preparations

Throughout this adoption process, people have asked me why we chose the age range we did (0-3 years). I have to admit that at a certain point, it seems pretty arbitrary. Three is my favourite age, so I set that as our upper limit because selfishly I wanted that entire year with our kids.

Does that mean I wouldn't accept an older child? Not at all. Though I do feel that with older (i.e. school age) children, you face more complicated transitions because you're not only dealing with the cultural differences, but you're also trying to figure out educational placement. (I'm already struggling with this, and our kids won't be ready for school for at least a couple more years).

I go back and forth on age. I've never really been the type of person who coos over infants. Then again, I also haven't spent a whole lot of time around them. Of course, when they're my own, it might be dramatically different. I just don't know. One of the best things about infants is that they're extremely forgiving. New parents will inevitably make mistakes, and babies aren't all that affected because they're new at this too! I have been spending more and more time around 14-18 month olds, and that's a pretty great age!

With toddlers you're getting little people complete with personalities, likes, dislikes, and moods. They've already had some life experience to establish patterns, and we won't have had any hand in that.

We're trying to prepare ourselves for the possibilities of infants, toddlers, and one of each. But their needs and developmental levels are so dramatically different that it's truly impossible to be ready for anything.

I've taken to imagining what life would be like with each of the aforementioned scenarios. As with anything, there are positives and negatives. I've tried to determine whether I do have any preference for the ages of our kids, but I honestly don't think I do. I will be thrilled with whomever our children are. I just want that phone to ring!!!