As you look to find any underlying reasons for your child's weight issues, consider these as well:

Is your child eating for comfort? It would, of course, surprise no one that many adoptive children have not been comforted appropriately all of their lives. Yet, we know that when a child is frightened, scared, angry, sad, lonely, rejected or any of a myriad of emotions, he needs and requires comfort. Most often, if there is a need, the child will find some way to meet it. In the absence of a loving parent, this comfort can come in many different forms including... more

Annetta, my adopted daughter, is very overweight. I’m also heavy, but most of my children are very thin. Annetta is only 9yrs old, but in pictures from 2-3 years ago, she is very thin. The weight started literally piling on this child over the last year or year and a half. It was so much, so sudden that we went straight to the pediatrician. He found nothing wrong, so I’ve been looking at other reasons. Meanwhile, she continues to gain and I continue to look for ways to help her be healthy.

First of all, it’s a good idea to check with... more

Why didn’t anyone warn me that little girls could be just as destructive as little boys? I was not prepared for this. I thought that I toddler proofed our home fairly well prior to coming home. I just did not know that a child could be so destructive. I’m with her all of the time also, so I figured I could intervene and keep her out of trouble. But kids find a way. Livi knows not to touch my plants but when Papa watches her, then plants become her favorite thing to dig her hands in. I will come home to find dirt in the bay window and... more

More wisdom gained from my children......here is the story from yesterday:

I'm not feeling great. Better than Sat or Sun (really sick then), but still not great at all. On top of not feeling great, it seems that things just keep going wrong, one after another. The speed that these things are happening in seems to be far more than I'm able to handle well! I'm getting discouraged. It's just become a generally bad day.

I announce to Caroline, doing needlepoint nearby, that I am having a bad day.

I then ask her - as... more

If you’re a toddler Mom you probably have a pantry full of goldfish cracker, teddy grahams, Chocolate chip cookies, snack packs of pudding, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets and other toddler centered foods. If your one of those Mom’s who manage to eat all organic, whole wheat and get your kids to eat the same…. How do you do it? I know, I know our children can only eat what we offer them and all that jazz. But getting toddlers to eat is difficult and sometimes a whole grain teddy graham is the only grain they will eat. Surprisingly I did not gain... more

I’m still wavering on the start of Potty training Extravaganza 2007. Livi turned two in mid November and at around that time and even before I started hearing “ Have you started Potty training yet”. My reply was she is not ready. I don’t know if I’m missing some big signs or if we should just forge ahead. I introduced the potty when she was 18 months and we had a few weeks when she was telling me after she went in her diaper and would go on the potty whenever I placed her. She really seemed on board at that time. I had visions of happily... more

The first tantrum our daughter had was over food. It would not be her last food related tantrum. Things have progressed in the almost ten months we have been home but I’m not sure if some of these behaviors will ever be completely resolved. I had read about hording food, picky eaters, or those with sensory issues that could not tolerate different textures. Our daughters issue seemed to be a voracious hunger all the time and her rages over food. In Russia a tantrum would ensue as soon as she saw her food being prepared, she screamed between... more

With many of my kids, in order to understand their loss, I must know as much as possible about it. With most of them, I must come to accept their birth parents as well. In a previous blog, I talked about accepting the birth parents of a couple who have voluntarily chosen adoption for their baby. But, what about accepting abusive birth parents of a child? What if their parents harmed them?? What if we have anger toward their birth parents for doing this to the child? Surely the child doesn’t want us to accept those parents also.

Instead,... more

Most of my children came to our family at older ages. In 24 adoption situations, we have never adopted a newborn. Our youngest adopted child was 3 and our oldest adopted child was 17. The rest of the children’s ages are in between the two.

Many of my children have not come to us as their first or even second adoptive family. We’ve adopted many children who have disrupted from their initial adoptions. With this, many of our children have very difficult behaviors and emotional disabilities when they arrive through our front door.

What... more

I have been blogging for well over a year now on my personal blog and since September on this fine site… it all started by becoming a fan of several blogs. I would see links to blogs on forums and quickly added many to my bookmarks and made some bloggy friends along the way. Starting out I decided it would be a good way to keep family & friends informed of our adoption process, thinking it would limit the “ hear anything yet” comments. In the beginning my blog was private, but as I got more & more involved in the blogging world I opened it up to anyone.

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