Today I am going to take a break from the Transracial Adoption ABCs (looking at my list of topics, I am nearing the end of that finally, but I am still looking for something for the letter "Z", if anyone has any bright ideas!) and I am going to write about attachment and adjustment in adopted children.

Belane has now been home for almost eight months. From the moment we were united, she has done extremely well. I don't know if it is because the nannies at... more

In my last post, I gave tips on how to prepare your children for a new sibling through transracial adoption.

In this post, I will address some things that are specific to adding an older child to your family, and tips on making the adjustment as smooth as possible for all of your children.

-Explain to your children at home how their new sibling will likely be feeling. Ask them to think about how they would feel if they were all of a sudden... more

After writing about how wonderful it has been for me to watch my kids welcome each new addition into our family, I thought that I would write about how to prepare your children at home for a new child that is joining the family through transracial adoption.

Adding another child to your family is obviously a very big deal, and is one that will have a huge impact on the child or children already in your home. The early days home with a new child can be stressful and... more

Knowing the warning signs for attachment difficulty and weak attachment is a good thing, but knowing strategies to improve your child’s attachment is just as important. Here are some tips.

-Have as much physical contact as possible. Carry a baby or toddler in a carrier. Rock children of all ages in your lap in a rocking chair. Consider co-sleeping with your child, at least in the beginning. With older kids, try hair brushing, back rubbing, rubbing lotion on arms and legs, playing games... more

In this post I started discussing fears regarding attachment and bonding that many adoptive parents have. Now I am going to discuss risk factors for attachment problems in children.

There are several known risk-factors that can make a child more likely to have attachment difficulties, and many of them occur frequently in the lives of children available for adoption.

Some of the risk factors for attachment problems are...

- one or more changes in caretaker... more

Sorry for the lack of posts these last two days… I got hit by a horrible fever/chills/stomach bug and have been really out of it. None of the kids are sick (knock on wood) and neither is Josh, so hopefully it will be another one of those “just Mom” bugs (I seem to do that a lot for some reason).

Anyway, I thought I would let you know that we have another new addition at the Henderson home…not another child, but one of the four-legged variety.

We have been on the hunt for the perfect family pet for some time and have had some bad luck... more

Continued...

If you are adopting a baby this is something you won’t have to worry about, but for those adopting toddlers and older kids, here are some tips to help you until your child gets their “American tastebuds”. -Know what your child is used to eating, what they like and what they don’t, and have some familiar foods that they enjoy available at home. Food can be very comforting, and to a child who has their whole world turned upside down, finding their favorite food can help them settle in. We have found that sometimes even a familiar... more

Continued...

Kids and food are a funny thing, and how to feed a newly adopted child is one of those issues that comes up a lot. On one end of the spectrum you have kids like Belane, who instantly take to American food. While we were still staying at the hotel in Addis, I would order one American dish and one Ethiopian dish to share, and regularly she chose the cheeseburger and fries or pizza over the injera and wat (good thing I like Ethiopian food!) This picture is from our first day together in Ethiopia.

Another family that we traveled with adopted... more

Amanda came home to us from South Korea just before her second birthday. It also happened to be the week before Easter, and we remember fondly how that first Easter of hers she refused all chocolate, jelly beans and candy, looking at us like we were crazy when we offered them to her.

Instead, she happily ate her white rice and Kimchi (a spicy cabbage dish served very often in Korea) that we kept prepared for her, while her siblings enjoyed their sweets.

As we knew she would, she got to liking American food fairly quickly (including sweets!!!),... more

Continued from previous posts...

Last but not least, my sweet Belane. As most of you know I spent two weeks in Ethiopia with Belane in a hotel room. We had one king-sized bed and she slept great in between Josh and I (although she whimpered in her sleep that whole first night).

She was a bit trickier to get to fall asleep for naps in the beginning…at first I tried all sorts of tricks, from carrying her in a hip carrier, to riding in the taxi, etc. However after a few days I just had to shut off the TV, darken the room and lay down... more