Today we had a perfect family Sabbath. We all got up at 8 am, had breakfast and dressed up for church. Troy wore the sweater and one of the ties that Carol and I gave him a couple of birthdays ago; Alexei had his white shirt, red vest and tie on; and I wore my new green, white and black dress with black boots. I also curled my hair using Keri’s hot rollers. Then, at five minutes to ten we walked to church and we got there just in time for Alexei’s Sabbath School. He was an extremely good boy during the program. He sat obediently on his chair, returned things when needed and sat on my lap eating the gold fish they passed around during the adult lesson. During church he was good too. He was happy to sit on Deric’s and Keri’s laps, play, clap and talk during prayers. Only at the end of the service did Troy have to take him out to help regain the good behavior.

When church was over, we walked back home. We had some lunch, except for Alexei. He was tired and after a couple of bites I put him in bed for a two hour nap. Troy napped too, and I designed three cards (two birthdays and one wedding) to give out during the month of March using my PrintPerfect program . As soon as the nap was over, we dressed warmly and with a couple of grapes for Alexei’s snack, we all went to Lake Artemesia to catch the last hour of Sabbath light. It was rather cold and the place was deserted. Alexei enjoyed watching the ducks and geese in the water; other birds, airplanes, and helicopters in the air; and the Metro train zooming nearby. Plus, we couldn’t get away without our favorite past-time of throwing sticks in the water. As the darkness approached and it became colder, we walked quickly to the car and drove to eat at the Olive Garden restaurant.

We had so much fun watching Alexei eat. He sat in his highchair throughout our entire meal. I ordered Eggplant Parmesan for myself, Fettucini Alfredo with the sauce on the side from the kids’ menu for Alexei, and some bread/cheese/tomato appetizer. In addition to all this, we got two bowls of salad and breadsticks (it came with the meal). So, Alexei had fun with his food. He loved the olives from the salad, which he ate after putting on his fingers, croutons from the salad, and his pasta in the sauce. He drank water (using a straw), but only when I drank from my glass. He drew a little bit on the paper with the crayons the restaurant provided. This time he got an orange and blue colored crayons. He also flirted with the people at the table behind us. We all loved the food, got our leftovers wrapped up in two boxes to go, paid for everything with the two gift cards that Aunt Vera and Cheerie Lou gave us for Christmas and went to the mall across the street.

At PG Plaza, Alexei had a ton of fun and I am sure that the people who watched him did too. He went running and laughing and talking in the main hallway. He did not like us going into different stores, but at the end we went into JC Penny and Daddy bought Mommy a sleeveless blouse for $32 and change. Leaving the store made both Alexei and Mommy very happy. I am not so sure about how Daddy felt. Oh well, Mommy has a beautiful outfit finally complete. She has a woolen cream color skirt with a tanktop and sweater that match and look just gorgeous (on her too)! Thank you Daddy!

When we got home, I gave Alexei a quick bath, he ate some more, we brushed our teeth, read a couple of books and I put him to bed. Troy took the dirty diapers out, cleaned the kitchen a little and now, after I finish this blog entry we are going to watch an episode of “Mad Men!” What a wonderful day we had!

Well, I get to catch up on what Alexei is up to now…. Tomorrow will be one week since my mom went back home after spending exactly four weeks with us. We all had a great time together for sure. I am so glad Alexei got to play, go for walks and make friends with her. My mom even got to feed him, give him a bath and put him to bed by herself a couple of times. Every day started with Alexei waking my mom up (and us too) by talking. When she got him out of his crib, he would always bring slippers for her to put on. And no day went by without drawing at least ten times a day. Thank goodness my mom did not mind it at all!

My mom and Alexei got to experience some good snow for the first time here in Takoma Park. We even got out Alexei’s own small snow shovel to clean the walkway to our front door. Yep, now he is a big boy and wants to do what mommy does and wants to help me all the time. I always give him something to do that is similar to what I am doing at that moment. This way he does not feel like I am ignoring him; instead, we do things together. Today I was washing the floor and gave him a wet sponge. I did not even have to teach him what to do - he just watched me and did the same thing. He was not in my way and it was the best help from him I could ever wish for right now.

An even bigger help from him is putting trash in a trash can. He has got that down really well. He also helps to set the spoons at the table before we eat and bring them back to the kitchen after the meal. Another of his growing-up achievements is getting on and off the couch without anybody’s help.

But I think the best one out of all of his new achievements is going to bed. I used to dread evenings and the time to put him to bed. I used to nurse him until he fell asleep, sometimes falling asleep with him. Then I would carefully put him in his crib and leave his room on tiptoes. If he happened to wake up, I had to start all over again. Sometimes it took up to two hours to put him to sleep. Now, it is a totally different story. I have a new strategy, a big part of which is that I have totally stopped breastfeeding him. I must have learned from Troy the magical skill of just putting him in his crib while he is still awake and leaving him there covered by his blanket, talking to his imaginary friends. Eventually he falls asleep on his own and it takes me absolutely no time to do this!

One thing I miss though is that now I can’t cuddle with him and rock him to sleep even for a minute. The thing is he is so big now and he doesn’t feel comfortable at all in the rocking chair with me or just in my hands. He even points at his bed telling me to put him there. And when I do, he lays very still while I cover him with a blanket and slowly drifts off into dreamland.

Well, it is not all that bad. I still get my share of hugs, slobber and even bites from him. When we were playing this evening, he suddenly stopped playing with his trains, asked me to sit on the floor and then our silly game began. He sat and laid on me, we rolled all over the floor, he would run away and than back and literally crash on me. And throughout the whole game he giggled and laughed. He especially likes to do that before bath when we let him run around in his diaper only.

After a bath, or any other time when he wants me to read books to him (before naps would be another time like that) he takes my hand and pulls me to the rocking chair. He takes a book or two, gives them to me, then taps me on my lap asking to get up. He loves it - sitting on my lap, looking at the books, asking “это?” which means “what is this?” Or I ask him “show me a dog” or any other animal in the book, or “what does the cow say?” (in Russian of course). I don’t always get the correct answer, or even any answer at all, but the times when I do, Alexei and I both are very happy.

Outside there are two of Alexei’s favorite things - swinging and throwing rocks and sticks into the creek. He loves to swing so much that if I didn’t take him out, he would stay there for ever. And no walk outside is complete without throwing stuff into the water. Long before we reach the water, Alexei collects sticks and rocks and then by the water he keeps throwing them. I have to find a really good reason to leave the throwing place and go do something else.

Well, here we are: bringing slippers, getting on/off the couch and going to bed easily (thanks in part to not breastfeeding anymore) - these are the new achievements of our growing son!