Back to School !!

Kylen started the 3rd grade this year. He has a wonderful teacher and is making some progress in reading. Sasha (Alexander) moved up to preschool two days a week. I have been thinking of putting him in an extra day or two, for the mornings only. He is so behind developmentally. This November he will turn 4 years old, but developmentally he is between 19 and 22 months old. He is very behind on language and has only now started to talk. Yesterday we were sharing a plum and he gave me a bite. Well, I must have touched his finger with my teeth, and he thought I was biting him, and he said "Say 'Sorry Sasha!!' "!! I guess I am always saying to him when he is too rough or acting out "Say you are sorry, Sasha". HA!! At any rate, I have struggled with trying to decide if he should have more classtime or more "mommytime". Our bonding and attachment has gone very well with Sasha ( and we still have a long way to go with Kylen....more on that later). However for now, I have decided that Sasha will benefit most from "mommytime". He already has some days that he must spend away from me because I work. I really feel he will benefit most from more love, nurturing and closeness to Mom. Time will tell.

Summer Revisited

Why is it the summer goes by so quickly? We had such a fun and wonderful summer. We took 3 trips to the beach. Sasha LOVED the ocean, waves and the sand. Kylen had learned about palm trees and coconut trees when he was in school at Magadan. He was so excited to see them in person!! Kylen was the best sand crab catcher EVER!! He even caught little sand crabs for the other little kids that weren't fast enough to catch them!! He has become a great little swimmer, too!! He is greatly improved from the second month of coming home from Russia and when we went to the waterpark near my Mom's house! We had only been home from Russia two months, and Kylen wasn't speaking English yet, but somehow I let him convince me that he could swim. So, I gave him permission to go down this big slide into what I call "the toilet bowl" with Tavia and Remmy. Well, it is this huge slide that at the bottom, you swirl around and around (like when the toilet flushes) and then you land in the water. As soon as Kylen hit the water the lifeguard blew the whistle and the they jumped in to pull him out. I raised my hand and said... "Yes, I am the stupid parent that let him slide down!" He wasn't afraid, and within a few weeks he was swimming like a fish!! Now he tubes behind our boat like a Mad Man!! But I look back on those early days and some of the crazy things that happened make us laugh!!