Thanksgiving Day Weekend

Wew, the holiday season is upon us. It all started last Thursday with the International Turkey Day, aka the Thanksgiving. Last year it was just Chris and I. This year, we had Mark and also my brother, Arkadiy, came down from New York. Also, this year the T-day fell right on his B-day - a double whammy that called for double the food, at least in my mind. So we went grocery shopping and got this 15-lb grain-fed, free-range, hormone-free turkey and a bunch of other stuff from the Whole Foods.

This year I made Dried Plums and Rosemary Roasted Turkey, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, double-baked sweet potatoes, ginger-flavored green beans, mushroom and cerely stuffing, and ginger and pear muffins. And Chris baked two loaves of bread - zuccinni and pumpkin and a pear and cranberry pie. And of course, I made a big bowl of Chris's favorite salad (the one with Jello and mini marshmellows).

We decided to have a dinner instead of a more traditional lunch. So we had a lot of time in the morning to wake up and get ready, cook all the food, and go on a walk around Lake Crabtree and collect pretty leaves. Mark really enjoyed the walk. We found tons of leaves, some of which I kept to decorate the table with and some - gave to Mark to play with.

So the dinner was ready and the table was set. Then we proceeded to stuff ourselves silly with all the food. Here we are, pigging out... We had to take a break before eating the pie 'cause we were so full. And then we went back to our Thanksgiving duty of eating... And of course, we sang a Happy B-Day song for my brother. We didn't have birthday candles, so we gave him a lighter to hold and then made sure to take our time singing, hehe. All in all, it was great!

Mark also got some holiday food. We gave him small pieces of turkey and some mashed potatoes and some sweet potatoes. He especially liked the mashed potatoes - got them all over himself. That's what he does with the food that he likes very much. And he likes a lot of different kinds of foods. So meal times are pretty much always followed by bath times. Check out Mark's new bath robe! Doesn't he look totally cool?

The next day it was very-very cold, but still sunny. Chris had to do tons of homework and Arkadiy and I took Mark on a walk around the lake. Mark had to wear his "Buzz Aldrin" space suit. Other than it being cold, it was a fine day - sunny and calm. Also, since most people were either shopping or eating left-overs, the trail around the lake was almost empty. And, more importantly, there were plenty of empty rocking chairs at the boat house for after the walk. And the birds - ducks and geese - were close to the little sandy beach, waiting to be fed.

It was a tough weekend for our cat, Xander. For some reason he is very scared of Arkadiy. I mean, the very second my brother walked through the front door, Xander started hissing and growling. Then he ran upstairs and stayed there for 2 days. He wouldn't even come down to eat or drink and Chris had to bring him downstairs to the kitchen at night. I mean, Xander never really liked Arkadiy, but this time it was really ridiculous. What the heck? Today was absolutely dreadful. We tried going on walk even though it was very cold. But less than 5 minutes into our walk it started to rain and we went back to the car. So we stayed in the house, Mark - playing, Arkadiy - on Internet, Chris - studying, and I - doing stuff around the house. Then, after Arkadiy left, we went to a mall for a walk and then - to Ben&Jerry's, of all places, for some Chocolate Therapy.

Big News

1. Mark's now got 5 teeth!!! Yes, the 3rd tooth poked out just as we were leaving for Greenville. The 4th one - literally a couple of days later, as we were heading home to Raleigh. And today we got another tooth! This little baby is like a little alligator now! Mark, the Shark!

2. Mark plays with the wire labyrinth and guides little wooden beads along the wires. Why is it so exciting? First of all, it's really cute to see him figuring things out. Second, it's amazing how his little hands and fingers get more and more capable. Just a few months ago he had hard time holding a toy! As a side note here - he reaches for 2 toys at once now. They don't even have to lay terribly close to each other. He grabs both and plays with them (usually smacks them together).

3. Mark is learning to stand! This is probably the most exciting news of them all. Yes, he still doesn't crawl. But he stands! Today he progressed far enough in his standing that he can now stand for a few seconds grabbing onto something like a crib rail and without our support. With our support he can stand for a few minutes at a time! He seems to really like standing.

In miscelaneous news about Mark, he absolutely hates getting dressed. If he sees that we're planning on putting some clothes on him, he starts crying and tries to wiggle his way out of it. Undressing - this he likes. Also, he started getting quite an appetite for solid foods. He still doesn't eat much in one sitting. But he eats solids 3-4 times a day now, a little bit at a time. And he seems to like most of it - yogurt, baby cereal, fruits, cottage cheese, even some squash and mashed potatoes.

Trip to Greenville, SC

Earlier this week we went to Greenville, SC. It was a business trip for me and Chris and Mark provided "life support" - relaxed (mostly) atmosphere and good company after stressful times in the office. The main purpose of my trip to the ForeignTranslations office was... well, to meet everyone face to face; to present my research project to the boss; and to help him get the company through operations audit required by one of our potential clients.

We stayed at the Hyatt right in the center of Greenville. The hotel was pretty big and rather nice. More importantly, it was right across the street from my office, so I shuttle back and forth between work and feeding Mark. The first evening in Greenville, after checking into the hotel, I took Mark on a little stroll around the Main St. Greenville has probably the most pleasant Main Street I've ever seen. It has a good mix of restored old buildings and some nice new ones. There are dozens of good food places, small stores, galleries, etc. There are also some businesses and the city government. And they even managed to find space for a great terraced park complete with a waterfall and a one-of-a-kind bridge! The side-walks are wide and lined with trees. Most cafes have outdoor sitting. It's all very relaxing, safe, and inviting. That first night we stopped by the Sticky Fingers, a BBQ place, for dinner. The food was excellent and I totally pigged out.

The next day I dressed in my most professional-looking outfit (the only one of that kind) and went to the office. After a short "meet and great" we had to go through a photo-session - our mug shots are going to be on a new company website. Boy, do I hate these things! Then I had to hurry back to the hotel to feed Mark. And that's when things started going wrong - I got stuck in an elevator! The company office is on the 2nd floor; so I felt silly taking an elevator and instead opted for the stairs. Little did I know, the stairs did not have an exit on the first floor, but only in the basement. Worse yet, the exit door locked right behind me when I stepped into the basement. The only other exit I saw was one to the loading/unloading area in the back of the building. I ignored it for now and instead decided to try a service elevator. I got in, the doors closed, I pushed the 1st floor button - nothing! The damn elevator wasn't moving. Ok, I pushed the "Doors Open" button... Nothing!!! And I had no cell phone on me. I could be sitting there in the stupid service elevator the entire day and nobody would find me! I pushed the alarm button and heard a distant buzzer. But I suppose the service elevator wasn't important enough to be monitored. After a few minutes of shear panic, I started banging on the doors, screaming for help. Nothing!!!! Completely loosing it, I accidentally pushed "Open Doors" button on another panel (there were a total of 4 panels of which 2 didn't work). Finally, the doors opened and I ran out and into the loading/unloading dock. Sure, I had to walk around the building, but it was such a minor inconvenience. Plus I really needed the fresh area.

The rest of the day was just more work. And a business lunch on the top floor of the office building, in the private business club. It was very fancy! I relaxed enough that the elevator story started to seem funny.

In the evening we were supposed to drive to a company dinner at the Romano Macaroni & Grill. So Chris and I and Mark got into the car and... had a flat tire when we were far enough from the hotel, but not at the restaurant yet... So instead of a dinner, we spent 90 minutes waiting for a AAA guy to show up and put a "doughnut" on. Let me tell you - good thing we had some toys and diapers in the car with us.

The next day I had to be at work even earlier to get through an audit. It went very well; better, in fact, than we expected. Afterwards I was free to go and check out of the hotel. But first I fed Mark and we all took a short nap. Then we checked out, loaded the car, and had some lunch at an Asian cafe (yummy; much better than the usual Chinese take-out). And finally we drove home.

9 Months - Playing Ball, Reading Books and Getting Around (sort of)

Mark is 9 months old today! Here's his reaction to the news (above).

What does he like? Well, he likes my laptop and tries to get to it whenever he can. He also likes all sorts of books and magazines, but we only let him read his own books for now. He also likes playing ball with his Daddy and both are getting really good at it. Also Mark loves bath time - so much so that he actually cries real hard when it's over. He likes falling asleep next to both of us; usually he snuggles close to Chris's hairy chest for comfort and warmth. And he likes to play "tickle-bees" before bedtime. He loves when people pay attention to him.

What doesn't he like? He doesn't like when we try to make him crawl. He absolutely HATES getting dressed. He doesn't like spending too much time playing with any one of his toys. He doesn't like car rides when it's dark (I guess he gets bored). He really-really doesn't like when his meals are late. And he doesn't like when I work too much. He doesn't like when strangers try to grab him, pinch him, tickle him, or otherwise get too close to him.

Here's a video of Mark playing ball with Chris and moving around... sort of.

Another Tooth!

Mark the Shark has 3 teeth now. Yes, the top front left tooth finally popped out and it's a big one. So we're going to take all the money out of our piggy-bank and invest into the ToothFairy Savings Fund. I bet by the time Mark is old enough for a visit from this fairy, the going rates for baby teeth would be like $50/pop.

If Mark's potty was an Army general, it would be the 4-star general now. And of course we're not planning on stopping here, but will take it all the way - to 5 stars and beyond. Per as(s)pera ad as(s)tra!

Mark is still not interested in crawling. He doesn't need to. For one, he learned to get around low-crawling on his belly and rolling around. And of course, we can always move him to a toy or a toy to him if all else fails. Yes, we do that and tons of other things such as letting him sleep with us, feeding him on demand, and picking him up a whole lot. Some call it "spoiling your baby". But they are wrong since actually it's called "attachment parenting" aka "intuitive parenting". It has tons of advantages too. For example, since Mark sleeps with us, we not only get more sleep (no need to wake up at night), but also save money on a baby monitor and extra heating.

One big thing that Mark learned - he can now pick up and play with 2 objects at the same time! That's a big achievement! He picks up two plastic rings and bangs them against each other.

Halloween 07

This is Mark's first Halloween ever and our second one in this house. Based on the last year's turn-out we upped the amount of candy. You see, our neighborhood is very kid-friendly with an elementary school, a bunch of playgrounds, and of course side-walks most everywhere. Seems like we have trick-o-treaters from all over Raleigh coming over. We must've had like 100 kids at our door in less than 4 hours tonight. We almost ran out of candy; just a few tootsie-rolls are left for me to munch on.

Mark was dressed in his lion costume aka bearded mouse costume. Actually, Chris put him in the costume shortly after lunch and took him on a long walk. Then Chris carved a scary toothy pumpkin. And then Chris handed candy to the kiddies. I guess you see a pattern here, right?

So now both Chris and Mark are soundly asleep after such an eventful evening and I get a chance to catch up on the news. Finally, I have time to put it on record all the progress that Mark's made:

- he learned to shake hands - Chris extends his hand to him and says "Put it there, pal!" and Mark shakes his hand and giggles

- he can hold all his weight on his feet now for a few seconds at a time

- he tries to pull himself to standing grabbing the bars of his crib

- he enjoys yogurt and baked squash

- his top front left tooth is about to poke out

- and he earned two stars on his potty already!

How about all this!!!

Chris started working on renovating our office/family room. Right now it looks horrible because we just dump all the piles of junk in there. But hopefully soon it will look very presentable. I just finished my first (out of 9) classes that would get me a localization generalist certification. And Xander runs out a few times every day, but always comes back (I guess 'cause he can't fend for himself).

That's it for now. You can watch a video of Mark in his lion costume.

Dunno

That's for "I don't know what to put as a title for this post". Big news - we (read - Mark) got our first invitation to a party! We're going to Louis's (see previous post) 1st birthday party! How cool, right?! Maybe Mark will be ready to eat some cake by then without looking like a little piglet? Right... For now he practices his table manners on cookies. This is what he looks like after eating half a cookie. What happened to the other half? It's mostly all other his high chair, his tray, his fingers, and some other good cookie-hiding places such as nose, ears, eyebrows, and Mommy's white sweater.

Saturday was a busy day for us. First we went to the Farmer's Market to pick up a pumpkin. But how can you pick just one when there are so many pretty pumpkins and gourds. Good thing we parked the car far away so we couldn't carry too many pumpkins with us. It was absolutely a great trip to the market. Most veggies are on the out now. But the whole entire section of the market is reserved for fall flowers and, of course, for pumpkins. People buy them by truck-loads. Or rather by SUV-loads. 10-20 pumpkins per family. What do they do with all them pumpkins when the Hallowing is over? What would you do with 20 pumpkins?! We only bought one (here's Chris inspecting the year's crop for that perfect one). Oh, and also we bought some little funky-looking gourds and two small mini-pumpkins. Gourds are for Mark to play with. Minis are for easy carving. And the big one is for a special photo-op with Mark.

Just as we were done unloading the pumpkins, it was time to change and go to the Trunk or Treat party. That's kind of like a tail-gating party for kids. Only the theme is Hallowing, there's candy instead of beer, and adults entertain kids instead of having semi-intelligent conversations with each other. Oh, and people decorate the trunks of their cars, mostly SUVs and mini-vans. It's actually more fun than it sounds, but only if you have a kid. Maybe we can decorate our car next year? Heck, we just won't clean the trunk (we're not doing it now anyway) and let the cobwebs grow. And then we will let the kids rummage around the trunk for edibles, spare change, and little critters to take home! We tried to dress Mark up in a costume. The costume was a hand-me-down and we were told it was a lion's costume. Hmm, is it me or does Mark look more like a bearded mouse in it? Adorable! Too bad it got so hot on Saturday that we had to change him out of that costume into some lighter clothes even before we got to the party.

Today, of course, the weather was much cooler. So much so, in fact, that we had to waste a big chunk of the day hunting for winter furs (read - shopping for warm clothes and a comforter). Exhausted from the hunt, we spent the rest of the day playing bubbles with Mark (ok, so he was entertained for only 5 minutes or so).

Extreme Drought

Why have I not been posting on the blog for so long? Well, we haven't had any real rain here in Raleigh for a few months now. So we're officially in the state of extreme drought. I guess it affected the frequency of my posts. Does it make sense? No!

Mark and I play a Godzilla game now - I build him a Tokyo out of Peek-A-Blocks and he demolishes it... over and over and over.

Seriously though, not much has happened between the last post and today. We did go to the State Fair a couple of weeks ago, on its opening weekend. But unfortunately we did not take a camera with us. So you won't see pictures of pretty tea gardens, adorable blue ribbon-winning calves, or giant pumpkins. But trust me when I say it - we had a great time! We didn't go to any of the rides or played any of the games where one can win giant stuffed pink dinosaurs (sp?). But we did get to see a lot of interesting things (cows, pigs, bees, pumpkins, crafts) and eat some of the oh-so-bad-for-you fair food (funnel cake comes to mind).

Oh, and we finally signed up at a local library. And what a library it is! Honestly, maybe it's 'cause I haven't been to a public library in years, but this one (in Cameron Village) really impressed me. Of course, any place full of books impresses me. Then again, they even had Russian books for kids. And they have story times for toddlers! And they have all sorts of interesting events for kids and adults!! And you can check out as many books as you want!!!

Yesterday I went to the Farmer's Market with my friend Kelli and her 11-month old son, Louis. Then they stopped by our house for a little playdate with Mark. Louis is very advanced - he not only crawls, but stands and scoots and even crawls up the stairs! The problem is him and Mark love the same toys. And since Louis is bigger and more mobile than Mark (for now, anyway), he gets to the toys first. Mark doesn't look too happy on the picture.

Mom's Birthday

We had several things to celebrate this past weekend - Mark's soon-to-be 8-month birthday, our 1-year anniversary in this house. But the most important was Mom's birthday. The plan was to go to an Arts Fair at one of the parks on Saturday, followed by a birthday dinner. And then on Sunday - to check out a hydroplane competition at Lake Wheeler.

The arts fair was actually very small, much smaller than what we were used to in Daytona Beach. It took us only 20 minutes to walk all around it and we really tried to take our time. And then it rained quite a bit. So we went home. With so much time to spare, we decided to check out the hydroplane competition on Saturday. I thought it was going to be a competition of planes that take off from water. After all, that's what "hydroplane" means in Russian. Well, I was wrong! It was a speed-boat competition - they were small and extremely loud and went real fast around the lake. They were so loud, actually, that Mark got really scared. So Dad and Chris watched the competition and Mom and I found a quiet spot some distance away from the lake and sat there while Mark napped. But we did see a big turtle and that was cool.

Then in the evening things got back on track with the birthday dinner. I decided to do it Iron Chef-style, with a secret ingredient. My secret ingredient was apples. So we had a baked apple and almonds salad with cider vinegar dressing, freshly-made apple sauce, chicken and apple cider stew with butternut squash and, of course, apples, and finally, an upside-down apple cake. Of course, when the desert was ready to be served, we realized that we didn't have any candles. So instead Dad contributed a lighter and we held it rock-concert style while singing Happy Birthday in both English and Russian.

On Sunday we went to the Duke Gardens for a little bit. And then parents watched Mark for about an hour and Chris and I got out of the house, just the two of us! That was weird. We didn't know what to do; so we went to buy a potty and a new toy for Mark and then had coffee at B&N.

Almost 8 Months!

Aha, Mark is turning 8 months tomorrow! Just as with all other "birthdays" I can hardly believe it - 8 months already!!! Yay!!!! He's made so much progress over the past weekend. I credit my Mom and Dad with much of Mark's new skills. Seems like they provided "the tipping point" - new people, new voices, new games, etc. But first thing first...

Mom and Dad drove to Raleigh last Friday and stayed the ENTIRE weekend. Yay!!! As usual, they brought enough foodstuff with them to feed a small but disproportionately hungry village. This time a package of humanitarian aid included a loan from my brother - a book "One Red Paperclip" and some year-old mail.

Chris and I were a bit worried about the reception my parents would get from Mark. Ever since last month our smily baby turned shy and unfriendly towards strangers. He would try to hid his face or even cry when someone would approach us with the usual complements. Of course, he saw his grandparents several times before, but it was a while ago. He saw Grandpa 4 months ago and Grandma - 2 months; and that's a long time for a not-yet-8-months old. But Mark was great! He got a bit shy at first, but completely recovered after about 20 minutes. So much so that he was happily tagging Grandpa's nose and giggling. In return he was practically overloaded with love, attention, cooing, and such from both grandparents and spent most of the weekend in their company.

As I mentioned earlier, it was all for the best. Sometime on Saturday Mark started doing the tummy-to-back roll. I mean, he did it before a couple of times, but since Saturday he's been doing it all the time in the most casual fasion. So now I call him "полный Колобок" because before that he was only "полу-Колобок". Even more exciting is his speech development. Again, since Saturday, probably influenced by endless torrent of endearments, rhymes, songs, and general chatter from grandparents, he started saying TONS of consonants. He now carries quite lengthy discources about things, such as (approximately) his latest on the state of "dla-da-de-poo-lya" and a poetic "pre-rrre-dle-da-dya". It's all very cute and unbelievably funny.

Grandma also made Mark some home-grown baby food. He got to eat a tiny, baseball-sized watermelon she grew this year. The next day he ate fresh apple sauce. And finally, on Sunday night, mashed potatoes made out of 3 small organically grown potatoes. He enjoyed most of it, too.

Upon advice from grandparents, and with their financial backing, Chris and I went to Babies'R'Us and bought Mark a potty. Yep, we're potty-training him already. So far it consists only of putting him on the potty, aptly labeled "King Mark's Throne" in the morning and in the evening for a couple of minutes. He hasn't done anything yet, but we'll keep you posted on the progress.

Good Use of Chair

We have a round chair that we just keep moving from room to room. Usually it is occupied by Xander, but now we put Mark in it to play. He seems to really like it.

Brrrr, Joneses and Other News

It's getting cold here; feels very much like autumn, except the trees are still mostly green. We were promised early fall colors this year because of the draught. That's not a good news though since the few leaves that have turned color are yellow-brown and shrivelled.

Time to dress Mark up in warm outfits. And he looks so cute in all of them! But he hates getting dressed and even tries to bite us. And then keeping socks and shoes on is a constant challenge. We pretty much gave up on shoes after the first try. But socks are a must now that it's getting cold. So he'll just have to get used to them (or we'll have to fix some kind of suspenders system).

Last weekend was full of things to do. First we went to the Greek festival and Mark earned his first $6. How come? Well, we arrived before the place was open, but there was already a small line of old folks outside the doors. So they started oohing and aahing over Mark and then literally showered us with coupons good for free admission tickets ($3 each). Too bad we couldn't score any free food this way and ended up spending $20 for a plate of appetizers and a plate of chicken. We couldn't stay too long though 'cause Mark was getting bored. So we walked around our most excellent flea-market and bought some furniture for the living room - an Asian-looking cabinet - very pretty.

Then on Sunday we went to the Tour of Homes hosted by our Home Owners Association. Did I tell you we have like the best HOA?! Membership is completely voluntary, costs only $30/year, nobody tells you what to do, and they arrange annual block parties, tours of homes and such. This tour of homes is quite an event, really; it was even featured in the local Raleigh News&Observer. There were people from all over the city visiting. This year they had 8 homes on the tour ranging from a custom-built architectural marvel that won tons of design awards to some DIY budget renovations. Apart from satisfying our curiousity and checking up on the Joneses, we got to meet a lot of neighbours and had a very good time.

As you can see, we now brush Mark's teeth, both of them. He doesn't like it very much though. What he does like doing with his teeth is biting. When I dress him, something that he hates, by the way, he tries to bite my hand. Oh, and by the way, he started making a sign for "milk"!

Teething Again?

Last couple of days Mark has been pretty cranky. He chews on everything and drools too. Yesterday he had a crying fit and wouldn't want to go to bed. We tried everything - feeding, bathing, playing, rocking, but nothing helped; not until we put some Orajel on his top gum. So maybe he is teething? Maybe he will soon have one or two more little sharp pearly-white thingies to bite with?

But even with possible teething and all the crankiness, he is such a sweet baby. He's 7 months old now and gets more and more entertaining. He's mastering a pincer grasp now (that's when babies learn to pick up very small objects, such as raisings, with their thumbs and forefingers, instead of raking them in with palms of their hands). He is also learning to pick up all sorts of objects - square, round, smooth, soft. One of his favorites is our cordless phone.

His new obsession is to move from sitting position to the stomach. After sitting up for a long while, he makes a funny squeal and lunges forward. Maybe he's trying to figure out how to crawl?

We still take him to the pool once in a while (indoors, now that the season is over). He still really likes it. And we're still learning sign language. He understands several signs, but actively uses only "pick me up" one. And he's growing - weighting over 17lbs now - and getting big and heavy.

Other than that, not much is going on around here - we work, Chris studies (almost done!), I cook (now - Italian), Xander acts crazy, and we all watch Netflix movies a couple of nights a week.

Labor Day

The summer is pretty much over. Can you believe this? Dunno about you, but I feel cheated! Not like I had big plans for this summer, but somehow even the little ones that I made didn't happen... And now the outdoor pool where we take Mark is closing. Today was their last day. How sad... On the bright side, it's cooling off a bit here and we're resuming our stroller walks now. And as for the pool, we'll try to go to a year-round pool, even though it's a bit further away.

The weekend hasn't been much fun, really. Chris's dad was here for 2 days. So he met Mark for the first time. We mostly stayed home, partly because of the heat. I can't even think of anything we did on Saturday. On Sunday we went to the flea market at the State Fairgrounds. It was fun (even though I didn't get to spend much time there). There's so much old junky-looking furniture there! I'm obsessing with furnishing the living room as cheaply as possible. So I figure if I buy some cheap stuff there, have Chris paint it, it'll look great :) Then in the afternoon we went to the downtown Raleigh. Predictably, it was dead! There were a few people here and there, but only 2 cafes were open. So sad - there are tons of places there that look like fun - Italian, BBQ, Chinese, a couple of funky coffee shops, etc. But they are all closed on Sundays... Apart from being dead on weekends, downtown Raleigh is nice. And once all the construction is finished, it's supposed to be really a cool place. Maybe they'll even have a couple of restaurants and shops open on Sundays?

We also went to the pool a couple of times. It was great! The water was much colder, but Mark didn't mind at all. Actually, I've never seen him quite so happy swimming around in the big pool. And as usual, he attracted so much attention. Except people think that he's a little girl (because, they say, he's got such pretty eyes and is so cute). He's going through some growth spurt or something this week - eats a lot, sleeps a lot, and is cranky. And his clothes are getting tight on him! He sits very well by himself, reaches for everything, rolls over when I try to get him dressed. Now he started to roll from the tummy to his back, but he needs more practice. Also, he tries to feed himself solid foods - he's pretty adamant about holding a spoon when I feed him. Naturally, feeding time is 10 times longer now and we have a huge mess on our hands at the end. But it's so much fun!