Jo started patting the magazine and saying, "Josie? Josie?" I said, "No honey, that's not Josie." She said, "Oh." Then started patting the magazine again saying, "My eyes? My eyes?" My only response was, "Ummmm."Now, the little girl on the magazine is from Guatemala not China, but she does have similar eyes to Jo's. But does Jo REALLY know that? Is she already aware that we look a little different?
As a child I could literally forget what I looked like if I didn't look in the mirror for a while. I didn't have a concept of how I looked to the world, just how I looked AT the world.
I'm really curious if Jo is already so self aware. What do you think?
12 comments:
I forget your daughter's age. My two cents, our two-year-old would see pictures of other adopted girls (from China) and say "me". I started saying things like, "yes, they have brown eyes just like you", or "yes, their hair is the same color as yours". I don't know if she's really noticing that she is "different" or if as adoptive mom, that's where my thinking wants to go. Good luck!
She very well could be. Lillie likes to sit on my lap when I surf the internet. When I check out other China adoption blogs, she points at the girls and asks if that's "Lillie." She does this only with the ones who actually resemble her too... I think she definitely recognizes the differences. Lillie is 3 and a half now but has been doing this for over a year. I explain that no, that's not her, but it's another little girl from China just like her.
Hope sees photos of other Chinese children and says, "Hope?" I know that she understands some of the differences in our family too because she will say, "Mama has brown eyes and my eyes are black. Daddy has green eyes." She'll talk about hair color, too. Interesting that this is common among our girls.
it doesn't surprise me at all - she is so smart and so watchful - of course she's noticing... she is actually at least 25 by now - she's way too far ahead to be 2 1/2!! of course i am completely unbiased.
Jane knows whos he is and all of my children did at that age, but I do not think Jane would know we are different... Although she does note Chinese people.
Meizhi has always been keenly aware of how others look and how she looks. When we first came home, she went thru aversion to all things Asian and anyone Asian set her into hysterics. She got past that but has always been very aware of how others look, who looks like whom, and seeks out others who look like her. She's fascinated by appearances of others and points out features all the time. As for the Guatamalan child, I have a friend whose daughter is also from Asia but whose eyes are so round that everyone assumes the little girl is hispanic between the eyes and the darker skin.
Just wait, soon the whole "Where do Babies come from?" conversations will start. Those are interesting.
my 2 1/2 daughter adopted from china will see a picture of an asian child and say "she looks like me". They are fully awware that they look different! I say - "yes she has an asian face (or if i know for sure i will say chinese) just like you!
Stacie
As an adopted child (44 years old now and was adopted when I was 2 days old), I always laughed because people told me I looked just like my mom. We would go into stores when I was a teen and the store clerks would almost always comment on the resemblance. We would look at each other and smile without comment. I do think some aspects of being adopted were minimized for me because I look like my parents (I NEVER put the word adopted in front of parents). However, I think the biggest blessing is being loved. The appearance matter was secondary.
Your little girl sounds very smart, to notice that the girl in the photo had brown eyes like her.
That is really sweet. She sounds smart and observant to me...it will be fun to see how that conversation develops over time.
Happy New Year and welcome to MBC.
I think all kids are curious and very aware of things that look different. Your little one can see your eyes are different from hers but it's like seeing a blue shirt if different then a green one. Just something she notices :)
Later will come the "why" are we different questions.
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