Spring Fever

From 2010-05-25

Easter was priceless. We had a blast painting eggs and doing Taya's first egg hunt (she was 18 months). We've got some good videos, but as you can imagine, Taya wasn't exactly quick at finding the eggs, so the videos are long and suck bandwidth.

From 2010-05-25

The weird weather continued: we got yet more snow, and so seized the opportunity to go snowshoeing again, this time at Cypress.

From 2010-05-25

The more Taya saw of the fluffy white, the more she got into it.

From 2010-05-25

And after an incident in which she refused to wear mittens until her hands were freezing cold, she began to appreciate the joys of winter clothing.



Washing her hair--or blessing herself?
In this video, Taya practices washing her hair. To Ljuba and I, it was reminiscent of a priestly blessing.

From 2010-05-25

Taya is her Dedek's granddaughter--she loves tools and using them for a purpose. After seeing me tighten the bolts on our dining room chairs, Taya absolutely had to give it a try. "Fix chair!" she'd say, and "Lying down!", after demanding "Screwdriver!"



Taya fixes the chair with the screwdriver
In this video, you can see our little fix-it girl in action.



Taya bounces with Natalie
Our friend Natalie came for a visit, and this 'bouncy' moment with Taya sparked Taya's memory for months afterward. Listen to her squeal.

From 2010-05-25

Taya loves gardening--here she's putting soil in a planter box.



Taya put on her new shoes
Taya has been learning new tricks every week. Here, she'd just figured out how to put on her shoes. Unfortunately (except for entertainment purposes), this skill came well before learning how to put on her underwear and pants!

From 2010-05-25

She still loves dogs. Here's Taya with a neighbour's dog.

From 2010-05-25

She still loves to cook at the park. Here she is pretending that a screw is a stove-dial, saying "Heat down!" (she did this spontaneously), as she cooks a meal of pasta and shrimp with oregano and tomatoes--oh, and basil (she decides on the ingredients).



Enjoying the tartness of unsweetened cranberry juice
In this video, Taya winces and blinks at unsweetened cranberry juice, but takes more with a smile.

From 2010-05-25

We were all thrilled when the farmer's market re-opened. Here's Taya and me (Kai), with flowers (lilacs) for Ljuba on Mother's Day.



Playing hide and seek with Daddy outside Costco
Nicer weather also meant we could bike together, which Taya really enjoyed. After biking to Costco, Taya and I waited outside and played hide-and-seek (or hide-a-boo, more accurately).



Buying and selling food (cedar chips)
In addition to cooking in playgrounds, Taya also loved to play store, which entails buying and selling ingredients ("One dollah, three dollah!").

From 2010-05-25

Nanna and Grandpa came for a great visit (also with Soo and Tony and their kids--but I sadly don't have any good photos of Taya with them).

From 2010-05-25

Here's Taya practicing squats, which we used to do regularly with her.

From 2010-05-25

The good weather also meant that Taya and I could resume our bedtime walks, by which time she's often too tired to smile (but she's lots of fun, nonetheless).

From 2010-05-25

And we still get out for walks in the woods, here with Nanna and Grandpa.

From 2010-05-25

The same, with Grandpa behind the camera.

From 2010-05-25

After having a great time at Whistler with Soo, Tony & family, we had a fun evening on the beach with them, too. Here's Taya playing shells with her cousins (currently behind the camera).

From 2010-07-02

Chinook finally came to visit. Unfortunately I was at work, but Taya had a blast learning how to air-kiss and do other things.



Taya gets bruised, but keeps pumping iron
This event was both sad and hilarious. I had seized a few minutes to do a few weight sets (pec flys on the balance ball). Taya, who's always fascinated by our exercises, grabbed her own weights (1-lb inserts into Ljuba's ankle/wrist weights) to join me, on a pillow. In her excitement, she hurtled headfirst into the dumbbell, inspiring our first use of bunny-booboo-better (a rabbit-shaped ice-pack from Soo). Bruised but undaunted, Taya got right back into it, as captured in this video.

From 2010-06-28

Here's Taya gardening again.

From 2010-06-28

And saying hi to her baby sister in the womb without a view.

From 2010-07-02

Taya has cheek. Here she shows off two of them, with some berry-staining to boot.



Look at you! You're so dirty!
Taya says the darnedest things. Most of them are things that we've said, but they sure sound different coming from her (and also, strikingly similar).

From 2010-06-28

At the end of June, Taya said goodbye to her nanny for the year, Luisa. Taya really enjoyed their time together.



What's going on?
We took a short vacation to go to Harrison Hot Springs. What a wonderful trip: swimming, walking, dining (Taya was enthralled by the live band and the conversation with folks at the table beside us). Here she climbs the stairs and practices her conversational skills.