Isn't it romantic?

I hope clever men throughout our building are getting romantic credit for this anonymous note left on the driveway Saturday night.



You are my world.
You are my everything.
I love you.

The birthday blog

Warning: This one is really for the grandparents. It contains more photos of Dietrich turning 3 than anyone really needs to see. Unless, of course, "anyone" is Baba Jane or Grandma Cindy. For the non-related, consider this: If you come visit us, you can have this exact same fun day (minus the presents). I'd even make cupcakes for you.

The day started with Dietrich waking up very, very early because he was just too excited about his presents. As a result, I've decided not to tell him about Christmas. He had to eat his breakfast before he could open said presents. It was the quickest he's ever eaten a meal.



The only present Dietrich asked for was an umbrella. Of course, we had to oblige.


Our friends Zhenya, Oksana and Baby Nikita (not so much a baby anymore, but you know how these names stick) came to the zoo with us. Nikita makes an awesome hedgehog face.


We went to the petting zoo, where we fed the sheep, goats, and pigs cabbage and carrots in ice-cream cones.


Sometimes I am reminded of how thankful I am that we learned Russian before we had Dietrich. The moment when the petting zoo minder told us that we could feed all the animals by hand EXCEPT THE PIGS was one of those moments.


We saw this bird fly right out of his pen and soar over the zoo.


And this bear was so personable.


Dietrich wasn't so interested in walking, but he did love swinging on all the bars around the animal cages. Exhibit A: Dietrich and an elephant.


Toward the end of the excursion, we paused for cupcakes.


My favorite photo from the day.


A highlight for Dietrich was riding the Ferris wheel. The wheel moved slowly, but didn't stop to let people on and off. That keeps the line moving, but you'd better be sure-footed. No lap belts. No walls on the sides. Dietrich LOVED it. The whole way up, he kept saying (in a delighted manner), "This isn't safe! This isn't safe!" (Eric and Dietrich are in the orange and yellow car; you can just see their wee heads poking out.)


Home for a nap, and then on to McDonald's for dinner.


Then back home to Skype with the grandparents. We saved a couple of presents so that he could open them while Baba and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa watched.


Playtime (our friends gave him THE hit present -- a little car put together with screws, and a drill to take it all apart). Then bedtime. Whew. Next year, let's all just take a long nap for Dietrich's birthday.

Can this be comfortable?

Toward the end of a long nap.

I'm pretty sure this isn't what you'd call progress

Dietrich has been hearing Russian regularly for three weeks now, and while he doesn't say much, he doesn't regularly complain about not understanding the people around him.

However, at church this morning, every time someone spoke Russian to him, he responded by meowing. Like a cat. Evidently "feline" is the universal language.

My birfday

Recently, Dietrich has been bringing me little treasures and saying, "This is for your birfday." When we first got back to Ukraine, he got his hands on a Spiderman lunchbox that someone sent Eric, and spent hours zipping little things into it and delivering them to us. One day, he even gave me his prized horn for my birfday -- though he took it back 10 minutes later. Still, he seemed a bit confused yesterday when he handed me two smooshed leaves for my birfday, and I replied, "Hey, today IS my birfday!" I guess he thought every day was mama's special day.

Alas, the day before I turned 33, I was stricken by a high fever, so we kept the celebrations fairly mellow. Next week, when my sense of taste returns, we get to celebrate again with dinner at our favorite restaurant.

But yesterday ...


Eric brought home pretty flowers for my windowsill.


We enjoyed tasty chocolate-almond scones from Mona Lois during Snack and Storytime.


Dietrich delivered presents, and pretty much unwrapped them, too.


We shared our excitement over a Ukrainian recipe book from the Dzubas. I was excited because I like to cook. Dietrich was excited because it stands up on a little base and forms a triangle. Yay, triangles!


We instantly put my new glass-bowl-with-lid to work. And, my gift to you, check out other people's fridges here.