Cherry Pickin’

Last year our cherries and apricots weren’t ready until July.  So, I was surprised when a friend came over to pick some and said that if I didn’t pick the cherries in the next few days they would go bad.Ethan wasn’t too interested in picking cherries.  He picked a few and then got a hammer to bang on a cement brick. Sienna picked… and then ate. Sienna ended up picking cherries up off of the ground and eating them (seeds and all).  She also ate some dirt from a mole’s mound while she was scouring the ground.Hoping Mom will drop some cherries while she is up there. Trying to get to the cherries

After I started pitting the cherries I realized that a good number of them had worms in them.  Yesterday a friend said that she had a lot of worms in her cherries and heard that it was a “wormy” cherry season this year.  I’ve been trying to not think of Sienna eating so many cherries that had fallen to the ground.  Thankfully she is too young to care about worms or seeds. :-)

Gary’s Birthday

On Sunday, Gary turned the big 5-0!  I love to cook, but don’t enjoy baking.  I often try out new recipes on guests, and ended up doing this with the cake too.  I didn’t have enough of one ingredient for the frosting, so I just left it out.  And then I added peanut butter (which I make myself).  The frosting was pretty pasty, but it worked out okay.  The cake was not too pretty with the frosting like that, so I just put chocolate shavings on top with a few raspberries from our raspberry bushes.Our team came over for dinner, cake, and ice cream on Saturday night to celebrate.I gave Gary a can of Dr. Pepper (which can only be found at a few stores here for a high price) along with an Austrian drink that he loves and can only be found at one store that I know of here.  When we gave them to Gary, Sienna got the Dr. Pepper and tried to drink it (she’s never had anything to drink other than water and milk).

I surprised Gary by having a babysitter just show up at our house Sunday evening for us to go eat dinner (something we never do!).  We went to an Indian restaurant.  We were trying to figure out the last time that we ate at an Indian restaurant, and it may have been when I was pregnant with Ethan.  Neither of us could remember for sure.  Afterward we stopped by a place called “Philosophers Garden.”  Neither of us have been there before, and since Gary’s major was philosophy he has wanted to go.  He was quite disappointed since there were only a handful of “philosophers” (which were actually more like religious leaders).  Jesus was one of them and was just on the same level as Buddha and the rest.  So sad to see the Savior of the world, and the only one of these men who actually rose from the dead, be put on the same “playing field” as these others. There was a nice view, so that part was good. And this sculpture was also interesting to see.  We assume that it is the “marriage” of Buda and Pest.

Team Picnic

Our team usually has a picnic each May.  This time we went to a park in the city that none of us had been to before.  It was by the Danube river and was really nice—lots of green grass!  I didn’t feel like I was in Hungary while there (except seeing some big smoke stacks across the river).Well, we almost have everyone smiling and looking at the camera.   We took our little tent for Sienna to take a nap in while Grace and Susanna watched all of our belongings while the rest of us went for a walk.  This was the first time Sienna has been in the tent, and the first time we’ve tried for her to take a nap outside (she’s pretty set on being in her bed or a pack ‘n play to sleep).  She didn’t sleep, but the girls said that she lay there quietly and patiently the whole hour.Some of us stopped at the playground for the boys to play.  I was taking some pictures of Ethan and Drew, and all of a sudden Ethan held on to the bar above him and threw his feet off.  I took a few pictures until he realized that he couldn’t get his feet back on something.  The other mom was impressed that I didn’t panic, considering that if his hands slipped then he would fall.  I couldn’t reach his feet from the ground, so he was up pretty high just hanging there.Sienna is pointing, letting Grace know what she wants.Grace handed her the bad mitten racket, so she is a happy little girl now.Guess she has learned from her brother what to do with the racket and ball.

In the meantime, Ethan is LOVING playing with the “big” boys.  He enjoys tackling them whether it’s playing football or trying to get Ben’s ball cap.

Cade is so gentle with Sienna (he is one year older than Ethan and needs to model this for Ethan :-)).  Cade was humming to Sienna and making her laugh. We ended our day with playing baseball (using a wiffle ball and this huge bat that one couple brought from the States).  Ethan had never used a bat before and didn’t have a clue how to play.  We were in the outfield first, and he kept telling me that he wanted to play baseball.  Of course I tried to explain that it’s not just hitting the ball the whole time.  Once he did get a turn to hit, I “helped” him.  After hitting the ball, he didn’t want to run to 1st base.  Gary had to carry him there.  Then after the next person hit the ball, and we all yelled for Ethan to run, he started running straight into right field (like you run to first base and then keep going).  It was hilarious!  I wish that I would have thought to take a video.Sienna’s role during the game was to just be cute.

Our team leader and his wife, Trent and Vivian, have served in Europe for 39 years.  They are moving back to the States in August.  They will be greatly missed!

Tick Shot and Gloves

Those of you in the States may not be familiar with a tick shot.  I was told before moving to Hungary that I needed to get one, and that was the first time that I had heard of them.  In fact, at that time, the health department in the States didn’t give them, so I had to get one here.  There are lots of ticks in Hungary and several things you can get from them.  Besides limes disease (which you can get from ticks in the States too), one of the things you can get is tick-borne encephalitis.  This can be fatal, but it is rare.  However, it can cause permanent damage to your nervous system.  Russia and Europe have 5,000-7,000 human cases of tick-borne encephalitis per year.  

Since Gary and I enjoy being outdoors and in the woods, etc. we thought it best for Ethan to get these tick shots too (you can begin them after a child is 2 years old).  Ethan got his yearly follow-up tick shot at Sienna’s 15-month check-up.  He is fine knowing that he will get a shot up until a few minutes before it happens, then he says that he doesn’t want it.  Often a child gets a sticker or something after they get a shot.  Well, for Ethan, it’s a pair of doctor’s gloves.  Yes, he doesn’t care about the sticker, but he has a fascination with gloves.  It has been this way for over a year.Here is a picture of Ethan at the pediatrician’s office with his two gloves.    This picture was from about a month ago where Ethan was playing with a glove he had gotten.  Ethan likes the latex gloves like people in the medical profession wear, but he will settle for other ones such as mitts or the plastic kind that some people wear for cleaning.

These two pictures above are actually  unusual because Ethan usually wants someone else to put the glove on and wear it.  I wore the mitts for a while before Ethan actually put them on where I could take this picture.

15 Months

Sienna had her 15-month check up recently.  She is almost at the 10th percentile for body weight (meaning that 90% of other girls her age weigh more than she does).  She still eats a lot, so this puzzles us.  The pediatrician is not concerned, and it’s better than the 5th percentile that she was at during her 12-month check-up.Sienna loves to have her teeth brushed (though, as you can see above, she still only has 4!).  Every time she is taken in the bathroom to wash her hands or face she points to the cabinet wanting her toothbrush.

When she gets excited she starts shaking all over and often kicks her legs and feet. The nursery workers at church laugh at how she does this. Some of the things that get her excited are seeing a banana (which she loves to eat), getting ready to brush her teeth, going outside, the swing, bouncing up and down on the bed, seeing Mommy or Daddy after they’ve been gone.Ethan makes her laugh a lot (much more so than Mommy or Daddy do).  Course, he makes her cry more than we do too. :-)  One of the ways that he makes her laugh is when he makes a lot of noise (typically pounding something or dumping all of the kitchen toys out in the floor).  Sienna has definitely picked up things from Ethan such as pounding the kitchen with a hammer.This is her “push toy.”  We don’t have any, but this little chair works great.Sienna loves to look at books, play with balls, and play peek-a-boo.  She especially enjoys to put the basketball in the hoop.  She also enjoys stuffed animals, which Ethan never really got into (though, he is starting to get into it now, at age 3).

Random Things with Ethan

Ethan has been singing Jesus Loves Me sometimes.  Recently he started singing “Yes, Jesus is God, Yes, Jesus is God.” to the tune of Jesus Love Me.  Gary was very proud of his theological correctness.  He asked Ethan if he wanted to be a theologian when he grows up, and Ethan responded, “No, I want to be a cowboy.”Ethan has gotten more into the building phase in the last few months.  He used all of the soft blocks to make this creation.  He usually tears things down pretty quickly after building them, so I took a picture first. However, I was able to persuade him to leave it up until Daddy got home from the office so he could see it too.Ethan has been able to get the keys, put them in the door, and unlock it for several months. He is still working on getting the door completely shut. It’s a quirky door and needs the handle moved several different directions just to shut it. Notice him sporting my boots. He likes wearing Mommy’s and Daddy’s shoes.We bought a bag full of cars from someone moving (the same people we got the train table from). The funny thing is when we were getting the cars, Julie kept putting cars in the bag, and I asked her and Gary if Ethan really needed that many cars. Julie, having 2 boys, quickly said, “Yes!” We are gradually giving Ethan cars, and it seems like the more cars he has the more he is playing with them.  My mom made this quilt and gave it to Ethan this past fall.  He is getting more into using it now too.

Late Birthday Present

My mom bought Ethan a bunch of Thomas the Train stuff and has gradually gotten it over here.  We noticed several train tables when we were in the States last fall and thought that would be nice to have for Ethan.  We even took a picture of one that some friends made.  We thought it would be nice for that to be the gift from Gary’s family, who gave us money for Ethan’s birthday.  However, we went to a variety of stores and could not find one, nor did the workers know where to get one.  We had a carpenter give an estimate about building one, but it was way too expensive.  Then, a friend of mine who is moving sent out a list of things they are selling, and guess what was on the list?!  Yes, a train table!  Once we found out that we could get it I was thrilled!Ethan does play with trains on the table, but he probably plays with cars on it more than with trains.  The wheels of the cars actually fit perfectly on the tracks too.  He also likes the tracks to be changed around fairly often.Here, Ethan has put most of his modes of transportation on the table.