For a two year old (almost 2½ yr. old - gasp!) I think the best way is through books. Surprisingly, I realized that with all the books I have picked up for her I do not have any related to adoption. I looked on Amazon the other day for suggestions and these titles look good. Family, if you are reading, these would be good Christmas gifts for Almi (along with a really good quality black coat in size 3T!) :-D
Have you read any of these?Are they any good?
Age-appropriate?
Are there any other ones you can recommend?
Thanks!
9 comments:
We have I Love You Like Crazy Cakes - someone gave it to me as a gift before I went to Ethiopia - and coincidently Elfe pulled it out for bed time reading all this week so it's fresh in my mind!
I like that it's also about a single mother, and the story is simple enough that I think it would be appropriate for Almi's age. It does raise some tough questions for us - Elfe wants to know WHY the babies have no mothers! And I'm finding that most books about international adoption are hard for her to relate to because they often talk about having no information on birth family, which she can't wrap her little head around because she and I both know her family in Ethiopia...I may start looking for books that describe open domestic adoptions, because in a lot of ways that is closer to our situation than a family who adopted a baby girl from China...
Blueberry still loves A Mother for Choco (and her take is that the giraffe, penguin, and walrus are not Choco's mom because they don't have apples). We also sometimes read Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born and she enjoys that. For older kids, Violet enjoys You're Not My Real Mother and we talk about what it means to be a "real" mom and how she has two real moms.
We love a Mother for Choco and I Love you Like Crazy Cakes (we insert Ethiopia and our story when I read it). Also like:
The Best Single Mom in the World: How I Was Adopted by Zisk
(I Think it's called, but can't find it at the moment:) The Purple Blanket --(another single mom adoption book).
Silly Mammo is B's favorite ET storybook right now.
We loved A Mother for Choco and The Family Book when my daughter was Almi's age (and older). The Family Book (Todd Parr) is not specifically about adoption, but rather all different kinds of families, and one page does mention adoption. For some reason, I never loved the Crazycakes one.
Stefanie
Another vote for A Mother For Choco - my daughter is 4 now, but has loved it for a few years now. She also likes You're Not My Real Mother, although the meaning is somewhat lost on her at this age. Besides that, her life book is what gets our adoption talks going.
Of course I'll check into books! glad to know you feel it's time altho' she seems pretty young...tho' maybe she has some memories...m
thanks for all your suggestions!
I haven't done a great job of keeping Ethiopia alive at home either. However, I am hoping to celebrate a couple of Ethiopian holidays which I hope to learn more about next year at the annual Ethiopian Heritage Camp. I'm hoping to make this a yearly family vacation for us. It's right in your neck of the woods in Virginia and the price is fairly reasonable for a long weekend.
I'll put in another vote for Mother for Choco (and my girl is pretty much the same age- not too young for books like this as anonymous suggests). I also have the I wished for you book but haven't taken it out yet for the kids- I think it will come at Christmas as a gift. Off to check some of your other ideas!
Ramona
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