The Adventures of Adoption and Parenthood

As a working mom with a husband who travels A LOT, I need easy weekday meals that make it easy to feed Turtle something healthy. I have explored many blogs and Pinterest pins and finally found two (Freezer Cooking and The Test Kitchen of Melissa Fallis) that helped me prepare 10 meals in 2 1/2 hours for my freezer. Below is the grocery list and recipes. I hope this helps you get inspired to tackle this not so overwhelming project. Grocery List: Fresh Produce: 3 Green Peppers 1 Red Pepper 1 Zucchini 1 Red Onion 1 Bag of Yellow onions (need 8 - 10) 1 Bag of Red Potatoes (You need 12) 1 Large Bag of Carrots or 2 medium bags of baby carrots 1 Bunch of celery 1 Head of garlic Meat: 3.5 - 4 pounds of Chicken Breast (I bought 3 bags of frozen, skinless chicken breasts) 3 - 4 pounds of beef stew meat 1 - 1.5 pounds of ground beef Other Groceries: 2 20 oz cans of Chunked Pineapple 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce 2 6 oz cans of tomato paste 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes ...

I have argued and argued with myself, for weeks and weeks, over this particular post. “Coming out” as an atheist is very difficult to do. I now place myself in the hands of those who may judge me instantly and not kindly. I place myself in the hands of people who will begin to try and “save” me. I fear the phone calls and emails that may follow judging me and begging me to find god. But I have decided to go forward, because I know that I am not the only atheist out there raising children in a largely Christian society. It’s odd how difficult it can be to parent a child when your family does not practice any religion. I am an atheist and my husband is a non-practicing [nobody’s business], so we don’t raise Turtle involved in a church. I am continually amazed by the number of people who tell me how wonderful it is that god provided me with a child. For one thing, it is very presumptuous to assume that I am a Christian and, therefore, believe what they believe. Until now, I have ...

Today is the Mid Autumn Moon Festival. To be honest, it slipped right by me. As it has done every year since we brought Turtle home. Luckily she is 4 and doesn't know yet what she is missing. But she soon will. As an adoptive parent of a Chinese child, I feel it is incumbent upon me to help her embrace and celebrate her birth culture. You can glean some information on the internet about the various holidays and their significance but not a true understanding of their celebrations. The Mid Autumn Moon Festival started as mountain worship following a successful harvest. It morphed into moon worship over the years and now the primary symbol of the festival are lit up lanterns. No one is really sure when and why lanterns were introduced, but it is now so significant that to have a celebration without them would be like Christmas without Santa Claus. We have two lanterns that were given to us long before we were matched with Turtle. They don't light up and hang in her, as yet ...

I had another blog post in mind for today, but it's still percolating about language and the question why. But today, I want to talk about a blog post I just read about what a 4-year old needs to know. Here is the link if you are interested  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alicia-bayer-/what-should-a-4-year-old-know_b_3931921.html . This blog post discussed mostly what a parent needs to know and pointed out that kids need all the love and attention we can give them. The post unexpectedly made me tear up at my own parenting. I have failed! I don't read to Turtle as much as I should. I read to her everyday, but only for a few minutes. And I'm heartily sick of reading Lightning McQueen stories, but she clearly has not had enough. I don't want to read the same Planes story about Dusty Crophopper winning the Wings Around the Globe Rally. Ugh! So, I resist reading to her because I'm tired of those stories. Shame on me! I have to find it in myself to re-energize those tire...

I'll admit I was in the dark around bullying at such a young age. I truly didn't expect to have to help my daughter navigate the dark corridors of dealing with a bully at age 4. But she is and we are navigating as best we can. Turtle has a friend in school I'll call Jane. Jane dominates Turtle's life at school. She takes charge and doesn't allow Turtle to deviate. Yes, that's right. I said Jane doesn't ALLOW Turtle to do anything but what Jane wants and how Jane wants it. She doesn't respect Turtle's personal space insisting on hugs when I pick Turtle up from school. When Turtle tells Jane she doesn't want a hug, Jane practically knocks her over in her efforts to smother her leaving Turtle upset and often in tears. The conversations we have after school are disturbing because of the language Turtle uses: "she won't let me ..." "I'm not allowed to ..." It's no exaggeration to say I'm terrified of that langua...

I have noticed that if Turtle is preoccupied with a reward, she can't focus on the activity at hand. For example, she loves chocolate and if she knows chocolate is for dessert, she has a hard time eating dinner because she is so eager for dessert. So, I have tried giving her the chocolate before dinner and SHOCK she eats her dinner quite nicely after she gets her dessert. Now she knows what it's all about. We saw this on our vacation to San Diego recently. She had her eye on a blue killer whale at Sea World and wanted it badly. I kept asking her to look around at all the gift shops and make sure she didn't want a dolphin or sea  turtle because she was only allowed one. She became very surly and ill-tempered. So, what did I do? Most parents would simply tell their child that they now didn't get a souvenir at all because of this terrible attitude and who would blame them. My husband was struggling with my idea because her behavior certainly did not warrant any kind ...

For some reason, 4 seems to be the age of death exploration around here. We have conversations like this one all the time: Turtle: Mom, wouldn't it be crazy if dead people were walking around the USS Midway [we visited there recently]? Me: That would be crazy. But how would a dead person walk around the USS Midway? Turtle: So, when your hair turns white, you are alive for a little bit and then you die. Right Mom? Me: For some people, yes. Turtle: I wish I died when I was a baby. That would be crazy. Me: Oh my goodness, that would be crazy and I'm very glad you didn't die when you were a baby. Turtle: I want to live forever, because I don't want anybody to get my stuff. Me: Well, Sweetie, you get to say who gets your stuff when you die. Turtle: I will write it down on a piece of paper who gets my stuff and I will donate my body to somebody who wants it. Me: That's a good idea. Turtle: Will you donate your body? Me: Yes Turtle: Will D...