Celebrating Our Adoption

[LibertyLover]

Congratulations. Our DD5 will be with us 4 years come November 2. It's been an interesting journey so far and looks to be even more so in the future. What's that old movie quote: "Fasten your seatbelts - it's going to be a bumpy ride."? I don't recall seeing anything at WDW specifically about adoption. I liked the idea of a special lunch or dinner for you and your daughter, perhaps with you giving her a small token for remembrance - Disney earrings or the like. We don't really celebrate "gotcha" day although we generally do try to have Chinese food on or about the date (DD was adopted from China). Have a wonderful time.

 

[LovePug]

I just wanted to say congratulations! I just brought my son home from Guatemala 2 weeks ago. I'm taking him on his first trip for his 1st birthday in January .

 

[brooklynheights]

my family adopted my little sister 40s ago in december she biracial our family was not my other sister was 8 monts older we were bad kids people would ask us that your sister we'd say yes they are twins they were the same height and everything then they'd look at our parents and try to figure it out we'd tell them the doctor said things happen we just got sick of the stupid questions and we were just kids they even entered look alike contests and everything we use to tell her when she was little that she was the birth child the rest of us were adopted she looked just like our mom when our mom was dying last year we told my litttle sister she was the chosen one after our mom died we went out for chinese food her fortune cookie said you are the chosen one we laughed so hard she is the chosen one

 

[Maggi May]

Your daughter is adorable in your signature pic.

I don't think anyone's mentioned it yet, but the afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian would also be a wonderful mother/daughter event.

Congratulations on your forever family!

 

[mytwinklestar]

Congratulations to you and your daughter! We are awaiting a court date now for our adoption. Our beautiful daughter has been with us for 18 months and we are beyond ready for the courts to finally make it "legal". We are a family. We are hoping that we get our date before our December trip but are at the mercy of the court system. We will celebrate being a family, regardless.

I love the idea about the special Christmas ornament... the only thing that I might add is to suggest you buy TWO of the same. I would keep one and use it every Christmas, and the other (s) I would save to give to my daughter when she has her own Christmas tree one day. It would be most special to give these to her when she goes away to college or gets married. I have started doing this for my children.

We wear matching tees often in Disney. I have gotten some great deals at Disneyshopping.com. Last year I got really lucky and bought all four of us tees for $4.99 with free shipping.

I also love the idea about giving your daughter a piece of jewelry to commemorate the most special occasion. This would be something that will be cherished always for certain.

At nine, I would tell her sooner than later. This is just my opinion. My son is 9 and our daughter is 5. They love helping to plan our vacation - we spend hours online together creating our agenda. Now you can also print up beautiful maps - on the Disney website - that you create for your trip. That was fun to do! And the maps are a wonderful keepsake, as well.

On another thread there was a message about having the divers at Coral Reef in Epcot hold a message in the aquarium for all to see. There was contact info, too. The post said this was free but had to be set up in advance. **ANYONE KNOW HOW TO FIND THAT POST?** Maybe you could have a sign say something like, (Daughter's name) with new last name, you are my forever princess. I don't know. I will have to really give this some more thought. But you get the idea... maybe not announcing "adoption" but how lucky you feel that she is yours!

My heart overflows for you. I cannot wait until our family is "official", too. Have a great celebratory vacation.

 

[jamesmommy]

On another thread there was a message about having the divers at Coral Reef in Epcot hold a message in the aquarium for all to see. There was contact info, too. The post said this was free but had to be set up in advance. **ANYONE KNOW HOW TO FIND THAT POST?

This one has contact info, hth.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1475042&referrerid=&highlight=signs+coral+reef

 

[Aliceacc]

In our house it's called "Gotcha Day" and we celebrate it every January 12. (Though not at Disney.)

Look through the boards and find anything close to a birthday celebration, and adapt it.

Also, get your daughter a copy of The Tigger Movie. (Tigger tries to find his family tree full of Tiggers just like him. He grows to find that family is the people who love you; it's not necessarily about a biological connection.)

Then think about sending her a letter from Tigger, inviting her to celebrate her family tree. And make sure you do a character meal with Tigger... is it the Crystal Palace that has it??? I bet that if you call ahead of time and let them know, they'll make a big deal of her!

Congrats on your own new "family tree"!!

 

[Aliceacc]

I just wanted to say congratulations! I just brought my son home from Guatemala 2 weeks ago. I'm taking him on his first trip for his 1st birthday in January .

Also, take a look at the book "A Mother for Choko." It's a wonderful story aimed at younger kids about how a mom doesn't have to look just like you. (My son is Korean; his sisters and my husband and I are all Irish/Italian American.)

I read it to my son's class when he was celebrating his "Gotcha Day" in Kindergarten, then we had cookies and juice

 

[tchrrx]

How fun! Head down to the DisSigns board. There are several t-shirt designs that say "Celebrating my Adoption" available. Also, it was fun for us when DD met the characters from "Meet the Robinsons" just b/c they were an adoptive family too.

Mother/daughter time, huh? Try the Bibbidity Bobbity Boutique or one of the princess dining times. Also, be certain to purchase a PhotoPass CD so that you can have a lot of pictures of the two of you together.

Have fun!

(And yes, my DD7 is adopted also. We'll celebrate her 2nd "Gotcha Day" next month. When she first met the grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc, we all met at the zoo. So now, each Oct we have a family day at the zoo to celebrate again.)

 

[bebelle]

Congratulations! In May we celebrated our son's 10th adoption anniversary in Disney. We went to the Coral Reef restaurant. They made a keepstake menu with pictures we had emailed to them. We had a diver swim over with a sign saying Happy Adoption Anniversary. Everyone was coming over to congratulate him. He felt very special--which of couse--HE IS!
Best wishes for a magical trip!

 

[rcymrcym]

Everyone's good thoughts and ideas have been paying off. I just called and we got dinner at Cinderella's castle the night ov MVMCP on December 20 and lunch at Coral Reef on the 23rd! I am going to call back to see if we can set up the diver and menus now. Thank you all for the pixie dust and prayers, you are helping to make dreams come true!

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

I'm not sure who suggested the Christmas ornaments thing...

but my mom has given me one almost every year since I was born. I'm 23, and this will be my 1st year out of college and in my own apartment....so I will be so happy to have some ornaments for my tree!!!

for your daughter...i would maybe give her an ornament, too, for each year you were apart- before you became a family. maybe one with her birthday, and others with either things appropriate for those years....or just fun disney ornaments! that would be a great start on a collection!


rcymrcym-

i have to add...i just clicked on your blog because my aunt and uncle have three adopted children, and i find the whole process amazing and wonderful. i just spent the last couple of hours reading your whole story! thanks so much for sharing it. your daughter is beautiful, and you are a wonderful mom. have an amazing disney trip!

 

[LadyShea]

I was one of the people to mention the ornament, as it is a tradition in our family as well to give them every year. I was given all my ornaments when I moved into my first apartment, I still reminisce as I unpack them every year, and I started my sons collection his first Christmas last year

 

[hipporina]

We do Gotcha Day in our family too, but never at Disney. Ours are in May, August, and February, and we keep going to WDW in Sept. I guess we should establish a Family Day in Sept and celebrate for all of the kids at the same time!

It is interesting to read how different kids feel about being adopted. My kids, especially my oldest, are really proud of the fact that they are adopted and love to tell people. Of course, with 8 small kids we are always getting questions, comments, and stares. We will walk by people and see them counting. Then one kids will say "There's 8 of us," and another will add "We're all adopted!" I think they enjoy the shock factor!

I don't get a lot of nasty comments. One guy did walk up to me and say "Lady, I feel sorry for you." I looked at him with a puzzled look on my face and said "Why?" He backtracked really fast! I have to admit, it is kind of fun!

 

[mrsheppo]

Congratulations on the adoption of your DD. We adopted our granddaughter back in May when her mother gave her up. It has been a long hard year but we are going to Disneyland on Monday to celebrate her adoption and her first birthday.

I plan on getting her a special Christmas ornament each year to celebrate each year of her life and give them to her when she grows up.

Again, congrats on your new forever family.

 

[rcymrcym]

Many thanks to all who have helped us really get going for this trip. I am looking forward to 3 more months of planning!

 

[Deffenm]

We just returned from a family vacation to WDW to celebrate the adoption of DS8 and DD3. We adopted them in July and asked them what they wanted to do to celebrate and of course they said WDW. We had a diver sign and menu from the Coral Reef and it turned out great. The kids really loved it. We also inlcuded DS6 on the sign and menu because I didn't want him to feel left out. All of our children are adopted and they are proud of it. We have people say all the time, your children do not look like you and if the boys hear it they will say, we are adopted but that is my mom and dad. We are very blessed to have our children in our lives.

Kristy I saw you and your family at WDW in Sept. 2006 and I have to say you have a beautiful family. I wanted to say something then but I am kind of shy. My children would say otherwise.

Have a wonderful trip and whatever you do your daughter will enjoy it.

 

[crisi]

We do Gotcha Day in our family too, but never at Disney. Ours are in May, August, and February, and we keep going to WDW in Sept. I guess we should establish a Family Day in Sept and celebrate for all of the kids at the same time!

It is interesting to read how different kids feel about being adopted. My kids, especially my oldest, are really proud of the fact that they are adopted and love to tell people. Of course, with 8 small kids we are always getting questions, comments, and stares. We will walk by people and see them counting. Then one kids will say "There's 8 of us," and another will add "We're all adopted!" I think they enjoy the shock factor!

I don't get a lot of nasty comments. One guy did walk up to me and say "Lady, I feel sorry for you." I looked at him with a puzzled look on my face and said "Why?" He backtracked really fast! I have to admit, it is kind of fun!

I don't want to give the impression that we aren't proud of our son or that we are ashamed of his adoption, or that he is. I've spoken out and been very active in adoption advocacy - but stopped a few years ago when it became obvious that HE felt to to be a very private thing. HE does not wish to be treated differently by the family because he is adopted, and he certainly does not wish it called to the attention of strangers (he is, however, an Asian kid in a white family, it isn't like we can pass him off to strangers as our bio child, nor would we try to).

Moreover, because I had been fairly vocal about adoption prior to him developing these feelings, once he defined his feelings there was a sense from him that I'd betrayed his privacy.

Now, my son is nine and these issues started surfacing in Kindergarten. I've heard from adoptees that don't feel the same and are proud to share their adoptive status, and I've heard from adoptees (particularly teenagers) that don't want their parents "defining them" by the way they entered the family (and being teenagers, they aren't necessarily very logical in their anger towards their parents).

Because of my own experience, I'd just caution people about being too "out there" around their kids - your kids may not perceive your sharing of information like you do - and if they do now, they may not always.

 

[memobrien]

(One stupid comment we got was at Disney. We were on the bus. Someone said "cute kid, is he adopted?"

She you are nicer than me. I would have been like...why is yours.

My DD joined our family through adoption. We talk openly about it, but it's all in how you approach it. I hate when people are rude about it. And generally they will get a smart answer.

But someone who is nice about it I have no problems talking about it. That being said we celebrate our Family Day (we jsut had our 4th). My daughter was born in Guatemala and came home at 6 months. My daughter decided we needed to start a new tradition this year and that was getting out nails done. So we went and had mani/pedi on our family day. Then she told me we have to do this every Family day. So I think we started a new tradition. hehe

Maybe you could do something like that, then a really special dinner to celebrate or something like that. How old is she?

Maura