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Adopting Devils

I Didn’t Know I Did It Until I Didn’t

By KJ / Monday, January 24, 2011

Sunday was a screw-up day. Long story short, we made an hour-and a-half drive there and back to go to an event that had been moved to Saturday, only I didn’t notice it in the emails. They also changed the time, which I DID notice. No one was very happy with me, least of all me. On the way home, we pulled in at Blanche and Bill’s Pancake House (near Killington). I’ve always wanted to stop there, so it seemed […]

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Doin’ the Math

By KJ / Friday, December 10, 2010

I recognize that this is a very corny, wholesome yet pushy activity for a parent to do with her kids, but sometimes—especially when the battling in the car gets to be too much for me to take—we do in car math drills. I call out the questions, taking turns for each kid. Wyatt loves this. He’s definitely a math guy, and I take pride in (and am mildly freaked by) his abilities. But Rory has struggled with this activity, so […]

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‘Member? ‘Member, Mommy?

By KJ / Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Rory is bothered by conversation. She’s largely a native English speaker, since she grew up understanding and speaking more English than Chinese (she was raised in a large foster home with American parental figures and Chinese nannies), but the ebb and flow of conversation still goes over her head, and she’s hampered by a natural 5-year-old inability to tell the difference between a suitable topic for conversation and a random non-sequitur. But she wants to be a part of any […]

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A New Friend (and first official iPad Post)

By KJ / Tuesday, May 11, 2010

We had one of those classic adoption encounters this weekend, really of the kind you only dream about. Ran into our old neighbor from across the street, who we consider a friend, at the grocery store. I’ve seen her probably a dozen times over the last year, but the only lengthy conversation we’ve had was about evil sports parents. Still, I think of her as someone I see fairly often. She greeted us, chatted–I see you’re one short today–yep, Wyatt […]

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No Spoiled Youngest Here, I Guess

By KJ / Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Wyatt’s my baby. My buddy, my beloved littlest one and the only one who looks like me. When I got to our sitter’s today I heard him sobbing through the window, and I rushed in–pausing to give Rory a hug on the way–calling what’s wrong, Wy? He didn’t want to come home, that’s what’s wrong. Now, I know Heather’s house is a haven of legos and turtles and popsicles (and it’s SUPPOSED to be, I love that they love it […]

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Travel Approval, New Job, Great Day

By KJ / Thursday, May 28, 2009

We just got our travel approval from China–and I just became the kids’ media reviewer for Double X (part of Slate). A double good news whammy. FAQS: When do you travel? We won’t know until Monday, because of the Dragon Boat festival. I would be more resentful, but I happen to love dragon boats! I’d guess we’ll be gone the second half of June. What’s this job thing? I’ll be doing all the kids’ media reviews for doubleX. It’s a […]

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When it is hot, be hot.

By KJ / Wednesday, May 13, 2009

To decide to have a child is to decide to allow your heart to go walking around outside your body. Wyatt’s TMO teachers presented us with that sentiment on Mother’s day, as their idea of a festive mother’s day apparently involves making one cry (they also offer handprints, and that poem about how the handprint won’t be this small for long—oh, and checkbook covers, which I quite appreciate.) Let me just say that the decision to adopt a child—now that, […]

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