Lastrochka

This afternoon, Adam excitedly pointed out the window that there was a "lastrochka" (pronounced LOSS-trochka) outside. "What on earth is a lastrochka?" I asked. He told me it was a kind of bird that they had in Ukraine. I went upstairs and retrieved the Russian/English dictionary, where I found that a "lastrochka" is the Russian word for a "swallow." How 'bout that.

There's Russian going on in that boy's head. Two years plus later, he can pull an obscure word like "swallow" out of his head. Cool!

I think it is interesting that when the kids have learned an English word for something, they "unplugged" and promptly forgot what the Russian word was. Words that they haven't learned the English equivalent for are still floating around in their heads and easily retrievable - even years later.

Lastrochka. What a reminder that the world we have given him is only part of the total puzzle of Adam's life. I hope somehow that he can hold on to as much of his culture, heritage, language, experiences, memories, etc. as he possibly can...