When we first started our adoption process with Gus we only talked about adopting a little brother for AJ, not necessarily where he was from, but as AJ has gotten two years older he has learned more about what adoption means and what being from another country means.

When we taught him his address this past year, in preparation for kindergarten, we also taught him where he was from, as we thought that he absolutely needed to know that. (Remember that AJ is special needs and cognitively delayed. He did not easily recognize that he was from someplace else unless we were talking about it.)

So, he has successfully memorized the following:

Where are you from? Russia

Where do you live? &*^&%

What is your address? &*^&%

What school do you go to? *^*%&*

Who is your teacher? *(^&^%

It brings him in nicely because now that Gus is home, people often overlook AJ because he looks so much like us. They don’t assume that he is adopted as well. So, AJ is quick to chime in. When people ask where Gus is from we automatically answer that Gus is from Guatemala and AJ answers just as quickly that he is from Russia (with the biggest smile on his face).

It makes me so happy to know that he feels he is included in something that he could easily be left out of right now. And, retrospectively, I am so glad we taught him this.