at the zoo

because abbreviating down to a single letter causes its own crisis of innocence, in the same manner as does assuming and addressing a readership....

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Магдалена (Magdalena)/Мега (Mega), with her little solid body, will take you on, no matter the odds. she will win and know it.

Матија (Matija) is Мега's older brother (apparently there are 4 of them, in total, all under the age of 7) and tries very hard not to listen or obey; he knew my name before anyone else, because he doesn't listen. Матија would be much more successful in irritating me were it not for his backward glances and how he holds spiders and worms up to my face.

Огњен (Ognjen) splutters, audibly and with vapour, when he speaks, such that i'm not the only one with trouble understanding him. "Ognjene" (in the vocative) sounds and awful lot like "Ognjen, ne..." and he has the swiftest onset of a full-blown melt-down i've ever seen.

Elliot is E.

Ања (Anja) looks like my thesis advisor at chicago. not like my advisor would have looked when she, herself, was 5, but a 6/10 scale model of the very figure i looked at during our infrequent meetings. when she jumped from too high a rung, twisting her back and unable to move her legs, Ања didn't cry.

Олга is rarely seen without Ања, her fellow mewling "would-that-be-a-cat-or-a-horse?" we hope it won't come to anything for many years, but she tries to be a good mother.

Нина (Nina) walks with Marko's arms and wears hoods.

Јана (Jana) is the ring leader of the older girls. if her attitude continues to develop at the same rate as her limbs elongate, consider yourself warned.

Александра (Aleksandra)/Сашка (Saška) can't pull off "catty" because of it, but her rasping throaty voice is totally endearing.

Софија (Sofija) should dance alone more often.

Лука (Luka) is five minutes older and half a head shorter than Софија. he has diabetes and an earnest desire to be commended that triumphs even over the influence of Матија.

Никола (Nikola) wears his pants loosely at mid-chest, held fast with suspenders.

Ана (Ana) is 2, but conceals it well.

Амар (Amar) screams without provocation and then, just as suddenly, lovingly touches the face of the close one who no longer has functional ears. sometimes he provokes or reciprocates real conflicts with E, at others he tells believable stories about their occurrence and lets his "light autism" pick up the slack.

Елена (Elena) won't say anything, unless you're not watching her.

Хелена (Helena) is our sheltered newest child; her mother no longer stays at NB all day, finishing her linguistics degree in the basement, and Хелена usually tries not to cry.

Невена (Nevena) is Vesna's niece and has, of late and perhaps under the influence of Хелена, taken leave of her formerly sweetest-to-all nature, adopting one which involves her crying whenever Vesna is not in sight. it's a shameful waste of enormous eyes.

Филип (Filip) always asks.

Сара (Sara) will wind her tiny, brown body into yours before you can buckle her multicoloured sandals, which formed the original excuse for her being in your lap.

Лука (Luka) watches out for smaller things who don't ask for this: the younger girls and my incomprehensibility.

Ева (Eva) never stops her commentary, in word and music.

Емилија (Emilija) is precious and a likely candidate for nail polish.

Јована (Jovana) wears pink with the best of them (Емилија), but runs the boys down alongside Мега.

Michael is confused. he turned four on tuesday, had an epiphany last week (in which the Babel tower crashed with a comment: "they don't talk like us," gesturing to himself and me), and now M can never go back.

Ана/Ana is my cousin, Annaka; she wants me to like her.

Марија Мања/Marija Manja has unnaturally long hair. even it, however, fails to (naturally) keep her in "svom mestu [her own seat]" when circumstances beg for it.