I asked Clemmie to draw a family photo. Here’s Kid #1 Clem, me and Shirley at the bottom. It’s perfect.

I came across Kid #1 help Clementine to read. First time. It was so sweet. The fact that it was the book “We belong together” makes it extra precious.

This Twitter algorithm is murdering my mental health. I’ve tapped on 1-2 terminally ill cancer patients & now my timeline is full of people who just learned the only have a few months to live. I need to reverse this to puppies & babies.

Speaking by of names, Kid #1 has stuck by her 5th grade rebranding & goes by her middle name at school. Her 1st name (nickname technically) is African, her middle name Anglo- but a common Black (& white) aunty name. She still wants everyone at home to call her by her 1st name.

I’m glad I got the girls when I did bc my dream baby names are just getting weirder & weirder. Like I’m LOVING “Goose” as a middle name.

I’m confused by all this. Kids from lower economic backgrounds get checks for ADHD & mood disorders? Doesn’t that create an incentive to not get treatment & encourage your kids to act out in school? What if they get cured in foster care?

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I’m pretty sure Clementine asks to go to the movies just for the snacks.

Kid #1 deciphering skills of Clem’s speech are next level. We saw Kung-Fu Panda 4 & Clem was trying to tell me about “that thing.” I was completely lost. I called over Kid #1 & as soon as Clem said “that thing” she asked “The chameleon?” & Clem shouted “YES!”

🦎

Clementine’s weekend highlight, the car wash. She was like “You need 1 of these, and this, and this & this.” She also met an equally enthusiastic young man with intellectual disabilities & had a thorough chat about the car wash.

5am Clementine threw a sweet potato straight into my face screaming “I LOVE FOOTBALL!!”

How do I even prepare for this stuff?

I’m dead. Clementine just called us the “fart family.”

I had already forgotten about the earthquake & I was half listening to Clementine try to ask me if I see something today too. I’m rattling off the usual “is it a person? An animal? song? Dance?” & then the aftershock came & she’s shouting “What that name?! I forgot!” Earthquake.

That emergency alert was way more traumatizing than the actual earthquake.

The biggest change to her room is that I had a wall & a door put in. In the 1st photos you can see that Kid #1 only had a baby gate (her space is on the other side of the stairs). She now has a wall & a DOOR. Funny thing is, I kept that gap above the stairway so I can still spy.

I never would have noticed is she didn’t point out that her dresses are organized from longest to shortest. Her brain is amazing.

Note the picture frames. I had a lot of different ideas but Kid #1 went scribble scribble scrop scrop, boom- we have art. This child cannot leave a project unfinished for even a hot second.

Kid #1’s “grown-up” room is complete. She’s happy so I’m happy.

I wonder how many other adoptees are more interested in their adoptive parents’ genealogy than their birth parents? I’ve been in reunion for 20 plus yrs & have gotten plenty of bio fam history, but it’s always my adoptive family I end up googling late at night…