A few observations.
Piper is somewhat of a novelty, I've noticed. I can not wait until we walk in somewhere and it is not such a big deal. The upside is that she is getting lots of attention and that is good. She has to feel very special and welcome. And we all know our kids deserve that, especially the orphaned ones. But at the same time, I struggle with the fact that she could get very spoiled (she is smart at playing "the role"). And mostly, the fact that it will change on her eventually, and how will she handle that? That's hard. I guess it does happen to all kids, especially little boys. They are cute little babies and then one day, BOOM, they are a little goofy boy. I guess that it is a fine line that we walk as parents where you want the best for your children, you want everyone to like them, you want them to be successful, but you also want them to learn some life lessons along the way. That means somewhere, at sometime, they have to be disappointed, or last, or hurt, or not liked. I think they call it "character".
Another thing I have noticed is the pleasant "look how sweet" smile that we get from people. White ones in particular. I can't really put my finger on it, but it's there. You know, you go to the store with your bio kids and some older folks may smile at them, but most other people, if you get a look, just give the tight-lipped smile out of politeness and move on. With Piper, you get a distinctively different, "awww" smile at her. I am not going to obsess or anything, but I wonder how many different meanings that it has. "How sweet" or "how nice that you did such a thing" or maybe something else? Has anyone else gotten the looks? I have only heard one comment that I overheard when I was behind them at the store and they were between me and the kids in the grocery basket and it was "Well, you don't see that very often!". It was an older Sun City couple, and I just rolled my eyes. Other than that, it is has been positive responses.
On the health front, fungus control is very successful, I am happy to report! She has had 6 of her shots and her TB tests, now. We are currently working on the stool sample thing, to check on parasites. Let me tell you, I am soooo over this poop stuff. It is disgusting. For this test, I need 3 days worth of samples! And there is no easy, clean way of doing it either. One funny part, though, is that I had to Saran Wrap the toilet to "catch" one of our samples, but Brodan used the toilet before I could tell him about it. I guess this point in my life, with all of their ages, I should just make peace with poop. Otherwise, it could just be a crappy time. Ha.Ha.
What started as a blog of our journey to add to our family through adoption and now is the journey along the road that follows
4 comments:
You saran-wrapped your own son's toilet? I have heard of people doing that trick before, but never to their own child. Tsk, tsk.
But seriously, I am having to make peace with pee. Daisy's pee to be exact. I have to collect urine samples for the vet since Daisy is a shy urinater. Please picture me running all over the yard behind the dog as I try to collect her pee. Every time she realizes what I am doing, she freaks out and runs away to pee somewhere else and then I have to try and catch it again. It is getting old.
Yep, know the look. Most people look at Kali and smile and you always hear something like "she is so cute" or "how adorable". I think Carson is so cute too, but I don't recall hearing that many people say that about him. Oh well .. it is nice to hear these things because, after all, she IS adorable!
We get the looks and smiles every time we go out. It can be annoying. We don't want our children to feel so different in their "white" world, but what can you do? Every time you open a magazine or turn on the tv, caucasian faces is what they see. I don't think we are better people because we adopted a black child. I'm sure you will agree, ALL your children had that effect on you.
I am sure there may be some people who smile to cover other reactions that they may not want to display but many people are probably smiling out of happiness to see a lovely blended family. People can't help but take a second look at something that seems "different", it is human but it doesn't mean they are thinking anything bad. It must be tough to see your child be the subject of so many looks though. I know when I give an extra smile to a multiracial family it is because I hope to have such a beautiful family myself someday!
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