May Arrives…Week #3 At Home

Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing well. We just finished off this week with an enjoyable family weekend. Victoria is making strides with her English. In the last week, she has added a few words to her English vocabulary and has been more consistently using words like “Fun”, “Bye”, “Hello”, and “Monkey” (in reference to a character on one of her shirts), etc. At bed time the other night, she said “Good-a Night” to us (it was close and we thought it was cute). While watching “My Friends Tigger and Pooh” the other day, one of the characters said “Think, think, think”….Victoria started with “Dink, dink, dink”, then moved to “Bink, bink, bink”, then onto “Fink, fink, fink”. Again, she is getting closer and really has taken an interest in learning to say and write things in English recently.

While at the park this week, Victoria had some friendly interaction with a little girl. While Victoria was on the tire swing, the little girl asked a boy to come on the swing with her “friend” (referring to Victoria). So, they came over and the three of them enjoyed swinging together…giggling and chatting it up. Of course, the other kids were a little confused by Victoria speaking Russian. At one point, Victoria’s little friend asked “Why is she speaking Spanish?” While mommy thought this was hysterical, she mentioned that Victoria was speaking Russian because she is from Russia. The little boy said “Well, I am from New Jersey” and the little girl said “I am from Hillsborough” (the town that we live in). It’s amazing how kids process things. Haha…

This week, Victoria learned that mommy and daddy have actual first names. In the store, mommy called daddy by his first name. When he responded, Victoria said “Papa, eta Steve?” When daddy looked, she laughed and seemed to want explanation. So, daddy explained that his name was Steve and that mommy’s name is Sharon. It was interesting to see her take in this new information.

Victoria went with mommy to the dentist. She was very interested watching mommy and wondered if she was hurting. Of course, mommy calmed her by letting her know that it did not hurt. The dentist used the opportunity to have a quick peek at Victoria’s teeth and she enjoyed riding the chair up and down. Since she handled it so well, she got a cool toy. She has an appointment for a cleaning this week. So, we’ll see how that goes.

For some time now (starting while we were in Russia), Victoria has asked to go swimming. While we thought it highly unlikely, she insisted that she knows how to swim. Seems like something always got in the way, but today we decided it was time and we headed to the pool at the YMCA (our neighborhood has two pools that we will be able to use once Summer comes). Once we reached the pool, she headed right for the water and it was the moment of truth. As we entered the water, she was all smiles and giggles. Then, we watched and our suspicions were confirmed…this was clearly the first time our little girl had been swimming (other than in the tub, of course). Even with the aid of a floating device, her style was like Aquaman (Think late 70’s, early 80’s…if you know the cartoon, you know what we are talking about). She, though, was clearly not afraid of the water and put a lot of trust in mommy and daddy. Not unexpectedly, she was most nervous about not being able to touch bottom. Oh well, she kept saying how much “fun” she had and that she wants to do it again. So, we’ll get her back out there soon!

Well, that about does it. Here are a few pictures from this week. Hope you enjoy!


If she enjoys the sandbox this much, she is going to love the beach)

A cute close up

Enjoying some time on the swings