You should go read the story that goes with it. Her wedding is only two weeks away. I just wish I could be there!
We had wonderful visits yesterday. Jaan was thrilled to get to play with Katya and Alyona Korneichuk and then Mark, too.
Julie was up in the night with the throwing up sickness, too. The update on the sickies is that Julie is down, Raia is coughing less than before, and all the rest are well. I'm still healthy.
Tonight we have our Kirghiz friends from the market coming over to visit.
Now Will was up in the night with this stomach bug. Julie still hasn't gotten it, but she has a cold. I'm the only healthy one left here.
Yesterday Will did take his parents out for a while to do some shopping and go to a coffee shop. Today we have the Korneichuks coming over for lunch, and we'll go to visit Mark and his parents and grandparents for supper.
There was a beautiful snow flurry this morning, but it's not cold here. It was pretty while it was flying: nice big snowflakes, or rather snowclusters. Nothing stuck, though. I laughed when Bernie and Julie ran for their cameras.
The night before last I was putting Jaan to bed. He was hugging Mi-ka, his bear, right up by his face. As he was falling asleep, he drooled a little. Then, all of a sudden he sat up, looked at the little wet spot, and then said, "No no, Mi-ka! No peepee!" in his best imitation of my shocked and displeased voice. He really thought that Mi-ka had wet the bed!
Yesterday Jaan told me that he wanted to hold Raia. At least, he pointed to her and patted his lap. I gave her to him, and he immediately pulled his shirt up and offered her "nyum-nyum." Guess what he's been watching me do? She just gave one puzzled look at his chest, and then went back to smiling adoringly into his face.
When we went out to walk in the woods yesterday, we met my ideal babushka. (OK, we're related to a few ideal babushki, but I mean my ideal Russian grandmother.) I always tell Will that when I get old, I want to have a garden, wear slippers everywhere and go out in my house dress. That's normal. But I also want to go around telling all the young mothers what a good job they're doing. That's really rare. Babushki tend to go around fussing, worrying and making young mothers--or at least this young mother--feel incompetent. As we were headed out to the woods an older woman passed us with her dog. She told me that I was just amazing, that sometimes she was too lazy even to go out with her dog, and here I was with my two little children. She ended by saying, "You really know how to keep your babies healthy!" Maybe you don't know how rare that is, but it made my day. Especially since yesterday was one of those days when it was really an ordeal to get us outside.
We also saw a Green Woodpecker. Jaan was very excited to hear another bobo bird, but he called this one a "tuk-tuk" (knock-knock) bird. If you go back to where I wrote about the bobo bird and click on the picture, it should go to a page that shows this one, too.
Raia's calling. I'll finish this later. . . .
)
Jaan sure loves to have both of them here! (So do the rest of us.)For those of you have been waiting to hear: the grandparents have arrived! I just heard the taxi drive up.
The grey, blah weather of late fall seems to have arrived just in time for Will's parents. They'll be here tomorrow. We thought the beautiful clear days might hold out, but yesterday turned grey, and now it's just wet and blustery.
I guess it's time to settle in with hot tea and good books here! (And it's time for me to bring out all my toddler fun ideas, too.)
)Johanna Joy Beaird arrived yesterday in Naro-Fominsk! All I know is that she's a big girl, and she came before the midwife. I'm sure Susan will be posting details and pictures on her blog in the next few days. I'm almost dancing with joy here. Congratulations to the Beaird family!
)
Will's busy today with hanging wallpaper. (It looks so good! I guess I hadn't realized how ugly the old stuff really was and what bad shape it was in. Even our landlord was embarrassed when he heard that we have special guests coming.) All that to say that you don't get an exact literal translation of yesterday's email. It basically said that it's a pity Will's parents aren't coming right now, because the fall colors are beautiful.
And that's the truth! The colors are just wonderful. It seems that sometimes fall goes by too fast here. The trees start to change, and then, all of a sudden, it's winter. This year it's stretching out a little longer. Plus, we missed this season completely last year, because of our travels. So, we're enjoying it more than ever this year.
In our recent walks in the woods, I've become convinced that Tolkien got his idea of silver trees with gold leaves from autumn birches. What else could he have been thinking of? With their bright white trunks and leaves that almost glow in the sunshine, they're at least as lovely as Lothlorien right now.
This is an email he sent to his parents earlier today:
Subject: mi frijoles!
Dorogoho raditeles i simpatica abuelitos mi,
Que lastima shto no aeroplanos pryama ahora seichas! Automno mui bonito ahora tenemos, i kak zhal, digo, mui ploho que aeroplanos no ahora, a pozhe!
Vashe chicito i ijo de Rossian,
Gizhermo =o)
Got that? His mother actually understood it! I'll try to post a translation tomorrow. . . .
Will helped some friends of ours who bought a burned down house. They had to get some of the old part cleared out so that they can rebuild.
Jaan's favorite part of Saturday was all the outdoor time. He loved helping Babushka Lena pull up her carrots. (And I'm in this photo, too.)
Raia took one of her naps in the guitar case on Sunday, since we spent most of the day out in the village of Sannikovo. She also got two naps on buses, and at least one cat nap in my arms that day.
