11:00 a.m. and all is well...

Nearly thru our first morning alone here in Angarsk, all is under control and while I’m pleased with how its gone. I tried to back to sleep around 6:15 this morning, haven woken up at 5:15 to see Mike off, but Skip came tiptoeing into the living room where we’ve been sleeping, shortly after I crawled back under the covers. He jumped in with me, and I let him turn the cartoon channel on, still hoping for a few more Zzzzz’s. He didn’t sleep, but was quiet, but I wasn’t able to fall asleep either. At 7:45 I gave in and got up, but now Skip was suddenly tired again, and chose to stay on the couch watching “Stories from the New Testament” cartoons. Made in England, dubbed over in Russian. He loves the show!

I gotta say, what is there not to love about a kid who sleeps til 8:45? Yep, while Harry has a hard time falling asleep at night, he sure can sleep in the morning. If I could only convince both of them to get on the same schedule, life would be great! But that’s okay, I get some one-on-one in the mornings with Skip, and at night with Harry.

Breakfast wasn’t a huge hit with Harry, although we salvaged enough to call it a meal. I made pancakes, which is Skip’s favorite, thinking Harry would likely like it too. Nyet! I dumped some applesauce on them, figuring they’d be more like Blini – Russian pancakes, and while it made it somewhat palatable for him, there were lots of “ne loobloos” (I don’t love) in his chatter for me to know it doesn’t make his top ten list. He ate more than half and walked away eating a banana, so….

After breakfast & dishes I led the boys again through what will be morning routine, washing, teeth brushing, getting dressed & making beds. Once complete they settled into their own worlds of play. Skip on the computer playing Blokus, and on his V-tech Learning Adventure hand-held game, and Harry playing with the much loved Fisher Price Little People Main Street, as well as puzzles and cars.

I managed to strip all the bedding and get it all washed, along with two loads of our clothes, while they played – truly more than I had anticipated! With more than hour til lunch I’m gonna attempt to get back into a regular homeschool routine. We simply have not had the time to keep up, but he picks up quickly, so we’ll be back on schedule in a few weeks.

It’s an unusually warm morning here (-10C) so if all continues to run smoothly, after lunch I’ll take them outside to the slide, which is within the complex here, then walk to the corner store for milk. I made the foolish mistake of buying a different kind of milk yesterday – NASTY! Took a sip, poured the whole bag down the toilet, and chalked it up to experience.
Of course, I’m not naïve enough to think every morning will so this smoothly…in fact, I’m figuring today is the exception, and am gonna savor every moment of it!