a special story

Today I had a counseling session to talk about Mae's current phase of 'emotional meltdowns.' I'm so glad I did; I got some excellent advice. One of the biggies was the suggestion of creating a 'story stem' for Mae (love these technical terms.) In other words, create her story in language she can understand, right now, at age 2. Her scrapbook is beautiful but more for an older child. I'm working on a shadow box for her China memorabilia now too, but again, I probably won't let her at that until she's old enough to really treat it with respect. In the meantime, how to let her learn who she is and where (and how?) she got here? The answer is a book. Make a book that tells her story. So off to Shutterfly I went and created this simple 8 page storybook. I'm not quite sure if I should order it from them or enlist the help of master photographer Wendy, but she will have this book soon. Another blog I read has also made me realize the importance of the child really owning her story; her 2.5 year old has said "Other children not go on airplane. G. so happy to go on airplane with Mommy and Daddy. G. come home." Two and a half years old. That child knows her story. I want that for Mae.
In the meantime, we soldier on.
Here is the link to the book.