Princess Ballerina.

Seeming like she has so much stress......

ストレスが溜まっているようなので、

We brought her to a ballet class.

前から行きたがっていたバレーのクラスに入りました。

And she finished all her six classes (missed one on the weekend we were out of town.)

６回全部クラスを終えて、一区切り。

Apr. 17. Our Wander Karate Kid

Getting ready for her friend, Benni's birthday party.

It was at his Karate class.

Apparently, we were the only ones who followed the party theme of "super hero."

They had wonderful time kicking, punching, knocking over paps.

And next weekend....

She is in.

She became a karate kid too.

Joining Benni's class on Saturdays.

Her first fight.

For all her life, she was told not to hit people.

She was confused.

Our cutest little Maya keeps growing funnier and sillier

Again,  Long time no see!
Maya has been growing so much, she has her own friends, school and things to do.  I've been getting more of my time, working almost full-time doing Interior Design for two residence and getting back playing with clay at SF Clayworks.

Maya talks a lot as usual and her Russian has been her strongest language.  She remembers and recites quite a few poems in Russian.  I've been told from multiple Russian speakers (her teachers and her friends parents) that her Russian is outstanding for her age and they always forget she is only three year old.  Apparently, she speaks like 5 or 7 year old depends on who to ask (Nick and Olga are always big exaggerators :).

Thanks to Maya who is always friendly, cuddly, reasonable (Toli may disagree), good at expressing what she needs and wants.... overall a child who's easy to handle, her friends parents likes having her around with their kids.  She spends some after school time at Veronika's or Rafa's.

I can't wait to bring her to Japan this summer.  Her Japanese is very broken and she mixes lots of English and Russian words.

Oct. 29. Halloween Party at Sadik

諸々あって忙しくってさ

Went to Stern Grove with cousins, Aliya, Layla & Archer. It's becoming a tradition for Maya to take her clothes off at the end of the performance. How San Franciscan.....

ホームセンターにて何か重そうなのを担いでズンズンやって来た。

本人これジュースだと思って「これ買って〜〜」って言ってるけど、あんたこれ床用洗剤よ。

@Lowes. She carries this heavy floor detergent bottle thinking it must taste awesome. 

私「買わないよ」とだけ伝えて敢えて持って歩かせる。。。両手が塞がってたらそれ以上いろんな商品をいじらないだろうから。

July 8. Happy Birthday, Papa Tolik!!

Sorry, not being a super blogger.
I'm too busy drowning in this girl's cuteness.
You'll see......

She is hilarious.  I stopped taking photos of her and started taking videos.  You see why.....

These two 2 years olds has been in the same preschool for several months now.  Rafa nicely shares her grandma with Maya (Babushka Rita runs both ways to and from school most of the time with two of them..... until she goes back to Riga in next month.)

April 17. MyGym trial day

We went for a free trial visit to a gymnastic class.

It was fun one hour, but not as much as I want to pay for the membership.

Maya runs around and be physical enough at school and in parks with friends.

Talking about physical health, I do care what Maya eats.

I cannot say that I eat all that healthy all the time.  But I want Maya to have a right eating habit to develop her own (decent) scale of good and bad.

I sometimes feel that people around me thinks I say no to too many food items.

Here are some articles it shows the reason why I don't want her to eat too much of:

processed food (canned, packaged, ready-made food), ice cream, chocolates and other sugars, margarine, outside salty food and packed drink.

http://authoritynutrition.com/11-graphs-that-show-what-is-wrong-with-modern-diet/

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/feeding-eating/family-nutrition/standard-american-diet-sad

For you who use margarine instead of butter,

http://authoritynutrition.com/butter-vs-margarine/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLKj1puoWCg