February 26, 2007: My little guy did his homework all by himself.

I know what you're thinking: Big deal. Mom needs to get a life.

But it is a big deal, a really big deal. A big milestone for a kid that, a little more than one year ago was viewed only in the negative.

I adopted my little guy in October 2005, a few months short of his fifth birthday. I put him into pre-school almost immediately, a school that my older child had been to for kindergarten. A local Russian grandma, to whom I owe a huge debt of thanks, served as... more

Of all the things that I have enjoyed about being an adoptive mom, listening to my kids as they acquired a new language has been among the tops. I recently discovered another adoptive mom of two from Russia who is reveling in her children's journey through language as much as I do, and I want to share her thoughts with you.

Deborah is a writer and teacher who is trained in music and speech science. The mom of two pre-schoolers adopted late last year, she blogs at "The Adoption Adventure".

She... more

Heidi, over at the Adopting A Sibling blog, put up a smart, seven-part post on 10 tools for bridging language issues with an internationally adopted child a while back. It is a wonderfully informative read and it brought back a lot of the tricks I used with my two kids.

First a word of background. I speak five languages in addition to English (French, Italian, German, Japanese and Russian,... more

This is the kind of story I wish I read more often: What becomes of child after he or she was adopted from Russia.

It popped up in the "The Oshkosh Northwestern", thanks my trusty Google Alerts. Confession: I have never read "The Oshkosh Northwestern" before, but I did spend a few days in the charming town this past summer when I took my kids there to see the gigantic EAA AirVenture show. There... more

Julie, our Parenting Special Kids blogger, just wrote a post about how unpredictable life is sometimes. How out of control of her schedule she feels, all the while needing to provide a consistent schedule for her daughter.

This morning I got a little dose of unpredictability...at 5:40 a.m.

Some days I get up around 5:30 to get an early start on my day. It's easier for me to write in the early morning and today, especially, I wanted to check my various news websites... more

We are in the process of getting Little J potty-trained at night.

He's a little over 4 1/3, so I think we're approaching this rather late, especially since he's been day-time trained for more than a year, but you have to understand something critical about Little J: if he's given any latitude at night, he'll take advantage.

By that I mean that in the past, if we've so much as left his door open at night, he's taken this as an invitation to get up and walk around the house. He doesn't want to sleep with us and he's not upset - but he will play. He'll play all night! He won't... more

A new report from the Evan B. Donaldson Foundation came out a couple of weeks ago: "Adoption in the Schools: A Lot to Learn" Here's the lowdown:

[The report] for the first time brings together research and years of broad experience on a range of issues that affect millions of boys and girls nationwide. It points out that, as adoption becomes increasingly normalized in the United States, more and more adoptive families are confronting challenges when their children attend school - and it offers recommendations for how educators can better meet those challenges.

I facetiously... more

This is continued from part 1, an introduction to therapeutic boarding schools.

Here's what I think you need to look for in a therapeutic boarding school:

1. Real high school level classes, but also remediation. Many times kids who've been struggling over the past few years are behind in school. You should pick a program that will help them catch up and will prepare them for college or whatever post-secondary training they're going for. From what I can tell this... more

Yesterday I wrote a post about spotting learning disabilities early on. I got the article I used from the International Adoption Articles Directory, which is a great resource that I want to make people aware of. People involved in adoption or experts in their field can post articles to provide information on all sorts of aspects of adoption.

In the articles directory there's an article called "Teens... more

My lovely son Little J has quite the potty mouth. Since his diagnosis with ADHD and subsequent medication the incidences of him calling me a stupid baby mommy have lessened, but interestingly enough, have been replaced by a more coherent discussion of what are bad words and what are not.

Some words he knows are inappropriate, largely because he's heard me say them and has repeated them and I've told him not to say them.

Some words he's heard from other kids (I'd say he's heard the "worse" swear words from other kids, not from me) and he asks... more