Twins move out of their cribs, Nikolas's phone conversations

Sonja and Michael got their twin XL size beds in place of their cribs. For one week we put Nikolas and Michael in the room together, and Sonja in Nikolas's old room to see how that would work out. Every morning the boys would get up unbelievably early (I never found out exactly when, but for sure by 6am) and played with legos, cars, books, etc underneath a tent that they made out of blankets that they hung from the bunk bed. So much energy, screeching and giggles were a bit too much for the early hours... and poor Sonja next door couldn't even open the door to come out to play with them. The boys went to sleep without too much fuss (actually, Michael is bar far the easiest kid to put down, he won't even let you sing a song to him--he immediately puts his head on your shoulder, and if you are sitting on his bed, he'll wriggle out and lay down on one side, put his head on his arm and close his eyes). At the same time, Sonja would be at the door as soon as we'd walk out of the room. She'd yell and cry, and after a few attempts to calm her down and make her go to bed, she'd still quietly move to the door and fall asleep there on the floor.
Eventually we decided to keep the twins together (plus save us effort of shuffling their clothes and toys from one room to another), so Nikolas went back to his old room and Sonja and Michael got the bunk beds that we separated rather than stacked. Michael slid out of his once or twice and that was it, but Sonja still keeps falling asleep on the floor in front of the door. Now she is getting Michael in trouble too: instead of letting him sleep in his bed, she's move into his bed as soon as I'd leave the room and poke him and talk until he was awake and up with her and then they would be standing at the window together looking out and talking or playing with blocks or at night laying on their blankets together right in front of the door. When I'd walk into the room, Michael would have such a guilty face and would lie down on his bed barely suppressing crying, and Sonja would go lie on her bed too but with not much of a guilty look, in fact, with a look that guaranteed that she'd get up again as soon as I left the room.

Nikolas feels he needs to talk on the phone whenever Robb or I are on it. The other day he spent 20min talking on the phone with grandma, pacing around the driveway the same way Robb paces. He actively participated, with a serious look on his face asking questions like 'What are you doing now?', talking about what he plays with, what he does at school, what Sonja and Mikica are doing... it was amazing to watch and listen!
Nikolas counts: jedan, dva, tri... jedanaest, dvanaest, trinaest, cetiriprst!
He reads simple words. The other day though, where he was supposed to read 'Nikolas jede.' (Nikolas eats.), he read: 'Nikolas ljencuga.' (Nikolas, lazy bum.)

The latest fun in the front yard: popping packing bubbles, skateboarding, biking:

Kids' annual dr. appt

Nikolas:
height: 42" (90%), weight: 36lb (45%)
Sonja:
height: 35" (80%), weight: 25lb (45%)
Michael:
height: 34" (45%). weight: 23lb (5%)

Michael is like a parrot now: Nikolas likes to tell him, Michael, say such and such, and he'll repeat it. He is pretty good! A lot of those words he probably doesn't know what they mean, but he knows to say 'Bopta (lopta) pala na pod' (A ball fell on the floor). He also calls for 'meko' (mlijeko)=milk, and voda (water). Still, when he wants food, he calls for 'meso' (meat). I guess I'd been pushing meat at him too much to gain some weight, so now that's his word for food! Then still he says 'baci' (throw) when he wants me to put him down, like when I pick him up to put him in bed.
He recently also started including the word 'necu!' (I don't want to!) He has to keep up with Sonja's incessant NO!'s.

Nikolas is now 100% potty trained. He's been sleeping in his underwear for the past couple of week instead of pull-ups, and it's been working flawlessly, after the first couple of mishaps.

Skateboarding, swinging

Nikolas's latest favorite activity is riding a skateboard.
He also learned how to swing by himself. I captured him here doing it for the first time.
Mikica finally learned to run for real, bouncing off the ground instead of what looks like speed-walking. He can now say voda, maca, meko, zaba, car, crocs, hi, bye, cao, but he'll repeat voz, auto,... (water, kitten, milk, frog,...).
Sonja rides the battery-operated car and also loves to sit behind Nikolas on the skateboard.

I love Nikolas's experimentation with usage of words. Some expressions don't work in English: 'Ni u sud' (Da se nisi usudio.) Mama, jesi li ti sad dobra/sretna na mene? (suprotno od ljuta na mene). He tells me, 'Sad cu da gledam crtani na DVD-u, je li jasno?' ('Now I'll watch a cartoon on DVD, is that clear?') Once, shortly after we corrected some English mistake he made, he responded, 'I didn't said nothing.' Oh, no...
At night, when I tuck him in bed, he still sits up (just after I straightened the blanket on top of him, the way he wants it), and kisses me on both cheeks several times and often on mouth and says, 'To je bila muzika poljubaca.' (This was the music of kisses.) Part of the nighttime routine is that I cover him with two blankets, stretched neatly over him. He's been using a large one for a while until he rediscovered one of his old blankets that just barely covers him, but he wants it anyway. And if I accidentally leave the closet door open, he reminds me to close it before I even kiss him good night. Too neat and organized.... it shows when he plays too: he often lines up his cars and trucks in a line--but then he can also make unbelievable mess in the living room and his room... we are working on cleaning up, and the effort is catching on.
The school is teaching them about dinosaurs these days. He recently asked me what extinct meant and one evening as I was reading a dinosaur book to him he started singing a song about dinosaurs! That was the first time he showed me something new they he actually learned in school--it's finally not all about playing with trucks and sand! He is also branching away from his so far the best friend Aagneya. For a few weeks he actually said they weren't friends anymore and didn't want him around but instead asked for Dylan and Nate. Plus he said a couple of times that he dreamed about Audrey and that he is sad when she won't play with him. Watching the girls in Nikolas's class at this age, it's amazing to notice the dynamics: the girls are already cliquish, they hug and kiss each other as they meet in the morning, they pay attention at what they wear, etc.
On the subject of dinosaurs again, he put together a train track with the train on it and lined up his dinosaur toys alongside the track, calling it 'dinosaur train' (the kids' program on TV)! He knows various types of dinosaurs (probably better than I do!). It's amazing how quickly he (ok, kids his age) remembers facts and new words: paleontologist, archeologist... Since we came back from Disney World for his birthday, he's been talking about it every day. Now he is making a lego castle from Disney World (a pretty elaborate one too), and he often mentions the jungle ride where he got scared but know that those are 'pretend animals'. He also mentions the pirate ride that scared him too, but I can see he can't wait to go back again!
Thomas the Train ride at Evan's birthday party:
Daddy with the twins:
Nate's birthday party:

Happy 2nd birthday, Sonja and Mikice!

Today we had a blast at our communal birthday party for Sonja, Michael and Nikolas, with all of our friends. After days of rain and cold, we were surprised with a beautiful sunny and warm day and 4 birthday parties going on at the same little park. Luckily, I was there first to reserve the best tables while freezing my hands and toes off early in the morning.
Sonja got to pick her birthday dress the night before. I brought out 3 dresses to try on her and she immediately had her eyes on one in particular; another I struggled to put on her, and the third never made it onto Sonja because she threw a fit demanding the little white dress with the squirrel and flowers on it. She is the only one in the family who gets excited about clothes!
Nikolas has been asking me for the past week if his birthday was that day, and I kept explaining that Sonja and Michael's came first on Feb 12th and that his was 11 days later. He didn't quite get it, but that's fine, all three got to have fun today. From indulging in cupcakes as soon as they showed up at the park, riding the battery operated toy car, playing at the playground, hitting the pinata, blowing the candles... it made for a great day!
Mommy with twins and her friend Tuija with Matilda:
Sonja and Matilda:
Audrey (AJ) on the slide:Boys and a car:
Nikolas starting to whack the pinata:
Kids' eyes are focused on the pinata, waiting for the treats to burst out of it!
Some serious focus, Nate!Cake and candles time!
Some close-ups:
After the party Nikolas wasn't able to fall asleep during nap time because he was too excited waiting to open the presents that we promised to do later. All three got a kick out of a monster truck with remote control that kept bumping into our legs for the remainder of the day...

playing together

Sonja and Mikica play wonderfully together. They wake up together and chat and laugh every morning, and during the day they are at play together most of the time. When I take them to a birthday party or a playdate, they will all three play together, especially if there was a bucket with balls that they could sit in or a sandbox. They will manage to push all other kids away and monopolize the area (Sonja would give others her mean angry look along with a loud 'NO, MINE!)Mikica still says 'pao' and 'baci', but now he'll repeat some other things that I say, like 'crocs' for shoes. Sonja would sometimes say a word so clearly that I'm surprised that she doesn't speak real full sentences. Sometimes, besides her favorite word 'no' she will say 'da' (yes), which is a nice change! She still babbles but still in her own language that sounds like English. Now she is adding hand motion, very girly hand motion, like opening her hands out to the side, crunching her shoulders and raising her eyebrows like she is saying 'I really don't know why Mikica and Nikolas are making such fools out of themselves.'

Sonja can now also put her socks on, not just the shoes. Mikica can put all other shoes on but his own. They are also great at taking their shoes off as soon as we walk into the house (they got trained pretty well!).
Nikolas is at the moment closed in his room with Sonja and Mikica, READING A BOOK TO THEM! He had been practicing writing his name at school. He can sound out words in Serbocroatian, slowly but surely. I started taping large pieces of paper on his wall with simple sentences about what he does every day so that he can read in the morning while he is waiting for me to come and dress him. We removed the knob protector from his door knob so that he can now freely leave the room when he wakes up in the morning if he wants to. He will use the potty (still sleeps in pullups), wipe himself (just started this), empty the potty and even fill it with clean water (after seeing me do it). He is so great at remembering procedures.
I got Nikolas the Connect Four game and we played it a couple of times. He plays with it on his own. Sonja likes to take all the coins and stuff them inside her onesie and then run around so they would jingle, laughing....

Nikolas learned lyrics for some songs on a music CD that we brought from baka last Christmas. That was the first time I heard him sing to a song on a CD (he sang children's songs with me before). He also remembers lines from stories that I read often. While I'm reading Macak U Cizmama (Cat in Boots?), he'd interrupt me by quoting a line from another story about a cat and a rooster that lived together...

Sonja climbed out of the crib

Sonja fell out of the crib! Like a cat that she is, she survived without a scratch or a bruise. She was immediately by the door banging for someone to get her, a little scared, but soon as if nothing happened.

Nikolas got his first buzz cut with Robb's clippers. He looks so much older and more serious without his curls.
Mikica i Sonja both love saying 'three'. They've realized a couple of months ago that 'one, two, two and a half, three' means they'd better do what they are told (by watching Nikolas). They both listen when we start the count. Three is apparently their favorite number and Sonja will never omit showing her three fingers as she says it (the American way, with little, ring and middle finger).
Mikica knows how to say mlijeko (milk) and 'crocs' for shoes.
Sonja and Mikica are both obsessed with brushing their teeth! I can't even begin brushing their teeth before they steal the toothbrushes from me and run around the house with them. As they 'brush' they hum, immitating the electric toothbrushes :) Nikolas still hums too.

Nikolas told me as I was reading a book to him: 'Mi zivimo na zemaljskoj kugli, a oni (karakteri u knjizi) zive na knjizi!' (We live on Earth and they (characters in the book) live on the book.)
Around the house he has been riding his little car as a skateboard: he pushes off and then stands with both feet on it sideways just like he is on a skateboard--with perfect balance every time, of course!
Dressed up as a fireman:
A walk in a park:

Cedar Key and Miami

Another perfect day to spend at Cedar Key (with Ani and Nate, Nikolas's classmate, this time) instead of school:
We just came back from a 3-day trip to Miami's South Beach where we stayed in Ani's apartment. It was the biggest spur-of-the-moment thing I've done with the kids that we decided on when Ani and I took the kids Cedar Key on the previous day.
In Miami we spent most of the time either at the beach or playground or chasing the kids around the 3-story penthouse where they were always looking for trouble. Nate loves Sonja but he was giving very lovingly hugs to Michael too this time. He and Nikolas got along well, with occasional fights that were not too bad. I loved listening to their conversations. Apparently Nate knows some WWII stories (Hiroshima, Pearl Harbor, etc.) and he was playing war with Nikolas one time mentioning words like bomb, war, etc. Nikolas didn't even know the words and kept asking, 'What is a bomb? What is Japanese?' It was cute. I do appreciate that my son is not into war stuff yet.
At the playground the big boys enjoyed swinging together on the tire that spins and swings. At the beach they were collecting shells, playing with sand, running around... and Sonja and Michael followed their lead. Sonja was first to find and observe any people in our vicinity who either had pretty shoes that she could borrow and wear or played beach volleyball or had a dog. She was right there, our social butterfly. Michael preferred to go off on his own and chase the waves (and run away when they reached his feet) or sit in a puddle and splash the water around. He is our little explorer.
Sonja holding hands with Nate :)
Sonja peed in the potty while we were in Miami. She already lets me know when I need to change her, she starts to press her diaper and complain, but this time I let her run around naked to air out her red butt and suddenly she started screaming and jumping around, so I picked her up and put her on the potty and she peed for the first time like a big girl!
During our drive back home, Nikolas declared in the car that he liked 'Hey Jude' that was playing on the radio.