Thanks to Holly Richardson, I now know that breastfeeding is recommended for HIV positive women in many parts of the world. As Dr Hoosen Coovadia, a pediatrician in South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal, told the 14th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, instructing HIV-infected mothers in developing nations to breast-feed would result... more

In writing on the Older Parent Blog about today being the eighty-third anniversary of my father's birth, I was thinking of all the ways that I am me that are as they are because of my dad ...and, yes, I would suspect that a tendency toward verbosity in the written form is one. Who knows how much influence any one person has on another, even when that person is a parent, and some things may be quite subtle. I might, perhaps, prefer a certain color because of something... more

Today is a special day in our house. February 8th marks the 4th anniversary of our family including Sam.

On this day in 2003, we arrived in Cambodia and made our way to AOA, the orphanage that cared for Rath Sen Chey until we were allowed to make the trip and claim him as our Samuel Eric Benoiton. We named him Sam, but the way, for a reason ... Mark and I could not combine our chromosomes, but we could put our initials together, so Sandra And Mark make Sam.

I can conjure images from the day perfectly, reliving the... more

I'm just passing this along ...

"Ethnic Socialization of Children Adopted from Asia"

Children, aged 14-26 who are adopted from one of the Asian countries and living in the United States are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Jayashree Mohanty, Ph.D. Candidate from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work. For those children between the ages of 14-17, I would also like to invite their parents to participate in this research study. The purpose of this dissertation study is to understand the ways in which adoptive parents prepare their children for understanding their identities and how such preparation affects adoptees'... more

Today's blog is brought to you by Lanny Hertzberg, a Professor of Anthropology who is visiting us here on his way to a cool teaching gig in Italy. I find his take interesting from many angles, not least of which is that it comes without the filters the adoption community installs once adoption becomes a focus. My wife and I have been guests now at Sandra and Mark’s for the past week. We have gotten to see them and their children in this island paradise. While my wife Jane is very familiar with... more

I would so love to write a profound, informative or entertaining post today, but that's just not going to happen.

Sorry 'bout that. My brain has been stuffed and roasted and is no good for nuttin' this morning, and it's not going to get any better any time soon.

First, I have the cold to end all colds ... okay, not, but that's how it feels. My sinuses have been inhabited by a fleet of Volkswagons and my face weighs thousands of pounds. (On the upside, I can make a snorting sound that Sam says is just what a Triceratops would... more

Although Sam was Super Hero-brave yesterday morning when I dropped him off for his first day at Big Kid School, his resolve apparently fell apart sometime later in the morning. According to reports, he rallied about noon and got into the swing of things, but by the time I picked him up, he'd had enough and was falling apart again. "I was so sad, Mom," were his first words to me. "I don't want to go to school another day. I want to stay home with you and Cj every day."

Does a blade get any sharper than that?

By... more

First, it's Mark's 40th birthday. Happy Birthday, Darlin' ... and no matter how old you may be feeling, you're still a handsome hunk o' L-O-V-E!

Second, it's a deadline day for the book I'm working on. Yikes! Of course, the forces of the universe know this, so caused a day-long power cut yesterday, and today have my broadband connection not working. Sheeeesh. As if it's not stressful enough! But number three on today's hit parade is the biggie: Sam has his first day at big kid school!

He'll only go for... more

The Cricket's Song

Once upon a time, a little yellow cricket lived beneath a tree in a tiny village. Every day, just as the sun began to set, the cricket bounded to the wheat fields at the edge of the village, alighted on a stalk and rubbed his forelegs together, producing what sounded like a song.

The cricket sang different songs on different days. When a storm was brewing, the cricket chirped of the coming storm so that the women knew they ought... more

It's the time of year in Seychelles all tourists love ... the season between seasons that comes in October and goes in late November when the wind can't decide between blowing the Southeast or the Northwest Monsoons. The Indian Ocean is one huge swimming pool with barely a ripple to its surface, the sun is shining and the humidity and temperature are not up in the quadruple digits ... okay, maybe that's a tiny exaggeration ... that the other season between seasons brings in April and May. It's so lovely that Mark did something so rare that people who know him well were shocked: he took... more