Getting out

On my deleted post the other day I mentioned that we had went to the library on Thursday for the story time. N- was there also. Both the kids had a good time although they enjoyed different parts. Nyla danced to the music. Bohdin liked the stories. We met N- at the playground the next day and the two boys had never had so much fun together.

Nyla slept really poorly Friday night and all of us woke up late on Saturday. It was nearly 9am. We didn't do much on Saturday. Buddy's parents finally had their power restored that day.

Nyla eating chocolate yogurt. She's not supposed to have chocolate until 2 I think but she's a rule breaker. She had already had it once before when she took my empty carton from the trash and licked it.
 

Bohdin making a scary face
 

On Sunday we went to DC. We didn't really have a definite plan. Parking is so so awful down there. We ended up finding a parking spot near the Capitol building. We meandered around, stopping in one of the wings of art museum and then the Natural History Museum. The Natural History Museum was packed. I took Bohdin so Buddy could explore in peace. Bohdin and I saw the soil exhibit, the dinosaurs and the nature pictures. His favorite part of the day was seeing the elevator.It was a glass elevator with exposed cables. Bohdin thought the moving cables was pretty cool. He also liked the "twisty wisty stairs" nearby. Actually he said his favorite part was the big machines but that was a different day. Buddy liked the meteorites. I was just tired because Nyla had slept poorly the night before again. My favorite part was going into the art museum to use the bathroom without the kids and then taking a few minutes to look around by myself.

Buddy checking the football scores on the way back to the car. We were all hungry. Bohdin was carrying a bag of popcorn and could not have walked slower. A very elderly couple passed us without effort.
 

Bohdin and I were both dragging on the hill up to the car. Buddy ended up carrying both kids for a while.
 

Last night Bohdin and I were playing a game called Mystery Garden. It is sort of 20 questions but you draw a tile that corresponds to the picture on the game board. Bohdin decided he liked it better if he just gave a description and then have me guess. Here are some of his descriptions:
"It swims in water and is swimming this way" (points)
"It's something you play with"
"It's something you wear on your head"
Then there was this one: "It's something that you kill, then you take off the fur, then start a fire and then cook it and then you eat it." The answer is a rabbit. Bohdin still asks for stories a lot so the other day I told him a story of a little boy in the woods who had to catch his dinner. I guess the story made an impression.

Making sushi

My post disappered and I don't want to retype it. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

 
 
 
 

Signing

As of last night Buddy's parents were still without power. I'm glad it's not me. That's probably one of those situations that is harder with kids though. A bit of fence needs to be replaced but everything else is fine.

The other thing everybody seems to want to hear about is our downstairs neighbor. As I mentioned earlier we received a note on Saturday. It said that she had tried knocking twice on Friday but nobody answered. She was also not happy that she was awake at 7:30am Saturday morning because she heard running upstairs. It's very unfortunate that us living our lives makes her life miserable. We haven't responded to the note yet. I don't know what we're going to do. If we're going to move on base we need to do it soon because you have to be around for at least a year. That deadline is coming up pretty soon. Does anybody have any advice or thoughts?

Nyla has started signing a bit. She'll sign more if she's encouraged. I think she has signed airplane. She may be signing cup. Her movements are still jerky and imprecise so it's hard to be certain. She's getting older so she should start picking them up more rapidly soon. She doesn't really say any recognizable words. She has said mamamama but I'm not sure she's referring to me. One time she said "en" when I said Bohdin but again it's a bit ambiguous. She's a loud baby so I'm not really looking forward to the talking stage. It will be even louder around her when she starts verbally challenging Bohdin.

It's hard to read

Bohdin and Nyla haven't been going to bed as early as usual. Our nights are more active with Buddy around. Bohdin was extremely grouchy yesterday. He had a huge meltdown over a popsicle yesterday. Today, after declaring the morning nap dead, Nyla took a morning nap that extended into the afternoon. Bohdin took an early nap today also. Hopefully this will help us get back into a good routine.

Last week when we met the new little boy, the mom mentioned the preschool he attends and that there are still vacancies. It's a coop preschool so I would have to help out in the classroom once a month. It only costs $150 per month which is a huge bargain in this area. I'm sort of considering it. Bohdin said he would like to go. We have some travels coming up soon so I can't commit to anything now but I'll give it more thought.

When I was pregnant with Bohdin, I was talking to Buddy one night about the book he had been reading forever. He said "It's hard to read". I misunderstood his comment. In my mind he was saying it is difficult to read in general as opposed to the book being difficult to read. It still makes me chuckle. Last night, Bohdin walked into the bedroom carrying a book. Buddy was on the bed and asked Bohdin if he wanted him to read the book. Bohdin said. "No. Mommy can read it. She reads well." It reminded me of Buddy and his difficulty reading. Bohdin told me to stop laughing so I could read his book.

Bohdin just broke the glass jar I told him to be careful with this morning and Nyla stinks because she was playing with the old container of milk. I fished some dry crusty sour milk from her mouth. So disgusting. It's time to get to work.

Quiet birthday

Buddy's 34th birthday was yesterday. He's not one for much hoopla so not much happened. I had planned to take him the soil exhibit at the Natural History Museum. (Soil science was his favorite class in college so it's not as weird as it sounds for a birthday jaunt) When we were in the car he complained of not feeling well so we went to Costco instead to get milk. Bohdin wanted to go back to NASA. Then he was whining because he wanted to go to a museum. I had already told him we were going to a museum. He's never liked museums much before so I don't know where that came from.

It was a really quiet day. The kids napped. Buddy watched some football. After the NE game was over they showed the rest of the Broncos game. We were so excited they won. I told Buddy that it was his birthday present. The Broncos did not really earn their win. They were given a chance to score when it should have been San Diego's ball. Those Charger fans must be devastated. Human error on the referee's part led to a San Diego loss. That's a tough loss.

Buddy didn't receive a call from his parents yesterday. The last we've heard from them is soon after the hurricane passed. Practically everyone was without power in Houston and I guess they have yet to have their power restored. Since so many people are without power, the cell phone towers are inundated. I can't imagine how horrible it must be down there right now. It was near 100 degrees here yesterday with a lot of humidity but at least we could go somewhere air conditioned and enjoy a cool drink.

On an unrelated note, Nyla is learning a lot of behaviors from Bohdin. Some fine but some not. Bohdin likes to put his hands is his drink now and suck it off his hands. Nyla saw that and tries to do the same thing. She also only wants to drink out of cups. Nyla has started looking a little pouty when she doesn't get her way. It looks a lot like Bohdin. She has started grabbing toys from his hands just like he has done to her countless times. Bohdin has been saying he wants more babies to play with but now he has changed his mind. He also doesn't quite understand the question since he says he wants to keep Nyla.

I've given up on 2 naps a day for Nyla. I'm tired of spending the whole morning trying to get her to sleep. Bohdin doesn't like the new schedule though because he watches tv when she's sleeping or trying to go to sleep. Bohdin has been taking naps most days this past week so it leaves almost no time for him to watch anything. He's in withdrawal.

I made Buddy a cheesecake for his birthday. Bohdin helped me out the night before instead of going for a walk. He did a good job with the mixer. In the morning I put a chocolate ganache over the top. Nyla insisted on being held so it turned into a messy endeavor. I also didn't end up liking the flavor. It was too overwhelming.
 

Bohdin blew out the candles. He refused to try any cake even though he enjoyed licking the batter. He's still on a store bought is better streak. He had a popsicle instead. Nyla didn't eat her dinner and didn't have any cake.
 

Celebrating a Bronco touchdown
 

Kisses
 

Launchfest

Bohdin's want ad playdate was yesterday afternoon. Moments before they arrived, my nose started running like a burst pipe. It became even worse through the evening. I didn't sleep well last night and my restlessness kept Buddy awake also. He was tired in the morning and ended up crashing after nine. NASA has a campus nearby and was holding an open house today. I had heard that this was the first time in 4 years but I don't know if that is true. I thought it would be fun to attend but Buddy wasn't really excited. With Buddy asleep, I packed up the kids and headed down there. Tons of other people had the same idea. They offered shuttle buses from various locations. I parked at a local high school and went to the end of a line that had several hundred people in it. I thought about giving up but didn't. The line moved very slowly and it was hot outside. After about 30 minutes we were able to board a sweltering bus for the short ride to NASA. There didn't seem to be any reason for the bottleneck. There were so many buses just sitting there waiting for passengers.

The dropoff was near the visitor center. I was now hot, tired, sick, and mad (I forgot to mention the note from the downstairs neighbor I found this morning). The area had a lot of tents set up. There was a band and some demonstrations. Bohdin wanted an ice cream cone right away and I couldn't blame him. He did a great job waiting in line despite the heat and lengthy wait. I bought him an ice cream cone and we wandered around a bit. There wasn't a whole lot to see there and I was let down. The whole thing seemed disorganized. There were school buses that took people to various places around the campus. Each stop had different things to see. There was a lot they offered but I was having some difficulty figuring it out. I thought I would take Bohdin to the robotics exhibit but an employee who was there with his family thought the tech area would be better. I decided to follow him. After some snafus trying to get on a bus we headed to another area. We only had time for one stop and I'm glad this was it. We ended up in the building where the components that are sent into space are tested. The giant building is filled with huge machines that mimic various conditions in space. One of the coolest things for Bohdin and I was the huge centrifuge. They didn't have a spacecraft on it but they did have it spinning slowly. It was a really neat site. Bohdin received 3-D glasses at one of the exhibits which he was quite excited about. We passed a glass wall with a silver spacecraft inside the room. Bohdin asked what it was. I then asked the employee for him. It is the actual telescope they are sending to the moon in December. When we walked away I repeated what the man had said and asked Bohdin if he had any questions. He wanted to know how they were going to get it out of the building. We went back and asked. We also saw a robotic arm with a camera attached. Kids were taking turns controlling it from a computer.

Bohdin and I both thought the experience was neat. I'm still shocked at how those spacecrafts look like they are built by 5th graders with popsicle stick and aluminum foil. The employee near the moon thing admitted they had a nickname for it. I only caught the first part but he said duct tape ___. He said it looks better before the thermal blankets are applied. Despite all of the hardships of the day it was a worthwhile experience. Very few people probably get to see where the spacecrafts are built and tested.

Being sick and dragging two kids around with one on my back was a bit tiring. Life goes on though. I just came back from the grocery store to get a few things I forgot yesterday. It's time to make Buddy's birthday cheesecake before it gets too late.

Goodbye

Yesterday my grandmother died. She was the last of my living grandparents. Her 97th birthday would have been next month. When I was 14 and Paul was 13 we went to Czechoslovakia to visit our relatives. Communism had recently fallen and we were able to visit our relatives in their homes. We spent the summer being handed off from one relative to the next. We met aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. We made the trek to the small village where my dad grew up and his parents still lived along with an aunt and some cousins. There was no bus service directly to the village so we had to walk a few kilometers from the next town over. I was a teenager and had enough clothes in my suitcase for the summer. It felt like a very long walk. This was before suitcases with wheels.

In 1991 when we visited the house had no indoor plumbing. There was an outhouse and a well in the side yard for water. I remember the kitchen being in a separate room next to the house. There was a garden there. Every single person we visited had a garden though. The quality of the food is so much better there. Chickens are butchered outside and brought inside to make soup. Chickens in America are treated poorly, given crap food, then rinsed in bleach before making it into our soup pot. The soup my grandmother made had an incredibly rich flavor. In fact, all of the things she cooked were delicious.

One of the more memorable parts of our visit to my grandparent's house (my grandfather died months after our visit) was our visit to the bar in town. Bars are not off limits to kids there so it was an adventure for us to go. It's not at all like American bars. I remember a big open space with a snooker table in the middle. It was a well lit space. They offered sodas as well as beer. It was more of a friendly place to relax than a trendy pick up joint.

My parents spoke Slovak with us from birth since it was their native tongue. When I started school I learned to speak English. I've always said I could speak Slovak like a 2 year old. My comprehension was well above my ability to say words. Unfortunately, my grandparents spoke a different dialect so I couldn't understand anything they said. At 14, I didn't know what a terrible thing that was but now that I'm older I realize the opportunity I've lost.

In memory of my grandmother. Oct 22, 1911 - Sept 11, 2008