D Minus

...OK, maybe a solid D. After all, I'm probably not actually failing as a parent. At least not most of the time. That's what I'd give myself right about now. A solid D in parenting 101.

Actually, for me, it's parenting 102. Or 201, or something. I now have a second child, after all. Our last trip to Kazakhstan to adopt Mia, our daughter, made it clear to me that blogging is a great way for me to stay sane under trying circumstances. Little did I know that being home is a trying circumstance in itself. So that's what this blog is about. It's about seeing the humor in parenting. I need to focus on the humorous things, so that I don't lose it. Spontaneous combustion is, I now know, a really very real possibility.

So.

Having a conversation with my daughter is a trip. She's three and a half years old, and, having just arrived from Kazakhstan, speaks only Russian. We speak only what Russian we learned during our trip, which ain't much. Sometimes I'm amazed at how much she understands, and sometimes talking to her is like talking to our dog, Buck. Strangely, I really don't think she gets the fact, yet, that there's another language involved here. She repeats what we say, but doesn't make a connection between most English sounds and their meanings. She doesn't seem to register that "sok" (Russian) and "juice" mean the same thing.

A typical conversation:

• What do you want?
• Va u van?
• Do you want juice?
• Van jut?
• Juice, or Milk?
• Da.
• No. Do you want juice, or milk? Choose one.
• Da. Jon.
• Who's on first?

...and so on