Sobotchka

Since I moved to this neighborhood three years ago I have learned some Russian, especially the word sobotchka (rough translation my own, since I don't know cyrillic and this computer can't be coaxed to write it).  I learned the word in the Heather Garden from a dark haired man and his blond little boy.  We met over a year ago when the boy was barely able to stand.  When I approached with Poochini, the father would say quietly to his son, sobotchka, the first syllable softly sighing into the next.  At first I couldn't understand him.  At first, the son was hesitant to approach my dog.  Each time we met, the man would say sobotchka, and show his son how to pet the dog.  Gradually, the boy became less afraid of the dog.  Gradually, I understood the word.  At home, I practiced pronouncing it.  As I petted Poochini I would say, my dear sweet sobotchka, and try to make the first syllable lilt as the man did.
Over the last year, I have  met the man and the boy several times, always in the garden and always without the mother.  Where is she?  The boy is toddling quite efficiently now, but lately seems more interested in butterflies than dogs.  So perhaps I will next learn the Russian word for butterfly.