Almost without preparation, my son Sam will today say good-bye to his first 'real' school, as the year has come to an abrupt ending that snuck up on me completely.

It seems like yesterday that I wrote about his first day in the Baie Lazare Crèche, the local version of kindergarten, but it was almost a year ago that we all went through the drama and trauma of big boy going to big boy school and all that entailed.

He cried every morning for a week when we'd leave him, but soon adjusted well and enjoyed his days.

He has learned to speak Creole over the year, and can... more

Back in high school, I had a good friend whose mother when miffed would, for the fifty-millionth time, say, "You know that you're just a placenta, don't you? When you were born, the doctor threw away the baby and wrapped the afterbirth up for me to take home."

My father would tell anyone who asked my full name, actually Sandra Noreen, that it was Sandra No Weenie, "Because she doesn't have one."

I wrapped my son's fifth birthday presents and set them all out in plain view a day in advance with the express intent of torturing him with anticipation.

A quick Internet search just provided such cruelties doled out by parents onto the innocent heads of their adorable children... more

My son Sam will be five-years-old on Saturday, and along with that reality hitting me upside the head like a sack full of nickels ... OMG! It's all going too fast! He's only minutes away from driving and shaving! ... the constant and utter amazement at the person he is becoming and fall-on-my-knees gratitude for his good health and our great fortune comes the realization that he rapidly approaches the age of contemplation of the big picture and the questions that come with.

Being prepared giving multiple options for handling (Forewarned is forearmed -- FOURarmed?... more

Families traveling avec kids, singular or plural, for adoption or vacation ... Mary, for example... might want to take a gander at this column on kids on planes.

Seems the writer mentioned previously that she prefers the company of children over that of adults during air travel, and that earned her more than 1,600 responses, many disagreeing with her take.

Here's... more

Continued from the previous posts.

G6PD (Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase deficiency) is, apparently, the most common enzyme deficiency in humans, with an estimated 400 million people worldwide affected. It is most common in Blacks and inhabitants of the Mediterranean region, although Asians are also impacted.

It is sometime also called Favism, as many people who have this condition are also allergic to fava beans.

Like ... more

Continued from the previous post.

By the time I arrived home in the evening, word was starting to come in from doctor friends to whom I'd passed all the info I had and asked for opinions, strategies, and so on.

Being that medical care available on this island is limited, it is often necessary for patients to seek treatment abroad ... my cardiologist is in Singapore, for example ... so figuring out how soon T could be well enough to travel had to be a consideration.

A look at his chart had told me that his ... more

Continued from the previous post.

Although I thought I'd prepared myself, I was shocked when I finally did see T. Looking small and frail in the hospital bed, he was yellow and very weak ... and scared to death.

Because his mother didn't understand what was happening, no one had been able to explain anything to him. Well accustomed to my 'take charge' personality, he looked to me to give him a picture of what was happening. Unfortunately, I knew nothing.

Preparing to hang a second unit of blood for him, there was a problem with his IV ... a minor blockage... more

For anyone who happened to notice that I've not posted a darn thing in a while, my apologies. I've been in the middle of a situation here that required my full attention and most of my energy.

Being that I've been dealing with circumstances that could potentially happen in a number of international adoptive families, I'm taking the time today to share the experience and what I've learned so far.

As long-time readers know, Mark and I were foster parents before we adopted. Our foster son, T, went back to his mother, then to Thailand, but eventually returned to Seychelles a couple of years... more

Or: Why it occasionally looks like Sandra goes out of her way to annoy some people.

If you're approaching the international adoption world from somewhere out there where it all seems reasonable, clear-cut and simple, sooner or later you are bound to come up against brick walls intentionally built to make the process sound either impossible, immoral, unethical, or otherwise a generally bad idea.

As an adoptive parent, an advocate for children and for adoption, and a blogger for Adoption.com, it is my responsibility... more

Parenting is tough in Australia these days. (Adoption in Australia happens on a small level, there being only 502 adoptions in 2003/04, 74% of which were international.)

There are some tough new laws coming into play that will change the way mothers and fathers behave ... and walk, for that matter.

As of 1 July next year, parents ... more