Babies Are Heavy

I toted Niece Lyssa around yesterday and my arms are sore. It is clear that I am going to have to get in shape before my baby arrives. Lyssa is almost eleven months old, which is about the same age as our baby will probably be when we meet her. Of course, Lyssa is a Plump Girl. There is no way to know what size our daughter will be. If she’s very small, this sweater I’m knitting now should fit her for a while. I made the one-year size and it is roomy.

We started our agency-required on-line Adoption Learning Class (one of three) this morning. The first chapter was about appearance and the expectations of adopting parents. We had to draw a picture of the child based on what we think the child will look like, and were then asked questions about gender, age, hair color, etc, of the child we drew. It seemed like a strange exercise, but I suppose a lot of parents don’t know much about the gender or background of the child they will have when they first start the adoption process. We know we are going to have a girl from China, about a year old.

The second chapter was about losses and gains: What is your child losing by being adopted and what is she gaining? What losses do all people have to cope with and how do they cope? Our agency asked us about what losses we have had in our lives and how they impacted us when we filled out our Self-Study at the very beginning. This topic is challenging for me because loss is something I feel really deeply. I think I will be able to empathize with my daughter, even though my losses have been different from hers. I have never lost my parents or left my country. I hope I will be able to help her. It’s a shame you can’t learn everything you need to know in life from books.