We found a perfect nanny for Stephen--and our nanny found a perfect baby who doesn't fuss, who goes to sleep with no resistance and never cries--everyone is amazed when they see Stephen curl on his belly, with his knees tucked under him, thumb in his mouth, ready to sleep with no complaints. No rocking required.
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| Two brothers getting along in a shopping cart |
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| Practicing dress-up before Halloween |
James is very quiet at school, his teacher Mrs. Clark says. I guess he is saving his words for after school, because at home he never stops making sounds--if he is not talking to someone, he is talking as he plays war with Lego people, or humming, which eventually turns into loud singing. His first questions after school are 'Can I have a playdate with Sebastian?' and 'Can I play Minecraft?'
I did let him play Minecraft during fall semester, and it was too obvious how video games affect young minds, creating addiction and aggressiveness. At some point we had to cut gaming out completely.
Same thing with Nikolas. All he wanted to do for a while was play with his friends on Xbox, and we let him as a reward for being so good at school. But again, as it started absorbing his life, we had to disconnect Xbox. Nikolas has been taking all advanced classes offered and 7th grade math, doing all of his work independently with great results. Very proud of him.
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| With baka |
Sonja has been swimming and playing soccer at the same time for a little while until swim schedule changed to overlap with soccer. We've had to pause swim practices several times for a month or two at a time so she could participate in soccer leagues. Luckily, the club allows it, as much as I feel embarrassed about it. She is choosing soccer over swimming (although she has a great predisposition to become a great swimmer!), so we'll keep swimming in the back pocket anyway. As for soccer, she has advanced to be among 12-yr-olds, and the coaches love her enthusiasm and sportsmanship.
Next year she'll start on the travel team.
Michael and Nikolas have both been on baseball travel teams. Baseball 5-7 days a week..... Now that we've built a batting cage in the backyard, it's baseball non-stop.
Managing travel to different places for the two boys has been challenging for Robb and me, and I can't even imagine how it will be next fall when Sonja starts traveling with her soccer team!
This winter I managed to make it to California to visit deko at the same time my mom was visiting him. Some pictures from an always beautiful Manhattan Beach....
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| LA in January 2019 (with baka and deko) |
Grandma and grandpa visited us in January:
Here is Stephen lounging on our brand-new firepit patio, completely relaxed:
Sonja's newly formed soccer team went to Tampa for their first tournament. This was only supposed to give them a feel for the travel team that they are going to be in next fall. They played 12 year olds because no other 10U teams signed up (and for us it didn't matter, it was just for practice), however, our girls ended up winning the entire tournament!
Nikolas had a couple of friends over for a sleepover on his 11th birthday:
Just a couple of cute pictures of Stephen:
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| Eating yogurt (hopefully some ended up in his belly) |
May 2019: James on a class field trip
June 209: Sonja's first swim meet with the Gator Swim Club:
James has learned how to rollerblade :)
June 2019: at the piano recital, Thomas Center
Stephen is starting to get interested in train tracks and to put them together by himself:
This year all our February birthdays are getting celebrated in June, because travel baseball took all of our prior weekends!
Paper recycling:
Yum, ice cream!
And just another photo, before I cut Stephen's hair:
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