I would be remiss if I let this day pass without writing about it. Today marks two years since our son Sid came into our lives. His two year “gotcha day” is what my girls call it. I’m kind of unsure about calling it that since it reminds me of someone getting a puppy or something. But if I’m going to be real, if I’m committed to being open and honest with Sid all through his life, of HOW he came into our lives, then let’s call it what it is.

We celebrated his gotcha day last year and so we will carry on this tradition every year going forward. His birthday is important as well but for us, the gotcha day is even more significant. It’s not the day he came into the world but it’s the day he came into OUR world. I’ve written extensively about Sid and how he joined our family previously in “For the Love of Sid” so I won’t repeat the whole story again.

I will say that we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into when we signed up to be foster parents. We didn’t know we would become a Momma and a Dada to a sweet little angel who would steal our hearts and become a permanent member of our family. I didn’t see it playing out like that but that’s exactly what happened. We’re his parents now, we leave the “foster” word out of it. We love him fiercely.

This tempermental little toddler is now the boss of the house, we’ve come to accept that. His toys take up every empty space in the house. He sleeps between us every night. We redid his room last year and Clint made him a cool “big boy” bed, but apparently he’s not ready to sleep in it yet and honestly we’re not ready to see him go.

We try not to spoil him but it’s hard. Knowing the situation he came from, how difficult and crappy his first eighteen months of life were, how can we not want to make up for that? Every single day of his life. It’s not fair that a baby should have to live the way he lived. Of course he’ll never remember it. Won’t even know the awful situations he was in before he came to us. Unless someday we tell him. Maybe when he’s older and curious about it.

I firmly believe you need to know where you come from to know who you are, so we won’t keep any secrets from him. I just hope that all the love he feels from us is enough to balance out any other bad, sad or confused feelings he may have about how he came to be in our lives.

We treat his Gotcha Day like it’s his birthday, with gifts and a special supper, cupcakes etc. and this year we’re celebrating a day late, tomorrow, because Dada has to work late, underground, doing a special job today. Happy Gotcha Day Sid, our sweet, beautiful, perfect baby boy!