On Wednesday, Ben (our 5 year old son who has now been home from Ethiopia for almost 6 weeks) had his first real day of school. We have been struggling with where the best place for him is next year…Kindergarten or first grade. We are unsure of his exact birthday, but know he is 5 turning 6 sometime this year. He is very smart and can already read, yet some of the “sounds” the letters make in the U.S. are different than how he learned in Ethiopia.

Anyway, my good friend runs our Child Development Center, and I had asked for her opinion on how to decide. She called the next day and said that they had had a child move away and leave an open spot at the preschool, and it was a scholarship spot, and she wanted to offer it to Ben. Both of my four year old girls go to this school and it is excellent, so I jumped on the chance. Ben was a bit nervous, but SO excited. He followed his sisters in and washed his hands and chose a book and fell right into the group. I worried he would look way older than everybody else, and he probably was the tallest, but really fit right in. I worried how he would feel when I walked out the door...I had not left him once since we got him that first day in Addis...but he did great.

So it was an exciting day. He came home and jumped into my arms, excited about bubbles and snack time and finger paints and all these fun and wonderful new things he had done. "School is good Mom," he told me.

To me, this is one of the biggest joys of adopting older children. A lot of people shy away from adopting older children because of all that they have “missed” in their lives, but we have been able to experience so many firsts with the older children we have adopted and they have been some of my most amazing parenting experiences.

When we brought our Mercy and Des home, they were 9 and 6 and been living in the U.S., and yet they had never carved a jack o lantern before. Mercy made four that first year. They had never written a letter to Santa Claus. They had never dyed Easter Eggs. They had never jumped on a trampoline or roasted a marshmallow. They had never ridden a horse, swam at the beach or been to a play. Picnics, family bike rides, going on vacation, rodeos and the county fair…life was FULL of firsts for them. We started simple as to not overwhelm them. When we experienced one of these firsts for them, it was as exciting for Josh and I as it was for them.

And now with Ben, we are looking forward to all of the fun things we will get to do with him for the very first time. He has already had his first time on a sled, his first snowman and his first ride on a snow mobile. We’ve had his first movie at the movie theater and his first time in an indoor playground at Burger King. Airplanes, bathtubs, video games, seatbelts, breakfast cereal, the dentist…in six weeks he has had many new experiences. And as the weather is slooooooooowly getting warmer, I am excited about all of the fun opportunities that spring and summer will bring. Learning to ride a bike, going camping, swimming, his first birthday party…so much new to do. I have seen his eyes get wide when he sees pictures of the kids on the trampoline and I know that will be a fun day indeed!

Yes, I really enjoy experiencing all of the firsts with the older children we have adopted. I may have missed their first smile, their first tooth and their first steps, but I will be with them for many more firsts yet to come.