Sharing recipes, crafts and frugal living, the challenges and triumphs of parenting a neurotypical child and a child on the Autism Spectrum. Yoga Instructor said goodbye to her nightly glass of Chardonnay to give up habits that were not serving her purpose in life! The CocktailMom name remains, however with a new focus on healthy and authentic living.

5/15/2017

Adoption From Foster Care- How are you?

Picture by Oscar Keys
"How are you doing?", it's a question I get asked almost daily. We all do. By your office mates, the check out girl at the grocery store or your mom when you call her for your weekly check-in. "How are you doing?" Often times we respond with a simple, "fine" or "good". But the truth is never that simple, not for you or me. And for some reason it takes a few rounds of back and forth in the conversation before we really get to the heart of what it is that we are feeling, if we get there at all. 

How am I doing?

I feel like I'm treading water in the ocean and my legs are exhausted. If I stop, I'll drown so I keep treading water because it's all I know how to do. Pumping my legs round and round, trying to keep my head above water. (Of course I'm not actually treading water but it's the best analogy I can come up with.) 
I'm running a successful business, my wife and I are trying to make time for our marriage while we navigate parenting a child from the foster care system that has experienced so much trauma in his short life and expresses himself through defiance on a daily basis while also parenting our two other kids (who are thankfully going through a calm period in their lives-knock on wood). We have a lot of balls in the air that we are juggling and somedays it feels like they all might go crashing to the floor at once.

Things have not gone as we had hoped and planned for. The child that we visited for five months, twice a week and participated in family therapy is not the same child that currently lives with us. Physically yes, it's the same child, but behavior wise he's different. We never saw the defiance, anger or the negativity when we visited him, but now it's constant. There are no triggers that will set him off, an everyday request like "Get your shoes on, it's time to go to school." will spin him into an argument. It is extremely difficult and stressful to be around every single day, I feel as though I'm walking in a mine field and at any moment I might step on a bomb. My guard is up all the time, and I personally don't like to live with my guard up.

To be honest, I don't like the type of person that his defiance makes me become. The type of person that calls out demands instead of talking or discussing, which is more my style. I prefer to parent from a place of love and kindness. But he's never known love or kindness and so it feels foreign to him and different and what he has learned is to defy what is different. To push it away in order to protect himself. We received training, I've read more and continue to read more books on his diagnoses, we've been counseled by doctors and therapists and I want to believe that we are the right family for him, that we can give him the safety, support and love that he deserves and that will make him see that he can live a happy life. But each day, I feel like the waves are getting bigger and my head comes closer to sinking under.    

"How are you?"
I'm going to stop asking this question to other people when I see them because I don't know if I can answer the question myself without it feeling like I'm taking a seat on the therapy couch or avoiding answering truthfully and giving a blanket "fine". I'm going to replace it with "What is new in your world?". That's a question that I can answer without breaking down into tears. That's a question that propels us into conversation and connection. So...what is new in your world?

5/01/2017

Adoption From Foster Care- Everyday Moments Missed


Our newest son is nine years old and we are in the process of adopting him from the foster care system. We have a routine that we follow in the morning, like most families do, before the kids can have screen time. Breakfast, finish whatever homework that wasn't completed the night before, pack up everything into the backpack and of course brush your teeth.

Like all mornings we go into the bathroom together, he and I brush our teeth together. (This guarantees that it actually gets done.) Then I typically start doing my own hair and makeup. M doesn't like to be alone and doesn't know how to entertain himself. Everyday I give him three choices of things he could be doing; playing with toys in the next room, starting his screen time or draw. "No, I'll wait for you to finish.", he always says. The more comfortable he has become with me, the more intrigued he has become with my morning ritual.


"Do boys wear blush?", he asked. "What's that for? Why do you make that face?", as I suck in my cheekbones to apply blush. I've had similar conversations with my biological children, L and Z when they were around two or three years old. Small kids are naturally curious about what their parents are doing that is different from what they do in the bathroom and a part of them wants to experience it too. So M asked if he could try it. I purposively wanted to tread lightly on this subject area, trying to be really careful about what I said because I want to stay neutral. I don't want to be apart of labeling, the "make up is only for girls- boys can't wear makeup" that society puts on all of us. I've never understood why makeup isn't for all genders, just because you are a man doesn't mean you have a flawless complexion and if a little concealer helps to make you feel confident I say- go for it!

"Some boys. Boys who are on TV or in movies, they have to wear makeup.", I reply. He wanted to try the blush so I fake put some on him, just as I did when L and Z were preschool aged. There was a period of time when Z was about two years old, he walked around carrying a compact blush brush clasped in his little hand. He took it everywhere and would randomly sweep it on his face throughout the day. And then one day it was in the bottom of the toy bin, forgotten. For children it's about the sensory experience of feeling that soft blush brush sweep your cheekbones and face and tickle a wee bit. We talked about how good that felt.

Next I put on eyeliner. He wanted to know what it was for, so I showed him what it looked like on me with eyeliner on one eye and one without so he could see the difference. I explained to him that he has almond shape eyes which so many people wish they had and that some people use eyeliner to create that almond shape or to enhance it.

"Do boys wear eyeliner?", he asked.
"Some boys. Especially boys who are in rock bands! Sometimes you'll see that Adam Levine wears eyeliner. And Prince he wore eyeliner all the time."
"Can I wear it?"
"Well it's not a good idea to wear eyeliner when you aren't really use to it because if you rub your eyes at school it will get all over your face.", I cautiously respond.
Then the same conversation about mascara, with exactly the same questions. And I respond the exact same way.

At the end of my makeup routine I apply a pressed powder which is also applied with a brush similar looking to the blush brush. A huge smile spread across his face and he asked if he could have some. With his face raised up towards me and his eyes closed, I swept the brush all over his face and he smiled so big. He opened his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror and he was beaming. Beaming at himself! I don't think I've ever seen him look that happy. Moments like these are a good reminder for me of the developmental things that he has missed in his life. The freedom to ask questions and be a curious child. The ability to experience the tickling feeling of a brush on your face without judgement or ridicule. These are the moments that I need to hold dear, these really sweet exchanges. So that when things get rough, when there is defiance, temper tantrums and power struggles I can pull these moments out of the vault of memories and hold on to them. Right now the defiance, temper tantrums and power struggles greatly outweigh the good moments, so today I will hold this one dear to my heart. And allow it to fuel me forward on this journey of adoption.

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