Are You My Mother?

"Are you my mother?"

It's an hour past their bedtime, we are still driving to the hotel,  and the littles are getting punchy.
They are giggling about body functions,  and screaming in disgust when someone pronounces their name with extra emphasis and they "spray instead of say it". Then the conversation turns.
"No! I was not in THAT ladies tummy, I was in *'Patty's' tummy."
"Oh" as if in understanding, "so was I."
"No you weren't,  I don't know who YOUR mother was,  but you were NOT in 'Patty's' tummy with me!
"Mom? Who's tummy was he grow'd in?"
I answer calmly,  this might be an uncomfortable conversation in other families,  but in ours it's become common.
Not only do they have memory challenges,  but also the understanding of a typical 2yr old. So we repeat, repeat, repeat stories.

In the book the baby bird goes from animal to animal.

He even asks a steam shovel.
It never dawned on me until tonight how much our littles are like that baby bird.

Foster kiddos don't care what you look like.  They don't care if you are black, brown, white or a steam shovel.
All of ours know they were grown in someone else's tummy. Some of them know the name of their mother but if you ask them who their mom is,  or who their daddy is,  they will always,  everytime,  tell you it's us.

Why though?

Because we clothe them?
No.
And honestly unless it's Sunday morning they are usually in some sort of hybrid outfit, usully a sibling's shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms I can't remember buying.

Maybe it's because we feed them?
Ha ha ha
Oh,  one day when I can find the humor I'll post about all our food "adventures". But for now just assume that the poison control people know us by name.

That little bird was just looking for someone to claim him.
Our little birds would go home with anyone.
(A not very well known, attachment disorder)
But their daddy tells them at night before they go to bed,  "You belong to me. God gave you to us."
They belong to us,  and we belong to them.

*a little side note. They know their mother's names, and we answer their questions,  but they won't be named or details discussed here. <3 nbsp="" p="">