Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Kaitlin's First Letter to Meadow

Kaitlin was feeling lonely. The boys were at school and the kids were asleep. She missed having girlfriends that she could arrange play-dates with for their children and gossip in the park while they played. In her current situation that was going to be impossible. At least the boys did have some friends at school even if she didn't. 

Kaitlin sat down and opened up her social media site making sure she showed as offline. While she was browsing the she saw an advertisement for pen pals. That might be a nice substitute she thought and clicked on the profiles. There was a woman named Meadow that had adopted a two year old and was looking for someone that had maybe been through the terrible twos (well she didn't put it like that, she seemed way too nice or maybe naive) and could give her some support and maybe make a friend in the process. 

Kaitlin got excited and decided to write to Meadow to see if she would like to correspond. 


Dear Meadow,

Hi! My name is Kaitlin. We have something in common. We both have two year old daughters! I am in hopes that we can swap toddler stories - the good, the bad and the ugly! That way we know we aren't in this alone! 


Maddy and Me
But really, two is such a challenging, yet magical age. Our babies are becoming more independent little people with a definite mind of their own! It's so fun to watch their personalities blossom. 

Madison or Maddy as my boys nicknamed her is my two year old. As you can see I also have a newborn, sweet little Hailey, just a month old. So I am likely going to be dealing with jealousy issues. I hope not. I also have two older children both boys, Ben 10 and Reese 17. There really wasn't jealousy with them as they were spaced out quite a bit. But two years is close. Hopefully they will be close growing up instead of jealous.

You probably want to know a little about me before making a decision to correspond with me. I have loaded my profile here. I hope after you read it you don't think I am a loon. And I did mention two infants didn't I? Well the other one is my Grandson. Yes, 35 and a grandmother. Long story. Maybe for another time. But, yes, my 17 year old son and his girlfriend used bad judgement. I am afraid his mother wasn't a good role model. I also used bad judgement as evidenced by my own newborn. But Hailey’s father - not bad judgment, just really bad timing, but I will leave that for another time as well. 


Reese with his son Sam
Regardless, I am so proud of Reese. When his girlfriend wanted to end her pregnancy, he refused. He wanted to raise his baby. So we all agreed he would assume full custody of Sam when he was born. Coincidentally, he was born on the same day as my daughter but in a different city. They will be more like cousins than Aunt and Nephew growing up. Bad judgement or not, you couldn't take those sweet babies away from me for any amount of money.

Enough about me. I have lots of questions for you. You aren't married (at least I assumed that) but decided to adopt. When you adopted Jena (and she is adorable by the way - who wouldn't want her) were you planning to adopt or just happen to be in the right place at the right time. I mean having a child is a giant responsibility. You love them and hope for the best. 

At two Jena is young enough she will probably never remember a time you weren't her mother. And kids are such a sponge at that age. They are always watching and learning. Once she finds her words, and she will, she will likely parrot everything you say and then you won't be able to get her to stop talking! You two will learn to communicate, I promise! I can't wait to hear about your progress. 


Maddy made a mess of her food then threw her bowl on the floor- it will happen - prepare.
And one more thing. They call them the terrible twos for a reason so don't lose the faith if she has a few meltdowns. Even kids that are not adopted still have trouble expressing themselves at that age. They get frustrated and have tantrums. The terrible twos is really a precursor to the traumatic threes! But the good times will far outweigh those little disruptions. I know they are hard to watch and you may want to blame yourself. Don't. They are called growing pains. All kids experience them. 

Until next time, 

Kaitlin


Meadow's response

2 comments:

  1. Ah, it's good to see things from Kaitlin's perspective!

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    Replies
    1. I haven't looked at these letters in awhile...brings back memories!

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