the big screen and the big pool

Way back when we were in line with China and waiting for an infant girl, I always perused our agency's waiting child list. These were children of various ages and with various health conditions. Some were perfectly healthy but because of age were considered hard to place. Others had conditions that were fairly easy to treat, like cleft lip/palate, club foot, skin conditions, etc. It was during this time that I started to realize that our next child didn't have to be an infant. Maybe a toddler? Maybe a preschooler? Maybe older? In many ways I was somewhat scared of the idea, but I also couldn't seem to stop myself from falling in love with these beautiful children. How amazing for these kiddos to touch so many lives -- I know that I wasn't the only one falling for them -- and they will probably never know the impact they had.

At one point, I finally put the question out there to those in the virtual adoption society. What's it like to adopt an older child? I got lots of great feedback, but the one that really stuck with me was one with a wonderful message of "firsts." The writer told me not to fret over lost firsts -- that there would be plenty more to marvel over. Now that we have been home for 8 months with our now 2-year-old and soon-to-be-4-year-old, I have found how true that advice was.

Take this past week.

M took J and S to see the new Pixar movie in the theater. It was S's first time going to the movies. When she came home, you should have seen her face! It was like she had just experienced the most amazing thing in the world.

"Mommy! We watched a really big movie, and it was really loud!" As she described it all, her eyes and her smile could not contain her excitement. It became obvious that she really didn't understand the movie, but that didn't seem to matter. How cool was this??

But the new adventures didn't end there. On Saturday, we finally took the kids to the pool. Yeah, I'm very aware that we are more than half way through summer, but we do have valid reasons for waiting so long. One would be my new job. Makes trips to the pool only possible on the weekends. Strangely, our weekends this summer have been booked with one thing or another, so leisurely days at the pool haven't happened. The other big factor is that it really takes both parents to take all 3 kids to the pool -- with S and E not swimming yet, just wouldn't be safe otherwise.

So, we go to the pool. At most, the kids have seen one on tv. We didn't stay at a hotel in Ethiopia, and haven't been to one or seen one since coming home. Had no idea how they might react. Would they be fish or chickens? Um, yeah, total fish. It was their first time in a swimming pool, and S kept trying to "swim" away from Dad. Both wanted to jump in over and over, and they even went underwater. Have to say, I was shocked. Guess we don't have to worry about having scaredy-cat kids at swim lessons, now do we? Zowee!! (Oh, and I should probably mention that we didn't have any noodles or other floaty devices.)

I know there will be more firsts to come. A ton more. If they are anything like the movies and the pool, then life should be a blast. How lucky am I?
:)