Marbles

I completely forgot that last week we all went to the Marbles - Kids' Museum here, in Raleigh. It was a total blast. Here are some pictures of all the different things that we did there.

Sliding down the big red slide:

Saving a puppy from the flames:
Harvesting carrots:
And taking them to the market:
Splashing with water toys:
Playing chess:

Big Boy Mark

Hooray! We just celebrated Mark's FIRST BIRTHDAY. (Hint: click on the link on the left - shown in blue - to see lots of fun pictures). We kept it small this year - just the three of us and my parents.

First of all, thank you EVERYONE for all the gifts and cute birthday cards and all the birthday wishes! We love you very much!!! All the clothes are so cute and will be very handy since Mark is quickly outgrowing his 12-month outfits. And all the money will be put into a 529 plan because a) Mark has way too many toys already and b) one day he will go to college and so your gifts will just keep on giving.

What did we do for Mark's birthday? After waking up to many hugs and kisses and getting changed and fed breakfast, Mark got to play with some old "new" toys that my parents brought with them from NY. I bought these toys a while ago when I had nothing else to spend money on. Subsequently, I stopped using them and, naturally, moved them to the parents' house. Stereotypically, the toys ended up stored in the attic there for years. And now they are back in my keep. A radio-controlled truck is a bit too advanced for Mark right now. But Chris is having great time with it. However, Mark is absolutely taken with the piano. My dad spent some time showing Mark the ropes and the little one quickly learned how to turn the thing on/off, turn the volume up, and make all sorts of noises with it.
After some time of this musical hell, I decided to take Mark out of the house just so we could have some peace and quiet. And so Mom, I and Mark went to the Museum of Art. There, Mark especially liked the Classical European Art - he pointed to lots of paintings, especially if they had women and children in them (and most did) or were oversized (and most were). Afterwards, we walked for some time in the sculpture garden. Overwhelmed by so much culture and learning, Mark fell asleep.

We came back home for a quick bite and since the weather was absolutely gorgeous - sunny and hot - we went out again, this time to a far away playground. There Mark played in the sand, walked around a little bit (I held his hands), went on a swing, smelled some flowers, and in general had a good time. And then it was time to come back home for another little nap. And while Mark napped, we finished all the preparations for the birthday dinner - baked, decorated - both the cake and the kitchen, and cleaned up.
Finally, it was time for the dinner. But first we all gathered around Mark to measure how tall was he. It takes 3 adults to measure 1-year old's height and 4 if you want to photograph the event - one to hold the child, one to hold the ruler, one to mark the paper, and one to take a good picture. Then I clipped a lock of Mark's hair which took another 10 minutes - not that he's so hairy, but it's just very difficult to keep him still. And then we ate pizza (Chris baked it) and spinach-ricotta pirogi (Mom baked these). And since Mark is a big boy now, he ate with us as well.

Then it was time for THE CAKE! Chris baked this awesome buttercream white cake and prepared the buttercream frosting, straight out of the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. And I followed the not-so-easy decorating steps from the Wilton brochure and painted the cake and otherwise decorated it with icing and sugar duckies. And then we put a big "1" candle! Of course, Mark got a big piece of cake and at first he didn't know what to do with it. But little by little he figured it out - most of the cake ended up on him and his high-chair.
Since bath was necessary after eating the cake, we decided that it would be a lot of fun to let Mark get all crazy with finger paints. And crazy he did, painting a couple of little works for us and for the grandparents, but mostly concentrating on the bodyart - enthusiastically decorating his legs. Off to the bath tub we carried him right away. And then it was time to end Mark's big first BIRTHDAY!

Uneventful

Nothing is going on... nothing at all. We were supposed to go bowling last weekend. Well, we decided to get our house choirs done on Saturday, including whole lot of going through store to store looking for curtains and pillows and nice things for our office. Oh yeah, it's looking really great now. We installed new wall-to-wall bookcases that look totally like built-ins. The design is mine; execution - by a local carpenter, Patty. And Chris is almost done converting a closet into a built-in crafts area for me. And so I stay busy trying to make it all look pretty on a pretty limited budget.

Anyway, we decided to go bowling on Sunday when the alley is open (11am to 1pm). But Mark came up with a better plan - he fell asleep right after his morning snack and stayed asleep pretty much through our projected bowling time. Why oh why aren't there any drive-through bowling alleys? We would put him in the car; he'd sleep; we'd drive up to the lane, open the doors and bowl to our hearts' content! Alas... Instead, we ended up waiting for Mark to wake up and then doing the reverse lunch thing - first, ice-cream and then - a gourmet pizza and a root beer from a local micro-brewery.

This week we probably won't go bowling either. I tutor Russian for 1 hour on Monday nights now. And then tomorrow and Thursday I have a Translation Memory and Machine Translation class (working on a Localization Generalist certification). Then this weekend is Chris's drill. Oh well, will have to wait another week.

What's new with Mark? He talks a lot - baby talk and all sorts of funny noises. He started saying "ma" again. He walks when supported. He learned to play "catch" and scoots merrily on his butt down the hallway when we pretend to be chasing him. He pays attention to other little kids - looks at them and tries to touch them. Chris and I took him to a couple of story-times at the local libraries. At home, he plays with all his toys, but prefers regular objects such as tapperware and kitchen utencils and old magazines. He's very good at taking toys out of boxes and drawers, but lately he's been trying to put them back in. And he's staying busy developing his personality - for now it chiefly consists of loud objections while being diapered and dressed or when being seated in the car seat.

Anniversary

We're going to a real restaurant - for the first time in over a year!

Getting Mark ready to go out is a major undertaking!

Last Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary. As usual, we went to the Melting Pot for some fondue. It's just something we do every year (and we got pictures to prove it). Mark went with us. I was a bit concerned whether he'd be able, and more importantly, willing to behave himself for even half an hour. After all, fondue eating takes time. But it was ok. First, there were so many people around paying a lot of attention to him - two hostesses, a waitress, a photo girl, a flower girl, a manager... And then there was the knob that controlled the temperature of the hot plate! That was very exciting (to Mark). He even got his own plate loaded with chopped banana. And I took some of Mark's food with us. As we were dining on cheese fondue, Mark was content with making a mess of his food. We even managed to order and enjoy a chocolate fondue before Mark started getting cranky.

Back home with flowers

More Pictures from Florida

Teaching Mark not to feed the gators at Blue Springs Park.

At Blue Springs park.
Eating shrimp under the bridge at sunset.
New Smyrna Beach.
Playing mini-golf.

At Blue Springs Park in Deland, FL trying to show Mark some manatees.

In New Smyrna Beach, FL - dolphin-watching with Tania.

Check out this super-sized cat, Boris!
Check out this super-sized live oak!
One of the branches of that same oak.

Sun Splash Park in Daytona Beach, FL

On the beach in Daytona.

Florida

We're back from Florida after a short vacation. We went to Daytona Beach and stayed with our good friends, Tanya and Mike and their gianormous cat, Boris (and also their fish, frogs, turtles, finches, parakeets and a canary). The weather couldn't had been better - upper 60ies in the mornings and low 80ies in the afternoons with sunny sky and lite breeze.

We spent some time driving around town, looking at things that were old and that were new. Frankly, Daytona hasn't changed for the better in the last year and a half. Lots of places closed down; others looked like they might follow the suite in the near future; new businesses were mostly box stores and big chains. But the beach was as nice as ever and the views from the bridges as one crosses the Intracoastal to the beachside - absolutely stunning.

Mark behaved very well on the drive to Daytona and we were able to make it there in just 9 hours. The next morning we went straight to the beach and to see our good friend, Eleonora. We had a few things on our to-do list and most of them had to do with food - shripm, sandwiches, ice-cream, tiramisu, hot dogs and more. Apart from eating, we wanted to spend time at the beach, see manatees at the Blue Springs, maybe watch dolphins in New Smyrna Beach, play a round of mini-golf, and just forget about house, work, bill-paying, etc and just have fun. For the most part, we successfully accomplished this mission.

We weren't in too much hurry to get back to Raleigh and adopted a very leisurely driving pace. First, we went for a little stroll on the beach, then - for some coffee. Then we stopped to buy oranges at one of the many Indian River Fruit stands along I-95 and ended up with a bushel of navel oranges and a small orange tree that immediately filled our car with the smell of orange blossoms. Then, somewhere in Georgia, we stopped at an outlet mall and got some stuff for the kitchen. Finally, around 3pm we drove into Savannah for a late lunch of crab cakes and a walk along the River Street. Needless to say, we had to stop for the night well short of Raleigh. But it turned out a lot less stressful than driving straight through.

Midway through our trip Mark turned 11 months. He was mostly very happy with the vacation even though he spent more time sitting in a car seat and in the carrier than he's used to. He started saying more things, such as "baba", "vava", "tata", and most exciting of all, "papa". He also became very proficient at pointing at things that attract his attention (he also says "etoh" or "toh"). He really knows the point of walking now - to get to something. So when he's up on his feet, he almost runs (with our help and support) to whatever interests him most. He's also a lot less shy than he used to be. Or rather he figures out whether being shy works to his advantage (i.e. gets him more attention) and uses it discriminately. All in all, he puts a lot of effort into getting and staying noticed. He also plays "monkey" - stick your tounge out and he'll happily reciprocate; show him how to bang two toys, and he'll do the same.

New Year 08

Yes, the NY 08 celebration was almost 2 weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to typing things up. The truth, of course, is that I've been unbelievably busy. But first thing first - my parents FINALLY met Chris's dad! Yes, this is pretty unbelievable considering that Chris and I have been married for almost 5 years and have an almost year-old baby. But that's just how things worked out to be.

Chris's dad arrived first, shortly after X-mas. My parents drove down from NY 2 days later. This way, they were guaranteed to spend almost 1 full day acquainted before Ron had to catch his flight back to Kansas City. So we kind of celebrated the meeting itself, X-mas and New Year all at once over a nice dinner of cole slaw, fried catfish, collard greens, cheesy grits, and blackeyed peas (yeah, I decided to go with a totally Southern theme this time).

Then for New Year's eve I was so tired of cooking, that I decided not to make anything special. Instead, we bought different cheeses and fruits and good chocolate. After putting Mark to sleep, we all sat by the fireplace and celebrated the New Year... at about 9pm. This year instead of resolutions, I decided to concentrate on building a few good habits such as reading to Mark before he goes to sleep at night. So far, my habit-building attempt is going in fits and starts, but that's because we are actually in Florida now. But when we get back home, I'll get back to the good habits in earnest.

Scooting Around - Video

Christmas

Once again, it was just the three of us and our cat, Xander. The day before Christmas it rained and we mostly stayed inside. Except when we ventured out to the Barnes&Noble to use my 25% off coupon (yeah, my pile of books waiting to be read is growing). And we stopped by the Blockbuster and rented a whole bunch of movies - Bourne Supremacy, The Simpsons, Ocean's Thirteen, and Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. All - 2-day rentals. It's a good thing Blockbuster relaxed their late-fee policy somewhat - no way we could watch all these in 2 days.

On Christmas morning we opened Mark's gifts first. He got a big toy piggy bank from his great Grandma Phyllis. Now, her gift was carefully wrapped in pretty wrapping paper and had a little red bow on top. This being Mark's first X-mas, he thought that he was supposed to play with the wrapper and the bow and, happy and easy-going child that he is, he was only too happy to oblige. As a matter of fact, he was so distracted by the red bow, that it took us a while to get his attention to a gift our neighbors got him - a Build-A-Bear teddy bear. The teddy even came with its own birth certificate and that's how we found out that it was exactly 10 months younger than Mark. Still no name for the little bear, so we're open to suggestions.

I got Chris a cezva for making Turkish coffee, an old-style coffee grinder that really powders the beans, and half a pound of Columbian Supremo. On a picture it looks like some funky stuff, but I assure you, it's perfectly harmless and totally 100% coffee related. And Chris got me 3 gifts. One of those he gave me last week 'cause he just couldn't keep a secret. It was a box of locally-made chocolates - yummy! The second gift was a book from my Amazon wish-list. It's only the end of day 2, but I'm almost done with the book - it's THAT GOOD! And finally, Chris got me a really nice yoga mat (I'm sitting on it in this picture) and it was my favorite color - blue and green. Now I just need to find time to do yoga.

Xander got a gift of our love and also a new box. He loves all boxes and bags - gets into every single one of them. So this time he squeezed himself inside the Build-A-Bear house and looked out of its window on us opening our gifts. And what about our gift for Mark? Yes, we did get him a really nice gift. But we decided to save it until the New Year's since he now has a lot of new things anyway. So we're going to keep our gift a secret just a little while longer. But it's something really awesome!

Mark's been kinda cranky lately (can't tell by this picture). Might have something to do with him teething again. Yes, his 6th tooth pocked through 2 days ago. So, armed with all those new sharp teeth, Mark munches on Cheerios and apples and bananas and even hard cookies. He loves finger foods! Of course, most end up not in his mouth, but all over the floor and on his clothes. We have to change his outfits after each meal, seems like. And a bib provides very little protection against a spoon-full of Organic Pasta Primavera.

Mazltov, Mark now travels around the house. He doesn't crawl nor does he walk. But he bounces on his butt in the funniest way. In the past few days he really perfected the technique. He's a Grease Lightning of butt-scooting. And because he travels so much now, he gets into all the places that were out of reach before - cat's water bowl, kitchen cabinets, file drawers, magazine files, you name it. So we did some urgent baby-proofing. He's also getting better at standing and taking little steps. And he tries to dance a bit. One of his interactive toys plays an alphabet song and Mark wiggles his butt and bounces on his feet when he hears it. Other times he moves his hands up and down along with the music. Oh, an a huge news today - he waved "bye-bye" to me when Chris was taking him on a walk! How cool is that?!!!

What Do I Do At Work (Happy Holidays)

As a Translation Project Manager and a Vendor Manager I get asked this a lot - what is it that I do at work. Ok, ok, so not that many people ask this exact question. Most assume that I translate stuff. Bzzz, wrong! I have a very tough job though (even though I work from home). Why? Well, here's a little insight into our typical day at the office: FOLLOW THIS LINK.

Scooting Around

Today Mark got a booster shot of the flu vaccine and, as a reward, a cool Spider Man bandaid. Getting a shot in left thigh first thing in the morning is not very pleasant. So it might explain Mark's crankiness for the rest of the day. Or maybe it's because he has to be dressed in his Buzz Aldrin suit every time we have to get out of the door since it's so cold now. And Mark simply hates getting dressed. But he looks so cute in his little space suite outfit; it simply can't be helped - all the compliments and cooing he's been getting.

Big development here - Mark is a very proficient now at scooting around on his butt. He started a few days ago and at first only moved a foot or two. Now he travels all around the kitchen, cruising from cabinet to cabinet to the fridge to dinner table to Xan's food and even as far as the living room. Laundry closet fascinates him the most since it has a front-loading washer. But for now it's off-limits since we still have to baby-proof it. Mark is very curious about things now - he tries to open every door and drawer he chances upon and take things out and bang them against each other and against the floor. He's been making new sounds - "baba", "eto", "schto to", "toytoy". Unfamiliar things call for "schto-to"; familiar objects - a mix of "schto to" and "toytoy". Every light fixture is a cause for excitement - we love lamps and lights!

Of course, there've been some accidents with all this crawling around - a couple of falls here and there. Also, as he learns to scoot more efficiently, he becomes more ambivalent about walking. Now instead of trying to take steps towards a toy or a book, Mark prefers to plop down on his butt and scoot to it.

10 Months and 1 Day

That's how old Mark is today! He's about 19 lbs and 27 inches now. He still doesn't crawl which is probably a good thing since our house is totally not baby-proofed. But not crawling doesn't mean sitting in one place. Mark can scoot on his butt, push and pull with his hands, wiggle on his belly and roll around. He also stands really well now, holding onto things and people. He can also stand all by himself for about a second or two. And even though he hasn't managed to pull himself up to standing yet, he does plenty of trying. He loves to stand and reach for things!

There are a couple of new toys, like a musical ball and an activity table, that keep him busy with music, lights and sounds. Old toys are good too, especially the ones that make lots of noise when thrown around. But anything and everything can be a toy now - an empty shoe box, a table leg, a stainless steel bowl and a set of measuring cups. A flashlight is a particularly fascinating toy - trying to catch that little light is plenty of fun. Mark also plays ball very well (he's been doing it for over a month now). We have a couple of ball games. One is the baby soccer - Chris holds Mark up and I roll the ball and Mark (with Chris's help) kicks it with both feet. Another ball game is just rolling the ball back and forth.

Finger food rules! Finally Mark went from chocking on the smallest mushiest piece of banana to feeding himself bananas, cooked carrots, cheese and of course, Cheerios. Most of it ends up on the floor or in his high-chair. But some does make it to his mouth. And solid foods are more fun this month too. They are lots chunkier. Also, he eats pieces of cooked meat and chicken, pasta, rice, and tiny amounts of regular foods, even ice-cream. He eats pretty much everything and he makes the funniest faces when he tries new food! And oh boy does it get messy - basically we have to change his outfits and clean half the kitchen when he's done!

Lost of new sounds now. Mostly dadas and nanas. Occassional nadas and daydays. Then there's "vvvvvv" sound and various gurgling and slurping noises with a "ma" and a "ra" thrown in for good measure. Also, when he "reads" through his board books, he makes different noises and "words" for different pictures - sounds like he's talking in some crazy foreign language. He's also very vocal about his wants. If something is not right - a toy is taken away or we read newspaper instead of playing with him - he loudly objects. Mark also knows the word "no" (in two languages). Most of the time when he hears a "no", he gives us a sly grin and a little giggle, waits a second, and then tries the same mischief just to see our reaction.

Mark's hair is getting very long now. It's not red anymore and is actually getting lighter and lighter. Looks funny - dark and reddish ends and blond roots. Still doesn't sleep through the night. And still sleeps in his bed only part of the night. But that's ok since Mark is a very snuggly little baby. That's except when he decides to wake up at 5:30am.