Adoption intersection: Homo Sapien and Puppy Sapien

It was a regular evening, the sibling fight had blown over with some tears and lots of whining from all parties, the whole family was listening to music and reading in the same space (small problem when one member is still reading out loud!) when the intersection moment happened.
My son (he joined our family through adoption some 5.xx years ago) looks up from his book and says out of the blue," You know, Amma...when Loopy comes home, I will be very nice to him.  I will take care of him (Loopy is a girl..).  He will be so sad, no?  He had to leave his mother and all his brothers and sisters."

Very sweet thought.  Why then is my mind racing ahead to the next sentence?  We are waiting for the axe to fall (metaphorically only...all axes in the house have been confiscated long ago!:-)) because among the first things my son said about the puppy was "yey, Loopy will also be adopted!"

Identity building is a gradual process.  Which is why some of us do still ask, "but now he is with you, na?  why should you talk about his birth parents at all?  He is now in your home and you are his parents.  And that is that."  Yes, we are his parents.  And will always be.  Even when he is pondering a birth parent search.  Or not.  Both are equally possible options.  And ones we will deal with as parents and support, regardless of our emotions.  We have to be grateful to have the opportunity to have him in our lives and can't neglect the fact that his gene pool is different.  It does not matter to me.  It does to him, sometimes.

There was a time when he was upset that he was not born from my tummy. "I only want to be born in your tummy, Amma."  Now he has adjusted, atleast as far as I can see, to being from another part of the state.  I see identity being formed when he asks,"April 14th?  Is that MY new year too?".  I am Tamilian and my husband is a Kannadiga, so our kids straddle two languages/states, regardless of whose tummy they come from.

Now, he will experience the joy of adoption himself.  Quite a priceless side effect that wipes out the stress of another toilet training journey coming up.  Any child bringing a puppy home is over the moon.  (If they are not, I would worry!) To a child like my son, the puppy will help in a myriad ways.  One major way will be to see how adoption happens and how bonds grow and strengthen - it will be very personal to him walking this path and I know it will be a positive experience.

G'night!