Illness and a book recommendation

Anju and I have been under the weather the past few days with a fever/snot/cough virus (no Swine Flu yet!) but are now on the upward swing (I hope!) and are trying to get back into the groove of things. The upside of Anju's cold is that she is actually napping again for longer than 20 minutes so I can get a few things done although I really should be napping---anyway---the downside is much more clinginess again and regression in Anju's ability to be independent if only for a few minutes.  Same old "kid is sick baby-regression" with an adoption adjustment twist.

I got a stack of books from the library on child development that I'm trying to glean advice/insight from since Anju's recent evaluations placed her in the "borderline" area.  I've also got about 7 loads of laundry to do along with numerous other household chores in addition to responsibilities of my job as city clerk.   And---- the kids and I are trekking back down to the cities on Friday so we can attend the Festival of Nations, an annual tradition, with my parents on Saturday.  So, same old Mom stuff--bon bons and soap operas.

Anju is very into the finger plays, songs, rhymes, etc. she learns at the library and in her illness has enjoyed hearing "Open, Shut Them" and "5 Little Ducks" likely 10 million times each.  She can do most of the actions and it is just the most precious thing to watch her play along.

While at the library, I found the book, "The Waiting Child" by Cindy Champnella, and took it home and read it in one sitting late at night.  I would highly recommend that everyone with a heart for adoption read this book.  It is written by the mother of a girl adopted at age 4 from China.  Not only is it an inspiring story of the love of this girl for another child in her orphanage and how her persistence helps bring this boy home, but it is very eye-opening as to what older child adoption is like.  The insight into what growing up in an institution does to a child is invaluable for parents of older adoptees to have.  I have done extensive reading on the subject, and even I was taken back by the impact living in this orphanage had on this child and her view of the world.  I especially liked hearing the adoption story both from the child's p.o.v. and the mom's.   A portion of the book also addresses issues all int'l or cross-racial adoptive families face, like maintaining the child's birth culture (esp. when the child is trying to be American) and talking to them about their birth families.  If you are able to purchase the book, the jacket says all of the author's proceeds will be donated to charity to benefit Chinese orphans.  Oh, and it'd be a good idea to buy some Kleenex too.