Baton Rouge--Cooler in January

Thomas' parents came to pick us up from the Notts' house to take us to Isaiah's last doctor's appointment.  Thankfully everything went well this appointment also.  Isaiah was happy to see his grandparents!

We were excited to see all of Thomas' family, of course!  We couldn't believe how much our little nephews had grown.  We had fun playing with all the nieces and nephews.

Isaiah and his grandma were breakfast buddies.

And this is how a jetlagged little boy sleeps--safe and sound in Mama and Daddy's bed.

We enjoyed tons of outside time, including walks...

...ball pits...

...and swings.

Grandma is a great reader!

Thomas looked really hard on these guitars for our older nephews.

Thomas received the first donation for the Tuvan Bible Project from a Sunday school class in Baton Rouge.

And we were able to be in the service for Luke's dedication!

And here's the whole Slawson clan; quite the group, huh?  And they're all pretty great!

How Low Can You Go?

At the end of the recent Harvest Festival, (see post below), there was a limbo contest.  Even though we missed most of the festival events, I'm so glad we were there for this one!  Isaiah laughed and laughed and danced and laughed some more!  Too fun!

Here's Thomas' attempt at the limbo.  He made through a few rounds!

And here's Isaiah enjoying himself to the fullest!

All in all a good day!

My Favorite Handyman

I love my husband.  A LOT!  He helps me keep things in perspective when I get all out of whack, he plays and cares for Isaiah beautifully, he's amazingly creative, he plays the guitar and sings (which I find quite attractive!).  But on top of all these things, and many others, as a matter of fact, he can figure out how to fix things.  He's a great handyman.

For example, our toilet room (yes the room with the toilet, not the bathroom, not even a half-bath with toilet and sink, just the toilet) was in pretty pitiful condition.  Someone, not a professional, had tiled the walls.  The tile was falling off.  Every time I sat and did my business, I wondered if the tile would make it through my necessary time.  Thankfully the only tiles that did fall were low enough to not harm anyone.

Thomas decided that something must be done!  

First, he cut down all the tile.

Second, he created a great dust cloud while sanding down the walls and getting rid of the 3-inch thick mortar (or whatever that grey stuff is that the person used to stick the tiles to the wall).  He kept us safe from the dust cloud as best he could, while subjecting himself to the worst of it.

Third, he put up this really unique and lovely wallpaper.  The pictures don't make it clear, but the paper has a great texture.  When he first unrolled it, the paper smelled just like tea.

Fourth, he put these nice wooden strips down at the bottom of the paper.

And finally, he painted the wall above the wallpaper and then put up these really cool foam ceiling tiles.  We now have a safe and attractive toilet room.

Thank you to my wonderful, handsome, creative, intelligent, attractive and amazing husband!  I love you!

NOT HAPPY!

The majority of the time, Isaiah is an extremely happy little man.  Lately he's been showing his happiness by blowing kisses to anything that moves and some things that don't.  However, on occasion, he has been known to be quite not happy, as evidenced below.

Here he's reverting to behavior from the summer that we thought we had passed--baths are torture!

And here he's doing therapy, not the source of the current not happy state.  The source?  We were talking to Grandma on Skype and we lost our connection.  This expression is communicating something like, "Where's Grandma?  I want my Grandma!"

So, now you have verifiable proof; he's not happy 100% of the time, only about 97%.  Well, and in all honesty, he is beginning to realize the difference between getting what he wants and not getting what he wants, which has also produced some tears.  As one of my friends says, "It's hard to submit your will."

While Thomas Was Away...

...how we did play!

Isaiah sat up on his bottom all by himself while playing with these drums!  This is something we've been working on for a while--getting from tummy to bottom--so naturally I grabbed the camera as quickly as I could!

Oksana and Slava came to play on Tuesday.

Slava played the piano for the first time.

He also ate a peanut puff by himself--his first time to feed himself something!  My apartment is good for him.

Wednesday Isaiah and I had an outing to IKEA where I found some great markers.  We went home and had a little art lesson.

Isaiah decided that paper wasn't his only medium, faces work well too.  (don't worry, it does wash off, eventually)

Since he needed a bath anyway after all that fantastic drawing, I decided he should have a hair cut, too.  And I really like this picture; he looks so grown up to me!

Then Thursday I had my lesson, so Isaiah got to play with Julia.  Friday we cleaned and cleaned and got to spend the evening with our friend Deanna.  Saturday we went to a Bible study, yes a Russian study!  And Sunday morning our guests arrived, and then Thomas arrived that evening.  We were really, really glad to see him!

Come Sail Away

Hardly anyone I know has fond memories of the "coil" toys in the parks of their childhood.  I don't even really remember them actually.  Isaiah however really likes them.  And now I like them, too because it's something that he can do all by himself!  There's a small play area not far from our apartment that has a little ship that Isaiah enjoys playing on.

Watching a little boy go down the nearby slide

Looking longingly at a passing car.  I think he misses riding in cars from this summer.

Feeding the Ducks

Our park has a good size lake where ducks like to swim and be fed.  I finally remembered to bring bread with us one day so Isaiah and I could feed them, too.  Isaiah even enjoyed throwing some bread around.  It was a bright, sunny day, so the pictures are a little washed out, but you get the general idea.  I like moments like this, so I wanted to share it.

I think here he was actually laughing at a little girl nearby.  Actually, he was much more interested in her than in feeding the ducks--oh boy!

Summer Garden

Isaiah and I had the great pleasure of spending an afternoon with our friend Deanna.  She introduced us to the Summer Garden where Peter the Great had his little house built.  I forgot to take a picture of the house, but it really isn't anything special.  I plan on going back to this beautiful place, and then I'll do my best to remember to get a picture.

Anyway, this is now one of my favorite places in St. P!

The trees were beautiful and still so full that you really had the feeling of not being in a big city.

Here's Deanna snapping some shots of Isaiah

The custom here in the fall is for people to collect leaves and make a wreath to wear or to just carry them around.  Isaiah doesn't like this tradition.  He might look like he's smiling here, but he's not.  The expression was actually communicating, "What are these things?"

"Get these things off of me!"

"Yuck!"

But I still think that they're pretty.

Happy minus the leaves