HARD WEEK

I remember the Wednesday of the last week - our Comparative Slavic Linguistics seminar was dismissed earlier and instead of going to the library to read some assigned literature (as was suggested by the professor), I went shopping and bought light-orange jeans that need alteration. Gosh, what a week it was - after that. Dim's parents came Wed night, Lev was sick till Saturday, I went to the doctor on Thursday and started taking antibiotics myself.
On Thursday, Lev, his grandparents and I went to the park. It was the first time I envied the parents of other children: everybody was happily playing, smiling, running around. It was sunny and warm, and the trains were doing their 'choo-choo'. Only Lev was cranky and miserable, making his relatives miserable, too.
Thursday night was a nightmare - Lev was crying all the time and I ended up running along the street in the coat over my pajamas holding him in my arms, in the hope that the cool air will alleviate his pain. It did not help, and I just left him in his crib to cry himself to sleep. I was frustrated. The pain killers obviously did not work. I called the doctor that night, and they just told me to wait till the morning.
Friday morning they called from the office and prescribed some eardrops. I was not home Friday, I was happy to get away, to drive a car, to ride BART, to talk to people. I even did not call home. I thought I'd just stay there, in the library, go to my seminar, and just be on my own for a while. Saturday was somewhat better.
- posted by ET @ 2:51 PM

 
HAWAII

It's amazing: in the middle of the winter when everybody's bundled in leather and wool, you suddenly pack your summer clothes and fly off! To Hawaii! Unbelievable. I dreamed of going there for years, and here it is: Dimka goes to some scientific conference, and takes me with him!
All three of us went, actually.
It's really warm there: they are wearing shorts and swim in the ocean! Unbelievable! And it's so strange to get back: you feel this right away, when you get off the plane: it's cold here, in CA, well... in comparison with Hawaii... And even the thought of my parents back in snow-covered Moscow doesn't help.

Lev and I got sick right after we came back. Climate change, works like a shock, especially when you get from warmth to cold.

- posted by ET @ 1:03 PM

 
I GOT A NEW LIFE

I got a new life. I am back to my PhD program in Berkeley. Never thought I was coming back. But here I am! And enjoying it. Well, most of it. It gives me a break from my little one. Besides taking classes, I work 18 hrs a week in the library. Gosh, it's a lot! I can't stay on my butt so long! When I come home I feel like jumping.

Lev's in daycare three days a week. Well, he's supposed to be. Now he's got this nasty ear infection that makes him whine all day long. Even when he's asleep he's still whining, and breathing hard. He stops only when he goes for a walk. Then he's distracted by all the things around him and obviously forgets about his condition. We give him antibiotics. Today's the 2nd day of the treatment. But he still has a fever.

He cried out today, at 5 am. All hot and burning. Gave him motrine. Gave him water. He was somewhat reluctant to go back to bed, but there is no other option at 5 in the morning. I went back to bed, too. But then he started whining again. Gave him more water, left his cup in the crib.
Today, I feel like a wreck myself. Probably I have the same ear infection as he has. I made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get some antibiotics, too.


- posted by ET @ 12:03 PM

 
COMING BACK

Hey, it's been a while. Today's been my first day back at school, and I am so excited I can't sleep. It's always like that with me: when I suddenly get too much 'communication' time, I get excited and don't sleep well. But I like it SO much. Really, it's such a contrast: after staying home with the little one - all of a sudden, so many people to talk to, so many stories to tell and to hear!

But what about the little one, you'd ask? It was his first day in the new daycare today. I like Charlene. She is also working as a disk jokey on weekends. When he got back home today he was tired, but still he was babbling all kinds of new sound combinations, and I thought it's because of his new impressions of today. He did not nap well, of course, only 45 minutes. And when I came to pick him up I could see his glazed eyes - the sign he's SO tired! Charlene said he did not cry at all till the moment when the other boys' parents came to pick them up. After that he got so upset he'd only stay calm in her arms.

Oh, I know how bad it is - the first day! Back home, he found a new set of crayons - and got so excited he won't let me take them away. But I am strict about the bed time, especially if I can see he's tired, so I grabbed him and took him to his changing place. What a tantrum he threw! Gaka, gaka - was the only word I could hear from him (meaning 'crayons'), and he really cried, with tears, and sobbings, and all that kids' stuff. He won't listen to my solaces, that he could play with the crayons tomorrow. I tried to distract him, and we went to the window to watch cars in the street. He calmed down, and was happily pointing at the cars, but the moment I put him back in the crib, he remembered all about his 'gaka'. I left him alone till he cried himself to sleep. But he started crying again in about 45 minutes, and dragged me out of the bathroom. I took him in my arms, but he'd wriggle and cry. Then I put him back to his crib and patted him on the back. The minute I left the room he started crying again. Five minutes seemed like half an hour to me, and I could not stand it. So I went to him and started telling him a story in a wisper. Then another story. Then another. He calmed down, closed his eyes. I left the room, and then in a while I heard him again: this time it was just couple of sobs.

Uff!

My back is aching, I wonder whether it's because of the semi-high heels I wore today.

The writing seems to calm me down, so probably it's time for me to try to fall asleep once again... Night-night!
- posted by ET @ 12:31 AM

 
SACRED KNOWLEDGE

Lev's dad taught him a new word: "pupok", meaning "navel" in Russian. Lev is very excited about the new knowledge, and each time I change him, he points his finger down there and says pouting his lips: "pupo".
Last weekend we were visiting our friends, and he was playing on the carpet, while I was reolaxing on the chair. Suddenly - as if something struck him - he approached me in his usual businesslike walk, lift my shirt and pointed his index finger into my belly: "Pupo", he said proudly. Luckily, at the moment there were no other gentlemen in the room.

RUSSIAN FOR RUSSIANS

He's trying new sound combinations all the time. The recent find sounds like the dirtiest word in the Russian language. My husband and I noticed it in his speech couple of times, smiled at each other, but refrained from comments.
Today we went to Russian supermarket in Palo Alto. He was cranky and bored until I seated him on the counter so he could play with the array of pens people use to sign credit card slips. He immediately got occupied while babbling happily all along. To my greatest dismay, he was using that word again: "Blia, blia, blia..." People in the line behind me and the clerk behind the counter looked bewildered: "Hey, dude, what are you saying, eh? What are you saying?" They were addressing him but looking at me. I wanted to cry out: "I did not teach him! That doesn't mean anything!" Honestly, I rarely use the word myself, no matter how pissed off I feel. But he's my son, and his bawdy Russian is my responsibility, too.


- posted by ET @ 8:13 PM

 
BABY MOZART

Today I put on the Baby Mozart video tape, after the only trial almost a year ago. It seems I am more fascinated with it myself. I just sit down and watch all these changing pictures. His attention span is quite short, he is distracted by his other toys. Is it really for parents? Probably: they have to like it because they pay for it.

BABYSITTING

He openly prefers my company. Instead of watching the TV he climbs up on my lap, and demands some hard-to-reach objects from my desk. There is no way to concentrate on any other subject when he's around. The only way to keep sane, is to remind myself that my main occupation today is babysitting, and it's not he who's stealing my time, but it's me who's depriving him of my precious attention.

- posted by ET @ 8:16 AM

 
LITTLE GAMES

When Lev goes to bed for the night, the house looks like a deserted battlefield. Overturned cars, scattered magnetic letters, letter cubes, tortured stuffed animals, shredded paper, overturned cup, and much more... And me, crawling around getting this stuff out of the way.

What kind of game is it, when the little man opens his drawer and starts pulling his clothes out and throwing them on the floor? At some point he starts stucking them back. Sweet boy. But before I have time to rejoice, he decides he'd rather play the first game, and starts pulling his clothes out agian... Then brings them proudly to me, one by one, and I have to explain to him that he should not put panties on his head or try socks on his ears. I don't always have energy to clean up. Needless to say that we don't spend much time in his room.
- posted by ET @ 8:10 PM

 
JEALOUS

When my husband and I start kissing or hugging in front of our little guy, he becomes mad and upset. He makes a grimace and starts whining: "Ba, ba, ba!" He feels excluded. When we take him in our arms he immediately stops whining. I guess he is not demanding attention of the specific parent, just wants to join the fun.
- posted by ET @ 10:52 AM