Grasshopper New Media Presents...

While our children lived in the orphanage in Russia, they were baptized Eastern Orthodox (Christian). The walls of their apartment had small icons on them, and the children’s caregiver wore a cross at her throat. We were pleased that our children had spent a year and half of their lives in a place where God […]

Damp auburn hair. Blue
butterflies stamped on her cheeks,
nose, didn’t wash off.
“I miss my childrens
in Russia!” our daughter wept
at lights-out. Again.
Older than her brother,
she recalls the orphanage—
and, maybe, life before.
She learns directions, moves
furniture, decorates,
to control her world.
Butterflies on arms,
my son sleeps with books, all closed
except for Pirates;
Knobby knees at chin,
pj’s and pull-up thrown off.
His boy-doll’s nude, […]

Expecting…
Other parents expect I must have wanted to have children by birth and failed.
Our adoption agency expects I have enough free time to write the follow-up reports on our kids with only a week’s notice.
Our daughter’s soccer coach expects I know all about soccer, including where the playing fields are and how to convince a […]

The rule of thumb is that it takes a verbal child about three months to become fluent in a new language if they are immersed in it and have no recourse to their first language. Peter and I adopted our daughter K and son M from Russia when they were nearly four and nearly three, […]

Here’s how to take two recently adopted preschoolers on vacation.
Step one: Before you travel anywhere for the first time, buy matching rolling duffels for the whole family. Let the children choose their own colors, so they see that, even though they’re part of a “matched set” of people, they are still permitted free choice. Rescue […]

How many of us are currently coping with, or about to cope with, our children’s schedule changes? The transition from school year to vacation is heavy on the minds of most of the parents I know and has figured prominently here in recent posts on GNMParents. My own children are in the process of leaving […]

I’m writing this poolside at our gym, watching swimming classes. My kids aren’t in the water right now, but I’ll have the pleasure of watching their classes in a couple of weeks.
How do you teach children to swim when you don’t know whether they’ve ever been in water before? This was the problem Peter and […]