Avery – 3 years, 8 months

Funny things Avery says:

“macanroni” for “macaroni”

“hostible” for “hospital”

My dad has a little machine that uses denatured alcohol.

Avery, upon seeing the bottle of alcohol: “Can I have some of that”

Me: “No, that’s alcohol. That’s not for drinking.”

Avery: “But I like alcohol. Alcohol makes me feel better!”

Avery started ballet lessons last month and she has been so excited about them! We found a six week course at the rec center here that just barely fit into the time we had left before heading back to Budapest. She asked me every day for a week when we were going to buy her ballet shoes and she asks me three times a week or so if she can go to her ballet class that day. Unfortunately, the class is only once a week, so most days I have to say “no.”

At the beginning of this year Avery moved from nursery to Primary at church. She was a little nervous about it at first and I had to sit with her for a few minutes to convince her to stay, but now she really likes it. She likes her teacher, Sister Schlosser, a lot and last week she was really excited to come home with a pillow that said “pray” on it that she got to stuff all by herself.

She’s learning the Articles of Faith in Primary and I’ve been working on them with her at home. For our non-mormon friends, the articles of faith are statements of what we believe. The first one says “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.” The second one says “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgressions.” So I asked her on Sunday night to tell me the Articles of Faith that she had learned. She said “We believe in God will be punished for his own saints.” It was pretty close, right?

Avery really misses her Daddy and her home in Budapest. She asks every other day when we will go to our house in Budapest. She can’t wait to go back to her house, even though I think she’ll be sad to realize all the uncles and grandparents and Aunt Clair can’t come with her.

Avery really likes to go places and do things. She gets bored easily so we try to keep busy. She really likes to go to friends’ houses and she’s made a couple friends here in Grandma’s ward at church. She likes to paint, and we got some water beads to play with this month that have been a hit. The park is always a favorite as well.

Right now Avery’s favorite things are fruit snacks, ballet class, playing racquetball at the rec center (she mostly runs around the basketball court), dressing up in dress up dresses and dancing when Clair plays the piano, being chased, being swung in Uncle Jarom’s hammock, and watching movies.

Avery has also turned into a really good eater. She even eats her salad at dinnertime. This gives me hope that someday Evelyn will eat normal food because Avery was almost as picky as Evelyn is when she was smaller. Almost.

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Kismalac

I went to the Mangalica Fesztival again. It was very cold and snowing the whole time, but I thought it was better than last year. The primary reason is that it was at Szabadság tér instead of Vajdahunyad Vár. The bigger venue meant that it was much less crowded and I was actually able to see everything. I suppose the weather may also have negatively affected the turnout.

There was of course lots of food to eat, palinka to drink, and mangalica products to buy. There was also a live band and the usual handicrafts for sale. The only thing that wasn’t there was the bacon-chocolate stand. I was a little dissappointed, but I probably wouldn’t have bought any anyway.

I remember a number of cheese shops last time, but it seemed like there were even more this year. I was also unencumbered by children so I got to look at them all. Some had “sajtkifli”—little cheeses in the shape of croissants. I ended up buying some gorgonzola, some borkísérő, some very garlicy fresh cheese, and a sampler. I think I spent all the money I’ve been saving by living frugally. Oh well, it was probably worth it just to make Rachel jealous. :-)

Then I ate some fried sauerkraut. It was delicious and, for a little while at least, warm. As I was eating I watched the snowflakes fall on the table and stick. It was the first time that I can remember seeing snowflakes with the stereotypical shape. I’m used to tiny powder, massive mega-flakes, and melted flakes, but not the Christmas ornament type. They were about 5 millimeters across and very beautiful. Unfortunately no pictures turned out so you’ll have to imagine them.

After I set off for home I realized I had forgottent to eat any kürtőskalács! Instead I stopped at Deák tér and bought some there. It was probably cheaper that way, but I have to admit, not quite as fun.

Oh, I almost forgot. There were actual mangalica this time:

To be honest, I'm not sure these are mangalica. Notice the jet of steam coming out of a hole in the back of the closest.

Including a half a dozen kismalac:

When I was taking this picture a little girl behind me kept saying, "Pici, pici, pici," or "Tiny, tiny, tiny". Perhaps it would be better translated as "Wee, wee, wee."

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