THIS WEEKEND

Another busy one!

On Saturday morning Alice was invited to a double birthday party at a soft play centre (not our local one but one closer to school). Through a series of coincidences I discovered that there are other children in her nursery class who are adopted domestically (so not so obvious). I definitely felt a connection to their parents and have found some reassurance knowing that I'm not alone as an AP at school.

Then we went on to the Thai Adopt Christmas party. We both had a good time - Alice played lots of games, there were balloons and then Father Christmas popped in! As soon as Alice saw FC she stood up and waved and then said loudly, 'I'm over here!' (this was a direct result of last week's sighting of FC, he spoke to the little girl next to us but ignored Alice - she was making sure that it didn't happen again!) She was delighted to receive a princess torch (one of the original 3 items on her second list - all of which have since been eclipsed by the plastic tat of the Christmas train!!) For me the party was good for very different reasons, importantly catching up with other APs, gaining information and opinion but most of all meeting baby E (10 and a half months, just home from China, tiny, beautiful and totally gorgeous!)

It was a thought provoking day and an emotional journey home. Over night I found some calm in a decision and got the ball rolling on a new path, today I got to talk it through with 3 friends with very different perspectives, tomorrow I hope for a professional opinion.

This morning we were surprised by a last minute invitation to see FC arrive at a local community farm. The weather was atrocious but the friends are very special and we had lots of fun. Timings worked really well and we ended up with an impromptu visit to see FC - Alice has remained firm on wanting the plastic tat train (phew!) and FC today was delightful - patient, friendly, very traditional in a lovely setting, excellent value and a good gift (another torch!!)

PS, Photos - hopefully I'll receive one from yesterday and I'll find my camera to share a lovely one from this afternoon!