good bye, friends

Our last Saturday in Oak Lawn we had a BBQ with a group of friends from church. It was good and sad at the same time. At least for Ryan and I. For Elijah, it was a chance to test his stamina by being outside for over four hours. He loved every minute of it. He played with a water table for close to half the time, and then drove this little blue car for most of the rest of the time.

park in oak lawn

It has been my practice to avoid any reference to our exact place of residence for as long as we lived there, but now that we've moved, it doesn't matter any more. So here it is, our favorite park in Oak Lawn, IL. It was one of the two parks within walking distance, but unlike the other park, this one had lots of shade and we didn't have to walk along noisy Cicero Ave to get to it. That's how it became "our" park. Elijah loved it. He loved "driving" the fire truck (he has an awesome "car" sign for it), going down the roller slide, and climbing up to it again. He loved riding the horses (not pictured here) and running along a suspended bridge (not pictured, either). He also loved playing peek-a-boo in a crawling tube. He could spend hours there, if I let him. And when he'd be all worn out, we'd sit on a bench together and have a snack: gold fish, or watermelon, or a peach. The peach was by far his favorite. I don't know if Elijah misses the park, or if he even remembers it, but now that I am looking at these pictures, I sure do.

hot dogs

We have dutifully tried to feed Elijah only the healthiest foods available. While broccoli and green beans remained at the top of his gastronomic preference list for a long time, he never made any effort to say the words. Even the blueberries (to which he is still addicted) and peaches get requested by sign language. The only food exciting enough to try and say its name turned out to be a hot dog! We do only buy Hebrew Nationals and hold that they are the best tasting hot dogs in the whole wide world (well, maybe I should restate that: they are the best tasting hot dogs among those that are least bad for you; there are plenty of delicious varieties out there, but I shudder to think what kinds of mystery ingredients they are stuffed with). But still! Is a hot dog really that much more exciting than whole wheat pasta? Or a delicious beat? Or steamed mixed vegetables? Apparently so. :) At least every pot of boiling water in our kitchen, no matter what it is intended for, is likely to be greeted by a high pitched "huh-guh" these days.

extracurricular activities

Watching a child day after day can become challenging. I can't say Elijah is not a perfect little boy, but let's face it, perfect little boys whine, too. And they get bored. And they teethe. Their feet get stuck in the crib and they wake up from a nap early in a cranky mood. And they don't want hot cereal for breakfast because Mommy dumped too much salt into it. The list goes on. So it helps to have scheduled things to do to bring variety to our days. After all, there are only so many times a day you can put together the alphabet puzzle. Enter extracurricular activities.

Now, I am not sure if you can actually call them "extracurricular" since there's no real "curriculum" Elijah is following, so feel free to suggest another term. Meanwhile, we attend a gym class on Fridays and go to the pool about once every three weeks (that's how long it takes me to recover from each trip :)).

Turns out, Elijah doesn't really like crowds. Who is surprised? Raise your hand. I guess it only makes sense with two parents on the introverted side, with one of them way off the chart. When the pool got too crowded today, Elijah opted for a chair and a bag of gold fish. Once the fish were gone, we just went home. Neither is he interested in paying attention during the structured part of the gym class. While other toddlers (ok, they are mostly older than Elijah) are sitting in a circle singing songs and counting to ten, he is off doing his own thing.

Having something special to do every once in a while helps maintain my sanity and creates great memories (it also makes for great pictures!) Today at the pool, after taking the picture above, I sat down on the ground next to the chair from which Elijah was observing the chaos of the pool. Almost right away he got off the chair and wanted to nestle next to me. Now, how sweet is that? :)

plastic slides

This is what a plastic slide does to a perfectly good haircut. (All right, he hasn't had a hair cut yet, so how about a hair do?) The static on those things is incredible!

vacation

Daddy took a vacation a couple of weeks ago, and we spent part of it with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Rachel at their cabin. The cabin is located right by a lake, and having observed Elijah at a local pool, I didn't want to have to chase him around in the water. Instead, we brought an inflatable pool with us. We filled it up with well water (very cold!) and set it in the sun to warm up by the afternoon. Elijah, however, didn't want to wait that long, and was in the cold water way before lunch. We all sat around in chairs and watched him play, and he even posed for a couple nice pictures. My plan was working perfectly. The child was happily occupied in a safe environment, and we could relax and kick back.

Not for long. In the afternoon we went down to the lake having dressed appropriately for the occasion (see picture below). Elijah was fascinated with such a huge amount of water and kept signing water over and over again. Shy at first, he soon realized the fun potential of the place, but the life jacket was in his way. So we took it off. Contrary to my expectations, he didn't try to go deep. But he was rather unstable in the sand, so someone always had to be close by.

The result of this adventure was that the next day he refused to play in the pool. He wanted the lake, which meant one of us had to play the life guard. In the end, it worked out all right. Worn out by the sun and the water, he went to bed at a decent hour, so Ryan and I were able to enjoy the last Harry Potter book for a few hours before we crashed as well.

first trike

Here they are, grandma Shannon and Elijah on his first trike. No, he can't pedal yet. But he can sit on it. And he can fall off of it, which he's done a few times. Fortunately, the falls (more accurately called face plants) we softened by the carpet in our living room, but they nevertheless deterred Elijah from climbing onto his bike for a day or so. But if you put him on the bike, and set his feet on the pedals, and then push or pull the bike, he'll keep the feet on the pedals for a little bit. The idea is that one of these days he'll figure out how to go by himself. But our practices have been few and far between as it is incredibly hot outside and both of us (Mommy and baby) play better in an air-conditioned apartment.

close up

Grandma Shannon took this close up shot when she visited us about a week ago. I thought it was an excellent picture, so here it is for everyone to enjoy!

stars and flowers

I've been composing this post in my head for weeks, just didn't have the time to actually post it. Elijah's signing has really taken off. But you have to watch closely and pay attention to context a lot. For example, Daddy and horsey look the same. So do flower, cat and eat. This can sometime cause confusion. For example, one time Elijah was playing with his sorting bucket that had circle, square, triangle, and star shapes. He looked up at me and signed eat. When I asked if he was hungry, he shook his head. Then he signed eat again. What on earth? I put him in his high chair, but he wasn't interested in food. A few days later we were looking at a book about Christmas. On the last page, where there was a star over a stable, he got excited and signed eat. It was then that I realized he was signing flower! The shape sorting incident came back to me and I knew he thought the star shapes were actually flower shapes. Elijah does like flowers. We have some outside of our apartment building, and he always points them out to me. But I never thought of flowers as stars, or stars as flowers. Although I do like the idea. It intrigues me to think of the universe as a grand cosmic bouquet instead of it being a vast cold impersonal empty space with balls of burning gas separated by millions of light years.

uh-oh and ah-dah

Elijah is "saying" two more "words," although I am not sure if either of them qualify as words. One of them is "uh-oh." He is more and more accurate about the timing when "uh-oh" is appropriate, like when he falls, for example.

Another "word" is "ah-dah," meaning "all done." He usually says it when he is done with a book (as if saying "I am done with this book, let's do another one"), done playing with a puzzle (as if saying "I don't want to play with this one any more, take it away"), or done being on the changing table. He is usually done being on the changing table well before we are done changing his diaper, so he is lying there, signing "all done" and repeatedly saying "ah-dah," as if telling us to hurry up!

You may have noticed that neither of these words are Russian. I can understand that "hi" is easier than any Russian greeting, but "all done" in Russian is actually just one syllable: "vsyo"! It may be that the consonantal cluster "vs" may be challenging for him, plus we haven't heard him make either "v" or "s" sounds yet. Oh well. I guess I'll have to wait a while longer. :)

He also says "sentences" of random sounds, but the amazing thing (at least to us), is that the intonation and the number of syllables usually correspond to something we would have said to him at the time. For example, he usually plays peek-a-boo with his towel after a bath. He covers his face with it, and we say "Where's Elijah?" One day he covered his face and said something that sounded so much like "Where's Elijah" except that that actual sounds were wrong, but the intonation was exactly right! Once again, these "sentences" follow English inflection, perhaps because English sounds so much more "melodic" than Russian, or at least the expressive baby version of it that Daddy uses does. (Mommy doesn't do baby talk in Russian, so maybe it's not as exciting for him to imitate. Who knows.)

P.S. The next day after this posted was originally composed, Elijah stopped saying "all done" to books and puzzles. Instead, he is now saying it as soon as we try to put on his sandals to go outside. He doesn't really mind the sandals, but he doesn't have the patience to wait till they are on. It's so funny, as soon as we put him on our lap, he immediately says his "ah-dah".

the mind of a child

Ever wonder what's going on in little kids' minds? I do once in a while. Thanks to Elijah's signing, every so often I get a little peek into his thoughts when I don't expect it.

Elijah has learned a ton of signs by now. One of his favorites is "ball," perhaps because he likes balls. He has quite a few at home and likes to carry two or three in his arms at the same time, and then dump them on the floor. Whenever we are passing a large crate of balls at Target or a child playing with a ball in the street, Elijah never fails to sign "ball" with great excitement.

One day we were at a grocery store and I parked the cart with Elijah in it while picking out some veggies. As I looked up to make sure he was still there and OK, I saw him making a sign. At first it threw me off. It looked like he was signing "ball," but we were in the produce section, so there could be no balls. And the I realized that I put the cart next to a large crate of watermelons, and he decided they were balls! It's a good thing he couldn't reach any of them to see if they'd bounce! Another time we came home from a grocery store with a cantaloupe, which Elijah quickly accepted into his ball collection and treated it as such. He took it up on the couch and then threw it down on the floor. The cantaloupe was still edible after Elijah was done with it.

Another one of Elijah's favorites is a sign for "dog." It's supposed to be a pat on the thigh, as if calling a dog, but Elijah's version of it beating his chest with an open palm. Dogs have always been a love of his. A couple of days ago we saw a pretty dog at a park. Its owner was very friendly and let us come close, and Elijah even got a lick in the face, which he didn't mind a bit. As the dog's owner sat on a bench enjoying the weather, Elijah stood right by, repeatedly signed "dog," shook and squealed with excitement for quite a while. A day or so later we went to the same park. Elijah saw the bench where to dog was, went there, and signed "dog." I am pretty sure he was remembering his furry friend of a few days ago. I told him that the doggy was probably at home and expected him to move on. But he did not. We spent about a half our at the park that morning, and every couple of minutes (no matter whether he was on a slide or on a swing) he'd look at me with sad eyes and sign "dog." I never expected him to remember that dog in the first place, let alone be upset that it wasn't there and keep thinking about it the whole time.

already?

Elijah is only 18 months old, but we are seeing something we think are signs of the "terrible twos." Two weeks ago we had a child who, when we said "Let's go eat," ran to his high chair signing "eat," and when we said "It's time to go to sleep," ran to his bedroom signing "sleep." Not any more.

Each time we take a trip, some big changes seem to occur after we get home. We were wondering what the next leap was going to be after getting home from Michigan over a week ago. What we found is that his first an immediate reaction to everything and anything is now shaking his head, meaning "no". He doesn't yet say "no", nor does he know a sign for "no" (although one exists), but he doesn't need either to make it clear what he means. And he does mean it. Trying to put him into his high chair or get him to lie still on the changing table turns into a wrestling match at times.

I hope that all this can be explained by his cold he caught as soon as we got home, but I fear it's more than just a cold...

18 months check up

Height: 33 inches
Weight: 27 lbs 10 oz (after a week of being sick and hardly eating anything)
Head circumference: 48.5 cm
75th percentile

teenage geese

While in Michigan for aunt Chelsea's graduation, we stopped by a small park to see and feed some geese. Needless to say, Elijah had a ball. He didn't get to actually feed the geese, as they were taking bread right out of our hands, and we didn't think it was a good idea for Elijah to hold the bread. But he still got pretty close to them.

puzzle man

Elijah's new hobby is putting together puzzles. They are pretty simple for now, but he's gotten really good at them. Gone are the days when he struggled to fit the pieces in. I haven't timed him, but I bet he can do the whole thing in under 30 seconds. He can sit around for a long time putting these things together (he has a couple), then dumping them out on the floor and starting over. Puzzles became our toy of choice when we need to occupy him with a quiet activity for a while. Although he no longer needs help, he does like to have an impressed audience once in a while. Pictured above is Doris playing that role about a week ago in Michigan. :)

go aunt Chelsea

Aunt Chelsea graduated from high school on June 3rd, and her Chicago branch of the family came to join the celebration. Elijah got to sleep with his parents (to his delight and our frustration, as he takes up at least as much space as each of his parents, but, unlike his parents, he squirms, wakes up and cries if he feels too constrained in his movements).

We wish aunt Chelsea all the best in her college career!

chasing birds

We've shown Elijah the "bird" sign on a number of occasions, but he has never signed it back. A few days ago we met a friend down town Chicago and hung out by the bean for a while. While the boys were chatting, I tracked Elijah as he explored the area. At one point, he spotted a pigeon, looked at me, signed "bird", and took off after it! The bird was quicker than Elijah, and as the distance between them grew, he lost interested and let it go. So no harm was done. :)

maggie and a white cat

We spent Memorial day at Jim (Ryan's internship supervisor) and Charlene's house. Their dog, Maggie, made Elijah giggle his head off when he was about 8 months old. He has stopped laughing every time she'd go by a while back, but is now interested in being chased by Maggie. But Maggie isn't really interested in playing catch.

While visiting, Elijah made friends with a cat that hung out around Jim's back yard. At some point the cat let Elijah pretty close up (under Charlene's close supervison), and Elijah offered it his milk (in a sippy cup)! The cat didn't have a chance to partake of the treat, as Charlene put an end to this sharing pretty quickly. Maggie, on the other hand, didn't wait to be offered the milk. She found the sippy cup on the grass and licked it all over without an invitation.

wish list

Every once in a while someone would ask me what Elijah needs/wants, what kids of toys he is interested in, etc. So I decided to start a running list of ideas. The link will be on the right side of this blog, called "Elijah's Wish List." I'll try to keep it current. :) He has lately been very interested in puzzles, so that's what's on the list for now. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I figured a link to a page with a picutre has got to be worth at least 500. :)

go daddy!

Daddy graduated from seminary last Saturday. Grandpa Gary, Grandma Rachel and aunt Chelsea came to join in the festivities.

It was meaningful to share the day with family, seminary friends, and mentors old and new.

Brent, one of Ryan's professors (last names omitted to protect people's privacy).

Peter, a former neighbor, a participant of many a (very late night) theological discussion, poetry readings, and Elijah's God father.

Pastor (and professor) Michael.

Pastor Jim, Ryan's internship supervisor.

sharing is caring

This video is a few weeks old, but it's so cute I just had to post it. Elijah will often share his milk with his stuffed animals, whether you ask him to or not. I am speaking Russian in this one, and here's the transcript for those of you who need it:

"Elijah, give the pig some milk! Give the pig some milk! {Sipping sounds.} Thank you! Thank you! Elijah, give the pig some milk! The pig is thirsty. {Sipping sounds.} Mmmm, so tasty! {More sipping sounds}. Mmmm, so tasty!"



Whenever Elijah is sharing his milk, he always puts the spout to the animal's mouth. His aim is so precise I am often amazed. When we asked Elijah to share his milk with the Cookie Monster, he put the spout to the Cookie Monster's... eyes! Knowing that is was not becuase of bad aim, it made us wonder if there was, perhaps, something unnatural about the Cookie Monster's facial features that left a little child confused. I wanted to capture it on video as well, but Elijah figured out what was going on soon enough. Just a couple hours later his Cookie Monster got to enjoy the milk like all the other animals, instead of having it poured into his eyes. :)

molers

Elijah's bottom molers came in about 3 or 4 weeks ago, but I had no time to blog. They are now completely out!

peanut butter

Elijah tried peanut butter yesterday for the first time with disastrous results. Here's the full story.

At 2:15 pm he ate a late lunch after a long nap. The lunch consisted of a half of peanut butter sandwich (no jelly :) ). Soon after that, Daddy came home and we were all hanging out together. Around 3:30 pm Elijah started acting funny. It looked like he was objecting to me sitting where Daddy usually sit when he is home. He was standing by my chair and whining. In another half an hour he started crying and clinging to me for no apparent reason. He'd get cozy in my arms sucking his thumb, then want to get down and play for a few minutes, then run back to me, ask to be picked up, cry in my arms, get cozy, suck his thumb, get down again. That went on for 20 minutes or so. We decided he must have been teething and gave him Tylenol, after which we packed up and went to church (Ryan was supposed to help clean out some closets and Elijah and I were invited to tag along for a free dinner). On the way to church, which is only about 2 miles, Elijah started sneezing continually. He must have sneezed 20 times or so. He kept it up at church for a while, so I was starting to think he was allergic to something in the air or was plain getting sick.

After running around the church and playing in the nursery for a while, we made our way back where Ryan with several other people were working. And then, all of a sudden, in front of our eyes, Elijah turned dark red and broke out in hives. First his ears, then his neck and shoulders were covered in white spots that eventually ran together and looked just terrible. One of the ladies working on the closets was a school nurse. She asked what he'd eaten that day, and it struck me: he'd never before had peanut butter! I meant to make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a few occasions, but never actually did. We had a jar of organic cashew butter, so I always gave him that instead of the sugary Skippy stuff. Then a few days ago I picked up a jar of organic peanut butter from Trader Joe's. That's what he had for lunch. People in the room gathered around and the school nurse said that this can be very serious and that we should go straight to the ER. Freaked out, we grabbed the child and rushed to the hospital, which was only about half a mile away. On the way there, even Elijah's eyelids got covered with hives.

The ER staff was (naturally) in no hurry to see us :). Elijah seemed to be in quite a bit of discomfort and screaming at the top of his lungs, but he was still breathing, so no one was to worried. By the time the triage nurse finally saw him, he was already doing better. Some benadryl also helped, although the reaction continued for several hours afterwards until he was given steroids.

At one point while waiting to see a doctor (all in all we spent 6 hours in the ER) I had to use a bathroom and overheard a woman talking on her cell phone, saying what sounded like, "He said he'd be back to shoot some more." I wasn't sure if I heard right, but it still sounded distressing. Turned out, shortly after 3 pm a man boarded a CTA bus about 5 miles from our house and opened fire. He shot five people, some of whom had been taken to the same hospital where we arrived at less than 2 hours later. When we were leaving shortly before 11 pm, the families, friends and classmates of those shot were still standing gathered in groups outside of the ER entrance. It was freaky going to the pharmacy at almost midnight to fill Elijah's prescription knowing the gunman was still out there somewhere.

Elijah is doing well today. He even recovered his appetite by the end of the day. And his skin is mostly clean except for a few spots where it was the worst yesterday. His airways didn't get constricted at any point, or at least as far as we know. But if you are visiting our home in the next few years, you may have to eat a cashew butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, as I am afraid even organic peanut butter will be banned for a while :).

first word

Remember the blog entry from February 22, 2006? Well, after all these months, "hi" has been officially declared as Elijah's first word. I am a little disappointed that his first word wasn't Russian, but I can't blame him for choosing a simple mono-syllabic word with only to letters. After all, many Russian words have 4 or more syllables and difficult consonant clusters. The formal "hello," for example, is zdravstvuyte. I can see how a simple "hi" would be more appealing.

At first it sounded like many other random sounds he made, but over time the timing and context became more and more fitting, and are now near perfect. I say "near" because sometimes he just can't wait and says "hi" when he hears the front door opening, before the person actually comes into the house. Or, when we pick Daddy up after work, he says "hi" as soon as he sees Ryan coming to the car, but before he actually opens the door and can hear and appreciate the greeting. But most of the time he says just at the right moment.

boyhood

After the first night back home Elijah woke up a different child. The change was almost palpable. He ran around the apartment happily squealing and jabbering and using new sounds, and being more vocal than ever before. We initially thought it was just because he was happy to be home. But the next day and the day after he was still "talking" away, and other signs made us believe that more has changed.

All of a sudden he started keeping eye contact for longer and is looking at us with more understanding. He responds to commands, like "Climb the chair" or "Give your bear some milk." He somewhat did that before, but it wasn't consistent.

His signs are maturing. The sign for "more" has evolved into its true shape instead of just clapping his hands; the sign for "eat" has migrated from his ear back to his mouth (very handy when you need to distinguish between "eat" and "sleep"); he is doing new signs like "flower" and is clearly trying others, although they are yet indistinguishable. But most animals are still "bears," except for "duck" and "pig," which look very close to "milk" when Elijah does them.

Another change is that now when you tell him to come here, he turns around and runs in the opposite direction! It is very cute. :) He went back to crawling and walking in the "bridge" position (on his hands and feet), but now he does it just for fun, as walking has been the primary way of getting from place to place for over two months now.

As I watched him play in the piles of sorted laundry last night, I thought that he hardly fit the term "baby" any more. He no longer strikes me as one. The best way I can find to describe this latest change is a transition from babyhood to boyhood.

post Russia

The first few days of being home are always hard. It was hard to be back in our apartment, to unpack the suitcases and pull out all the gifts that my parents and my aunt gave us. They brought back memories of just a few days ago when we were still there, but now we were so far away, across the ocean, in a completely different world. To add to all this, the weather turned cold, so even the distraction of being able to be outside was taken away.

What's worse, I kept thinking about my parents, especially my father, coming back to their apartment, which only moments ago was filled with the sound of little feet running, with toys still strewn around the floor, with our tea cups still sitting on the table, reminding them of what had been, but no longer was. With my father's health being the way it is, this might have been the last time we saw each other. This thought only made things harder. I wished I could do something for them, ease their pain somehow. Yet no matter how difficult it is to part, it is still better to have come and left than to never have come. I am just thankful that my aunt didn't have to leave for another few days, so my parents weren't totally alone during those first hardest hours.

We never really transitioned to Russian time, so coming back was much easier, although we all feel tired even several days later. Elijah sleeps in in the mornings, takes long naps, wants to go to bed early, and is still acting tired throughout the day.

more pictures from Russia

Here are some more pictures from the trip, since I can only post so much in the blog and still have it look good. :)

the only regret

Despite sleepless nights we had a great trip. Running to pick up Ryan's and Elijah's visas was the most "exciting" thing we had to do, and that was OK by us! If I have any regrets, it's that the trip was so short. I am sure my parents and my aunt would have loved to have us for longer, and I could have used more time to see friends. Since I haven't seen my Dad in 3.5 years, and since our time was so limited, it was reserved exclusively for my relatives. So, for those of you reading this in Russia, do not hold it against me that I didn't call you. I would have loved to see each and every one of you, and I hope that our next visit will be long enough to do just that.

going west

We left Russia early in the morning on April 2nd, after only 4 hours of sleep that night. My mom helped watch Elijah the evening before while we packed and then came to the airport with us in the morning. Elijah was so tired that he fell asleep in my arms before we ever boarded the plane to Paris. Interestingly enough, there was no such thing as pre-boarding for passengers with young children. Nice. Elijah slept through the whole flight and only woke up when we took him out of his seat in Paris.

We had a 4 hour lay over, which stretched to almost 8 hours. Fortunately, there was plenty of space for Elijah to run around in addition to a small play area for kids his age. He didn't get most of the puzzles there, but it did occupy him for a little bit. The rest of the time we took turns chasing him as he explored the "Alcohol and Tobacco" stand and ran around signs in circles. Having gold fish crackers along was also very helpful.

He took another nap at the airport, which is unheard of in our normal life. He doesn't easily go to sleep in unfamiliar places, even if they are dark and quiet. So to fall asleep in the middle of a noisy airport could only mean one thing: the child was completely exhausted from the previous week.

Our plane was overbooked as it was spring break time in Europe. They asked for volunteers to give up their seats, and we heard that there were people trying to leave Paris stuck their since the previous Thursday. There was not a single empty seat on our plane going to Chicago. And, it turned out there was not such thing as pre-boarding in Paris either.

Once on the plane, we sat on the ground for a while. Elijah fell asleep again. After about 45 minutes or so the plane sped up ready to take off. We were about to leave the ground when the breaks came on and we were all gald to have had our seat belts on. Another plane crossed the runway as we were speeding along it. It's a scary thought, but we were all probably pretty close to dying. After this we had to refuel, the airplane had to be checked, and we had to wait for the wheels to cool down. All in all, it took over an hour before we were finally on our way to Chicago. Elijah slept through it all, and so did I for the most part.

He woke up soon after we took off and stayed awake for about 4 hours (half the trip). Through most of that time he wanted to entertain himself by pushing against the seat in front of him with his feet. Knowing how annoying it is for the person in front of him, we tried to keep him from doing it. But the only way to stop him was to rub his feet and legs. So there we were, each rubbing a foot for almost 4 hours. That was the worst part of the trip. As soon as Elijah fell asleep again, we promptly turned on our TV's, thinking that he'd only sleep for a couple of hours like he did on the way to Russia. But he slept the rest of the trip. We watched Stranger Than Fiction, and enjoyed it tremendously. Ryan even watched it twice. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

doors and april fools

They say a man's home is his castle. The Russian version of the saying goes "My house - my castle." I thought of it often as we made our way up to my parent's apartment each day. In order to get to it we had to pass through five doors, four of them locked, plus throw in the elevator doors for good measure.

First, there is a large iron door leading into the apartment building itself. In order to open it you have to have a magnetic key. If you don't have one, you can buzz the apartment you are going to and they will open the door for you.

Then there's an old wooden door about 3 feet from the first one. It used to be locked instead of the first one when I was growing up, but that is no longer the case. I think it's a much better idea to have the very front door locked. I remember often being nervous in that tine area between the two doors when coming home in the dark (and it gets dark in St. Petersburg very early!)

Past this second door is the elevator. After reaching the 9th floor (there are 16 total), you'll find yourself in a small area with doors to your left and to your right. The door on the left leads to a garbage chute. But it is the door to the right that is much more interesting. Once again, it is iron. On the level of a person's head there's a square opening with iron bars across it. A long time ago when crime rates in Russia soared my dad helped put this together. If I am not mistaken, the small window and the bars were his idea. Perhaps he even helped procure the actual door from the steel-rolling plant where he was working at the time. Those were the times when you couldn't just go out and buy any door you liked. If you don't have a key to unlock this door, you can buzz your hosts, but this time they'll have to come to the door to unlock it from the other side, thus the window. Past this door you'll immediately run into another one. Both are locked with dead bolts. This second one wasn't there 3.5 years ago when I last visited my parents.

Having passed this double iron "gate," you'll find yourself in a curved hallway with apartment doors on one side. Sometimes these doors will also be iron and often double, but my parents' is a single one and wooden - there's not much to steal inside. But if that is what it takes to get into a poor man's house, I can't imagine what the rich have to do.

What a contrast it was to go through all these doors and think of a single wooden door with a large window that is sufficient for so many houses in the U.S. I wanted to take pictures of them all and post them here, but by the time I finally got my act together my camera ran out of batteries.

On April 1st, as we made our way to my parents' for the last time, we were trying to come up with a joke. We finally settled on having Ryan pose as a plumber when we buzzed my parents at the very first door. As my mom answered the call, Ryan dramatically cleared his throat and said, "Plumbing service!" (in Russian.) The only thing we heard of her response was, "What plumbing service?" Then the door opened, but not because she let us in. Someone else was coming out, and we were disconnected. Usually someone would be waiting for us on the 9th floor to open the double iron doors, but when we took up the elevator, no one was there. It took a while for someone to come out even after we rang the bell. My mom told us that she had no intention of opening that first door leading into the building, because all kinds of people pretend to be a plumber and try to get in when they have no business being in the building.

I am not sure who ended up being the April fool.

russian grandmas

My mother gave my father space to be with Elijah as much as he wanted. But there were things grandpa physically couldn't do, and that's where grandma stepped in. Even though grandpa made several meals for his grandson, grandma and her sister still did most of the cooking for the rest of us. They also bathed Elijah (he got to play in the big tub for the first time!) and helped him on the playground. But their favorite was to watch him sleep, although they woke him up each time they did that. :)

russian grandpa

My father made the most of his time with Elijah. He wanted to push the stroller each time we went on a walk. He wanted to feed Elijah each time he needed to eat. He got up each morning, went to the store and then cooked so that the food was ready by the time his grandson came over. He followed Elijah everywhere to make sure he didn't stick his fingers into electric plugs or pinched them in the doors. He taught him to turn off the lights. And he loved each and every minute of our visits. Perhaps none of it sounds that impressive unless you know that my father can no longer walk very well without a cane, can't lift anything heavy, does not work, and does not cook on a regular basis. Having Elijah over even for part of the day wore my dad out so much that he (a miracle!) slept all night long while we were there.

My father chose to go by Deda, a shortened version of a more traditional dedushka, although Elijah doesn't talk yet and thus it didn't really matter. But you don't have to talk to be able to have a relationship.



The real purpose of this trip was for my father to meet Elijah. My mother came to visit us last year and she can come again any time. But my father can't handle a trip over the ocean because of his health, and thus the only way for him to see his grandson was for us to come to Russia. Interacting with a small child brought true joy to my dad. I could see it in his face. He even told my mother one evening after we left that he wasn't sure he could handle all these "positive emotions." It was a blessing to see grace poured out unto my father through a little child. Elijah didn't care about grandpa's mistakes or issues. He loved grandpa the way grandpa was, without reservation, without a second thought, the way only a child can. He broke the darkness of a broken man with the light of his blue eyes and his irresistible smile. He brought laughter and life to a man consumed by addiction, even if only for six short days. That is what I was hoping for and that is why we went, so my dad could receive grace from God through a little boy. And grandpa responded. No, he did not change. He was the same man carrying all his baggage. But his best qualities shone through. His care and love for Elijah was evident. He turned out to be a better grandpa than I ever hoped.

pancakes with cheese

Our second day in Russia we had to go pick up Ryan's and Elijah's passports. The company that was taking care of visa registrations was located on the main street, Nevsky. We were running a little late and Ryan and I had to hurry up to make it there in time. After we picked up the passports, we felt like celebrating. One of the things we wanted to make sure we did while in St. Petersburg was to eat pancakes with melted cheese inside at a place where we used to buy them during our last trip to Russia. We were very close to that place, so off we went. Sure enough, it was still there. We bought a pancake and some kvas. Ryan was hoping to eat it all by himself, but Elijah looked interested, and ended up eating quite of bit of Daddy's treat. Later that week we had more of this company's pancakes at a different location. My favorite this trip was a pancake with mushrooms and cream. Yum! Delicious!

two languages

My parents and my aunt got a kick out of the fact that Elijah understood two languages. They would ask me to say something to him in Russian, and then they would want Ryan to say the same thing in English, and each time they would be thrilled to see that Elijah responded the same way. For example, I'd ask him if he wanted more of something, and he'd sign "more". Then Ryan would ask the same thing, and he'd sign "more" again. At one point my Dad started saying Elijah's name in English and was amazed to see that he turned around and looked up at him. He did it over and over again, and Elijah kept turning around each time.

sleeping in Russia

Unlike eating, sleeping wasn't something we were able to do a whole lot. When we travel, we usually have to let Elijah sleep between us in the same bed. The first three nights Elijah would wake up in the middle of the night and want to play, because it was late afternoon in Chicago. We would pretend to be asleep, and he'd crawl all over us, coo, jabber, and show no signs of going back to sleep any time soon. Those were the times when I thought, "Why did we do this again?" When he did sleep, he was a space hog, so neither Ryan nor I were able to get very comfortable. During the day, however, he'd be really tired and often nap on our way to or from my parents. He would also nap in the stroller when we took walks, although I can't imagine that he was very comfortable doing that.

eating in Russia

Eat was something we did a lot. It all started on the plane over the Atlantic Ocean. We boarded around 5 pm and had our dinner around 7 pm. Then we had "breakfast" around midnight. Then we had a third full meal on our second flight. Thus, by the time it was morning in Chicago we have had a couple extra meals.

While in St. Petersburg, our regular eating times were so messed up that we felt hungry at odd times for just a minute or two, and I personally never felt full. We usually ate something before going to my parents, then ate a couple of times at their place, and then ate with our hosts back at the place where we slept. And let me tell you, these were no small meals. They were often several course affairs. In between the meals there was the ubiquitous tea with desert and, of course, conversation.

No matter how much you eat in Russia, your host will never be satisfied. They'll keep adding food to your plate until you are ready to pass out. And when you do pass out, they'll fill your plate again. After one of such meals I overheard my mother commenting to my aunt, "They aren't eating anything!"

The menu at my parents' was different every day, and included all my favorite dishes:

• Borsch (beat soup)
• Mushroom soup (made with dried mushrooms)
• Russian dark rye bread
• Salo (frozen salted pig fat - I haven't had any in 10 years!)
• Kvas (fermented bread drink)
• Russian salami
• Kefir (a kind of yogurt, but better :))
• Russian pancakes
• Syrniki (small pancakes made from a kind of farmer's cheese)
• Fried eggplant loaded with raw garlic
• Pelmeni (Russian dumplings)
• Pickled herring (if you ask me, it's much better than Swedish :))
• Lamb stew made in clay pots (my Dad's signature dish)
• Feijoa jam
• Buckwheat

We brought home a couple loaves of the rye bread, but I am not sharing!

bus #6

Every morning we got up and made our way from the place where we were staying to my parents' apartment. We tried the metro once, but it proved to be too difficult trying to squeeze into the train cars with a baby, two backpacks and a stroller. Fortunately, there was a bus going from where we lived almost to the door of my parents' apartment. Each morning we took the bus there, taking up the entire back row of four seats with all of our stuff. Each evening we took the bus back. And since we took the bus so often and mostly at the same times, we started recognizing the drivers. One of the drivers smoked all the time, so we hated his bus. Unfortunately, his was the bus we rode most of the time.

dogs and ducks

My parents met us at the airport together with a friend of ours Leonid Regheta (he and his wife hosted us while we were in Russia; my parents' place is too small for all of us). Once at their apartment, Ryan and Leonid took off to turn in Ryan's and Elijah's passports to be registered with the Russian authorities (required by law), while the rest of us went for a walk in the neighborhood park. It was still pretty cold in Russia. My Dad wanted to push the stroller. He's been dreaming of it ever since we started planning the trip.



Once at the park, we saw a woman walking a couple dogs. My Dad stopped and was pointing them out to Elijah, "Look, Elijah, a doggy!" Now, my father is not a big fan of diminutives. On many occasions while growing up I heard him speak against using the diminutive suffixes which abound in the Russian language. True to himself, he immediately corrected himself, "Actually, there's no need to say doggy. Just a dog. Dog. All these diminutives are unnecessary!"

A few minutes later we approached a pond. A couple of ducks we swimming in it. My Dad turned the stroller so Elijah could see, and said, "Look, Elijah, a ducky!" (He used a diminutive for "Elijah" as well). I just chuckled to myself, but didn't say anything. :)

the first surprise

Passport control held the first surprise. The officer (a woman - I've never seen a man in that position in Russia) did the most unexpected and surprising thing. If you've travelled to Russia, you'll share my amazement. She smiled at me! And no, I was not holding the baby, he'd already gone through with his Dad, so the smile was intended for me.

In addition, the customs official was friendly! Well, how about that!

going east

The trip started on Sunday evening, March 25th. After a quick lunch, final packing, and a half-an-hour search for Elijah's sippy cup, we were off to the airport. We each had a seat, as Elijah is too big for the bassinet (known as the skycot) provided by Air France for children under two years of age. We did not want to hold Elijah on our laps the whole time, so we had to pay up and get him a seat. We were hoping to be seated in the front row so that he wouldn't kick the back of the seat in front of him, and so that he could stand a little if he got tired of sitting in his car seat. It turned out that those front seats are pretty much impossible to get even if you are flying with a baby, although all the airline agents I spoke with before the flight assured me that they are reserved for people like us. Yeah, right. After having been stuck in the middle of a plane both ways, and a couple adventures during lay overs in Paris, Air France has ceased to be our favorite airline.

Elijah normally doesn't go to sleep easily unless he is in his crib. The trip to Russia was no exception. Instead of going to "bed" around 6 pm as he would at home, he didn't fall asleep for a while. He ate dinner shortly after we boarded, and then signed that he was ready to go to sleep. We confirmed with signs and words that it indeed was time to sleep and Daddy even sang our regular night time song into his ear. However, it turned out that when Elijah signs "sleep," he means something like, "Take me to my crib, lay me down, turn off the lights, and leave me in a quiet room." He continued to sign "sleep" and look at us inquiringly for several hours.

At some point during this exchange of "sleep" sign, when Elijah seemed ready to actually fall asleep, our dinner arrived. He smelled the food and wanted us to share. We did. He liked the chick peas. But the second dinner gave him extra energy and it wasn't until 9 pm that he actually fell asleep. In the meantime, he happily cooed, played with his feet, and played a French version of "peek-a-boo" with the flight attendant, who had a 15-months old at home.

Once Elijah fell asleep, Ryan and I turned on a movie and watched "Casino Royale." As soon as the movie was over, Elijah went into the REM phase of sleep. He tried to get comfortable, arched his back, realized that he was strapped in, opened his eyes, saw the dark airplane, and... SCREAMED. He screamed for quite a while. A few minutes into it I picked him up and walked towards the bathrooms where there was a little more space to stand and move around. The area freaked him out. He screamed louder. After about half and hour he calmed down enough for us to return to our seats. He then sat and eventually fell asleep in my lap, while the car seat happily continued the journey empty, occupying the expensive spot we paid for that no longer carried its intended passenger. Elijah slept for the rest of the trip, while flight attendants went by and pointed him out to each other. No surprises here, he is adorable when he is asleep. :)

Our layover in Paris was only an hour long, so we hurried to get to our next plane. If you've ever had to switch planes in Paris, you'll know that you have to take a bus to go from one terminal to the other. Not my favorite. Standing in line with a squirmy kid in my arms for 40 minutes to get through security wasn't my favorite either. Neither was dealing with an overtired child for the first hour and a half of the flight to St. Petersburg. Fortunately, he fell asleep and slept for the second half of the plane ride.

And so it goes that we landed in St. Petersburg around 3 pm on Monday, March 26th. All of our luggage made the transfer during the one hour layover in Paris.

best russia trip ever

We are back on the west side of the Atlantic ocean after a whirlwind of a trip to Russia and back. We were on the ground for full six days. During some uncertainty before the trip, we would joke and say to each other that this trip has a potential to be our best Russia trip ever. That wouldn't be too had since our last two trips were mostly a disaster, so things could only get better. (The first time all of Ryan's money was stolen the first day after our arrival, and the second trip is known as "the passports adventure" or, more accurately, "the passports nightmare", but I don't want to dwell on that here). And our best Russia trip ever it was! But, let's take it in order.

are we crazy?

Are we crazy to take a fifteen months old on a 13 hour plane ride to Russia? Hm... We'll let you know how it went when we are back in a week. It'll be a quick trip to see my parents and my aunt (who will make a 48 hour journey on a train to see us).

fifteen (and a half) months check up

Weight: 27 lbs 3.5 oz
Height: 32.5 inches

cold food

Elijah is not feeling well these days. We are not sure if he is sick, or if he is teething, or both. Regardless of the cause, when he is not feeling well, he does not eat. He won't even eat cheese! We did, however, stumble into a couple of things he consented to consume. Yesterday it was cold whole wheat noodles. Today - green beans (warm for lunch, cold for dinner).

hamsters

When Elijah doesn't want to eat something, he closes his eyes (or just leaves tiny slits open) and shakes his head so as to make it difficult for us to aim for his mouth. On the first day of our visit to Michigan, DeAnna, a 10 year old animal lover, brought up one of her 5 hamsters to show to Elijah. As she brought it closer to his face to make sure he got a good look, Elijah closed his eyes and shook his head, as if saying, "No, thank you, I really don't want a hamster for dinner!"

A couple days later, another hamster made an appearance in the living room. DeAnna put a towel on the floor to protect the carpet. Elijah didn't care much for the hamster, but he did want to be on the towel as if it was layed out for him!

hello ducky

My good friend Doris invented this game for Elijah one morning while we were visiting them in Michigan about a week ago, and it was an immediate hit! The first time the game was played, we thought Elijah would go on forever! Doris was afraid she'd have to sit there for the next ten hours saying "Hello Ducky! Good-bye Ducky!", and rightly so. Below is but a short snippet of how the game is played.

baby piano

Not a Mozart yet, but you have to start somewhere.

puppies

While visiting friends and family in Michigan last week, we had an outing at the pet store. Looks like at least some of the puppies recognized Elijah to be of about the same age, and Elijah definitely enjoyed running up and down the isle. Meanwhile, I am enjoying not having to carry my 27 lbs son everywhere we go.

box climbing

Climbing a box may not be very exciting for an adult, but it's enough of a challenge for a baby to keep him occupied for a while. And even though I don't personally get into box climbing that much, I do enjoy watching someone else do it. :)

yummy blueberries

Elijah loves blueberries. It was a love from first taste. Even when he refused to eat during his teething bout (to the point where we were wondering if he had simply forgotten how to sign "more"), he asked for more blueberries as soon as he tasted them. Fresh are preferable (and he is a blessed boy to have fresh blueberries in the middle of February), but he'll settle for dried in a heartbeat as well.

Today was a day of snacks. He recently mastered the sign for "eat", and is now in control of when he gets a snack. He started asking for snacks in the morning, shortly after breakfast, and had two by lunch time. First we indulged in some graham crackers, but the second snack consisted entirely of dried blueberries. Well... almost.

As I sat on the couch and he proudly walked back and forth, he'd come back signing "more" every time he'd finish chewing a mouthful of blueberries, and sometimes way earlier. At some point he decided to "ride a horse" on my leg. As I rocked him up and down and he giggled with a mouthful of blueberries, something small fell out onto my knee. I picked it up and put it back into his mouth. Then I thought it was weird that the thing was somewhat whitish-greenish, like the inside of a fresh blueberry, except it was a little hard, like a proper self-respecting dried blueberry should be. And then it hit me. It was a booger! It must have fallen out of his nose. And I fed it to him!!

Perhaps it was merely coincidental that he did not ask for any more blueberries after that :) .