They start music appreciation classes very early in my school district and, as luck would have it (and without any calls or letters on my part), there is always a healthy mix of Russian composers in these classes.

One of the first pieces that the kids get to listen to is Peter and the Wolf, the piece composed by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936, based on a tale that Prokofiev himself had written. There are many, many recordings that have been made of the piece, and it seems, from the cultural calendars that I do every month, that it is almost... more

The moms in my neighborhood think I'm nuts for giving my kids all the choices I do for breakfast, lunch and snacks. They offer one or two choices for breakfast, they pack their kids' lunches and snacks without consultation.

At my house, the pantry and fridge are wide open for those meals. If my older son, who was adopted from Vladivostok at 18 months more than seven years ago, wants baked beans for breakfast, he can eat baked beans. If my little guy, who has been here less than two years from Sakhalin Island, wants yogurt and a banana, that's what... more

As I have noted before, Russia has 86 governing subdivisions that are potential locations for an adoption. The 59 agencies that are now seeking accreditation and re-accreditation from the Ministry of Education each operate in only a handful of these regions. I've given you five tips on choosing a region once you have selected your agency.

But there's a lot more to learn about Russia's regions. Not only for the prospective parents now waiting... more

Maybe it's because of the endless round of parties in Anna Karenina, but I've been thinking about cooking a Russian feast. I've worked on soups like borscht and Shchi, and I shop the Russian grocery store for weekday meal staples. But this meal would be something more.

I'm... more

This is a potentially plot-spoiling post if you have not gotten far in our group reading of Anna Karenina. If you are not yet up to Section Two, Chapter 10 please put down this post and catch up on other adoption blog reading.

For the rest of us, I want to talk about what happens in chapters 10 and 11 of Section Two, or perhaps more appropriately, what doesn't happen.

Section... more

What are the odds of this: Two positive stories about Russian adoption appearing in the mainstream press on the same day, which just happens to be Mother's Day? I just about fell off my chair this morning when I opened my Google Alerts. I had been reading a very dreamlike sequence in Anna Karenina last night and, looking at the news alerts at 6 in the morning, I had to make sure I wasn't still dreaming.

But it gets even better:... more

It is Mother's Day here. Actually, as I tell my kids, every day is Mother's Day. I don't expect gifts every day. I don’t even expect them on the official Mother's Day, although they did each make me some lovely cards and pictures. But just as I say that we respect the earth every day, we make sure to respect mom 365 days of the year.

It isn't Mother's Day in Russia today. Russia celebrates something that, in a way, I like more: International Women's Day. Yes, before you jump all over me, I know that the Soviet holiday has... more

I was switching the clothes in my kids' closet to summer from winter this morning and I came across a set of Russian picture puzzle blocks. If memory serves, they were given to my older son in Vladivostok by one of the other families crowding the upper floors of the Hotel Vladivostok in early December of 1999.

Depending on which way you turned the blocks, they made six different pictures. I never knew what they were, but this morning, as I was struggling to break my writer's block on another assignment,... more

As a single, working mom of two, I have a long to-do list of things that don't get done.

But when I was working on a reorganization of the basement the other day, I came across the box of materials I had put aside for my younger son's life book. There was the journal I kept during my two trips to Sakhalin Island in 2005, and copies of all the e-mails I had sent or received while I was away. There were photos, but I am not the world's best with a camera and most of the time during my trips I was playing with my son, not taking his... more

OK, I have to admit it: I have never been comfortable with the first sentence of Anna Karenina.

"Happy families are all alike," reads my translation, "every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." (Other translations render the first sentence as "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.")

Wiktionary, the dictionary affiliate of Wikipedia, defines "happy"... more