Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Nostalgia

This made me a little sad.  My kids will never know what any of this means.  Sigh.

Hobo Chic

We are entering the "I want to dress myself and only as a princess" stage. I call this look hobo chic and what you can't see from this picture is that underneath the tutu, Violet is actually wearing jeans.  Also, notice the  combat boots.  It was either dressing her like a homeless princess or dealing with a temper tantrum before work, so you can see that I know how to pick my battles.  Now she gets to be that child whose parents I always judged for letting their kid out of the house looking like they were a victim of a closet explosion.  What was even funnier was the conversation that took place while we were getting dressed.  Enjoy!

Me: Violet we are late to school, we can't keep changing outfits.
Violet: Mommy, I want to wear a princess skirt, so I can twirl and twirl and be a princess like all my friends at school.
Me: What if we wear the skirt when we get home tonight?
Violet: No, I want to wear it to school. Two...No...Three of my friends wear skirts and twirl around like a princess.
Me: Which friends are these that are wearing princess skirts?
Violet:  (thinks for a minute) Oscar!



Drum roll please...

And now without further adieu, I present to you....Ладушки!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Please, for the love of god, no more Ладушки!

It was cute the first time and the second time and the third and even the 127th time, but you know when it stopped being cute?  It stopped at approximately 1:37 this morning.  Kid, go to sleep!

So proud of you!

We usually drive Violet to school in the morning, but today Gene had an early meeting so he took the car and we decided to walk, or rather stroll.  Of course in typical Klayman fashion, we were running very, very late.  Once we arrived to school I realized that all the stroller parking was taken and there wasn't any space for Violet's stroller, which is usually kept in a big bin next to the building.  After thinking about it for a minute, I did the only logical thing I could come up with - I pushed and shoved and squeezed, and probably mangled some strollers in the process, but I finally got our city mini in there.   Sweaty and exhausted from my mini workout, I look up to hear Violet exclaim, "Mommy, you did it! I am so proud of you!"
Her words really made my day. Here is this amazing little person who recognizes the everyday struggles in motherhood and she felt compelled to acknowledge and praise me for my efforts. Or maybe she was just repeating the phrase I try to tell her every day because I truly am REALLY proud of her. 

Monday, March 4, 2013

Ладушки, ладушки

This Russian "say and play" might be one of the most ridiculous ones yet.  It's a take on pat-a-cake, which is a song about baking a cake for the baby.  While the English were singing about baking cakes, the Russians were singing about their drunk grandma.  Here are the lyrics in Russian, and then translated.

Ладушки, ладушки
Где были?
У бабушки!
Что ели?
Кашку!
Что пили?
Бражку!
Кашка масленька
Бражка сладенька
Бабушка добренька!

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
Where were you?
At granny's!
What did you eat?
Porridge!
What did you drink?
A little home-brewed beer
The porridge is buttered,
The home-brewed beer is sweet,
Granny is kind!

Olya (our nanny) has been singing the song to Ivy and when she starts of, Ivy clasps her hands together in an attempt to clap along.  It's actually insanely cute.  So cute that I don't even mind that we are teaching her about the deliciousness of beer and how happy it makes grandma.