Month: November 2016

My blood boils at the thought that my daughter could be bullied, not by kids but adults responsible for her, like kindergarten aids or teachers. I hear of all these stories…

What if we idealized parenting? What if we wished for it so much and we overestimated our abilities and stamina? Were there ever any new parents disappointed or utterly exhausted by the new role? …And thought to themselves: “what have we done?”

There was a tradition in my family growing up, that when we were visiting Grammy and Grampa, we would wake up early and sneak into their room to crawl into bed with them. Then we would spend a lazy morning giggling and chatting in bed. Since last night was the first official night that Jaclyn…

We spent an hour reading and singing songs from Osana Osana. I sang one of her favorite song more than 10 times, mixed in with others. It’s her first official night here, and it’s smooth sailing. The bedtime routine is stretched and lavish …Meh, it’s not harming. It’s just spoiling her with attention, love and…

She comes home today! We got the call yesterday from her social worker that the court had finished the paperwork to have her move in with us permanently in view of the final adoption in three months (what a call to get on Thanksgiving!). One last drive to the foster family to pick her up…

Jaclyn is more proper than I was at her age. She is more social, and was taught o greet people, and introduce herself and be perfectly pleasant. As she became our daughter, when feeling under the weather (mostly because she met people just as we got out of the car, and she does get car…

During our classes last summer, the social worker made an off-handed comment about how occasionally kids go in developmental reverse as they are adopted. New parents, instead of challenging the kid to continue to grow and be independent, will want to cuddle and “help” them with everything, even though they had already started doing things…

Find something personally enjoyable in everything. I learned this in marriage. Do not disregard yourself completely, as you deprive the other of your true self, while starting to resent your own sacrifice.

They told us that the adjustment to our new life together is harder on the parents than on the child. Makes total sense. And I don’t deny it. Yet we are in the midst of an actual adjustment, of finding our place in the new formed family. I am stretching my mental and emotional endurance…

“We are drowning in information yet we are starving of wisdom.”