First Haircut, Visit, Boo-Boo, Twirly Slide

Today we went for Alek's first professional haircut -- and boy did he need it. Here is a before picture, although it doesn't show exactly how long it was getting in the back--nearly ponytail length! Scott and I were having "discussions" over this and I finally caved to Scott's wishes. We compromised with a not too short little boy haircut. We took him to my hairdresser, Mary (who is also my Jazzercise instructor) and she was great with him even showing him how the clippers could "tickle" his neck. Here is an action shot.
We also had our first visit from members of my family--My mom from NM and my sister Cydney from TN. Alek warmed up to them quickly and we were even able to go out for our first date night since we have been home. It was a fun evening and Alek was good for Grandma and Aunt Cydney. He named his two favorite stuffed dogs after them...one "Grandma" and one "Cinny." Of course this melted their hearts...sometimes I wonder if he knows he is being so cute (manipulative!). Here are some photos from their visit.




He was able to communicate well with them in English, but we also taught them a little "baby" Russian so they could talk to him on his terms. By the way, he is learning English at a rapid (frightening) pace. Frightening in that he repeats everything I say to him right back to me. His favorites are "Stop it", "Let Go", and "I mean it!" However, his favorite word by far is "No"...it has replaced the Russian "Nyet" which I actually preferred, but he won't go back. "No" is just too much fun to say!! It is the first response to ANY question.
As I have mentioned, I was teaching him a "letter of the week," but that has kind of gone out the window as he now knows 20 out of the 26 letters already. Papa has been giving him his bath each night and uses foam letters that stick to the tub to teach them to him. He looked at my shirt the other day and said "V" "A" "I" "L" ...I said yes, Vail! I had no idea he knew so many letters. No wonder he's been bored with "E" this week!
A couple of weeks ago we took him with us to Home Depot and they already have the riding lawn-mowers lined up out front of the store. He saw them and immediately wanted to sit on the "tractor." See how happy he looks? He loved it. Of course this is just before we zipped up his jacket and accidentally zipped a little piece of his neck in the zipper....oops! It was a MINOR cut that bled VERY LITTLE, but of course, we needed a band-aid. I think Papa was more distressed than Alek over this first boo-boo. Scott took one look at the cut and his response was "Oh my Lord!!" I need to give him a little coaching in staying calm in order to keep the patient from freaking out! :o)
Finally, here are some photos from our first visit to the park in our neighborhood. They have a big twirly slide there and after riding down on my lap one time, he said "Simka do it." So, he went down by himself about 20 times. It will be really fun after the weather turns warmer. I will try to post more often in the next few weeks!