Pro's & Cons of Adopting a 3-5-Year-Old Vs. Younger

Hi Theresa, As you know, we adopted a 3 year old along with an infant. There are pros and cons, but we would definitely do it again. Actually when we do go back for number 3 it will be for a child that same age (probably 2.5 years to 3.5 years depending on how old Sophia is at that time). He learned the language quickly. He assimilated into the family and attached to us well, but we did attachment parent and I think this is extremely important for a toddler/preschooler. He had issues with indiscriminate attachment at first, but what would you expect from a child that age who suddenly has parents he is supposed to be attached to that he has never even met before. He was potty trained - we regressed him to sleeping in pull ups because of the stress his occasional accidents were having on him. I regressed him in rocking him with a sippy cup and lying with him when he went to sleep. We celebrated a whole different kind of firsts with him. First time in a pool, feeling grass under his feet, eating pizza, seeing a movie, etc. It was a joyous time in many ways. It was a stressful time in many ways. He was very easily overstimulated and this took a long time to overcome. We had him tested for SI issues but since he was borderline there we never had any formal therapy there. Overall with him I always believed that he was shell-shocked that first year. As if he was waiting for it all to come to an end and desperately clinging to whatever we were doing that day. He didnt get that there would be more tomorrow. It took him a long time to really relax with us. Today we are home 2 years and things are fine. Its been a really busy, tiring, overstimulated couple of weeks here with the holidays and I have to say that he's been great. Better than great- DH and I both feel this is the best holiday of our lives. :love: Our friends and family cant believe how far he's come. It took time, but we've come a long way and we feel very blessed to have him in our lives! Christina