Of all the things that I have enjoyed about being an adoptive mom, listening to my kids as they acquired a new language has been among the tops. I recently discovered another adoptive mom of two from Russia who is reveling in her children's journey through language as much as I do, and I want to share her thoughts with you.

Deborah is a writer and teacher who is trained in music and speech science. The mom of two pre-schoolers adopted late last year, she blogs at "The Adoption Adventure".

She and her husband studied Russian with a CD course before they brought the kids home, and they are using Russian and English to help the kids make the transition. Here's a snippet of what she wrote about that decision back in January:

"Some people ask me whether our speaking Russian to the kids won't slow down their acquisition of English. My response is that we don't know and don't care. Frankly, it struck us as more important that they attach to us quickly than that they learn English quickly. We felt that the kids would attach to us best if they trusted that they could communicate with us, so we put in the work necessary to make that happen."

From her descriptions, it sounds as if the bonding is going just great, though not without bumps. Deborah says she'd love to have the kids in story time at the local library, but can't because they don't have enough English. I had trouble with this one, too: My little guy, adopted a few months short of his fifth birthday, would sit quietly in my lap as I read a book to him. But he had meltdown after meltdown in the story circle at pre-school. I think, in retrospect, that it was a combination of not having the book close at hand and books whose subject matter--ponies and princesses--was of absolutely no interest to him. He is all about planes, trains, automobiles and rockets: I ultimately taught him the alphabet by having him read letters on car license plates.

But my favorite bit of Deborah's writing is her description of the day her kids made up a Russian phrase to describe something they saw near their new home. I won't steal her thunder, but if you have a minute, read her story of "ziraf-myatch"