Amelia and her life book the first sojourn into the past.

So, yesterday we made a big step, we looked at our life book with Amelia. This is the book that CHSFS gave us before we left ET, it has info about her and G and their birthplace, their time in the care center. Shockingly to us it also has photos of their birth mother M. We looked at this book with Mia as soon as we got it in ET, and were not prepared for the photos of M, we flipped out a bit and worried for a long time about how Mia could deal with this. Needlessly worried I must admit, since she did not seem to have any trouble with comparing us to M, she does not pine for Et, or get upset if we do or don't talk about it, and her life there, we are so lucky I know. I had read of folks who had kids that resented America, and their new parents, they longed for a life they could barely remember, it was ddevastating to these families, and here I am worrying that I have scarred my little girl and started this downward spiral. Flash back to yesterday now, and my worries were for naught(I love that sound of that phrase don't you:) ). So we looked at the book, and checked out the pictures and read the story of her life, abbreviated as it was, and checked out the pics of their bio sisters, and it was good, not traumatic, not earth shattering, but good. Mia was interested and wanted to look at the photos, but did not seem overly consumed with thoughts of M or her sisters, and they ahve not become bigger features in our life than they were, Whew, that hurdle crossed. So now we are considering showing her and G the life book video we have, it shows their time in the care center with friends and ahs their fave annnies talking about them, this they will likely get a huge kick out of!!!! We have another video to show them of M that was taped at their relinquishment, but will save that for when they are older and more ready to deal with the living breathing impact of their loss. For now the nannies will be enough I think, if not for them than for me, I am not sure I can handle more anxiety and intent watching of their every move and expression looking for nuances of grief. Mia seems to have an incredible durable spirit, she does not seem to feel the need to greive any more, she has moved on and is very matter of fact about, she talks about M and life in her village, but not with longing, just as she tells me about her day at Play and Learn class or what she did with daddy when they went to the store, it just is what it is, nothing mor to her, remarkable isn't she!!
gotta go, Jamie