Nikolas's long words, little climbers

Nikolas has had a fever for the last couple of days. He calls it 'plentatura'(for 'temperatura') I was complaining about a headache at the same time, and (whether he really had a headache or not, I couldn't tell), he said 'Mama, puca mi glava.' (Mom, my head is bursting.)
Recently, when he thinks I'm upset about something, whether it has to do with him or not, he says 'nema veze, mama' (it doesn't matter, mom) with such a wonderful tone as if he is comforting a baby. And when he hurts Sonja or Michael, on purpose or by accident, he immediately kisses them as if that solves the problem, or rather hoping they will stop hurting and not tell on him.
Yesterday he was not only 'a big bad wolf', as usual, but also 'a big bad butterfly.' Apparently, butterflies also say 'grrrr.'
Sonja and Michael are so cute when they lounge each in an armchair. Michael is a great climber. Sonja is great on her feet. She takes it as a challenge to practice walking over door steps, stairs, inclines, etc. and she'll retrace the path ten times to get a hang of it. When I want to put shoes on her, she stays balanced on her feet and pushes one foot forward to I can slip a shoe on it.


At the park:

In Delaware

Another successful 18-hr drive to Delaware--accomplished!
Both twins had fever this time. It's probably some virus that had been going around Gainesville and causing only fever for a few days--or teething. But this didn't spoil the fun!
Baka is greatly surprised by Michael's aggressive temperament and Sonja's mellowness. Last time we were here, the personalities were just the opposite. Michael gets mad at the food he doesn't want to eat and throws it off the tray with both hands in great protest. Sonja just calmly watches Michael's tantrums like an older sibling would.

Yesterday Michael ate his blueberry breakfast poop. Ahhh!!!!! And mommy didn't even flinch while she cleaned his mouth with bare hands and then the floor before Michael or Sonja could grab another poopy blueberry.

Sonja wore a dress one day, which is a rare occasion, and for the first time she noticed it and loved it, loved the way it swirled around her. Our gentle, girly girl. Once when Michael was crying about something, she patted him to comfort him!

We went to the playground by the pond a few times where the kids enjoyed swinging in the swing and sliding down the slide. Michael climbed up the slide by himself and then slid down on his belly giggling. Sonja then tried to do it too but had a bit harder time climbing up.

She, on the other hand, enjoyed teasing me by running away from me and watching me chase her. She noticed that I was especially reactive when she ran toward the exit of the playground that led onto the parking lot, so she kept running in that direction most of the time. I asked Nikolas to help me bring her back a few times and he gently led her away from the entrance. He also pushed Michael on the swing. What a great big helper Nikolas is!

Swimming pool

Who knew our community pool would be this awesome!? I wish I had taken Nikolas there when he was younger. It turns out that our kiddie pool is completely shaded late in the afternoon, and all three enjoy it so I can sit there at arm's reach from all of them.

On the very first day Sonja taught herself to walk through the water and only tripped twice where I had to pull her head out of the water. She was fearless, doing even her little bouncy dance. Also, by watching Nikolas, she learned how to blow bubbles in the water our first or second time there. Nikolas kept jumping in the water, that was his favorite thing, and pushing off in the water to glide fast (it's shallow enough that he can reach the bottom with his hands and not sink completely). Michael walked the perimeter of the pool, stopping to hold on to mommy and cuddle. He wanted to sit down and crawl but then he would realize that the water was too deep to sit so poor thing just stood there or walked a bit holding on to the wall. After a couple of visits he gathered courage to walk away from the edge holding on to the 'noodle' or some other large floating toy.