Happy 5-year Wedding Anniversary!

Beautiful peonies from our back yard in time for celebration


Happy anniversary, Mommy!


Gerritt discovered a new way to eat banana :-)

It's hard to believe we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary today! Where did the time go? We've certainly accomplished much in these short 5 years - owning 3 different residencies; having 2 children back to back & surviving their all-consuming & exhausting first years; I received my graduate degree & have been slowly transitioning from working as an acute care hospital nurse to practicing as a Nurse Practitioner. We've grown as a married couple &, although we have very little alone time, we are happy to have our young family. I can't even remember my life before the kids. Sure, I miss those relatively carefree times, but my sadness doesn't last for long.

Flashback to our 1st year wedding anniversary in 2006. Life was simpler back then.

For our anniversary we've decided to venture out on our first date in the past 1.5 years at the El Gaucho restaurant. Our wonderful nanny Irina agreed to work past 6 pm today, & we've arranged for both of the kids to be at playground prior to us leaving to minimize the tears. The plan was for us to be out & about till 9 pm & then return to a quiet house with both of the kids sleeping. Unfortunately, it was not to be. We took Gerritt's stuffed dog with us by accident, so we couldn't relax knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep without it. A quick call to Irina confirmed Gerritt's crying & panicking for 20 or so minutes while trying to open the front door in order to drive back to daycare to pick up his dog (which we've done once in the past). Music, delicious food, beautiful setting & corteous service were not enough to keep us from missing the kids. We couldn't stay out for long & were back home by 8 pm. It has been a while since we've received such a warm reception - smiling faces & multiple hugs & kisses from both of the kids. Gerritt & Sophia both tried to sit on my lap simultaneously & I almost fell. :-)
For an anniversary present, my husband & I got ourselves a high quality photo camera - Sony DSLR-A230. I am looking forward to learning more about its special features.
Gerritt's reading list for the past few weeks included:

Edwina the Emu by S. Knowles & R. Clement
Edward the Emu by S. Knowles & R. Clement
The Dog Who Cried Wolf by K. Kasza
When Sheep Sleep by L. Numeroff
Chicka Chicka 123 by B. Martin, M. Sampson, L. Ehlert
Spot's First Walk by E. Hill
Spot's Walk in the Woods by E. Hill
Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse by L. B. George (Gerritt's favorite)

It's Father's Day on Sunday!

Gerritt's Crush

Gerritt & Luly snuggling on the couch


Gerritt & Luly playing with cars in the back yard


Building a block tower together


Gerritt & Luly playing with Spike (with Sophia being the 3rd wheel :-))


Gerritt loves to play with my jewelry box & this is often the end result

Gerritt has been making some funny & at the same time cute statements lately such as, "Don't worry, Mommy." Or, "I love my doggy! My doggy is so happy!", while hugging & kissing it. Or, "Look, Mommy, I don't have a fever!", while touching his forehead (when asked whether he was ill). We have this ritual where I kneel down on the floor & he runs into my open arms yelling, "I love Mommy!!!" He also says, "This one for Mommy! This one for Gerritt!" while giving me his old stuffed dog (it's a girl according to him) & taking the new one for himself (it's a boy). Gerritt has named his boy dog Tobby (after one of the book characters).
Recently Gerritt has developed a crush on his 5-year-old Romanian neighbor Luly. He insists on seeing her as often as he can, which is almost every evening. Usually, when Gerritt gets home from daycare around 6 pm, he & I walk over to Luly's house across the street. Sometimes he plays at her house for a while, but more often than not they both end up back at our place. They do projects together like building a tower out of paper blocks, riding bikes or cars outside, or playing with miniature plastic animals. They dance; they hold hands; they wrestle or jump on the floor mattress; & run outside in our back yard. It can be anything as long as they are together. Gerritt has told me several times, "I love her!" I am not sure he fully understands the implications of his love declaration, but I think what he's trying to convey is that he really likes spending time with Luly. I was pleasantly surprised to observe how attentive & patient Gerritt was with her (certainly impressive for a 2.5-year-old boy who is normally very possessive of his toys!). He is learning a lot about women, since Luly happens to be a big drama queen & can burst into tears when she doesn't get her way. I often hear, "Don't cry, Luly!", "Do you want this?", "Do you like this?", "Here you go, Luly!" If we give Gerritt any snacks, he'll make sure to share with Luly (WITHOUT our prompting). Poor Sophia is not the object of Gerritt's affections, however, so she often gets pushed & hit on the head with a toy or stick resulting in a time-out for Gerritt & hugs for Sophia. :-( Gerritt is growing up to be a fine young gentleman! Too bad, Luly will be moving away soon. I am already sad for Gerritt.
His list of favorite books from the past couple of weeks includes:

Nicky and the Rainy Day by Valeri Gorbachev
Bye-Bye, Big Bad Bullybug! by Ed Emberley
The Foggy Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt (Gerritt's favorite)
Where is Spot? by Eric Hill
There is an Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer

I can tell that all of our nightly readings have enriched his vocabulary greatly. I surely hope he will love books & reading as much as I did when I was little. More library trips to come!

Sophia's Newly Mastered Skills

Sophia & Irina at the Bellevue Square


No more bottle-holding for Daddy!



Sophia is growing up! This week she has mastered 4 new skills. She can now drink from a bottle all by herself (while holding it at a right angle with both hands). She just started drinking diluted apple juice one day, & I was so shocked I immediately took the photo above. Sophia can also wave bye-bye, & it is so adorable to see her chubby hands waving in the air when I leave for work in the mornings. She has been waving bye-bye for a couple of months, but it's consistent now (that's why I consider this skill mastered). She also takes a great delight in feeding me things. The blueberries happen to be her favorite snack, so we had this feeding session when one blueberry went into her mouth & the next one into my mouth & so on. Then she began feeding me everything on the plate laughing happily every time I opened my mouth & ate a blueberry. It appears Sophia enjoys her newly found mothering trait. :-) She can also get on & off the mattress safely. She used to fall off the mattress all the time. Now she turns herself in proper position (feet facing the mattress's edge) & then gets off the mattress slowly. No more accidents for Sophia! I feel compelled to write everything down (I wish my parents did). These first few childraring years are hard work, but they go by so fast. Before we know it, we'll be looking back at our kids' first baby steps with nostalgia (I know I will). :-)

Russian Style Beet Salad

This salad is simple to make, & people are often surprised that beets may be prepared this way. Most Americans are used to the pickled sliced beets sold in jars. This salad is festive & is sure to brighten any holiday table.

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 medium-sized beets
2-3 cloves of crushed garlic (more or less to taste, or whatever your family can tolerate :-))
A handful of chopped walnuts
3-4 tablespoons of mayonnaise (I use the High Omega-3 Vegenaise since I can't tolerate eggs or dairy)
Salt to taste
Decorate with a few sprigs of fresh parsley or sprinkle chopped parsley on top

Boil the beets until tender (a knife should go through them with ease). Cool the beets, peel, then chop them up in a food processor (be careful not to overdo it & create a beet mush). Add garlic & walnuts. Dress with mayonnaise, then decorate with parsley. It tastes best after being chilled in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Side notes:
Why eat beets? Beets have the highest sugar content of all vegetables, yet they are low in calories. They are rich in folate, manganese, potassium, vitamin C & dietary fiber. This colorful root vegetable contains powerful nutrient compounds to protect against heart disease, birth defects & certain cancers (especially that of the colon) as well as to decrease inflammation. The pigment that gives beets their rich, purple color is betacyanin - a powerful cancer-fighting agent.
Since beet juice can stain your skin, wearing kitchen gloves is a good idea when handling beets. If your hands become stained during the cleaning & cooking process, simply rub some lemon juice on them to remove the stain.

Gerritt's Zoo Trip - Day 2

The gorillas (mother & baby)


Gerritt kissing gorilla's bronse statue


The lemurs


A beautiful bird from the tropics


Gerritt hugging a fox's statue (He is quite affectionate!)


Feeding of the penguins


A parrot


Another ride on the carousel

We had so much fun visiting the zoo on Sunday, Gerritt & I decided to do it again 2 days later (thanks to the free yearly pass provided by Gerritt's Russian daycare owner Tamara). Sophia stayed at home with her nanny Irina, allowing us a certain kind of freedom.
We've spent about 3.5 hours this time & explored a different part of the zoo. It is impossible to see all of the exhibits in one day due to the zoo's size, so another day of exploration is a must. We visited the African savanna again (my favorite part of the zoo) where we saw gorillas including the baby & zebras. We were in the rain forest where we observed all kinds of exotic birds in a sauna-like environment. We saw the beautiful peacock once more (he was in a different part of the zoo, looks like he moves around). Gerritt really wanted to see the meerkat exhibit again, so we've spent about 20 minutes observing & laughing at them (they are just adorable!).
The new animals we saw on this trip were kangaroos & emu birds (both from the Australian continent). We visited the endangered snow leopard & the lemurs. We also visited the bird sanctuary full of strikingly colored parrots. I even bought a bird seed feeding stick, which resulted in one parrot sitting on my shoulder & another one on my arm. Gerritt was too afraid to hold the bird seed stick, so he just observed from a distance.
We took a couple of rides on the historic carousel & then spent some time observing the feeding of the penguins. After scrumptious lunch we headed back home for another long nap in the afternoon. Gerritt insisted on walking everywhere at the zoo so fell asleep easily & without his usual book reading. Another fun day to get summer off to the right start!