The Number Field

Roman has been a solid stander for the past couple weeks, but made no signs that he would actually be ready to pick up either foot to walk until today! He has enjoyed standing so much for so long, Mark and I actually thought he would be walking before we left Maryland (which would have been helpful because then he could have carried some of his own luggage at the airport). Yesterday, I alerted Mark that maybe Roman was trying to take his first steps, but he would just lift a leg and then fall over. Today when I set him down to get him dressed he stood there for a moment, then took three steps towards me! I think he surprised himself. He was so excited and full of giggles afterwards that I couldn't get him stable enough to try it again. I did see him try a few more times this morning before we headed out the door, but since Elena was trying to help him, they just both ended up on the floor giggling. His crawling days are limited, pretty soon he'll be running everywhere trying to keep up with Elena!

In other exciting news, Elena has started preschool, but here they call it nursery . Since I have been trying to use the British terms for things, I've been calling it nursery to Elena. I may not be able to stick to it with this particular term since on Monday when I was telling Elena to get ready so we could head out to nursery she asked me if it was Sunday. We interviewed two different nurseries and chose the one we felt a stronger connection with. It is further away than the other--nearly a mile walk. It isn't bad when the weather is nice and sunny like it has been this week, but I am not looking forward to it in the rain. Inevitably, Elena gets about 5 minutes into the 25 minute walk (Elena pace) and starts to hunch over as if her sweater has suddenly become as heavy as rocks. "I can't make it!" she declares, but if I keep walking she generally catches up. Today she spent most of the walk running and then waiting for me to catch up to her and then running ahead again. She also picks up leaves and sticks to entertain herself and right now the stroller contains leaves for both Mark and I as well. What a thoughtful girl!