Just a few notes on kids language development.

Big Munchkin has developed a proper British accent. She has also began correcting my pronunciation: 'Mummy, it is not tom-ai-to, it is tom-aa-to'. That kids of thing.

In her French class she could not remember how to say mouse in French, so she made it up: un squick. The teacher worked really hard not to burst our laughing. At least, Big Munchkin understands grammar and has a good imagination.

Big Munchkin mispronounces a few words, for example helicopter is a helickockter.

Little Munchkin is starting to say a few word, but his pronunciation is so bad that unless you know what he is trying to say, you'd never guess. A giraffe is 'ff'. A jacket is - 'jjt'.

I signed up Little Munchkin for a language development class. Hopefully, he'll like it. So far, the latest music class is proving to be a disaster. His gymnastics class seems to be getting better. Last week he cried for only a few minutes and then even tried to join in with group exercises. He even allowed the teacher to help him with some of the activities, like doing a forward roll.

Last few days have been hard for me because the kids were trying to 'play' together. To be more precise each wanted to play with whatever the other one was playing with at exactly the same time. There was a constant screaming and mutual injuries and complains. Mummy he pushed/scratched/pinched me etc ... from Big Munchkin or just a plain scream from Little Munchkin. They successfully reduced me to tears by Friday afternoon.

Another issue I am having with Big Munchkin is her very good memory. I am trying to teach her to read, but it is proving to be tricky as she memorizes books. As soon as she read the book once, she knows what it is about and either 'reads' it from memory or tries to guess the words from memory, without actually trying to understand what the word says. She is smart and learning very quickly, but she follows the route of the least effort.

I haven't been writing lately as I don't have time. Big Munchkin has not been going to sleep on time, eg. 7,30 pm. Yesterday, she went to bed at well past 9. I can do any housework only after they all gone to bed. So, after getting her to sleep, I still have to wash the day's worth of dishes, do the washing, ironing, and overall tidying up. I do not have time left to write the blog after all that is done. I am trying to get Big Munchkin to get back to normal sleeping routine so I can get at least some time to myself. This week I had no 'me' time at all. Hopefully it'll get better soon.

We booked a trip to Prague in early September, right before Big Munchkin's start of school term. It was a special sale - we paid 170 pounds for all four tickets. It is practically free by local standards. It means, that we will be going to India at the end of July or early August. I'll let you all know when we are going as soon as we book the tickets.

What is it about men? Why can't they leave home in advance? If the electronic map says that it would take 23 minutes to reach somewhere, why not to leave 30 minutes in advance? Why leave only 10 minutes in advance? Anyway, we were suppose to meet some co-worker of my DH at a restaurant. Of course we left late, got repeatedly lost and were late by 30 minutes. On top of it, my DH did not exchange phone numbers with the person we were meeting. So, we could not even call to let them know that we are going to be late. When we finally got there,we found the restaurant closed due to power failure. It looked like a good restaurant - in the middle of nowhere, looking like warehouse and lots of Chinese people. All those are the symptoms of a good Chinese restaurant. I would definitely like to try it again. Anyway, the people we were suppose to be meeting were not there (if they were, they must have left by then). We decided to try out another Chinese restaurant that we have heard good things about. We ended up waiting in line for almost an hour before we got in. The food was fortunately good and service fast. It is the closest Chinese place out of all we have found so far.

The weather has been horrid. In fact, it's been the worst for the whole of winter (and it is an Easter weekend). We had two days of hail storm and one day of wet snow. Temperatures are still above zero, so everything melts, but the wind is chilling. It is very cold. On a positive note, it is not twenty below and we did not have to shovel the snow for the past three months. There are positive things about living in the UK.

I am thinking of taking Big Munchkin and going for weekend to Amsterdam to visit a friend. Leaving both kids with DH might be a bit too much work for him, and I just can't take Little Munchkin. He is totally daddy's boy these days. Big Munchkin is big enough to travel and, I think, she would enjoy the trip. I am still thinking about it.

This week has been very busy. Big Munchkin's has three French classes a week now. She is making a rapid progress. She'd better be with so much effort on my part.

On Wednesday we had a return play date - at our house. Looking after two nearly four year old girls and one two year old boy who refuses to sleep is a lot of work. I was exhausted. Hopefully, next week we can have a return play date when Bog Munchkin will be out of the house again. I am looking forward to it.

Little Munchkin's music class on Thursday was a disaster. As soon as we walked into the class he began to cry. He was whaling for about ten minutes, then I gave up and left. The tears dried up as soon as we left the building. He happily skipped to the park. After that I invited another Russian girl I met recently. Her younger boy is just a little older than Little Munchkin. They should be in the same class at school when they start it. So, it is a potential friend for Little Munchkin. The girl is also very nice - it is good for me to make new friends.

Today we went to Natural History Museum. Kids love it. Big Munchkin insisted on going to see Dinosaurs again. After the Dinosaurs section we went to see Human Body section. Both kids enjoyed it a lot.

Tomorrow, we are having a little get together with a few friends at our house. Most people are out of town for Easter long weekend, so it ia just a few people.

We had a busy weekend. On Saturday I abandoned the kids with my DH and went out with a friend. It was really nice to spend some time talking Russian to someone taller than one meter. While I was out my DH took them for Big Munchkin's Mandarin lesson and then swimming. On the way back he picked me up from the station and we all went out for dinner.

On Sunday we were invited for a Birthday Party for a one year old daughter of another local Russian couple. My DH dropped me and Little Munchkin off at the party, and he and Big Munchkin went to see Little Red Riding Hood play at a theatre. After the play he picked us up from the party and we went to meet up with his boss and his family. It was very cold and windy today so we ended up going to the National Maritime Museum. We had a good time.

Next week is a short week with Easter Weekend coming up. From the next week Big Munchkin is going to have two private French classes and one group French class. I am going to faze out the group French class as I don't think it is making any positive impact. Private classes seem to be going well. Little Munchkin is also showing some interest in these classes. I will have to seriously cut down on her extra-curricular activities by next September. Once she starts going to school full time, having so many classes will not be possible. French will go down to one private class, and tennis and ballet will go alltogether.

Next week I am also having her best school friend for a play date without her mum. Hopefully, it will go well. Payback time for a free time I got last week.

I hugely apologise to those friends who recently complained about me not writing to them. I am sorry. I will try to write soon. I promise.
Recently we signed up with one of the DVD rental services, where you choose your DVDs on-line, they mail them to you and you mail them back after you watched them. Unfortunately, you can't copy them as protection is very good. At least, I haven't been able to break through. Anyway, I've been getting DVDs for Big Munchkin to watch. Her current favourite is Walking with Dinosaurs. Then, I decided to introduce her to wonders of original Disney movies - Cinderella, Bambi, etc. Well, Cinderella went OK, but she did not like Bambi. She told me that it is too scary. The kid whose favourite episode in Walking with Dinosaurs is Time of the Titans (about a group of baby dinosaurs who die in various ways until only two survive into adulthood). Kids are strange that way.

She had a play date this week. It was a first time she had a play date on her own. I found it very strange in a nice kind of way. I actually had time to do something. I did not know what to do, but Little Munchkin and I went for a long walk without having to rush back home. I was a very bizarre feeling of freedom. Though now it is a payback time. Next week, that girl is having a play date at our house.

Did not do anything too exciting today. Took Little Munchkin to the playgroup in the morning. He had a great time going down the slide and playing with the tool bench there. Picked up Big Munchkin from school. Our French teacher moved the class for tomorrow, so we did not have French today. Went for a play date. I really like this girl's mum, but the girl is one whiny kid. She is even worse than Big Munchkin. I don't think she and Big Munchkin have anything in common - completely different personalities. The girl wanted to play veterinarians, Big Munchkin wanted to play faeries or princesses. For Big Munchkin the play date was a right off. Little Munchkin had a great time there - lots of new toys. I loved the house - huge, Victorian listed building. It must be costing at least a million. I am sure my DH would have felt a lot better about living in this area if we lived in a house like that.

Tomorrow, we have another play date - Big Munchkin's best school friend's mum is picking then both up from school and they are playing at their house. I feel a bit stressed at leaving Big Munchkin by herself somewhere else, but she is nearly four and the house is just a few doors down the road. She is growing up after all, and she is all excited about it. Tomorrow, we also have a French class close to the evening. Our French teacher is suggesting to break up the class into two half an hour classes. I think it is a great idea - I don't even mind paying a bit more - she is very cheap and two classes a week would be much better. Plus, we still have a French group class. Hopefully, Big Munchkin will start picking up French faster.

Tuesday is my busiest day of the week. We have three classes in one day. In the morning Little Munchkin has gymnastics class. He still spends half of the class crying. The class has about 10 minutes of organized exercises and then it is a free play. He is fine with the free play part, but there is no way he is going to participate in any organized activities. He spends all group exercises time sitting on my lap and crying. The difference between him and Big Munchkin is just amazing. Big Munchkin always loved organized activities, e.g. group classes. She still does. Little Munchkin still does not love like them. His gym class is also very physically demanding - after running after him and helping with all the equipment I get tired.

In the afternoon Big Munchkin has her gymnastics class. It means that I have to drive to the same place twice in one day. After the gym Big Munchkin has a tap and ballet class. I have been trying to persuade her to drop it. I can really do with one class less, but she refuses to drop it. It is close to home, so at least I don't have to drive. Four other girls from her school go to that ballet class, so she is having fun there. Plus, she just loves dressing up in a pink tutu and ballet shoes.

I have started teaching Big Munchkin to read more actively. I think she can really do it, if she just starts paying attention. She knows all of the sounds and can blend some of them.

Big Munchkin is assigning roles to everyone these days. She is a Princess. Little Brother has been promoted from 'the pea' (as in the Princess and the Pea) to the Pauper (as in the Princess and the Pauper). Papa is Prince Charming. Mama is Cinderella 'because she is always cooking and cleaning in the kitchen'. Thank you ever so much ...

Today Big Munchkin did a series of portraits. She drew every member of our family, including herself.

This is Big Munchkin's self-portrait.








This is Daddy's portrait.







This is Mama's portrait.









This is Little Brother's portrait.

Today we had our usual Mandarin class and swimming with Big Munchkin. Little Munchkin had a fun morning out with daddy, He suddenly became a total 'daddy's boy'. He does not let his papa to go out of his sight, clings to him for dear life, and has a meltdown as soon as daddy steps away. I hope it does not last. This excessive 'daddy attachment' is extremely annoying.

Later in the day we went out to see some friends. Part of the reason for this visit was that the girl there is a doctor and Big Munchkin's passport is expiring. We had to get a guarantor to sign her passport application. The guarantor has to belong to a very short list of professions. One of allowed professions is a doctor. Now, that she signed all paperwork, my DH can go on Monday and drop off the application form at the Embassy. Until Big Munchkin's gets her new passport we can't travel anywhere.

We booked a short trip to a resort in Southern England. We will be going for a four day trip in May. We hesitated about this trip for some time. It costs a bit more that we wanted to spend and Big Munchkin is going to miss two days off school, but then I really wanted to go somewhere and my DH said that he does think it is the best option available. We still need to book our tickets for a summer trip to India and with that our main holiday-related expenses for this year will be over.

Yesterday we had our first French lesson - private lesson at home. Big Munchkin's French teacher came to our house for an hour. I wish I would have asked her earlier. It is cheap - £10 per hour. We pay £9 for 45 min of Mandarin class and £25 per 30 min for private swimming (one on one with the teacher). French teacher is good with kids. I am going to ask her to concentrate on Big Munchkin. I originally asked her to teach us both, but I think she just should stick to teaching Big Munchkin. Amazingly, Little Munchkin learned to say one word too - Bonjour. Both kids behaved remarkably badly during the class. They were jumping on the furniture, Little Munchkin went into the upstairs bathroom and was playing with the water - opening and closing the tap. Hopefully, next week will be better.

Big Munchkin had another outbreak of her strange allergic reaction. It lasted just a few hours. I gave her Piriton and the next morning it was gone. But now I am thinking that maybe I really should have that test done. During the last round of visits to the dermatologists at the local hospital both doctors she visited recommended testing her for lupus. At the time I decided against it - it is a serious illness and I did not think she might even possibly have it. I am not so sure now. I think that maybe I should have her tested, just to rule it out, if nothing else. I'll think about it a bit longer.

We've been doing a lot of Easter-related art projects with Big Munchkin - the pecking hen out of the paper plate, lots of 'stamping' projects such as sheep Easter cards or potato stamping chicks. She also started doing interesting drawing . Her bunnies are not looking like rabbits, but it is a progress from the green rain and roller coster.

Took Little Munchkin for an Arts class today. He really does not like the whole business of organized classes. He lasted for less than half of the class. He just did not care for it. Anyway, I do a lot of arts activities with them at home. So, I really don't see a reason for paying for something I can do better myself. So, we are just going to stick with the gymnastics and the music classes.

I bought a very good book about Easter-themed art projects. Did one with Big Munchkin today - did prints of chicks' bodies with the potato cut in half. Then, did grass by printing the green dots with her finger. She really hates getting her hands dirty in any way, Getting her to do finger painting is a major achievement. When it all dried we glued eyes and feathers for the chicks' tales. Then she drew the legs and feet with the black crayon. It came out really well. Little Munchkin was doing the sponge-printing at the same time. He ended up doing it all over his hair, face and body ... again. I had to give him a shower to wash it all off. I don't think we will be doing any sponge painting with him any time soon.

Our recent wave of eye infections seem to be over. I think my DH has been suffering for so long because of the medication rather then because of the eye infection itself. He is much better now. Both kids and I are also fine. Though Little Munchkin's nose is running like Niagara Falls.

Last weekend we've been busy. First, one my DH's university friends was visiting. I haven't seen her for 7 years or so. She hasn't changed one bit. It was very nice to see her. Then, my father came over for a couple of days. It was really nice to see him as well. I haven't seen him for a year. It was great to have him staying over and spending time with the kids. Amazingly Little Munchkin accepted him as a member of the family. Dad took Big Munchkin to school, we went to the indoor playground together, we took Little Munchkin to his gymnastics class. It was nice. I do hope 'dedyshka' would come more often.

Few days ago Little Munchkin turned two. He is a big boy now. Though his speech and understanding are well below of Big Munchkin at the same age. We had a chocolate cheesecake for breakfast. Big Munchkin was quite insistent that we have to have a cake. So we did. She put two candles in and helped to blow them out. She also ate a big slice. I don't think Little Munchkin understood that it was his birthday or that there is such a thing as birthday at all. He got a new bicycle from dedyshka (with a handle). He still needs a helmet though. Both kids have such small heads that it it hard to find a helmet that would hold on.

Little Munchkin started gymnastics class now and a music class. Next week I am taking him to an arts class, though I don't think we'll be doing it. I do a lot of art activities at home and don't really want to pay for it. Still, I'd like to try, in case he really likes it.