a bit more - pics added

I just have to say that Jamie’s employer, Acuren, rocks. We received a beautiful bouquet of flowers and two stuffed lovies yesterday morning.

Today we took the children to Value Village and got the last little bits of outdoor playclothes that we needed and then took them to beach where they promptly walked into the water, fully clothed, and had a wonderful time splashing and playing and making stone soup for us. Pics to follow. Good thing we had all those dry clothes in the car.

We had dinner at Mom and Dad’s (yum yum) and I had the joy of pushing my children on the same rope swing on which I was pushed as a child. (I grew up in the same house that my Mom did, and they still live there.) The children behaved quite nicely.

So, here is what I am glad we did while we were in Russia (this is all for you, Rhonda).

• Make the kitchen and the parent’s bedroom off-limits unless accompanied by an adult and even then, a tenuous privilege that is easily lost. By having places that require extra good behavior they have an opportunity to practice for other things, like visiting Grandma’s and you have an opportunity to see what they can do when motivated and in addition you have a place to hide your chocolate.
• Establish a vocabulary and routine that says that if you don’t comply you will lose something. We use Paka Paka? (Bye-Bye?) If a child is acting up, defying, or whining, we can ask PakaPaka ____________? And they know that if they continue to act up, the _________________ is disappearing.
• Both our children have a hard time being happy with what they have. I think the years of going without have established a habit of feeling deprived, even when they are not deprived. When they whine about not getting enough or someone having one grape more or whatever, they usually lose something related to the whine, like another grape etc.
  
• Practice holding time for tantrums.
  

You can use the wash-tub at the MarKuel as a booster seat. Turn it upside down and put a towel on top. We wish had bought plastic dishware and glasses on arrival, as there wasn’t much left of the glassware by the time that we left.

Q&A

How is Holly?
Holly’s ultrasound was on Thursday and no masses were found. The lab results from the liver and spleen tests came back happy. There is no sign of more cancer and we are very grateful for this.

How did the children react to our other kids?
Andy and Juliana love the dogs. Our little dog loves them. Our older dog is so happy to see us again that she doesn’t pay them much attention. The kitties hide from the kiddos. The bunnies are off-limits. A&J love the goats and the goats love them.

How is their English?
We had first sentences from each. Andy: “Juliana three books.” This is actually a sentence fragment as it is missing a verb, but I didn’t want to quibble. Juliana: “Isn’t she cute?” asked of herself while looking in the mirror.