After three months on American soil, Zoe's orphanage 'do started taking on a life of its own, blocking her vision and posing a hazard to general aviation. So we went to our longtime family barber & stylist for her first haircut.Zoe did fairly well, but only after planting herself on Mommy's lap for the duration of the cut. (A bribe of a lollipop didn't hurt any, either.) We weren't expecting miracles, just looking to set her in the right direction for a grow-out. And it's well on its way.
Stay tuned for more follicle follies... ¶ 9:22 AM 2 comments
What does it cost to raise a child? As demonstrated in the opening credits of The Simpsons, it's $847.63 per month (a figure cited in a study at the time the show went on the air in 1989). 17 years later, the Simpsons are still going strong and haven't felt the effects of inflation, but it's a safe bet this amount has now doubled.
Some skeptics questioned when I threw out a figure of 14¢ a day a few months ago as the amount Zoe's orphanage was spending per child. Just not possible. Well, it turns out that 14¢ may be at the high end of orphanage care in Russia. According to the Guardian, some Russian orphanages are somehow operating with under a penny a day per child in funding.
Foreign adoptive parents and agencies have always supplemented Russian government spending with donations to orphanages. Fewer adoptions being processed mean fewer donations are finding their way to greater numbers of children requiring basic care.
Meanwhile, the children continue to wait...and wait...and wait. At pennies a day.
¶ 4:43 PM 0 comments
Our holiday break came to a close with a visit from William (Ilya), one of Zoe's orphanage mates from Yekaterinburg. We met Will and his American diplomat parents during our trip this past Fall. Will now lives in the Ukraine; the family was back on business over the holiday week. 
Will is adjusting quite nicely to Western ways, even 5,000 miles from his American hometown. In the meantime, Zoe has requested a subscription to Pravda for Kids. Go figure.Some of Zoe's other playmates from Orphanage #2 are recent arrivals or will soon be coming to the Washington area, and we'll be scheduling playdates accordingly once they're settled.
Technology has made finding other adoptive parents of Russian children an easy task, especially in a major metropolitan area. Sari had her first Moms Night Out with our local FRUA (Friends for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption) chapter last week. I've gotten several inquiries through this blog as well as other online groups to which I belong. With 50,000 adoptions over the last fifteen years, it is a large and thankfully still-growing community.
"Just what I wanted!"The New Year brought the last of the Chanukah parties. Zoe was a first-timer at my cousin's annual extended family holiday celebration and loved it all.
By now, the word "present" is firmly in her vocabulary as she had been showered with gifts on an almost daily basis for two weeks straight. Her birthday two months earlier was a low-key celebration and the whole gift concept confused her. Now she's on top of the present thing like a big dog.
Speaking of big dogs...Zoe even warmed up a little to (okay, eventually didn't scream at the sight of) Lewis, my cousin's new pound puppy who's just a little smaller than, say, a Volkswagen. The "dog thing" goes back to the orphanage, where there aren't a whole lot of cute puppies running around. There are wild dogs roaming the streets of Yekaterinburg and other cities in Russia, and the children are warned about them without learning the distinction between a "good" dog from a "bad" one.
As expected, Zoe charmed the crowd as Chanukah 5766 finally came to a close.
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