Swimming lessons, T-ball

Nikolas has been in a 2-week daily swim class that ends this week. For the first couple of lessons he didn't want to go in the water at first and kept crying to stay out with me. I had to drag him to the instructor. Luckily, the instructors were great and helped warm him up to swimming in the pool although every now and then he'd have a bad day and wanted me to sit right at the edge of the pool with him. He has been practicing blowing bubbles in the water with his entire face submerged, floating on his back, kicking and diving under water. Check out those tense pointed toes:
More water fun at the Splash Park:
Nikolas is also having his first T-ball practice this summer. Warm up:


Sonja walked up to Michael's crib and stuck her hands through the bars and tickled him saying something similar to 'gili-gili' which is what I say when I tickle them. So cute!
Nikolas likes to do this to both of them too and they love it, especially Sonja.
Michael loves climbing the couch and hanging out at the window above the couch:
Sonja, particularly excited about something (probably her favorite music):
Protecting her balloon from Nikolas (evil look!):

Twins' 15month dr, appointment

Sonja: 21.8lb (25-50%), 31 1/4 " (75%)
Michael: 19.5lb (almost on the chart), 30 1/2 " (25-50%)

Both had growth spurts since last time and Michael is closer to the weight chart than ever before. Michael just had a fever and was throwing up for the last couple of days and it turns out that his molars are coming out. That was probably the reason.

Michael's first steps

Michael's motivation came from walking in the swimming pool. This morning he stood up on his own and took a couple of steps. He is still unsure on his feet, he keeps them very stiff and I can't tell if he needs to work on his balance of strength of the muscles used for walking.
Sonja lately experiments with walking on her tippie toes.
Both seem to understand much when I talk to them--when I check if they want certain food or water sometimes I think they even say 'da' (yes) or 'ne' (no). Sonja is actually funny-she learned to say something between no and ne and she waves her hand 'no' while she is saying it. They get excited when they see that I'm getting the stroller ready to go for a walk or to the swimming pool and sit right in. Now they go through the books with me in my lap, pointing at things and babbling.
Nikolas finally calls Sonja-Sonja, not Soyna.
Sonja likes to challenge her balance. She'll go up and down the steps just for the fun of it. At home they would all spread all couch cushions and pillows all over the living room and she'll step on top of a cushion and off of it keeping her balance.

Nikolas: funny things he says, piano, baseball

There is no truck that goes by Nikolas unnoticed: garbage, recycling, cement, gasoline, FedEx, for fixing electrical problems... ('kamion za smece, za reciklazu, za beton, za benzin, sto popravlja struju, FedEx'). At home he pretends to fill his trucks with gas using some string. He patiently waits while the gas pumps, very cute...
He likes to tell stories or string stories together as ideas come to him either from what he sees outside or what we read about in his books. He recently told me about alligators that swim in the water, about how it started to rain and then to storm ('poceo pljusak, pa onda oluja', ili, jos dramaticnije, 'kad ono--kisa!), and the alligators hid in the water.
Now when he sees clouds in the sky, he says there is electric charge (he says as I taught him, naelektrisanje u oblacima), so it will rain.
Also, as it gets dark at night, he says, Earth has turned away from the Sun so it's getting dark. Then he makes the round shape with his hands to show me Earth and how it's turning.

When I ask him what he wants for lunch, he lists chocolate cake, chocolate milk, chocolate yogurt, chocolate bread, chocolate juice :).
Since he loves chocolate so much, it's his treat after he poops in the potty, which has only happened a handful of times, and we are still working hard on it. So, as he loves to follow me to the bathroom, stand right next to me the whole time to watch the whole ordeal, turns the lights on and off for me and flushes, he'll appropriately ask if I'm going to get chocolate now?

He tells me several times a day, 'Mama, ja te puno volim!; (Mommy, I love you a lot!). He also constantly interrupts me with, Mama: (significant pause), bla, bla...

Tennix=tennis

We talked with baka on Skype one day. He said baka was on the speakerphone (really she was on the laptop). Anyway, he imagined that we were just watching a video of baka so at some point he got bored and said he was done with watching baka and wanted to watch Sonja and Michael's video from the park. (Ja sam zavrsio sa gledanjem bake. Hocu sad da gledam Mikicu i Sonju u parku.)

The other day he closed the door to the lanai so that 'caterpillars, worms and butterflies wouldn't come in the house. Caterpillars, worms and butterflies are beautiful animals. I like them.' (Gusjenice, gliste i leptirovi su lijepe zivotinjice. Ja ih volim.')
One afternoon just as he woke up from his nap the first thing he saw was Mikica with a baloon. He said, ooh, what a beautiful baloon! ('Uuuu, sto je lijepi balon!')
Or, 'Ooh, am I a big boy! ('Uuu, sto sam ja veliki!'). This was one time when I found him on the changing table. He explained: 'Ooh, I'm so big, I jumped from the floor on top of the changing table. Then I fixed the wall there.' Then he noticed a tiny whole in the wall elsewhere from some painting that used to hang there: 'Oooh, I didn't fix that hole!' ('Ja sam jako veliki, uuu sto sam veliki, skocio sam s poda na sto. I onda sam tamo popravio zid.' Onda vidi rupu u zidu od neke slike sto je tu visila, pa rece, uh, nisam popravio onu rupu!)

During a meal, I told him, Nikolas, don't touch me with your dirty hands. He responded with, But mom, I'm touching you because I love you! ('Ali mama ja tebe diram zato sto te volim!)
His latest funny line: 'Mama, ti mene zezas!' (Mom, you are messing with me!)
Also, with a more serious tone: 'Mama, sad ja pricam, nije tvoj red da pricas.' ('Mom, I'm talking now, it's not your turn to talk.')



Baseball: he doesn't want to participate in practice but will cheer and clap from the side. Robb had to be right next to him during every practice.

Swimming: the water was too cold that he was shivering within 10min, but he goes and kicks and dives... though with a lot of resistance and stiffness.

Piano: he is comfortable after a month with the teacher to the point that today he wouldn't stop banging on the keys and the teacher had to distract him and bring his mind back to the lesson. Sonja and Michael hit the keys whenever they can squeeze in by the piano and LOVE it. Sonja dances to the melodies too.