We are not only waiting impatiently for the arrival of our newest grandchild, we are keeping the whole gang while our daughter is hospitalized. Our adult daughter, through the miracle of older child foster care adoption, has had to have C-sections with the birth of her first two daughters, so this C-section is planned as well. As you can see in the picture, our daughter, through private adoption is the same age, well right in between, our two granddaughters. Which makes her nieces, her best friends, they absolutely adore each other.

They literally run to each other and bear hug whenever they see each other it is so cute. They were potty training together, but my oldest granddaughter has mastered it now. However, my younger granddaughter and my daughter are still working at it. They encourage each other with applause and words. So tonight we will have four children under four, which is about to be my daughter's daily life, as she also has a stepchild under four. He is also spending the night. I hope to post pictures tomorrow of our newest granddaughter. However, I may need some time to recuperate; my adult daughter is twenty years younger than I am. .

Of course, this older parenting is bound to keep us acting and feeling younger than our same age counterparts. I noticed at the beach that most of the people my age were relaxing and napping. Only those of us with young children were swimming and playing. No offense, but I also noticed that those of us forty-something with young children could still sprint at a moments notice to catch a child. So there are advantages. If not for older child adoption, we would not yet be experiencing the joys of grand parenting. Our daughter was 13 when she came to us, and 15 when she decided to be adopted. (Older children must sign a consent to be adopted.) Today we have a wonderful relationship with her and her young family. Somehow, she has found a way to strike a balance between spending time and sharing her children with her us, (her adoptive family), and with her birth family, who also live in the area

Photo Credit: Julia Fuller