Where's my hug?!

I come home from work and usually say to the kids, "where's my hug?" They humor me and come running. Tyler is usually really energetic and exited to see us anyway, even if it's first thing in the morning or just when he hasn't seen us around in the house for a while. But the other day I came home and Tyler stood across the room with his arms wide open and said "where's my hug?" I went running. He didn't stop at that---took a few steps back and did it again.

Pushing the limits

This post is about Tyler. But it's not about him pushing the limits. It's about me pushing the limits with him.

We were at a playground a block from our new place here in Princeton. Tyler was sitting in a baby swing and wanted me to push him. I kept pushing him higher and higher, and he was loving it. He asked for more, and I'd push as him as high as I could dare, but nothing fazed him.

Then I had another fun idea. I spun him in a circle, winding up the chain, and then let him spin as it untangled. Still, nothing. No shrieks of horror or even signs of panic. So I tried to spin him more, but it still wouldn't go very fast. Then I realized the secret. If I lifted him as I spun him then not only could I twist a lot further, but now the chain twists up in a way that builds up a lot of potential energy.

When I let him go this time his head was flinging back and he quickly burst out, "I'm too busy! I'm too busy!" I couldn't stop laughing at that.

Cuff kids infiltrate Russia

Larisa mentioned that Lydia loves to run up the stairs. I gave her that idea. I did it once as a trick to beat them up to the top, and then I did it several times for exercise. Now she never wants to use the elevator, and when I'm with her she makes me run up while the others ride the elevator. The problem is that then she gets tired and I end up carrying her up while we race the elevator. Tyler serprised me. During one of Lydia's first times up the stairs alone I rode the elevator with him. When we got to the top ahead of Lydia he walked over to the stairs and looked down calling for Lydia. I didn't know that the whole elevator thing made sense to him and that he knew we had gone up.



Lydia is communicating a little bit better with Grandma, but sometimes the message is not what we had in mind. For example, when we left Lydia and Tyler alone with Grandma, Lydia would stand in the way of Galina with her arms outstretch when Galina was going to get Tyler to stop doing something, sending the clear message that "you're not in charge of us." I saw her do it once again the other day and scolded her (gentle). Her explanation was that Grandma's not in charge because we are. I told her that she's also in charge, especially if we are gone, and that it's okay if the person in charge does things differently than us.

Lately, Lydia has been asking us to tell her stories at night from memory or made up, but the problem is that if we don't tell the story as she wanted she gets upset. I finally figured out that I can use Disney movie summaries as bed-time stories and that pleases her. She's been throwing many tantrums here, probably partly because no one speaks her language. And she's so particular. The other day at the dacha (summer cottage) we wanted her to put on some slippers because the floor was cold. Lydia would not touch the brown slippers because they were boys slippers (belonging to Vlad). She was screaming and backing away as if they would burn her or something, and she wouldn't let up. We discovered that she does a lot better if we make her take a nap, so that's helped.

On Lydia's birthday this week we went on some rides and to a playground at a cafe where we ate. Then we went to pick out a hat for her and a necklace and a birthday cake. She loves shopping. When we were picking out hats and necklaces she wanted to try them all on and loved all of them. Especially at the jewelry store she was so excited and walked around showing me everything. That's the way she is in Galina's store as well. When we picked out the birthday cake, which she immediately identified once we walked in the bakery because of all the flowers in the icing, it was already about 9pm. Lydia looked around at the dark sky and said, "do we get to not sleep because it's my birthday?"



Tyler loves to copy Lydia. When she says something, he repeats it, even if he doesn't know what the worlds mean. He also copies what she does, even if it means climbing up the highest structure on the playground. He still won't listen to us when we tell him to not to run away, so we put him in time out pretty regularly. But he doesn't care. Sometimes he even comes to me and says "time out" and sits down even though he's not in trouble. The other day when the kids were supposed to be sleeping but we instead jumping around the room and on the beds, I came in and said if Tyler didn't stay in bed I would take one of his favorite blankets (which he usually really cares about). He walked over and handed me the blanket and said "here you go."

Memorable things

We're having lots of fun in Tomsk. The kids enjoy going to the Dacha. It is a summer home, which usually comes hand in hand with a garden and in some cases, a sauna. My aunt Lena and uncle Jenya have both. Family and friends gather there on weekends and some weekdays. A feast follows our every arrival to the dacha. All the fresh herbs and veggies get cut in the garden and all sort of other food is brought in from the city. Arkasha fires up the grill which people call "mankal" and makes shishkababs from pork and chicken.

Kids were a little weary of all those new people at first, but now they know them all by name and get excited to see them. Lydia and Tyler met two remotely related cousins whith whom they half -played, half-fought. But that's not unusual with such small kids. They chased each other and squilled. They played cars, ball and climbed on everything, while Lydia picked black currants, gooseberries and other local varieties of berries.

At night, dyadya (uncle) Jenya would fire up the sauna and people take turns overheating themselves. When Paul and I first went in, I felt like I was going to have a heat stroke any minute. It was 100 degrees celcius on the thermometer and we left the sauna's door open. That detail was not mentioned to my family. They would think we are weaklings. The second time we went we had to admit that we can take such temperatures very well, so my uncle had pity on us and got the sauna to the cool temperature of 80 degrees celcius. Needless to say, we were greatful.

Every Sunday's we went to church before going to the dacha. Our city has a relatively new church building. Last time we came, it was almost finished. So this time was the first time we really attended church there. It was so amazing to see how church is developing here. So many members that I knew and loved from my previous visits were there to greet us and we were something to behold indeed. Our kids made so much racket in Sacrement meeting I always felt like people looked at us funny. Well, what can I say, Lydia and Tyler, active as they usually are, would get extra board since they did not know the language. But I loved hearing people speak. There were many talks and lessons that I felt were inspired to help me.

Nursery and Primary were combined since there were not many small kids in the branch. Because of the language barrier, one of us was always with the kids not so much for transelation of all that was happening, but for reassuring them in the new environment. This is one of the things we had to get used to, since at home, our kids didn't even turn around to say "bye" to us when we would leave them in Nursery and Primary.

The weather in Russia was mostly great in my opinion, though my mom, aunt Lena and others would tell me know much we lucked out with the weather in August which usually is very capricious. We had some rain, but we saw a lot of warm sunny days. We managed to go swiming a few times in a huge lake outside the city. It was surrounded by forrest with water that was cool and clear. Bugs presented the our only problem. Once you pass by some trees, they would surround you and drive you crazy. Once, before Paul got here, my mom and her friend Natasha found a bunch of broken brunches, needles, pinecones and made a fire that smoked like crazy, on purpose, I might add. We all stood there, trying to get the smoke to permiate our clothing, hair and skin. That is a Russian remedy for driving the bugs away. It worked pretty well.

On this trip, I got to see my friends from highshool. It was good to catch up with them. I wished we got together more. Also, we got to see the some of the festivities on September 1st. It is a nation wide beginning of school day. My mom's apparment is close to one of many schools in the city. Paul and I snuck out in the morning, while my mom fed the kids, and got to see kids walking to school with their parents. It is customery for students to bring flower for their teachers on the first day of school. So we saw a small see of people and flowers as we approached the school. We watched as teachers officially announced the begining of new school year. It was a fun sight and brought a whirlwind of memories. I am so glad we got to see it again.

This trip has been a lenthy one and therefore there is a lot to tell, but I will leave some things for another entry.