Reading!

Please excuse the mistakes and just enjoy the cuteness! To me, this is just as cute as a baby taking those first few toddling steps.



Jaan is reading! We've been working on it for a while, but just this week, it really seems to be coming together for him. For the first time, he picked up a book on his own and just started reading, and now there's no stopping him! Of course, it's still slow and bumpy, but he can understand what he's reading. In the video above he's reading a Winnie the Pooh poem in Russian. He's also taking off with English reading, but he's not quite so confident there, so no videos of that (yet).

Oh, he's also reading everything in sight, or at least trying to. We have to keep reminding him to walk outside, when a sign has stopped him, or to eat, even though he hasn't quite read every word on the tea box yet. Interestingly, I guess learning to read Russian and English at the same time will help with Ukrainian. A few days ago, he read "Юлiя" on a tent for Yulia Timoshenko's presidential campaign, and didn't even ask why there was an i in there. (He likes the Yanukovich tent much better, since it starts with his name.)

In other news, we had a great snowfall, and we're thoroughly enjoying it! We even went for a long walk/slide this morning in a strange mix of snow, rain and ice. We came back soaked and happy and not even very cold.

Will's been working at the church almost every day, trying to get repair projects finished before the holidays.

And that's pretty much what our week has been: reading, snow, Papa gone, and Advent, of course, but that's another post. . . .