More Than Four Sides

Category: Adoption

  • Thats What You Get For Wearing Crocs

    Thats What You Get For Wearing Crocs. I saw this on Facebook yesterday, shared by a friend who spends a lot of time in the sun, and it reminded me of a thought that has been rolling around in my head for awhile (ever since shortly after we returned from Ethiopia with the boys). We…

  • Gender identity

    My first child turned 30 (!) last year. When she was born, I had all kinds of ideas about her identity as a girl, informed in part by my own experience as a first-born daughter, and from classes I took on child development. My husband and I bought no clothes for her that were pink…

  • Power outage

    We’re at the 84 hours mark without power since Friday night’s violent thunderstorm, now given the elegant term derecho by the weather people. Life contracts – we spent hours over the weekend in the clear water of our non-circulating swimming pool, using the power of our arms and legs to circulate the water and prevent…

  • Why Are American Kids So Spoiled? : The New Yorker

    Why Are American Kids So Spoiled? : The New Yorker. this book review hits so close to home!! Madeline Levine, a psychologist who lives outside San Francisco, specializes in treating young adults. In “Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success” (HarperCollins), she argues that we do too much for our kids because we overestimate…

  • Family camp

    The words “family camp” have strong reverberations for me. I spent most summers of my childhood at some church-affiliated family camp; the United Methodists have a strong tradition of camping, and that was my affiliation through most of my growing up. We signed up for this “forever families” camp with high expectations. We hoped that…

  • Harry Belafonte

    I haven’t posted in awhile, but have had all kinds of thoughts brewing in my head…looking back at my last post, Mishpacha & Me, I am thinking more and more of the connections that I have to Harry Belafonte, a wonderful singer, whose music was a soundtrack to a lot of my happiest childhood moments.…

  • Being the Birthday Boy!

    We threw a party for J’s 4th birthday this past Sunday, and it brought out some interesting dynamics in his and his brother’s relationship. We arrived home with the boys at the end of January two years ago, and J’s birthday (according to his birth certificate, which was created months before we adopted him, based…

  • Love the Smithsonian Institution!!!

    We spent today at the Natural History Museum.  What a great day! My husband and I don’t often take the federal holidays that we’re entitled to take off.  I wasn’t sure that he would, until we discussed our plans last night over dinner, and I suggested taking a trip downtown to go to the Natural…

  • I’m an artist!

    No – the title wouldn’t be my words…they’re S’s.  And they’re true. He has been “drawn” to drawing (sorry, couldn’t resist) since we first met him in Addis Ababa…we had brought drawing pads and crayons with us, thinking they might amuse our new boys on the flight back, and S sat down immediately, and drew…

  • 2012 launched…

    My last post was the first day of Hanukkah, and the subsequent 7 days were full of fun, and fried foods, and the boys got ever more wound up as the week progressed, so that the end of last week was one of catching up on sleep, and a few temper tantrums.  I think we…