I've been lamenting my youngest son's first lost tooth, and thinking about milestones in general. As he and I were talking in the car tonight (about the lost tooth, of course!), I was thinking about how much progress this boy has made in just a year!

When we first began our long distance relationship with them while they were still in foster care in another state, both kids had a Southern accent so thick you could cut it with a knife! I loved it and thought it was so cute,... more

Are your teenagers struggling with Acne? It is one of those horrors of the teenage years. If your child is also dealing with adoption issues, fitting in, finding their place in the world, acne can seem like the end of a social life. You want to help, you offer kind words, and you dutifully look for a product that will clear the acne. There are so many to choose from, how can you know which ones will actually work? Are they all the same? If they are different, then what ingredients should you look for?

Sebaceous glands are connected to the hair follicles. The job of... more

Have you been blessed with a sibling group of babies and toddlers still in diapers and drinking bottles? Would you like some simple time saving tips to make life a little easier? Children change and develop so quickly at this age that within a year they will all be easier to care for, especially if you potty train a couple of them and eliminate bottles. In the meantime, enjoy them, and take many pictures. Use the bottle time to hold, snuggle, and bond with them, even though they are not newborns.

Instead of disinfecting the changing pad after each diaper change do this.... more

If you just adopted a sibling group then you are very busy parent trying to establish a routine. You are trying to get used to have two, three, or four times the number of people in your family. Of course, that means more cooking, more grocery shopping, more laundry, more cleaning, and more transporting. It can be down right hectic at times and you could use some support. The last thing you need right now is another thing on your parent “to do” list. If your life is anything like mine, you don’t have time to watch television, read magazines, or even file your fingernails.

What... more

I have been babysitting my grandchildren while their parents work during the day for the last few weeks. They are currently one and two years old. They are the children of my oldest daughter, now 25. She came to us as a 13 year old with her younger sibling and joined our forever family by the miracle of adoption at 15. My youngest daughter by the miracle of adoption is one year old and falls right in between the ages of my two granddaughters. The three little girls have always loved each other, but lately they have been becoming best friends.

In the morning when they first... more

An older adopted child can really put a parent through the wringer. We parents need to learn to keep our sense of humor throughout these trials or we would definitely go nuts. While I understand the sensitivity and privacy of the subject, it can be helpful for adults parenting older adopted children to share stories. It is helpful because it can prepare us for inevitable. Yes, when our own adopted daughter reaches this developmental milestone. If we are not prepared, we may not handle this delicate situation as well as we could. Not only that, but laughter is good for the soul... more

As I mentioned in a blog yesterday, a reader asked me for some advice on encouraging her soon to be adopted daughter, to dress appropriately. Her question really had three parts so I decided it might be best to split them up. Yesterday, I covered adopted daughters wearing dirty clothes again. The second part of the reader’s question was about her daughter wearing clothes too tight. I tried to deal with this by appealing to logic for my first few years of foster and adoptive parenting. All that led to was arguing and one of us getting angry. I decided to make this a non-issue at... more

Recently I received a question from a reader about her soon to be adopted daughter’s inappropriate clothing choices. If you have parented older children from the foster care system or adopted from an orphanage then you have probably dealt with these issues as well. It may help you, to help your child, if you understand where these habits originated. We were a little surprised and disgusted when we realized what was happening at our house. Our first sibling group, a teenager, and her younger sister helped to train us when we were new foster and adoptive parents. The teenager would... more

We send the children off to school in jackets because it is chilly in the morning when the get on the bus. Towards afternoon, the weather begins to warm up. The Children are likely to toss off their jackets into a pile on the ground. At the end of recess, they will probably retrieve them. If just one of the children who tossed a jacket into that pile happened to have head lice then the lice probably jumped onto all of the other jackets. This pile of cloth is the perfect playground for those little biting opportunists to spread. The children will probably slip... more

I bought my first cell phone when I was 34 years old. Somehow, I managed to survive the teenage years, college days, and travel without a cell phone. Of course, now I don’t go anywhere without it. I feel completely lost if I accidentally leave it at home during a simple trip to the grocery store. When my teenagers start driving a car I make sure they own a cell phone and keep it with them. I feel much safer with them on the road knowing they have a cell phone with them. Whenever, my teenage sons go away for a weekend, I make sure they take their older brother’s cell phone... more