Lev got upset on the way home from meeting on the tram Wednesday night. He was tired, and probably wanted to nurse, but the lights were really bright on the tram and we were travelling with the brothers. Lev ramped up his screaming so fast that everyone was staring before I could do anything; there just wasn't a discrete way to nurse him at that point. Only a minute or two into his screaming fit, a lady started yelling at us, in Russian of course, essentially saying "Silence Your Child! Silence!" Matt meekly responded that we were trying. Another lady on the tram then started yelling at the other lady, and they got into a heated argument about how to appropriately address the problem and such. As luck would have it, we were still 20 minutes from our stop. I tried shushing him, singing to him, attempted to stand and bounce him (no small feat on a bumping, jolting tram), but nothing worked. I probably should have just whipped out the "num-nums," but seriously, picture a brightly lit tram with windows (reflections) on all sides; there was no way to be discrete, especially with all of the attention already on us! So, he screamed. And the lady glared at us. And the brothers offered sympathy and got to witness parenting at its finest. And we eagerly exited the tram 2 stops early, glad to walk the extra 1/4 mile and get some fresh air. Sometimes I forget that we are actually living in Russia; this was not one of those times!

I don't want you all to worry about us though, we are truly enjoying our time here and most people are very friendly and helpful. We are getting to know our neighbors, particularly the ones with children that frequent the playground. Most of the mothers know about as much English as I do Russian, and so we manage to converse a little bit.