On stage at sadik

After working hard on his Ukrainian poem, Dietrich caught a cold on the day of this year's holiday show at sadik. You might recall that we missed last year's show after a chicken-pox quarantine led to it being rescheduled for a day when we were out of town. I, sadly, thought he'd better skip it again this year, and Dietrich was cool with that. Until I let him try on his costume.

All of a sudden, he had to be on stage.

So, I came up with a plan. We'd go, but we'd wait in the hallway until his part. He'd pop in, say his lines, do his dance, and we would head home. 

His teacher would not hear of it. After thanking us copiously for coming, she insisted that I "let the kid have his holiday." The coughing wouldn't bother a soul, she promised.

So, on with the show it was.

Dietrich was dressed as Buratino -- the Russian version of Pinocchio. To get him into character, we watched the movie one afternoon. Dietrich didn't like it. Good thing he liked the costume.

Since it was the kind of day when things didn't go as planned, I only managed to get about half of his poem on video. My favorite part is watching his classroom helper, Sveta, cheer him on in the background. She has such an encouraging spirit and a sense of humor about childhood foibles.


Buratino from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.

After the hour-long show, which started 90 minutes late, another hour was spent playing little games and waiting for Grandfather Frost to arrive.

Needless to say,  Dietrich was drained. He opted out of the group photo, stumbled home and practically fell asleep eating his celebratory pizza.

For the grandparents, here he is saying the whole poem at home, before the show sucked every last ounce of energy out of him.


MVI 7065 from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.

Translation:
Greetings, children --
girls and boys.
You've known me a long time.
You've seen me in the movies.

I have a lot of friends.
You know them, too.
Artemon, Pierrot, Malvina,
And my name? Buratino! 

Next year, it will be Lev's turn to put on a holiday show at sadik. Crazy. 

Scenes from the kitchen windowsill

p.s. Look who's wearing big boy underpants!
p.s.s. Merry Christmas!

What's really important

Lev got off to a slow start with speaking, which makes his every word all the more thrilling to my ears. He's surprisingly adept at noticing emotions and attitudes. It's rather humbling to have your 2-year-old comment on your "stinky at-ti-tude," but sometimes he's right. My attitude does stink.  And he says it so sweetly that the stink lessens.

This weekend, for the first time, he was able to tell us that he felt scared. And then Dietrich came over and kindly helped him through the scary situation. (It involved climbing over some mesh on a play structure.) I will hold on to that moment for years to come. 

But it's not all "let's talk about how we're feeling" all the time over here. We're passing along other important life lessons, too.

Lev knows Star Wars from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.

Brothers

All about Lev

My little Lev is turning into quite the joker.

Joke number 1: About a month ago, Lev started calling everything and everyone "bad guy." I know, when you read that in black-and-white, it sounds a little frightening, but Lev is so sweet-spirited in every other way, and he says "bad guy" with such an impish smile, that it's clearly a joke.

The new fountain by our house? Decorated with water-spitting bad guys.

Bad guys. That he build HIMSELF.

Plastic letters? Bad guys. Mama and Daddy? Bad guys. The contenders in the presidential debates? Bad guys. Lev himself?

Bad guy.
 
Joke number 2: "What do you want to drink, Lev? Milk or juice?"

"Ooce!"

As soon as I start pouring the "ooce:" "Milk, milk, milk!"

Joke number 3: Lev sits down on a bus bench. There's a boy sitting next to him. Lev looks over and say, "Boy!"

"Yes, that's right," I reply.

Lev proceeds to point at the boy's very feminine mother and proclaims: "Boy!"

"Nope, she's a girl," I say.

"No! Boy! Boy! Boy," he replies giggling.

Sometimes I luck out, and people don't understand the not-really-appropriate things that my kids say. For instance, the helper in Dietrich's former class didn't speak any English, which was good, as he was prone to say, "I don't like her," when she walked by.

Alas, the boy's mom spoke English. But, thankfully, she giggled, too. 

For the boys

Eric and I are going to be away at a conference for a week, and I'm feeling a bit, um, emotional about leaving my munchkins. They are in good -- no, make that excellent -- hands, but still. I miss them already, and I don't leave for another 24 hours.

I've tried to funnel some of that emotional energy into things that, I hope, will help them realize I'm thinking of them, even if I'm not present with them. I've made playdough. I've packed up little goodie bags. I've constructed a count-down-the-days chain, with a note from me on each day.

And, I made these videos. Each night, I'll sing and read to the boys from the comfort of Miss Lois' laptop. Do you need a bedtime story and a lullaby? If so, watch on!

reading from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.


singing from josie oldenburg on Vimeo.

Celebrating autumn

Dietrich started his last year of Ukrainian preschool/kindergarten on September 3, and by September 21, the whole school already had prepared a 90-minute show.



As I understood it, some Important Officials were stopping by for a visit, so this show was a Big Deal. As in, we couldn't skate by wearing slacks and a Ukrainian shirt. We had to go rent the whole traditional costume. But the air was a bit chilly on the day of the show, so they had Dietrich wear his old-school cassette-tape sweatshirt over his costume, which rather negated the effect.

We also had to bring nature-themed decorations. Our flower-petal butterfly and glittery pinecone tree were unlike anything anyone else brought, but they still looked pretty. One kid made a dragon out of acorns, with maple-leaf wings. It was rad, and if we ever have to make another nature-themed decoration, we will shamelessly copy that idea.

Evidently, the Important Officials arrived early, because the show started about an hour before its scheduled time. I made it just in time to watch Dietrich's class do its dance to Generous Autumn. 



I also got to meet the little girl who had Dietrich all starry-eyed. Here they are knocking on watermelons together.

And he held her hand all the way back to the classroom.

 

Young love, 'tis a fickle creature. Here it is, one month later, and he never even mentions her!