Adoption Education Class Completed!

My husband and I completed an adoption education requirement at Dillon on Saturday. It always makes me feel like we are moving forward instead of standing still. Kind of like how when you drive through Kansas you don't know you are moving except the telephone poles or fence posts are moving past you (sorry if you are from Kansas, but it's true!). But anyway, we took a class called "The Emotional and Physical Care of the Newly Adopted Child." There were two other couples there, one was adopting from Korea, the other was adopting from Vietnam and they had a picture of their baby boy! He was precious! The class covered great information, some of it we were very familiar with - like how to change a diaper (we could've written the book on that one with one hand tied behind our back, upside down, holding another kid in one hand, fixing a sandwich for another kid, and while talking on the phone). There was specific information to our daughter's birth country, attachment, feeding, and culture. The babies in China may have not been bathed until we get them! Wow! It just didn't occur to me that our daughter may have never been given a bath (if she's coming from an orphanage). I'm sure the orphanage just has their hands full and is trying to save $$ by not bathing the kids (they do get sponge baths), but that is just such a huge bonding time for me and my kids! Needless to say, we may have to approach bathing very cautiously. Attachment is another area that we are really learning a lot about. When we get our daughter we are essentially supposed to treat her as a newborn regardless of the age she is when we get her. We did request a child between the ages of 6-12 mos., so we shouldn't have too far to go. Until we see signs of attachment forming only my husband and I are to hold her, feed her, bathe her, change her, and provide for her needs. This is so she learns who mom and dad are and doesn't get confused by whom she can trust. Adopted children are raised, especially in the beginning, very differently than birth children. So much to learn and so much fun to learn it!