I know this is slightly old, but I really like the story about the dentists who travel to Ukrainian orphanages. As I wrote a while back dental health for many orphans is very poor. For some children their dental issues become very traumatic.... more

Dr Brothers' said something like... adopted younger children will be less impacted by loss then older children. I have never found that to be true. They cannot communicate as well, but young children are very familiar with loss. And they do remember.

My earliest memories are when I was 18 months old. It was the night that my youngest brother was born. And the next day when my family went to the hospital... more

Some adoptive parents receive advice that the younger a child is adopted, the fewer issues they potentially will have. At least this has been my life experience for the last 6 years. I adopted my darling daughter from Ukraine in 2000 and have mostly stayed involved with the adoption community.

I don't believe this is a good thing to say and I have heard it a few too many times. Children under 3 year of age are impacted by institutionalization. Children older then 3 years are impacted by institutionalization.... more

OK, I figured out why I was bugged by the word "best" in Dr. Joyce Brothers, International Adoption is Not For Everyone quiz.

Here is the question with "best". Dr Brothers stated the answer to this question was true. I strongly believe it is false.

2. It is best to adopt children who are very young -- under 2 or 3 years old -- because the institutional living... more

I ran across the quiz by Dr. Joyce Brothers, International Adoption is Not For Everyone from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I found it because of Erin's blog and Adrienne's blog.

One of... more

Picture: This is Methylphenidate which is a generic drug. Many people think of it as Ritalin but this is a brand name.

I am slow.. I just spotted this comment on my blog. And it made me think and do some research of my own. Interesting questions...

I adopted my son from Russia. He is now 5 1/2. He was diagnosed with ADHD last summer. We have been testing different meds and found one to be working well since Jan. I am also a special education teacher - I teach middle school students.... more

My darling daughter has ADHD and language based disabilities. It can take her twice as long as the "average" person to learn something new. And I wonder what her adulthood is going to be like. Will she be a happy and productive citizen?

I really wonder what I should focus on. Should I make Natasha practice her handwriting more? It is really awful. Or should we be drilling on spelling? Again it is awful. (Natasha... more

I recently served ant pancakes to my daughter and her friend. I really wish that I had taken a photo, but I was too busy cleaning up. In other words I wasn’t in the moment enjoying the strangeness of ant pancakes.

I was living in the future of

My daughter had GW her BFFFFFFF* sleep over. And the following morning I was serving a full breakfast with pancakes, eggs, bacon and toast. I served the food and forgot the syrup. So I went to the pantry and got the syrup bottle. I handed it... more

Just a recap..... I read a post on FRUA. A family was asking how children learn or don't learn language. Their child had been home for 6 weeks.

I looked at old emails and journal entries. Natasha had been home for 2 months before I noticed her usage of English was improving.

What I didn't know at that point was just how delayed her language skills were. Her language skills were screened after she had been home for 6 months. She was 4 years... more

I read the same thread on FRUA that Nancy Spoolstra did. The thread was about internationally adopted children and how quickly they do or do not start learning English.

She wrote Mi Casa es Mi Castillo.

Nancy wrote:

While I completely agree some kids have language and processing issues, and... more