Salute

I just had to put this on here... it is just too cute! As soon as I added the Russian National Anthem to our blog, I was reminded of something. Whenever it plays, he does this...

We discovered this fact shortly after he came home almost 2 years ago.  We just happened to be watching Rocky IV, and as soon as the anthem started (Ivan Drago is getting ready to fight Rocky- he is Russian), Caleb stopped playing, stood up, situated himself within a few inches of the TV, and saluted the TV for the entire duration of the song.  That was quite a sight, watching a 2 year-old do that.  My guess is the kids in the baby house were taught to do this- maybe they did it every day, kind of like the kids here recite the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Fast forward 2 years and Caleb is still well-trained and will drop whatever he is doing to fulfill his duty.  In the pic above, he was right in the middle of eating when the anthem started to play.  Too cute :0)

Keep'in it Russian- Part One

Keeping Russian culture and reminders of Russia in our daily lives as much as possible is a goal D and I have for our family.  We want C to grow up feeling proud of who he is and we want him to know that we are all feel very deeply about his place of birth.  We know Russia made a sacrifice when they allowed C to become a part of our family and grow up in the U.S.... we haven't forgotten that fact.

We have done a lot of things to keep Russia in our lives, and I don't have the time to go through all of them (I'll do that in the next post), but here's one I love.  I love it because D did this one all on his own.  He's such a good Daddy :0)

Since Andrew is a hockey player and Caleb aspires to be the same, D thought it would be really special for them to have Krasnoyarsk hockey jerseys.  Andrew has already worn his on the ice during practice.  He looked pretty cool in it and was really proud to have a Russian hockey jersey.  I just love the fact that he can tell people he has actually been to Krasnoyarsk.  It truly was a blessing to get to share that experience with our oldest son.  And it is so special that he can tell his little brother stories all about the things we saw and did there together.

Someday Caleb will get to wear his jersey while he is playing hockey and he'll get to tell people that he is actually from Kras. 

Ice cream... or a creamy puddle? Which do you prefer?

The day after we picked C up from the orphanage in Russia, we all had ice cream to celebrate. There are ice cream stands everywhere in Krasnoyarsk during the warmer months (their version of summer- although it certainly wasn't very "summer-like" to us!). Now, it is important to explain here that just about all food in Russia is served at room temperature. Even dishes that are expected to be piping hot here in the U.S. are served in Russia luke-warm at best. The hot dishes would actually take an eternity to be served while we were dining in restaurants there because the staff allowed quite a bit of time for the dish to cool off before bringing it to our table. On the cold end of the spectrum, there is no ice in Russia (guess they don't really need it, if you think about it). So, for example, if you get a soda at a restaurant, the soda is lukewarm with no ice. Certainly a big difference from what we here in America are accustomed to... none of the Russians seemed to be bothered by it, though.

Anyway, the day after we picked C up from the orphanage, we got an ice cream cones and Caleb insisted on trying some. We was fairly certain he had never had ice cream before, so we were prepared for the absolutely awful face he made after he tasted it! He scrunched up his entire little face in absolute displeasure and his entire body shook with what was obviously the heebie-jeebies. It was quite funny!

Since returning home from Russia, watching C's reaction to very cold and very hot foods has continued to be entertaining. He STILL struggles with this aspect of our American culture. The cute thing is, he tries so very hard to be like our other kids. Take ice cream, for example...
we all love it, and C tries his best to tolerate it. There is an ice cream place near our house and we go there as soon as there is even a hint of warmth in the air. With that said, we have already been there several times this year. The other night, we announced it was time to go get ice cream. Just like the other three, C jumped up and down and squealed with delight. We usually eat our ice cream at the picnic tables at the ice cream stand, but on this particular night, we brought it home and ate it at the bar in our kitchen. After about 2 minutes of ice cream eating, C blurted out, "Mom, warm this up". Perplexed, I said, "What, honey? Warm what up?" C proceeded to point to his ice cream and then tell me to put it in the microwave. We tried to explain to him that ice cream cannot be warmed up because that would ruin the very nature of the ice cream. There was no convincing him, though.

Hmmm... guess I learned a lesson... never let C eat his ice cream within eye-shot of a microwave. On the other hand, if C prefers creamy puddles of sugar over ice cream, why not?