Focustrating

Sasha was making a puzzle and Sammy was chatting. Sasha said, "Sammy stop talking. I am focustrating."

My brain wants to play wii

Sasha is 4 years old.

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Sasha: "Mommy, what is mind."
Mommy: "It's the brain in your head. It tells you what to think, feel, and do. It controls everything. Say you want to lift your hand -- it's the brain the tells it to lift."
Sasha: "Ahh.... My brain wants to play wii."


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I was shooting a video on a caramelized pear ginger tart. Not wanting to be left home alone with it, I drove it to Sasha's school hoping the teachers and the kids would eat it.

When I went back at night to pick Sasha up, the first thing he said was, "Mommy, thank you for the tart. I loved it. I ate it and the teachers ate it. The other kids didn't eat it. They thought it was disgusting. Will you make another one like that?"

I don't know what was more moving -- the fact that he remembered to thank me for the tart, or the fact that he was still willing to eat my food even though his friends thought it was disgusting.

This kid melts my heart sometimes.

Do you need some piracy?

Sasha (almost 4 years old): "Mommy, play with me."
Mommy: "I need to go to the bathroom."
Sasha follows Mommy to the bathroom: "Why can't you play with me?"
Mommy: "Because I need to go potty."
Sasha: "Oh, you need some piracy?"

Great Manager!

We recently read a book about table manners called "No slurping / No burping".  Any time Sasha (3.5 years old) was polite at the table, we'd tell him how he had good manners.  One day, he asked for something at the table very politely and when we praised him, he said "I am a very good manager."  It took us a few days to figure that one out.  First we thought that he meant he is a manager, like Daddy.  Eventually, we realized that a "manager" is someone who has good manners.

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Story from Sasha's teacher:

One of Sasha's class mates was looking for his backpack.  Sasha say, "What are you looking for?"  The classmate replies, "My backpack."  Sasha says, "You should look on google.  You can find everything there."

Sasha's favorite sayings at 3.

• The answer to "let's go potty" or anything else Sasha doesn't want to do is "uhd ahready" ("I had already").
• I not know
• backesball (basketball)
• I not have energy
• Bulya i Dulya
• Ready. Seddy. Go.
• Mitamins -- vitamins
• Newgiri--nigiri 

Where does Uncle Leo live?

Nothing occupies Sasha better (at 2 yrs 9 months) than a good puzzle.  Uncle Leo gave us a great state puzzle that's a map of the USA with most states being one piece.  The east coast posts a problem with so many tiny states.  So many east coast pieces contain 2-3 states.  It took Sasha a few days, but now he is putting the whole puzzle together with no trouble and even learned the names of some states and who lives in them.  

In the morning, Helen was giving Sasha a geography lesson.  Grandpa and Nana live in California -- a nice big state that's easy to pick up.  Uncle Leo lives in Colorado -- a nice rectangular state.  Babulya and Dedulya live in Maryland -- it's so small its name and symbol don't fit into its puzzle piece which Sasha found a bit confusing.  Helen told him to look for a crab that is sitting in Atlantic ocean with an arrow pointing at the coast.  "Crabby!" said Sasha excitedly.  In about 2 minutes Sasha was finding everyone's location on the map with no trouble.  Helen was proud.

At dinner, Helen decided to show off Sasha's geographical knowledge to Jason.  "Sasha, where do Grandpa and Nana live?"  Sasha looked at her puzzled.  "I not know," he said smiling.  "What about Uncle Leo?  Where does he live?"  Sasha's eyes lit up as if he finally realized what Mommy was asking him. "Want to tell Daddy where Uncle Leo lives?" says Helen.  "In a state puzzle," says Sasha.

20 months old

Sasha is 20 months old today!  Here he is doing his favorite activity -- playing the guitar and singing.  He practices so much that sometimes he gets a bit tired and needs to lie down to continue playing.

His vocabulary now includes:
da -  Russian yes
yeah -- English yes
no
bo -- ball
oh-dah -- depending on the context can either mean "all done" or "tuda" (Russian for there)
av-av -- dog
boo -- book
bye-bye