Sock Bunnies

Oliver and I attended the After Adoption Family Day on Saturday. It was a fun day for families who have adopted to get together. There were different activities for the children like face painting, crafts, baking bread, music, and learning circus skills. Oliver was a bit shy about joining in the activities, but he met some other children his age and was gradually drawn into the fun. He asked to have his face painted like a tiger and all the way home he kept practicing his roar. This was quite interesting considering Oliver is very shy and doesn’t tend to speak with a very loud voice. Maybe it’s easier to be loud as a tiger, or it could have something to do with the fact he was wired on sugar….

It was only when I was putting him to bed that he said, “I didn’t know so many kids were adopted like me”. He said he met a boy that had two daddies and another girl who had two mommies. We talked about how families can be different and it’s about people loving and caring for one another. That seemed to satisfy him for now, but I’m sure there will be more questions as he thinks about everything.

Oliver had a quiet day settling into his new home. He helped to make dinner and giggled when he ‘snuck’ a carrot to nibble on. Oliver was interested to hear about his foster brothers and sister being adopted and was worried they could be lonely and miss him. We talked about what kinds of things Oliver thinks might help his brothers and sisters “not to feel so lonely for him”. Oliver thinks it might help his brothers and sisters to see photos of him in his new home. We looked at the sock bunnies website together and Oliver said it was nice to see everyone and to hear their stories.

Oliver decided we should share the picture of him eating a carrot so the others would know he was being good and eating his vegetables.

Picking up Oliver was a day full of surprises. The first surprise was that his foster mum thought he was a she!! Oliver was so shy he didn’t tell his foster mum that he really was a boy. Before we left the Centre I asked what Oliver’s birth name was and I was really sad to learn his birthfather hadn’t given him a name. Maybe he was too sad at the thought of saying goodbye. Some kind people at the Centre gave Oliver the name of “Otis” after Otis Redding. I decided to name him Oliver Otis, lots of “o’s” but that’s okay. Oliver thought it was funny to have lots of o’s in his name, but said he liked how it sounded. He especially liked that Oliver means kind one because he says he’s nice to everyone.

Oliver was pretty quiet the first night, and he wondered how his foster brothers and sister were doing without him. I gave him a soft, stuffed toy to snuggle and he held it tight all night. He giggled like mad when I gave him a carrot to eat, it was nearly as big as him!! Oliver settled in after a bedtime story about Peter Rabbit and a promise from me that I would write and let his foster mum know he was okay.