Seasonal fun

We're having so much fun! None of the other little children are coming outside these days, for fear of them getting damp or dirty. We're not afraid! When we're outside I have a constant stream of horrified babushki telling me, "His mitten is wet!" or "She has dirt on her snowsuit!" And I just reply, "Да." They look at me like I'm insane. Sometimes I add, "It'll dry/wash off." Then they know I'm insane. Some of them sputter about the fact that the children are going to end up in the hospital because of this, but the ones that know us, know that our children are the healthiest around. And they're enjoying it so much!

Yesterday Jaan learned all about rivers and lakes. We saw some older boys sailing boats they had made in a river of melting snow, so Jaan went in and got a little foam tray. He launched it in a puddle, and it didn't go anywhere. So, he learned that lakes don't flow. We spent the rest of our time sailing the boat and comparing rivers to lakes.

We also found a place where the snow had melted all the way down to some of last year's grass. Raia plopped right down (yes, in the mud) and carefully examined this strange new substance. She collected the old brown strands in her bucket. What's she going to think when we find green grass?

Another--even better--find was a bulb, just lying on the ground! I don't know what it is, but I'm hoping it might be a crocus. We planted it in a pot, so hopefully we'll find out soon.

Planting our bulb
Originally uploaded by fylliska.



I don't think I mentioned what Raia did when we found pussy willows a few days ago. . . she ate them! I noticed the fuzzy parts were disappearing off of her little branch, but I thought she was just breaking them off. When they were all gone, she said, "more, please," and I saw that her mouth was full.

All that was just on our morning walk. After naps, we made a new boat for today. Then we started cleaning off our balcony, and the children got filthy out there, too.

The boat
Originally uploaded by fylliska.

No, he wasn't too happy about me taking his picture, and he was very unhappy that he couldn't go out and try his new boat right away. See the big H? That's his signature. He writes it on everything. The first letter of his name is too hard, so he's adopted the second one as his own.

Okay, we need to go try out the new boat!