Category Archives: Adoption

Yesterday I picked BE up from school, and as we drove to swim class, I experienced one of those rare moments when we seem to be truly mother and daughter. For 10 minutes, there was no complicated past, no distrust, no fear. She dispensed with all the fronts – the baby talk, the whining, theContinue reading “A Moment of Clarity”

Often, a stranger, or someone I barely know, comments on how cute my kids are. (Sometimes, I’m even fortunate enough to hear that they look just like me!) I usually just reply with “thanks.” But, part of me wants to qualify it. I want to say, “thanks, but I had nothing to do with it.”Continue reading “It Wasn’t Me”

During our first year together, I suppose I qualified as a new mom, and I felt many of the emotions that I assume new moms experience. The difference of course, is that my kids are not babies. I’ve met many great adoptive parents over the past few years, but very few of them have adoptedContinue reading “New Mom, Old Kids”

Many people in the generation before me (the baby boomers), and even some in my own generation, take issue with today’s parenting practices. In particular, they lament the fact that today’s parents try too hard to be their children’s friends, resulting in a whole generation lacking in structure and discipline. If you’re one of theseContinue reading “We’re Not Friends”

This weekend BE asked, “how old was I when BC was in your tummy?” I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but she quickly corrected herself. “I mean my other mom’s tummy,” she said. I wonder how often this will come up, especially with BC. He’s only two, and he’s bound to get confusedContinue reading “Who Gave Birth to Whom?”

Sometimes BE says and does things that are completely contradictory. For example, she is very fond of saying, “I love you momma” several times a day. Now, I’m not complaining about that, but I do think that she mostly does this just to be reassured. Anyway, we were in the car recently, and she toldContinue reading “How to Love”

When we first decided to adopt through the foster care system three years ago, I told both sides of our family that we needed their help. I told them I knew it would be hard, and that we would need all the support we could get. At first, I wasn’t sure how it would turnContinue reading “Giving Thanks”

I received some shocking news today: I’m not real. BE was the one to break it to me, and one of her teachers was the one to break it to her. Apparently, BE told this teacher that she is adopted. As an aside, I was kind of proud of her. I think this is theContinue reading “I’m Absolutely Real”

I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I’ve already decided to change the format. Instead of doing a summary at the end of every week, I’ll do several posts throughout the week. The more I think about it, the more difficult it seems to cover so many different topics in one post. AboutContinue reading “Eat Food”

As I mentioned in my first post, November is National Adoption Month. And, there’s one simple thing you can do to help. Google your state + “adoption resource exchange.” Almost every state has one of these sites, which showcases local children who are available for adoption. (Here’s an example from Massachusetts http://www.mareinc.org/). J and I visited our state’sContinue reading “How to celebrate National Adoption Month”