List/Grid Tag Archives: Adoption
Some Advice For Talking With An Adoptive Parent
If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that I am a transracial, adoptive mom. In many circles a transracial family is also known as a conspicuous family given that the parents are usually one ethnicity and the child another. In our case, my husband and I are Caucasian and our son, The Littlest E, is Ethiopian. I’ve been a mom now for 18 months and along the way have had a number of conversations…
The Gift Of Adoption
November is National Adoption Month and, since my life was touched by adoption when we brought our son home with us from Ethiopia fifteen months ago, I felt it important to write about the precious gift that is adoption. I was calculating how long The Littlest E has been with us and can’t believe it’s only been fifteen months. It seems like he’s been with us forever, and I mean that in the best of…
If You Had One Word For Parenting, What Would It Be?
I take a parenting class with our son, The Littlest E. It’s like a toddler & me class, there’s individual play and circle time. Then four moms stay back to watch all the kids while the other moms go into a discussion. During one discussion, our teacher posed a question to all of us; if you had only one word to describe your experience parenting, what would it be? Before I answer the question, I’ll…
A Joyous Life After Infertility
I recently went to my OB for an exam and it was the first time in many years that I felt good about being there. In an earlier blog, I mentioned that my husband and I tried assisted reproductive technology (ART) to build our family. While going through the major ups and downs associated with infertility, the last place I felt comfortable was my OB’s waiting room looking at all of the pregnant women, wishing…
Reflections On Family
Today, August 2, 2011, marks the year anniversary of the day we took custody of our son, The Littlest E, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In the adoptive world people often refer to this day as “Gotcha Day.” We like to call it our Family Day because it was the day we became a family. I’ve been reflecting a lot on what family means to me, and thought it only fitting to share those reflections on…
Moving Beyond The “New Mom Lonelies”
In my first two blogs, I wrote about our journey to becoming parents, and our decision to do international adoption. When we brought our son home from Ethiopia, my husband and I didn’t want to do too much those first couple of months. We wanted to make sure The Littlest E (for Elliott) knew we were his parents, his “go to” people. We took the necessary time to nest, nurture and let our son get…
Fatherhood And Sexism (Part 2 Of 2)
(For Part 1, click here) The thought of having a daughter triggered questions about how I would treat a female child. Would I show affection for her in the same way as I did to Joaquin? Would I discipline her differently? Would I have the same expectations of her? Would I become the stereotypical dad who greets his daughter’s boyfriends at the door with a shotgun? As she got older, would I stifle her sexuality…
Inadvertent Racism
Having an adopted child from another race, we knew it was bound to happen sooner or later – a prejudiced comment. I didn’t think it would happen when The Littlest E was a toddler, and I certainly didn’t think it would happen at my husband’s church. But, it did. My husband and I have different religions and his place of worship is very important to him. We go, as a family, once a month so…
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