Sophia & Babushka

Sophia & babushka Nina


Bonding at sunset


3 generations of women: grandmother Nina, daughter Lena, & granddaughter Sophia (One blood running in our veins, very different physical looks. No outsider would believe we were related!)


Babushka helping Sophia walk


The girls in the garden

Ever since coming back for another visit, my Mom has fallen in love with Sophia all over again. She loves her chubby rolls & soft curly hair. Gerritt is still in his "Mommy" stage right now, which left babushka no choice but to form a close bond with Sophia. Plus Sophia is such a pretty girl, small & gentle (she reminds me of a delicate flower); it's hard not to fall in love with her. My Mom just can't get enough of Sophia & insists on doing everything for her: sleeping next to her crib every night (a welcome break for my hubby); feeding, bathing, dressing & playing with her.
Sophia learned how to give kisses recently - all one needs to do is ask. "Kiss, kiss, Sophia!" or "Potselui, potselui, Sophia (Russian for kiss)!", & she leans towards you & plants a gentle kiss somewhere on your face. She also knows how to open all of the kitchen drawers & a garbage can; loves to play with electronic gadgets including a TV remote & a phone; & is walking by herself more often while holding on to the wall, a chair or a toy car/wagon. Sophia is very talkative & her favorite words are "Papa" (Russian for Daddy), "Amah!" (Russian for "I'm hungry"), "Nana" (banana), & "Cayou" (name of her favorite Caillou cartoon character). The things she is afraid of are textured objects such as a bumpy frog or a hairy lion (we actually had to hide this touch-and-feel book), a picture of the Siamese cat (also hid that one), crawling bugs or flying insects, her vibrating teething toy (present from her nanny Irina), & tall dark men (sorry, Trader Joe's crew member). Go figure... We finally weaned Sophia off her pacifier (no more photos of her with a binky clipped to her clothes). It was a difficult time for all of us when she was sick last since she did a lot of mouth breathing due to nasal congestion. The good news is that she couldn't use her pacifier any more, so we used this perfect opportunity to get rid of it forever.
What is new with Gerritt? Let me see... We took him out of his Russian daycare for good last week. First, for monetary reasons; second, he hasn't made much progress in his potty training while going there. My work hours have been reduced significantly due to the economy (cancelled shifts at the hospital & frequent low census hours at the clinic due to reduced patient volume), so it didn't make financial sense anymore to pay for outside childcare while having a full-time nanny at home. We are also so tired of changing Gerritt's dirty diapers, so having an attentive nanny with an egg timer (thanks to my husband for the idea!) might be just what he needs. Gerritt learned how to open doors (by twisting the door knobs) a couple of months ago. His favorite TV show is the Caillou cartoon. He also loves to do his Cars movie floor puzzle several times a day (it's a must before going to bed). It is pretty complex, & Gerritt learned to do it unassisted surprisingly fast. If only he could master using the potty as well...
The 1st week with my Mom is always the roughest. Here are some of the things we differ on:

- Turning an AC on or standing in front of it (like Gerritt likes to do) will give you pneumonia.
- Children must keep their feet warm at all times (that means wearing socks & shoes even on a hot summer day).
- Eating ice cream too fast will give you a strep throat. Everything the children eat must be served at room temperature.
- Allowing Gerritt to try on my jewelry & big feminine hats may cause him to become gay.

After a week of constant arguing my husband & I usually give up & just let my Mom do things her own way (sigh...). Only 8 more days to go until we have our house & family back. :-)