Nikitas and Maxim blog

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Choo Choo - Maxim's first real train set. from Pavel Kozlov on Vimeo.

Maxim is 3! from Pavel Kozlov on Vimeo.

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Enjoy!

A lot must have happened in 5 months time. Let's see...

Nikitas celebrated his 1st birthday and I my 3rd. On my birthday I went to an aquarium where I saw a lot of funny looking fish, turtles, crocodiles, two penguins, iguanas, birds, and cute marmosets. Marmosets are tiny monkeys only 20cm long with claws instead of nails and like to eat insects, fruit and leaves in the forests canopies in which they live. I don't know what they eat at the zoo.

In school I am now spending some time in the older class of 3 to 6 year old to prepare me for my graduation to the older class in January. Right now I'm the oldest kid in my class and all the little ones look up to me, so I hope I'm setting a good example.

My most thrilling moment lately was when I chased a lizard and caught it, gently, by its tail. I let it go after a minute or so because it was afraid of me. And then, minutes later dad caught a rat by its tail in our garden! One of our cats chased after it into the neighbor's property. How exciting! I've also been enjoying feeding our cats and walking our dog while grandma was recovering from foot surgery. I like helping out.

For Christmas I've been practicing the song "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and I also like the Jingle Bells song. Hope, you like our latest photos! Love, Maxim 

The photos from Nikitas' baptism, which took place on June 20th at Pissouri Bay in Cyprus, are finally up. Thank you to Pavel and Aris for the photography.

It was a gorgeous summer day with just enough of a sea breeze to keep us cool. Friends and family joined us in an idyllic seaside setting to celebrate this important sacrament in Nikitas' life. We enjoyed a day that will be remembered not only for its ritualistic significance, but also for the coming together of good friends, the sharing of delicious food (not least of all the scrumptious lemon cake that Melissa and Riana baked with love), and the moments shared on the next day swimming and relaxing by the sea.Thank you all who were there and all who would have loved to be there but could not. See you at Nikitas' wedding?

We know that we have been lazy bloggers lately, but we have been very busy bees. These are our news in a nutshell. Mom participated in a tambourine workshop with Layne Redmond in June, which was a fantastic and inspiring experience. Now if she could only make more time to play! Dad began a new job coordinating the production of web sites with the design firm Sideshow. He is much happier now! Maxim is trying to be a good brother and share his toys with Nikitas. He is well on his way to giving up diapers--mom and dad can’t wait for that day—and he loves to tiptoe around the house naked. Enjoy it while you can! Mom thinks that Maxim will become a dancer. Nikitas is eager to get moving. Why should he be the only one stuck on his bottom all day? He is quite the gymnast, leaping into a standing position with just one move. He can take wobbly steps if you hold his hands and he is crawling in his own unique style, although he is much more interested in jumping right into walking. In June we also had Nikitas’ baptism about which we will write soon and post photos. Grandpa Anatoly and grandma Galina, “pappou Toly” and “yiayia Lina” as Maxim affectionately calls them, were also visiting from Moscow. We were all very sad to see them go, so we thought that we should visit them in Moscow for the New Year. Uncle/godfather Alexi was here too with Tanya from New York. They went on an archaeological extravaganza tour of Cyprus visiting places that we still haven’t seen. The summer is as hot as usual and mom is thankful not be pregnant again in this weather! Once in a while we go the beach, but it’s even too hot for that. We wish we had our own swimming pool at home. Maybe for next summer! We hope you are enjoying your summer, or winter, depending on where you are!