We are almost there! I can see the light! You'd think that I'm one of those parents who can't wait to drop their kid off at day care/ school and waits until the last minute to pick up in the afternoon, and who complains when there is a day off here or there. That's not me. Anna's only been at day care two days a week from when she was fifteen months, and is only going to be going full time, five days a week because that's the only option the new school she's going to offers. I'm really fine with Anna being home. It's Anna who is not so fine with this arrangement anymore.

Anna truly misses the structure in her schedule. We get up when we want, we do art projects and little day trips.... more

There are some things I have yet to understand in my adventures as parent here in Anna-land. I do not understand why after being told not to do something ten times, threats of time-out given and carried out, does an unappealing and frankly not entertaining activity seem fun? The other day, I had Anna home and was watching a friend's two year old as a favor. Having recently been to the farmer's market, I had a small watermelon on the floor of my dining room. I was too exhausted to move it, and frankly thought the floor was the best place for it, as I pictured Anna pushing it off the table and me finding it smashed to pieces.

So, Anna and her friend decided to play with it. I asked... more

So a little bit ago, I wrote about filling out the 'Getting to know your child' form that Anna's new school sent home. And although I did have fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils there on the bench there was something missing. With Anna's old school, there was a small section that was on adoption. It said "Is your child adopted? At what age was s/he adopted? Does your child know that s/he is adopted?" That was it, but it was enough to satisfy me that the adopted sector of the population gets recognized, and that in a classroom... more

It's now more than any other time that I question my ability as a parent. We have no air conditioning, so I'm hot and whiny. My husband - who is normally quite wonderful and shares in parenting and household stuff as much as possible - is still wonderful but generally absent, as he's working literally more than 70 hours a week on a project. Our house is upside down under construction - it will be quite amazing when finished but until then, quite a mess! And Anna's done with camp and not yet started school and I'm gearing up for work and school myself but not quite there.

And so we are here. Trying to occupy keep up with Anna. I get exhausted just watching her even if I'm... more

The word "ohel" means tent, and implies a temporary dwelling. This obviously suits an organization by that name that helps place Jewish children in need of a foster home.

I just saw an advertisement recruiting for foster and adoptive parents for Ohel in New York. I'm not sure if they take people far out of the New York area, but it's probably worth a phone call. Although I've seen lots of fundraising campaigns for this organization, it's been a while since I've seen them actively recruiting for foster and adoptive parents. Ohel provides a service for Jewish children removed from a home by Children's Services and places them in a Jewish home, usually just as a foster situation, but... more

Anna wants shoes with lights. You know - the really annoying kind that thankfully no one ever thought of while we were kids? Well, it seems this peer pressure stuff starts early, because Anna came home and started to talk about all the other kids who have these shoes and then proceeded to describe in detail and three part harmony exactly how she wants her new sneakers to look like.

I think what I'll do is make some sort of behavior chart with stars, and if she goes through an entire day without getting into "time out" then she'll get a star for the box. Enough stars and I'll give in and get her those ridiculous shoes with blinking lights. I'm just hoping that she'll understand the... more

Yesterday, Anna and my husband played basketball at the local gym as per their usual Sunday morning routine. Then in the afternoon we headed out for a road trip to visit Anna's former foster family who have since moved to another state. We have no contact with Anna's birth mom, so I think that maintaining a good relationship with her only "first family" is important to dispelling the mystery of her past.

Anna's foster family had her from about one month until she was 14 1/2 months old. They are a wonderful, loving family. And also heavily involved in their evangelical church movement. Of all the people Anna could have been adopted by, she went to an orthodox Jewish family. It has... more

Promptly at three thirty this morning, I woke up to hear a quick scream from Anna followed by her running to our room.

"There's something in my bed!" She cried. I asked her what was in her bed.

"There's a bird in my bed and it popped!"

Of course I let her climb into bed with me and she calmed down a great deal as I told her that I would protect her from the bird in her bed. I had my husband get up to check her bed for birds but I doubt Anna believed him when he reported that there were none to be found. She lay quietly for a... more

Avonlea asked a good question on a recent posting about the girls coming and going. Here it is:

How did you manage to adopt such a young child from fostercare? If you don't mind my asking.

When I explored the option it sounded like the only way you could do it was foster-adopt and I'm just not up for the risk of losing a child who is not legal free for adoption when they come into my home and heart.

It's a great question. You can actually adopt two types of kids through foster care. (Those who are legally free and fost-adopt) Anna was fost-adopt - meaning she was becoming available... more

After several beautiful months of potty trained bliss, we are back to this stuff. Anna seems to be having on average one accident per day - usually at night or at school (camp - whatever it's called) during rest time. She always says something like "Mommy, I'll try not to make in my underwear" or "I'll try to make on the potty next time" but I'm not quite sure where to go from here. My husband was threatening her with going back to diapers, which I quickly yelled at him explained to him why that was not a good idea. What happens if she says yes - she does want to go back to diapers. Then what? So I'm telling her that she can't do ballet or gymnastics in the fall if she's having... more