Progress

Many things have happened and I have not been too good at keeping the blog updated.
So where do I begin... in the order in which things come to my mind
- Venotjari has turned 4
- Venotjari can write her name (she learned how before she turned 4)
- Venotjari LOVES drawing. She draws at least 1 picture per day
- She knows the alphabeth (nearly - a couple of difficult one she can't write yet
... yes I am the very proud Mom babbling on about her daughter.. and am loving it..
- Unovandu has settled in completely in the kindergarten (no more crying, when he is dropped off)
- Unovandu has learned more words, but still cannot really speak (only in two word sentences)
- Unovandu copies EVERYTHING his sister does
- Unovandu wants EVERYTHING his sister has
... making it very difficult for the very proud Mom to be "fair to all" at all times...

I can write my name

A person, a rainbow, flowers, a crown, the sky and the sun

Girls (and guy) at Venotjari's B-Day party

The kids in Wangeoorge on a short holiday with Daddy (while Mommy is in Thailand working)

Unovandu sings and Venotjari talks

Venotjari is a big girl now. And big girl gets her hair braided...

And this is how she looks like with her hair done...


The video showing Unovandu singing and Venotjari talking did not quite work out. So that will need to wait. Anyway, he loves riding his bicycle (without pedals). He basically did not go on his Bobby Car at all. But on the Laufrad he is really good and becoming faster everyday. After just one week of "intensive" training, we can go on longer walks and he keeps up on his bike. Really cool.
He started his "training" exactly 3 weeks ago and now he is close to being a professional... :)

Denmark vacation- absolutely wonderful :)

Highlights of the holiday:
- Monkey, monkey, monkey thi
- "ich bin der kleine Wassermann, der ganz genau weiß was er kann, oh ja oh ja..."
- Jumping on the Trampolin



Daddy and Venotjari on bike in Copenhagen

Mummy and Unovandu on bike in Copenhagen

The whole family at the Baltic Sea

Venotjari again...

Daddy and the kids

Time for a nap...

Adios amigos...

Unovandu

Venotjari

The beach... (without "Bunker")

The beach with more "Bunker"

The beach... with "Bunker"

The kids

The House

The family

And once again I can say: They have grown :)
He can now name the ALL members of the family:
Mummy
Daddy
Thathi (Venotjari)
Vanu (himself Unovandu)
He is now really starting to express himself verbally and that is really becoming lots of fun, as the interaction reaches another level.
Venotjari is also such a big girl. She has started reasoning and discussing what she wants and why she wants it. When she tells you something about what happened during her day, it is well explained and all makes sense.
They remain lots of fun to be around :)

Everyday life...

Books remain the love of both children. He always comes up and says "abook" and then expects you to read him the story there and then - irrespective of what you are currently doing. And if the book is not read there and then, he cries crocodile tears (and trust me, he is very good at crying crocodile tears. Basically, that is his way of getting what he wants... unfortunately). HE knows how to throw tantrums and uses this weapon very often. I get the feeling that I am always on the losing end, when it comes to who can stay the longest without giving in. We need to work on that :)
Venotjari enjoys reading the rhyme books by Dr. Seuss, that I bought her. Her favourite is "Fox in Socks". Apart from reading books, she likes drawing and listening to her music or story CDs.

They love each other very much and are noticeabley glad that they have one another. But they also fight alot. When they are playing, they nearly always end up fighting about something that the other wants, but cannot have. Venotjari likes to take advantage of her age and strength to nag him - laughing everytime she manages to irritate him so much, that he starts complaining bitterly. And then she wakes up in the morning and insists on being the one to give him his bottle, or like holding his hand when we leave the apartment in the morning for the kindergarten.

We practice riding the bicyles as often as possible (the last week nearly everyday). And she is really improving and gaining confidence. We need to keep it up until she learns how to climb on and off the bike by herself. We have now reached the point where she can stop and come to a stand-still alone - but it takes a while for her to really stop, so the command needs to be given long before the street starts :)

Cornflakes and oats - Venotjari's favourite dishes at the moment...

Sweet as ever and very difficult to resist ... :)

Unovandu's Words

- eiss (his very first word)
- tatitata (he refuses to say car, although I prompt him as often as I can)
- auto
- bye bye
- tsüss (tschüß)
- up (when he wants to get out of his chair)
- bed (for bread) / Brot
- fog (for frog)
- miau (for cat)
- duck
- tuck (for truck; he loves trucks and cars)
- tain (for train; loves trains as well)
- das (for that)
- mummy
- daddy
- come
- bee (for all types of flying insects)
- ant
- Oma
- cow
- wasser
- mützi (für Mütze)
- hat
- head
- cushion
- fish / Fisch
- Schiff
- boat
- sieu (for shoe)
- nana (for banana)
- Meise (für Ameise)
- Erdbeers (für Erdbeere)
- Zieback ( für Zwiebeck)
- pies (for please)
- thank you mummy
- nein / no
- oh no (very dramatic, when things falls down etc)
- Ball (but not the english ball)
- tabei (his way of saying "look here", "watch")
- book

Long time

It has been a while again and this time I received the subtle promt from Nguvi so update the blog again. The young man is getting his last 4 molars at the moment and it is a very painful and moody affair. And once he is moody, there is no way out of it until he goes to sleep. He seems to drag the bad mood along with him the whole day and doesn't really seem to be able to shake it off - and all our endeavours to cheer him up are usually in vain.

We went to the playground yesterday and were playing a little bit of soccer. It is quite amazing how well he is able to kick the ball in the desired direction. And he aims well and also successfully gets the ball to where he wants it to go. On the other hand Venotjari is not all too good in kicking balls - at least not in a straight line and in the desired direction.

I keep asking myself whether it is my biased impression or whether it really is a boy-girl thing, that seems to be in their genes. Like Unovandu's interest in cars. He loves them and is constantly playing with them. At that age we exposed Venotjari to both "girl" and "boy" toys, but she did not hit it off with cars like he does. Again my question: is it in their genes or why do boys like cars and football???

Photos

After the hair cut...

Before the hair cut....

Book and "mummy/child-princess/king"

It has been a long while since I took the time to blog. But after a small prompt, I am at it again. So much has happened since the last time I wrote. The kids are really growing up (part of their nature, I suppose ;)...). But it is amazing how fast they grow and develop. Unovandu still has not started speaking. Venotjari does the talking for him. She talks non-stop and one can have a conversation with her, as if one were talking to a grown-up. She understands everything and can express herself (and more importantly what she wants and does not want).

And all she wants to do constantly is "role play". When she is playing with me, I am "the child" and she is "the mummy". And being the child, I have to do everything she says and tells me to do. There is no room for improvisation. Which makes me wonder whether she has it from my upbringing - maybe I am too strict and should be a little bit more leniant.. ;)

Surprisingly enough when she does role play with Michael (she is the princess and he is the king), the princess does what the king tells her to do and if the king says he does not want to do this or that thing, the princess accepts it. Must be in the nature of the parts that each one plays. But still very interesting to see.

Otherwise Venotjari remains a sweetheart. She helps, when you ask her to, gets dressed by herself (although it takes forever and the vest and t-shirt are usually the wrong way round), she sets the table for dinner and is getting better in brushing her teeth. On the other hand, she has started not wanting to go to bed and can always think of a reason why she should not go to bed yet (I need to drink some water, the sun has not set yet, I am not tired, an insect in my bed has bit me on my arm). She does have a huge imagination. And she rides a biclycle with pedals... cool!!

The young man loves reading books. Once he sees the book (his favourite book at the moment is "a squash and a squeeze" by Julia Donaldson), she takes it runs up to me and says "book". He always has to sit on my lap while I read, and is really excited before the story starts.

He says "thank you" when someone gives him something and is generally a happy fellow. He has settled in very well at the kindergarten and they all love him. One of the girls in his group is Franziska and apparently, the first thing Franziska says when she wakes up in the morning is "Unovandu". He is a ladies' man already.

Grunt like a pig, I can walk & kindergarten

Unovandu is now what you call a "professional walker". He got his first outside shoes last week and now he does not really like sitting in hois buggy anymore - especially when we go out with Venotjari and he sees her walking and he cannot, because he is strapped up. That really frustrates the young man. But when one does leave him to walk outside, he always walks in the opposite direction to where the rest of us are going. And if you tell him to please walk along with us he gets upset and literally throws himself on the ground - which is really the worst, because the sidewalks here in Cologne are not the cleanest of places. I am now trying to dicipline him - so everytime he throws himself on the ground, he immediately goes back in the buggy and threfore forefits the opportunity to walk. I hope he learns to value the opportunity to walk freely more than the throwing himself on the floor... :-)

He still cannot speak. All he says is Mummy and Daddy (although I am sure that Venotjari could say a couple more words when she was 14 months old). Anyway, what Unovandu does do are the sounds that some animals make:
- grunts like a pig
- for a cow he goes "mmmmmmmmmm" (ilo mooooooo)
- for a sheep he goes "baaaaaa"
- for a dog he makes a sound close to "woof", but not quite "woof"
- for a horse he goes "ihihihihi"
- and for a hen or cock he makes a sound that I cannot describe in words (but still similar to the sound the real animals make)
That is why at the moment his favourite book is "My house is a squash and a squeeze" by Julia Donaldson.

Unovandu joined the Dolphins last week Tuesday. And by Friday he stayed in the group the whole day from 8:30am to 4:30pm - without me having to be there the whole time. He really got used to being there alone very quickly and also quickly accepted his classroom teachers as his carekeepers. I believe Venotjari need a couple of days longer, but she also quickly got used to being a "kindergarten child".
He really likes being there and having the other children around him. Puts my heart at ease when I go back to work next week (although, if I had a choice I would prefer to stay at home- but sometimes, one cannot choose these things).

Venotjari is still as precocious as aleways. She loves doing the alphabet, although she cannot point to a letter and say which one it is. But what she can do is list words that start with a specific letter. I get the feeling that numbers are still not really her thing. She can count till ten without any mistakes and if she really concentrates, she can count to fifteen without making mistakes. But that is seldom.
I have also noticed that she oftens plays a puzzel or a board game all b herself and can keep herself busy for quite a long while. Which is a great relieve for me.
Last week she asked me whether she could live all by herself when she is grown up. I didn't think anything of it and said, yes of course. Then she also went to Michael and said the same thing. Now that got me thinking. This week she says she wants to go and live with her friend Lavinia and she does not want to live with us anymore. When she says things liek that, I really get upset and worried, because I think to myself, what are we doing wrong that makes her want to leave us. I don't know whether that is a normal thing to say for 3 year olds. BUt we will see whether she will persist in saying such things. We basically told her that she cannot live with Lavinia and I hope that topic does not come up anymore.
But I must add that she doesnot tire in telling me that she loves me and giving me kisses. That is very sweet of her :-)

Happy New Year

He walks - and he walks as if he has been doing so since he was born. He is very confident when on his 2 skinny legs and it really looks absolutely adorable, when he walks around the apartment. He is becoming a "young man" who knows what he wants.

Venotjari continues to be a chatterbox. Amazing that one can have a normal conversation with her now. And she loves talking....

She also loves cuddling up with her brother, but also nagging and irritating him... cute...