Happy Halloween!

What a Halloween! Decorations, Jack-o-lanterns, Boo at the Zoo with Scarlett, Trick-or-treating... Whew! There is too much to discuss! We'll just let you see for yourself:

An Accent Only A Babushka Would Love

Scene: Poki was playing with his matryoshka dolls the other morning when Daddy asked what he was doing.

Poki: "I'm playing with my mumuffin dolls."

Daddy: "Your what?"

Poki: "My um...my mumtufta dolls."

Daddy: "Do you mean your matryoshka dolls? Matryoshka."

Poki: "Sigh...no, Daddy. It's mumkufka. I know my Russian."

Hey! That Looks Like Something!

A few weeks ago (I know, I know...shame on my Mom for waiting to tell you until now), I was drawing on my kid's menu at the Ruby Restaurant (aka: Ruby Tuesdays), when suddenly, my mom realized what I was drawing looked like something. Like...a real something. And not my usual 100 swirls I claim is a tornado. No, this looked like a person! She couldn't believe her eyes!

She asked me what I was drawing and I said, "This way it's a guy with legs..."



"And this way, it's a guy with antennas!"

On The Move!

As some of you might remember, my Mom predicted that I would be crawling by my 7 month birthday. Surprisingly, I didn't. I mean, I've been scooting around in circles for a while now, but only in circles. Recently though, I started doing this:





Which made my Mom think I was just days away. Then I started moving backwards, like this:



But not really forward...until now.



I believe this is what they call the army crawl? I'm putting those elbow patches on my outfit to good use!

Pathetic Attempt at a Pumpkin Patch Picture

Mom and Dad: "Poki! Ping Pong! Look here guys! Ping Pong!"



Mom and Dad: "Ping Pong! Poki! Up here!"

Ping Pong: "What's that cool thing? It's awesome!"

Poki: "Dad's shoe..."



Mom and Dad: "Poooookiiii! Piiiiing Poooong!"

Poki: "Oh look--a tractor!"

Ping Pong: "Where??? Wait...what's a tractor?"



Mom and Dad: "Guys! Look at the camera!"

Ping Pong: "Whoa..."



Mom and Dad: "Oh--that's good Poki! Hold it! Ping Pong! Look here!"

Ping Pong: "Hey look--grass!"



Poki: "Bam Bam Bam! I'm playing a punkim drum, yeah yeah! Ba da da! Ba da dum!"

Ping Pong: "Where did all these big orange things come from?..."

Mom and Dad: "Ah hell...forget it."

7 Pictures For 7 Months

ps
Happy Birthday to me!

Bambino Ping Pong

Scene: This morning, the family is snuggling together in Mom and Dad's bed.

Ping Pong: A-Gaaaa!

Poki: A-Gaaaa!

Mom: Are you talking to Ping Pong?

Poki: Yep.

Dad: What is he saying?

Poki: I don't know. I think he's speaking Spanish.

Magical

Scene: Poki is being three-years-old in his bedroom this morning while Dad attempts to help him get dressed.

Dad holds up a shirt with a dump truck on it.

Dad: How about this shirt?

Poki: No, I don't want a shirt with any pictures on it.

Dad holds up a plain, button down shirt.

Dad: Okaaay...how about this one?

Poki: No, I don't like that one because it has buttons.

Dad holds up a traditional Ukrainian tunic Babushka brought back from the Ukraine.

Dad: How about this one?

Poki: No, that one is magical.

All Done!

Okay, you'll never believe what I'm doing. Mom doesn't even believe it. She thought this was a total coincidence until this morning when I closed my mouth tight and put my hands in the air to tell her I was "all done" with my breakfast. Mom has been signing with me for months, especially signing "more" and "all done" while feeding me solids, but she didn't expect me to start signing back so soon. She immediately ran to get the camera and this is what she caught on film:



Addendum: Aunt La La said she thought Mom was doing the sign while this video was being taken and maybe I was mimicking her. We should have mentioned that Mom was not signing while she was saying "all done"--she was just saying it. Cool, huh?

Småland

You might think it's strange that my mom felt compelled to document this milestone, and frankly, I agree. But she and Dad have been waiting until I could do this since I began making shopping difficult...which is like...since I was born.

See, there is a little place in Ikea where parents can leave their children while they shop. This glorious place is called "Småland." Children that are fully potty-trained and 37″-54″ tall are welcome to come into this exclusive club. (It's exclusive because parents and their younger siblings are not welcome). After signing a bunch of forms, then getting matching bracelets and hand stamps and one of those electronic pagers chain restaurants give you when waiting for a table (basically everything short of a retina scan and urine sample), parents can leave their little critters and shop in peace. Ahhh...peace. Now do you see why my parents have been waiting for me to reach this milestone?

So, last night, Mom and Dad (with Ping Pong happily bouncing around in the baby bjorn) left me to color, run around, and dive into a ball pit while they sat on every sofa in Ikea.

When I came into my folk's room this morning, the first thing I said was, "Good morning, Mommy. Can we go to Ikea this morning?" Then when Daddy was watching the news (ahem...Saved By the Bell) while we ate our cereal, I asked, "Daddy, when you're finished watching your show, can we find a show to watch about Ikea?" In fact, our excursion was such a success, Mom is thinking of taking me there once a week just for fun. She can leave me in Småland and go sit in the Ikea cafeteria with a cup of coffee, a book, and a sleeping Ping Pong. What? Does that sound bad?

Here are some pictures of this momentous occasion:

Tall/short enough? Check!



Bracelet? Check!



And he's off!



Straight for the ball pit! (Big surprise).



Thank you, Ikea. Not only do you offer inexpensive furnishings and delicious cinnamon rolls, you babysit too. God bless you.

How Babies Are Made

(According to Poki)

First, there are little seeds with faces that cry. You wash them with the shower and spray them into your belly button. You spray your belly with the shower every day. Then your belly grows bigger and bigger because the babies grow bigger and bigger inside your belly. Then they are born-ed in the hospital and I go every time they are born-ed and get new trucks every time.