Yekaterinburg, Russia, September 2005

Little did we know last fall while shooting photos of our future daughter along with her orphanagemates that these two would be re-united halfway across the world on a picture-perfect faux-Spring day for a playdate. Today, Elena and Zita are Zoe (right) and Marilyn (left), both comfortably situated in their American homes. Marilyn arrived home in February with her Mama and is doing great.

Zoe was the hostess with the mostest, even sharing some of her toys with Marilyn. The weather gave Zoe her first real opportunity to explore the backyard of the house, a place we've managed to keep secret from her since October.

There's no denying there's a resemblance between the girls, who are three months apart in age, leading us to half-jokingly speculate that they could be distant cousins. In fact, our neighbor experienced the Patty Duke Show effect when she saw Marilyn in our driveway. Part of it may be that they clearly share the same Yekaterinburg hair stylist.

So, you can lose your mind (when Russians are two of a kind), but looks are where the similarities end. A lot of the assumptions we made about some of Zoe's quirks and fears being rooted in orphanage life were disproven by Marilyn. Marilyn doesn't have a problem with dogs--Zoe is still terrified. Marilyn eats everything her Mama eats--Zoe is still largely on her limited diet. Finally, Marilyn doesn't seem to have the same issue Zoe has with men, as I was able to get a big thank-you hug at the end of this, our first playdate together. Zoe is just about at this comfort level with me after five months home, and only then because I'm her Papa.

Look for more Yekaterinburg reunions in the weeks and months to come.

¶ 2:04 PM