Fun and Games on Saturday

Saturday was the day that Vanya's personality really started to shine! He was SO shy and quiet at the beginning (well, gee, wouldn't you be???), and as of Friday, we hadn't heard him even laugh. Well, Saturday it all came out, and Vanya had a riot of a day.

We did not leave the house the whole day. For those of you who know us well, that was really odd not going anywhere! I honestly cannot remember the last time we stayed home an entire day. He played football, put together 10 puzzles, colored in his Batman and his Star Wars coloring books, played Memory, rode the scooter, watched some cartoons, played a lacrosse-type game, created a battle between the cowboys and Native Americans, zoomed his cars around, and learned how to use the digital camera. The neighbors across the street came over for a cookout dinner, and Vanya got to play soccer with their boys. It was a busy day!












We have noticed that he is a very quick learner. It did not take him long to understand how to take pictures with our camera. I showed him how to find the correct button to see them again as well as go back and look at other pictures. We will probably give him the digital camera when he comes back next year. Get this-- my camera is only 3-1/2 years old, and I got a 128 MB memory card when I bought it. I went to buy a 2 GB memory card so I could take longer videos and more pictures, BUT my camera can only take a 256 MB card. They don't even sell that size anymore!!! ugh! Anyway, he takes great pictures! Watch for a post of Vanya's picture coming soon to a blog near you!











As you can see from the pictures, it wouldn't be a great Saturday without a tickle fest!! He loves when we tickle him-- we finally heard him laugh! He has even initiated tickling us. He is also becoming much more talkative. Sometimes we don't understand, but he doesn't seem to mind. He also enjoys mocking our attempts of speaking Ukrainian. We'll say something to him and he'll repeat it in a sing-song voice and grin while doing it. Our favorite thing he says is when he'll say in a type of Italian song, "Papa, Mama, Vanya, Teagan!" He'll repeat it over and over to our delight. I typed in the word "family" on the translation website, and he got the biggest smile on his face. He's also quite the little ham. He has started making funny faces when we take his picture, and he stole Tim's sunglasses today for a photo opportunity. He is definitely a fun-loving kid!