. It was bugging her during meals yesterday, so if it isn't out by the time I get home, we'll use the door/string method.

Misha has been going to school for a couple of weeks now. He seems to really enjoy it, from what Ira has said. He loves taking the bus to and from. He even shows how "big" the bus is. We should be having his follow-up IEP anytime now, so we can see about setting some goals.

Asya is enjoying ballet and is excited to be in The Nutcracker as a Party Girl. She is "getting" math this year and it's been much less a headache. She is developing quite the sense of humor.

Kiril is going to be a Party Boy in the same cast as Asya. He just decided to try out for the fun of it. Just like his old man. Only I got to hide behind a big hot grey suit.

Ira's citizenship test is this week. We are both nervous. I think she will pass it easy enough.

Me? Same old, same old. Nothing really changes for me. I work, I come home, I do homework with the kids. I sleep. Still trying to perfect my biking gear so I can keep riding until its too snowy and icy.

P.S. Someone reminded me that I forgot Baba Liza. Baba Liza is plugging right along. She moved to a more advanced ESL class where the teacher doesn't speak Spanish all the time. She takes care of Misha and Nikolai all the time, reads to Dasha and the other kids. She keeps up with her family with weekly calls. Luckily those phone cards are so darn cheap (1.9 cents a minute). In the evenings, when not too busy, we play Rummikub, watch movies (which I translate for her...more or less).