Small but mighty

Bogdan is small for his age and doesn't walk yet, but he can...

...dig...

...climb trees...

...and catch beetles!

He is Risen!

We've been busy! Easter was lovely, but then Monday was just a tired day, and Tuesday we went to our dacha for the first time this year. And we're doing school, as usual. So, here are some pictures from Sunday....

The night before

Easter morning!

What's this?

Asya shows him

"Christ is risen!"

"He is risen indeed!

Breakfast

Ready for church

Raia's picture in the Sunday school display

Asya getting ready to say her poem

(...with her mouth full of candy. And click on the picture to see Will's face!)

Evening tea with guests

It was a rainy day, so we didn't get to go on a picnic or spend time outside like we usually would have. We still celebrated, though: special breakfast, church, fun activities at home afterwards, and guests in the evening! And the rain made everything start to bloom on Monday morning.

Growing and learning

Bogdan has been growing and changing so much lately! He's learning all kinds of new skills:

Sharing

Well, that's not new, but he sure is good at it.

Scrounging

Papa left a piece of candy in a bag that he threw away. Guess who went digging in the trash and found a treat?

Using a fork

He seems to need to hold one hand in the air, like a fencer, while he works to get something on his fork. I was surprised to see him take off eating with utensils already. Here are some photos of him eating spinach and pumpkin with two spoons, too: one, two, three, four.

Playing piano?

Reading?

Or just enjoying books. (The book in the picture was Jaan's favorite at this age.) Bogdan loves to sit on his potty and "read." He's making great progress with the potty, too. His vocabulary now consists of two words: "yum" from before and the new word "kaka." Utilitarian baby talk? At least he's telling us about two basic needs. He's also just taken his diaper off and headed for the potty once, but he can't get onto and off of it by himself until he starts standing, so I'm not ready to move him out of diapers yet.

Recognizing letters?

Helping

Bogdan loves to help! His favorite toy lately has been this little sprig broken off of a broom. He crawls around with it, sweeping everything in sight. He wanted to sweep the camera and me when I got down on the floor to take pictures of him working, though.

Watch him grow

Honestly, Jaan doesn't play with Raia's doll stroller much. However, when he got it a few days ago, and I started taking pictures, I realized that we've done this a few times before.

June 2011, 3 months old

November 2011, 8 months old

April 2012, 1 year old

I really enjoyed watching them this time. Both boys were laughing and making motor noises as they zoomed around.

Holy Week

We've been reading Lenten Lights again this year. I found a Russian translation, that I've been printing out, instead of using my own. In between squirming, arguing about who gets to blow out the candle, fussing because it's Time For Bed (Bogdan!), it's been a nice to slow down and read the Word together these evenings. Jaan has been doing most of the reading, actually begging to be the reader, instead of waiting to be asked. After reading, we sing, learning the songs that they'll sing with the rest of the Sunday school for Easter. That's a very practical preparation, along with the heart preparations.

While the West is celebrating Easter, we're on Palm Sunday (Pussy Willow Sunday). Next week we'll be saying "He is Risen!" with you. For now, we're just heading into Holy Week. Here's my list of activities that I want to do:

• paper palms (last night)
• Today: donkey cookies (just because Raia found a donkey cookie cutter, and we can)
• Monday: start this set
• Good Friday: turn off the lights until Sunday morning
• Saturday: make empty tomb cake, but out of breakfast cake, not chocolate (To tell the truth, I like an Easter garden better, but that doesn't work well with a baby and a cat. I'll still gather violets and bits of spring beauty, even if we don't make them into a garden this year.)
• Sunday morning: red eggs and cake for breakfast

I've just been reading back through my old Easter posts and enjoying them. If anyone else wants to read with me, here's 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Raia's basket

Raia has been picking up willow twigs and making little rings of them almost nonstop. Instead of drowning under a sea of willow circles, I wanted to find something else that she could make with her twigs. So, I searched around a little and found this blog post. The project was just the right level for Raia. She did a beautiful job, mostly all by herself.

We may have started a trend in our neighborhood. Jaan really wanted to make a basket, too, so I got him started on one outside. While we worked, the local troublemaker hovered over us, saying how cool it was and that his mother doesn't do things like that with him. (I feel sorry for him now, instead of just being annoyed about all the bad words he's taught my children.) Then, when I came in, I looked out the window and saw Jaan still at work, along with that other boy, plus the building chairman and his granddaughter and two more little girls. All of them were twisting and weaving willow twigs.

Poland, part 6

Can you believe that this is still not the end of our Poland pictures? We had one last day of exploring Krakow.

Copernicus

While we were standing here, Jaan asked, "How is it that every day we read about something, and then we see it?" How could we not, when we were reading about Krakow in Krakow?! That morning we had read a part of The Trumpeter of Krakow that mentioned Nicolaus Copernicus, and then we found this monument dedicated to him.

Up into Wawel Castle

And further up

The cathedral

I went in with the three older children, while Will stayed outside with Bogdan and the stroller. I thought we could just take a peek, and come right back out, but there was a whole route to follow. I would have loved to have spent more time in there! Of names that I recognized, Chopin and Pope John Paul are buried there, but the Polish kings and queens made more of an impression on us. We really enjoyed the beauty, and we followed a Russian tour group around for a little while, but we couldn't stay long.

This window was beautiful from the inside!

Lunch

We went in one of the many museums on the castle hill. It was the site of an actual archeology dig, which was quite fascinating, but our little group was already pretty worn out, so I'm not sure how much they enjoyed it. They probably liked lunch afterwards better. Although, Jaan had been begging and planning to visit a museum, since even before we started out on our trip. After our lunch break, we explored some more.

I'm seeing a theme of Raia and doors.

The palace courtyard

See?

Once again

That evening we went back for one last visit at the Glasses' home.

A sad goodbye?

They really were sad to say goodbye to Clarissa, and it was Jaan's idea to get one last photo together, just before we left. However, they were all so wound up and sweaty from running wild, that it didn't turn out too great.

And now the only continuation left to post, is how we got home from Poland....