Well, on Friday, October 11th was the first time we packed our car and went on a trip without the car seat and the baby. It was emotional to leave him behind. We packed everything that we need for the weekend, and what Ilushka would need for the weekend, including his bath tub, and after returning 3 times for things that we forgotten, we were on the way to Babulya and Deda’s house. There after unpacking half of the car, we had a quick bite to eat (all three of us) and one by one, Yurka and I sneaked out into the car. Ilushka didn’t notice and continued playing with his toys.
While we were away, there was three birthday parties happening that weekend. First, on Saturday, my parents hosted a birthday party for Daniel. We did have sushi lunch with him on his actual birthday (Thursday, October 10th), so didn’t feel too bad about missing this party. Ilushka did enjoy being part of the celebrations.
Here he is in his chair in the kitchen, I am guessing to get Babulya some time to cook. He has his Mon.keynastix sticker on, as Babulya was a trooper taking him to his gymnastics class on her own. Ilushka even did some flips (he didn’t like it, but he did it)
To give Babulya some time, Julka and Emil took Ilusha for a walk in the park. Ilushka had lots of fun chasing Tanner (a dog they were dog-sitting) around the park.
as well as being on a swing with uncle Emil 🙂
At the party, Ilushka spent lots of times playing with Lena and Markusha
playing with Tanner
and having fun with my cousin Jenya
Meanwhile in Boston, mommy and daddy enjoyed a nice dinner with friends.
On Sunday, while mommy and daddy took a Freedom Trail around historic Boston downtown,
Ilushka was at another party celebrating his cousin Gabriel’s 8th birthday.
carefully watched by both grandmas
and then playing on his own while everyone else finish their meal. He knows where the toys are at Alla and Sasha’s house and can find them with his eyes closed 🙂
Same at Babulya’s house. This entire toy stack is just for him. 🙂
Monday morning we spent more time exploring the beautiful Boston.
and took a short boat cruise
In Toronto, Ilusha was once again having fun with Emil and Julia in the park
And in the evening, both grandmas were giving him a bath and getting him ready for bed at our house.
We arrived home at 12:45 a.m. after a 9 hour drive to our sweet little baby who was sound asleep by that time. 🙂
On Tuesday this week (October 15th), Ilushka turned 19 months!!! I can’t believe that my baby is so grown up. When I look at him walking and talking and showing his character, it is hard to remember the little infant with no hand coordination who we brought home from the hospital. I didn’t do a 19 month photo session nor have any measurements for you but can list some of the new accomplishments:
1) Ilushka added some new words to his vocabulary, and adds more every day: he says “nana” for “banana”, he says “вода” for water but not for drinking water, when he wants to drink he says “brrrr”, he also said “кто там” when he rings the door bell. He knows the animal sounds, that cat says meow, cow says moo, dog says waf waf. Plus he uses “goarrr” for bears, tigers, lines etc. It was funny when I was showing him a house and telling him that this is a house and this is a window “окошко” and he said “meow”, I told him not “кошка” but “окошко” and he said “meow” again. 🙂 Then I was telling this story to Yura when Ilushka was in the bathtub, once again when I pronounced the word “окошко” Ilushka said meow!!! Even the teacher at daycare said that he is saying new words constantly.
2) Ilushka is climbing much more and can get onto the couch with easy, which is scary as he like to run on the couch (зрелище не для слабонервных). He is making improvements in the pool as well as our first class was a disaster, but with each subsequent class he feels much more at ease in the water. He loves to run in the water (even when it is neck deep for him) and he loves the slide (both water slide and a slide on a playground). But he does not like water being poured on his hair (like his mommy) nor swimming on his back or even being on his back in general (our diaper changes can be difficult because of this).
3) Ilushka always could play on his own, but now he has a big multilevel garage that he loves playing with. He loves cars (big cars, small cars, any cars). He had a number of them at home, but he is in heaven when he goes to visit his cousins as they have a huge box of cars! With mommy’s help, he is getting used to playing with a sorter as well. The stacking toy is now a very easy exercise. He also loves musical instruments. One of his favourite toys is a piano with a dancing bear. He turns it on and dances himself. Ilushka repeats a lot of what others are doing. He has music twice a week at the day care and he exhibits different moves when a music starts playing. Also we have a new addition (I am thinking a courtesy of Babulya and Dedulya, but I might be wrong), an electric guitar with lights and music, which appeared after we returned from Boston. He loves it and carries it around.
4) We are trying to teach Ilushka to show parts of the face like nose, eyes, ears and mouth. He is mostly successful, if he wants to be. He almost always gets nose and eyes right, but still mixes up ears and mouth. But we are working on it 🙂
5) Ilushkin has been feeding himself for a while at home, as he wouldn’t let me feed him until he had his own utensil in his hand, but last week his teach at daycare told me that he is now eating with the big boys at the table and not on a high chair. The let him feed himself except for soup. I can understand as only last week he poured an entire plate of soup all over himself. That was “fun”.
So this is everything I can think of right now, there might be more as there is something new every day.