Tuning the Fine Motor Skills

With the short days and cold weather, Ella has been spending more and more time inside the apartment, working on her various masterpieces.

It's What Separates Us From the Animals

Ella has quite a talent for accessorizing. She is starting to have strong opinions about which shoes (or her favorite, boots) go with which outfit and which tights go with which dress. It makes dressing her a little more challenging. Sometimes her fashion sense doesn't take the weather or occasion into account.

Halloween

We took Ella trick or treating at the US Embassy on the 31st, but we weren't allowed to bring our camera, so I'm posting these which were taken a few weeks ago at the Prokrovsky Hills Halloween.
Ella went as a kangaroo. She was really excited about having a baby and a tail.

Thanks to the economic downturn, Andrew was able to help Ella with her trick or treating. She really liked all the free candy.

The Lame List

It took Tiffany and I a while to compose our lame list, and it took me even longer (2 months approximately) to find it, refine it, and post it. But here it is in all its glory; the ten things I think are lame:

10. Wearing scrubs in public
9. Crocs; especially on men
8. Proximity to Russia proffered as a qualification to hold national executive office
7. "Muffin Tops" (that band of adipose tissue that protrudes from the top of overly tight, low- rise jeans paired with overly tight shirts and results from an apparent dearth of full length mirrors in Utah County)
6. White framed sunglasses on men
5. Russia
4. Iceburg lettuce
3. T-shirts worn under tanktops
2. "Native" pronunciations of place names ie) "Chilay" for "Chile"
1. The phrase "I've got news for you."

Last Aruba Pictures

Does posting the pictures late make the vacation last longer? Because I could really do with another kid-free trip to Aruba right now. Here Julie is overwhelmed by her pregnancy hormones and responds with an outburst of sisterly affection.

The Sandgrens.

All the sisters together. Check out the sassy poses.

Did You Just Say What I Think You Said?

We were having dinner with some Russian friends of ours last week. I was eating with the adults while Andrew was eating with the kids and trying to keep Ella from hurting herself or anything in the apartment. I thought I was following the conversation pretty well until I thought I heard Ludmila ask me if I thought she was getting fatter. I thought, "I must not have understood. Maybe 'tolstaya' has more than one meaning, or maybe she's asking me if she's lost weight or something. Sometimes missing one word can throw me totally off base." So I asked for clarification. She responded by puffing out her cheeks and asking me again, with smaller words, if I thought she was getting fatter. Then her husband nodded and said, "Don't you think she is?" Years of being alive have taught me that there is only ever one correct answer to this question, besides which, I have to confess, I haven't really been keeping track of Luda's weight, so wouldn't have been able to answer honestly if I had wanted to. "No. I don't think you look fatter." Her husband said, "Are you sure? I think she does." I affirmed my initial answer and he shrugged in response. Then the conversation moved on to how fat Americans are and how even Russians who go to America for a few weeks come back unrecognizably fatter. Then I started wondering if they thought I was fat since I was an American, but I decided to just focus on understanding what was being said. But afterwards, when I had time to reflect, I had to wonder if there were some cultural underpinnings I'm not aware of. Is the topic of a woman's weight discussed so casually in mixed company? And does a prudent husband try to persuade a third party observer that his wife really is packing on the kilos? I know in some South American cultures they just tell it like it is by using the most visible attribute as a title for strangers on the street. Terms like "gordo," "flaco," "rubia," "viejo," or "whatever-o" are commonly used with total strangers. Maybe in Russia they discuss the obvious physical attributes at dinner parties too. I guess I'd better start paying closer attention to waistlines so I'll have the right answer next time.

First Hair Do

Last week we tried pig tails on Ella for the first time. First time doing anything with her hair, actually. She loved them so much, she didn't even pull them out (another first). Now everyday she asks for 'ti tils'.