The Zoo and Russian playgroup

On Tuesday, Sasha and I had a zoo date with another Russian speaking mom and her daughter.


It was obvious that we were not the only ones in there who wanted to help their kids to acquire some communication. There was one parent that stopped with her kids in front of each cage and repeated the name of the animal multiple times.

Of course, all kids pay special attention to animals. Sasha gets all excited every time he sees a squirrel or a dog or a baby. So, I routinely exploit those opportunities packing them with my narration in Russian: "Look at the squirrel! Oh, what a sneaky little squirrel! Look how it goes... Jump! Jump! Jump! Look at it's fuzzy tail! What are you munching, little squirrel?" Or: "Do you see that big dog over there? What a fuzzy dog! Big, black, fuzzy dog! And what does the dog say? Woof, woof, woof! Doggy-woof-woof-woof! What a big dog!"

I tried to do that at the Denver Zoo. "Look at that lazy brown bear sitting on a tree! What a big, brown bear! Look at penguins! Look at giraffes!" But Sasha was oblivious most of the time, as crying kids and noisy lawn mowers are more entertaining. I am optimistic about the zoo, though. We just need to go there a couple more times to really notice those tiny giraffes, odorless penguins and unremarkable elephants. Here is the list of free days for the remainder of 2010. Please contact me if you would like to come join us.

2010 Free Zoo Days

Wednesday, October 13
Thursday, October 21
Sunday, November 7
Saturday, November 13

My new friend and I would like to start meeting every Tuesday morning and do different things and outings. Preferably, the meeting time would be between 10 am and noon. It's mostly because my new friend works in the afternoons. So, if you are interested to join our Russian speaking playgroup, please send me a message. I am still collecting ideas on how to rally up more Russian moms, by the way.