Now that I've settled in to all the information I gathered on Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase deficiency, the condition that put my former foster son in hospital last week and scared the beejeezus out of all of us, it's time for an update on him.

The short version ... he's great. His color in normal again, his pee is... more

"Do you know how old you'll be when that kid is a teen?"

Heard that? Yeah ... I'll be you have.

Does it scare you? No?

What? Are you simple, or something? Because it certainly should!

Not that your status as an older adoptive parent should be the root of all fear. No. Any parent of any age should tremble at the thought of sharing space with raging hormones, perceptions of wisdom far beyond what years would indicate, and the potential for mistakes with dire and life-long consequences.

Teens are scary,... more

Although the title of this post does make it sound like I'm about to take off on the hilarious thread going on over on the geezer adoptive parent group, GAARP, about adoption from other planets ... I'm asking permission now to post some of the amazingly creative comments here as a testament to the brilliance of older adoptive parents ... this will be a rather down-to-earth composition.

(If you are looking for writing from me on interplanetary adoption,... more

Nancy Sinatra may be sixty-six-years-old now, but if she so desired, she could, with perfect honesty, put out a new single called, "These Boobs are Made for Milking" ... and mean it. As we learned in the previous post, even women well beyond the age of zits and cramps can, with a the right attitude and some concerted efforts, breastfeed their adopted children.

There are more reasons to do this than you can... more

Those early in the stages of educating themselves on adoption and the myriad of related topics are often surprised to learn that breastfeeding is an option for adoptive mothers ... and fathers, too, but we're not going there today, as my personal bounty of the milk of human kindness, fully understanding the reaction that the very thought can raise in some folks, stays my fingers and keeps me from bringing that up again.

Faith,... more

For all the plusses adoption presents, there are also minuses, one of which is having had no control of what went on with, or into, our kids before they came to us. With studies now proving that much of what gives kids strong bones comes from the time before they were born, and very little chance for adoptive parents to get full details on every aspect of maternal health and nutrition during pregnancy, it's important we do what we... more

As I wrote last week, osteoporosis is a concern for older parents. Toting kids may help build our bone density, therefore giving yet another reason why adopting later in life can be good for our health, but our worries shouldn't be limited to our own old bones. With our kids coming to us after beginning and growing in another woman, we've had no control over what went into them right up until the time they entered... more