I just started a book this morning. I’m 1/4 of the way through it and can barely put it down. I didn’t expect to feel this way about it. I picked it up because there are so few books about Burma/Myanmar or written by authors from there, and I want to understand more about myContinue reading “The Exhaustion of Being Othered”
Tag Archives: Sunny
A World of Difference
Sprout and I went on a little field trip this week. We’ve been dying to get her into Nemours Children’s Hospital for well over a year now, but the gears grind slowly. First I thought our insurance wasn’t accepted there at all because that’s what I’d been told. Then I found out it could potentiallyContinue reading “A World of Difference”
Different Kids, Different Views
Our experience with kids’ desires about their futures are pretty varied. We started our foster care journey with Kiddo. She had just turned 4 when she came to us. Initially her parents were not doing what they needed to to get her back, and Kiddo was seething with fury at her Mom for telling CPSContinue reading “Different Kids, Different Views”
Racism 101 in my Household
Sunny learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in school. On the Monday holiday honoring him, she got up bright and early and asked me enthusiastically, “Are we going to go see Dr. King Jr. today?” My heart thumped extra hard. I explained to her that he is dead now, and that he’d been shotContinue reading “Racism 101 in my Household”
Family Expansion
We just had a visit with Sprout and Sunny’s family. It’s a two hour drive to Mama’s house, which the girls complain is the most boring thing ever, but when we get there it’s all worth it. Today, not only was their Mama there and their other three siblings, but also an uncle and twoContinue reading “Family Expansion”
Structure, Consequences, and Rewards: What Works?
Let me start this post by emphasizing every kid is different. Of the three kids in our house, different things work for each one of them. With Sprout, she’s been with us since she was less than 2, in a stable, structured, safe environment where her needs are always met. She views Seth and meContinue reading “Structure, Consequences, and Rewards: What Works?”
It’s a Birthday. Brace for Impact.
Birthdays for foster kids can be unexpectedly full of strange emotions and events. It’s Sunny’s 9th birthday today, and she’s suuuuper excited. For one thing, her family didn’t really celebrate birthdays so this is an exciting new “English” (non-Muslim) tradition for her. For another, like all kids, she wants to be the center of attentionContinue reading “It’s a Birthday. Brace for Impact.”
A wheelchair = liberation
Having kids with physical limitations is illuminating. After a battle with insurance, they finally approved an adorable little yellow smiley face wheelchair for Sunny. I pushed for it because there are so many things we can’t do with her now: we can’t go to the mall, or the State Fair, or the little village festivalContinue reading “A wheelchair = liberation”
Seeking: Someone to Pay Attention
We’ve noticed over the years that a common theme in our kids coming into foster care is a deep need for undivided attention. I think there are a lot of different reasons for this. A lot of kids coming into care are coming from pretty extreme poverty, and quite frankly, an impoverished parent desperately tryingContinue reading “Seeking: Someone to Pay Attention”
Openness in Adoptions
I’m strongly in favor of open adoptions – in the vast majority of cases – for so many reasons, primarily because there’s abundant research that now shows it is healthiest for the kids, and it should all be about the kids. Times have changed. This is not the 80s when adoptions were usually closed. WeContinue reading “Openness in Adoptions”
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