Attachment

There's not much new on the travel front. Hopefully, we'll get more information on our schedule by the end of the week. In the mean time, I thought I'd share a little information about attachment and adoption. During the months after we return home, David is going to have to learn that we are his parents, that we will meet all of his needs, that we love him and that this family is forever. It may seem like that should come naturally with little thought or effort (and hopefully that will be the case); but he has been with his birth parents, in an orphanage and with at least one foster family in his short life. Soon we'll be family #4, and life so far has given him no reason to expect this to be his final stop. In order to help him attach to us and us to him, adoption experts have some recommendations.

• No big crowds. No passing him from person to person as soon as we hop off the plane.
• Develop daily routines and schedules and stick to them.
• Whenever possible, Kevin and I should feed, bathe, dress, comfort and put him to sleep.
• Lots of one one one time. Avoid overstimulating him with too many toys.
• There's a lot more information at http://www.med.umn.edu/peds/iac/postadoption/attachment.html for anyone who's interested.

This is not meant to be a lecture. We want everyone to come hang out and play. We can't wait for you to meet him, but if we make requests that seem strange and arbitrary, like wrestling him away from you when you try to be helpful and change a diaper, I just wanted to give everyone an idea of why.

9 days until we leave!