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Mixed Blessing

My son is an only child. At three years old he would much rather play with an adult than a child. With him starting kindergarten in a year and a half I was getting a little worried about the new social aspect it would bring. He hasn’t been around a lot of kids. He has a few cousins, but I usually find him playing by himself. It’s easier that way; less sharing. I wanted to be sure that he would be able to make some friends at school, but I wasn’t sure how to approach the situation. With our busy … Continue reading →

Month in Review: June 2008 Adoption Blogs

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I kicked off the month by attending a Cultural Fair with exchange students and au pairs. In my blog Celebrating ALL Cultures, I assert that celebrating all cultures makes our kids believe we truly accept diversity and aren’t just accepting them because they are our kids. I talk about some of the history of adoption with Proxy Adoptions. This means adoptions where the prospective parents didn’t meet their children first. In the past this sometimes meant there was little in the way of a homestudy or any education for the adopting family. Today a homestudy is always done, and while … Continue reading →

Fences Everywhere

Now that I’ve taken stock of everything that has to be done outside the house I’m wishing I had paid more attention to the inside of it over the winter. By the looks of things I may not see the inside of the house, except to wash off the yard dirt, until the snow flies. I love my backyard, it’s tiny and private. Privacy is a wonderful thing but it takes fences to keep the privacy. I’m grateful for my fences, otherwise my neighbors and I might not be so friendly. However, every spring my fences need work. The fence … Continue reading →

Baby Bullies

My son loves his daycare. He’s made lots of little friends and is learning social skills that he may not have learned otherwise being an only child at home. But lately I’ve been a little worried about him. He’s been coming home saying that one little boy in particular has been being mean to him. Little kids often get into little scuffles over having to share a favorite toy or taking turns on the swings, but when Logan started coming home from daycare with scratches all over him I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t switch daycares at … Continue reading →

Buy a Frappuccino – Get Free Music From Starbucks

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Summer is the perfect time to get yourself a cold, refreshing, drink, and to listen to some great music while you are enjoying it. Starbucks can help you get both at the same time. Buy a frappuccino, and get ten free songs that you can download from iTunes. I have mentioned many times how much I love Starbucks. I used to go there at least a couple of times a week, but have slowed down a bit lately. I have a wedding to attend later this year, and, like most women, I really want to lose a few more pounds … Continue reading →

Healthy Halloween: Healthy Handouts

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. It’s the dressing up, mostly… the chance to be someone or something else for a day! I don’t mind the candy, either. But the candy is definitely a mixed blessing. Halloween can be a BIG test of your willpower and diet abilities! So what are some healthy alternatives? Fruit. Apples and oranges are usually easily found during the fall months — and they’re good for you! Handing out fruit might not make you very popular with the kids… but the parents might appreciate the healthy snack appearing in the goodie bags. 100 calorie … Continue reading →

Living Near Your Parents—Good or Bad?

Isn’t ironic that as teenagers all we wanted to do was to get as far away from our parents as possible, but as soon as we settle down and have a family all of a sudden we wish they lived closer? It might not be true in all cases, but a new survey shows that a majority of Americans age 30 to 45 with children desire to live closer to their parents or other family members. My family lives 5000 miles away and my 4-year-old begs me to get us on “the big plane to Hawaii” every single day. Needless … Continue reading →

Having the Hang Out Home

The other day, a parent of one of the neighborhood kids came by looking for his four-year-old son. They had an errand to run and he needed to collect the little boy. “It looks like you have the hang out house!” he said. Having the hang out house can be a mixed blessing. On the positive side I always know where my kids are. They are right at my home or in my yard, so I know that they are safe, and I never have to go looking for them. I can hear and usually see what is going on. … Continue reading →

More Fiction for Summer Reading

In a recent blog, And Now for Something Completely Frivolous, I named some Danielle Steel novels that had adoption-related themes. Steel also has an entire novel devoted to infertility and adoption. Mixed Blessings begins with three weddings on the same day, and follows these couples through the early years of their marriages. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but here are some characters you will meet. — A woman in her forties who has adult stepchildren and never thought she wanted babies of her own, suddenly finds herself rethinking that decision. Her new husband, a … Continue reading →

One Year after Moose’s Car Accident

Today is just a few days past the one year mark of the day Moose slipped his collar, ran off after a cat, and got hit by a landscaping truck. What a year it’s been! I still get a twinge of guilt sometimes, looking at his little tail-less butt and thinking that I could have gotten a harness sooner, or somehow stopped him from darting off after the cat in the bushes. Looking at pictures of Moose before the accident gives me a little pang, too. Over the course of the year, Moose has started twitching his tail muscles when … Continue reading →