Whatever You Do, Don't Sit Down!

The culture towards children here is so interesting! It seems everywhere we go the children have special goodies, like lollies and balloons, and toy stores are plentiful and packed from floor to ceiling with trinkets, wind-up toys, and electric-powered wheeled devices. Children are transported from playground to playground on fancy trike-strollers with bells and whistles (literally), scooters, or hoover boards with built-in speakers so they can broadcast their favorite tunes. Its not all unicorns and rainbows for these precious littles, however; Russian superstitions put a damper on their fun. Any flesh exposed to the "cold" (as far as I can tell, "cold" means September, because this even applies when it is 60 degrees out) puts them at serious risk of catching a cold or getting rheumatism. As a result, toddlers are bundled from head to toe in hats, scarves, snow suits, mittens and boots, so much that they can barely move! I've been doing my best to appease the babushkas by putting hats and coats on the boys. Little do they know they are merely rain coats :-) The other day while waiting for the bus, Lev fell asleep in my arms. Suddenly an older lady came running, yelling frantically at me. I thought we were about to be hit by a car or something, but no, Lev's coat had ridden up and a scant bit of flesh was exposed. Sigh.

On the playground one evening Matt overheard a mother tell her daughter and friends it was getting too cold out so they would have to head inside. The girls of course protested, so the mother relented saying, "Ok, but whatever you do, don't sit down!" It tuns out the poor girls were at risk of freezing their ovaries had they not obeyed their mother! Oh my. No wonder I get so many strange looks when I'm sitting around in my flip flops, skirt and t-shirt. It is rare to see siblings close in age (most seem to be 5 or 6 years apart) so maybe they think I'm intentionally trying to freeze those babies. Hah!

It is entertaining to watch Finn make friends on the playground. He is very extroverted, so he is delighted when the playground is packed with kids in the evenings. He isn't shy about plopping down on a bench right between some older girls and trying to talk to them. Some are more friendly than others, but he doesn't seem to let it bother him much when they move away. He has figured out they speak a different language so he tries to speak to them in

"Russian," which so far is just jibberish, but I think he genuinely wants to learn so he can converse with them. I wonder how long it will take before he speaks a bit! Lev still just plays independently, but all the 8 and 9 year old girls love following him around trying to interact. Most children 2 and under don't seem to be allowed out of their precious little cocoons to play, so he is a bit of a novelty. The buggies (strollers) over here are super fancy enclosures designed to protect a child from all possible elements; I wouldn't be surprised if some have heated seats!

We have had a week of beautiful sunny weather, with lows in the 30s and highs in the 50s or even 60s. As a result, we have been spending lots of time outdoors soaking up Vitamin D. Finn spied this "chicken popsicle" in the little store next to our playground and had to have it. What a goon.