The Final Day - Prep course complete

I do feel that I ought to start with the weekend before as I had the chance to visit some friends and spend some catching up. What amazed me was that everyone asked about the adoption process and how it was going. It is stark contrast to the situation not that long ago - people just don't talk about infertility or miscarriage and I figure it is because it is such a negative thing and adoption is seen as a very positive thing.

So, day 4 of our prep course is the one I have been most looking forward, not for the course content but for the fact it will be another 'tick in the box', another thing we can say we have finished making us that one tiny step further forward.

Today has been the most interesting day and started with a visit from a child physcologist talking about attachment theories and behaviour management strategies. It was so interesting to investigate the world using a child's eyes and looking at the difference between how children with good strong attachments and those who have come from less than ideal backgrounds. We also got to look over real profiles of children who have passed through the care system and into adoptive families and make discuss whether we would be able to accept children with their specific needs and, for lack of a better term, baggage. It has been the longest day of the course but the one that went the fastest for me.

We ended the course by exchanging email addresses and I am hopeful that we can stay in contact as a group so we can support each other though this process. The next step is waiting for our social worker to contact us so fingers crossed that will be sooner rather than later.

Elsewhere in the news this week.....
I had to try and persuade my dad to curb my mum's shopping. Normally I am the first one to enjoy a shopping trip but she has been looking in toy shops and although it is so very exciting that she feels she can do this I do feel that she might be 'jinxing' things a bit. How awful would it be if we still had years of the application process and matching process ahead of us and those toys were sat in boxes, unused and unloved all that time. I know her actions will have no bearing on the process we go through but it does feel akin to the 'no baby stuff in the house before a certain time' bad luck thing. There is another part of me that wants to be shopping - buying things for our family but when we talked about it we did decide not to buy anything until we were matched.