Seven Days in Kyiv: Week 25

In honor of International Women's Day, Dietrich had Monday and Tuesday off of school. (Tuesday was the official holiday, and school-aged children had to make up for Monday's day off by going to school on Saturday. But that's still a few years in the future for us.) D was thrilled to have extra time to stay home and work on his "projects" (i.e. setting up cars and action figures in very particular ways, and noticing if anymore dares to move them even a tiny bit).

As an aside, I love watching Dietrich's creativity blossom. My favorite aspect at the moment is the way he can look at any collection of creatures, and see them as the characters he wants them to be. So, for instance:


This is, in order, Daddy, Dietrich, Mommy, Lev.


This is, top row: Larry Boy, Alfred, Junior Asparagus. Bottom: The Fib from Outer Space.

He only has two lions, so one is Mufasa and one is Simba. But, of course, he needs the villan — Scar. So, a crocodile plays the part of Scar.

Once he gets an "actual" creature, he stops imagining it. He has an actual Spiderman, for instance, so only that action figure can play the part of Spiderman, unless Spiderman gets taken away, in which case he can revert to imagination. Fascinating (at least to me).

Have I mentioned that we've started an English-language curriculum with Dietrich? It's called "Sing, Spell, Read and Write." So far, we're just writing (and coloring and cutting and pasting, all of which seemed rather unrelated to me and I almost skipped them, but then figured there must be some developmental benefit to learning to cut in a straight line). Monday was big C.



Also, Lev continued to be sick.



(Is it mean to post this picture? Doesn't he look like he wants to beat me up? And probably could?)

The Talbot session started this week, plus having Dietrich home those two days totally threw me off, so my brain stopped fully functioning. How else can you explain that I forgot:

1) To pick up a computer that one of the guys from our small group was loaning to Vova, who works with the Talbot program here. So, after I got home from small group, poor Eric had to go out late at night and get the computer.

2) My wallet, when grocery shopping.

3) The fact that I would be away at leadership retreat all day Friday and Saturday. (Which made it pointless for Lev's nanya to come on Friday, as scheduled. So I only got one morning of work in, and I had to devote it to a project that I wanted to have done in February, for Pete's sake. Still working on adjusting my expectations now that our family has grown.)

SEND Ukraine's area director is moving back to the States to take a different position with SEND. So, our team soon will be voting for a new director. Since Eric is on our area leadership committee, he and four other men are in charge of narrowing down the candidates. SEND also has asked a wider team of leaders to work together to define what "success" would look like for SEND Ukraine. How can we tell we're doing our jobs, and doing them well?

The leadership retreat was designed to give us the chance to spend some time mostly doing fun stuff together before the hard work began. The complex we stayed at has bowling, a water park and go-carts. And coffee! Though I try to shy away from gender norms, I did notice that the women spent a lot of their time chatting over cups of coffee while the men were shooting each other in laser tag. During the final couple of hours of the retreat, meetings began. And, when we got home from the retreat, they continued, into the evening.

While Eric, Lev and I were away, Dietrich stayed with Miss Lois. When I called to check on him Friday night, I mentioned that we'd be back the next day. "But mama," he said. "Tomorrow is still a weekend, and you said I could have a special Miss Lois WEEKEND." Clearly, he was having a good time.

Sunday, we were all healthy (or relatively so) for once, so we all went to church, and then Eric left to take the visiting Talbot professor on a tour of downtown Kyiv. Eric's got that tour pretty much down to a science, by now -- come visit, and we'll take you on it, too!

While Eric was gone, I got to see Lev's new trick: Independent standing! Eric saw him do it one time on Friday, but he didn't show off for me until Sunday. Man was he ever CUTE. He was holding on to the radiator (they don't get too hot), then he'd let go for a second, then grab on, then repeat. When I noticed and rushed over full of excitement, he was just beside himself with joy. One of those moments that I wish I had on video, but instead I'll try to keep in lodged in that forgetful mind of mine.

Seven Days in Kyiv: Weeks 23-24

I have 21 minutes until my momma's helper leaves. Plus a pot of milk on the stove (first step in making yoghurt). So, let's do this quickly, shall we? And let's not forget about the milk!

Three big events encapsulate this two-week period.

First, Luba started coming to watch Lev. Ah, Lev. Still sweet as can be. But, more and more determined. More and more destructive. And less and less sleepy. So, Luba to the rescue. She will come two mornings a week, and on those days, I will go to the seminary and work ON THE COMPUTER for two-and-a-half uninterrupted hours. Two mornings a week, I will cook and clean. And one morning a week, I hope to spend with someone else -- another mom, a friend, an older-and-wiser woman, a younger-and-wiser woman.

Of course, that's dreamland. Here in realityland, the boys and I got so sick that on her second week of work, she took care of one sick boy while I took care of the other. Which was extremely helpful. And then she stepped in to save my bacon by watching Lev when Dietrich's teacher suggested I not bring him to the upcoming school show (more on that later).

Second, we celebrated Defender of the Fatherland Day. There was a meeting on Monday night to determine what the boys would get on Wednesday morning for this holiday. It was scheduled exactly at Lev's mealtime, so Eric went in my stead. (Bummer, 'cuz I love the parents' meetings!) The decision was this:



As the mother of a mobile 9-month-old, I look at this and see a compilation of small, cheaply made plastic parts. Dietrich? Loves it. He loves it so much that he never lets it leave this windowsill, in order to protect it from the mobile 9-month-old. Actually, Dietrich has very naturally moved all his playthings up and out of Lev's reach, without us ever needing to tell him. I'm not sure about defending the Fatherland, but Dietrich certainly knows how to defend his toys.

Third, we had another show at sadik, this time to celebrate International Women's Day. March 8 is actually a public holiday (no school), so D's school celebrated on March 4. The girls all got shiny pink packages of glittery makeup or something (it's a good thing I have boys), the moms all got cards, the teachers all got flowers, and Dietrich said a poem in Ukrainian for the first time. Best gift ever.



The literal translation of this poem had us in stitches all week. It goes:

Darling mother,
I kiss you,
And say quietly:
"You are my relative."

In Ukrainian, the "you are my relative" bit connotes far deeper feelings!

All the other kids were clambering to get their picture taken. Dietrich, not so much. The little girl in the purple, the one in every photo, lives a few floors above us. Her grandma is not shy and often helps me figure out how to successfully live here.




And, for the grandparents, here's one with the tie AND a smile.


Hooray! I remembered the milk, so it's off to make yogurt to feed this little face.