Russian for Beginners

Yesterday John and I were able to meet up for lunch in Arlington, which was really nice since Jack was in preschool and we got the chance to have an actual conversation. We had some time to kill before the restaurant opened, so we went over to a giant toy store I've been dying to visit (but that I wouldn't DARE go into with Jack in tow - talk about a recipe for disaster).

While I gravitated straight to the clothing and stuffed animals, John decided to check out the blocks, since Jack is in tower-building mode these days. Imagine his joy when he found a bunch of foreign language blocks (!) and his subsequent disappointment when he realized they had everything from Italian to Hebrew, but no Russian. Not one to be deterred (I was already cringing at the $40 price tag), John went onto Amazon.com and found the Russian blocks for the low, low price of $32.95. Before I had a chance to say "niet!" the blocks were purchased.

Actually, the blocks are pretty cool. They have letters, pictures, numbers, and entire words in Russian, so Jack will have an opportunity to not only learn his Russian alphabet, but also how to say a few words. Better yet, I'll be able to pretend I'm teaching Jack Russian while I'm actually learning it myself. The blocks, by a company called Uncle Goose, come in Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. Perfect for foreign-language learners of all ages, even 32.