Chalk Sisters

This morning I took my kids out to a local park wher they started a number of chalk drawings on a hand / paddle ball court. My daughter at one point while drawing indicated that two of the "girl" drawings were of her and her "Sister [T]". I had not prompted this at all.

More and more I have noticed they refer to T and Z as their sister and brother. I admit I have not done anything to stop or modify their terminology as I wanted their thinking to be organically derived. I do think their watching yesterday's Good Morning America segment where they saw Ryan Kramer and two of his half siblings refer to each other as brother / sister only confirms their belief that their use of brother and sister is OK.

Half Sibling Z to Visit Fall 2010

It's official my kids will get to see their Half Sibling Z when he and his mom visit this coming Fall.

Maybe Half Sibling T will make a trip to NYC again as well?

Ryan Kramer, DSR and his Half Sibs Profiled on Good Morning America

Just watched a spot about Ryan Kramer (co-founder of the Donor Sibling Registry) about his path to locating half siblings on the US American morning show Good Morning America. Interest in donor conception is obviously due to the success generated due to the new movie "The Kids are Alright".

I taped my kids watching segment. The 8 year old was mildly interested where my 6 year old still does not really understand beyond taht she has two half siblings. I don't think I will be posting the tape of them but wanted to tape their reactions as they watched and I tried to explain it a bit more.

Truthfully they would have rather been watching Phineas and Ferb. Amusing and expected.

General Update

This past weekend was a busy one for my kids and I. We saw a baseball game, traveled to a friend's house out of state and also visited with family a short commute away from our apartment. Both of the kids are getting bigger but are still very much children.

While at the game I was seated next to a woman from our old temple who commented how much the kids resemble their mom. I responded that they do. At first I thought she had commented how J looks like me but I held back and heard her again and realized it was not me but their mom.

When we visited family my mom commented how my son perspires stating he certainly is a "Smith". A reference to a line of her family. I responded he is not. I did not even think I just responded. Mom was not happy with my comment. J did not catch any of this but I did say you've got roots kids where the warm weather is not something that agrees with us.

I have not written much as day to day there is not too much to say about my life specfically. The kids are growing. They make references to their half siblings to others that may or may not know about their story and do so naturally. Most of the time no questions arise and the kids lead a normal life with no issues. I don't wonder or worry as often about how they will process this all. We have other issues to deal with in life such as camp, Summer reading lists, etc.

I sometimes miss writing everyday about this topic and other times I absolutely do not. I sometimes get e-mails from folks looking for advice and I try to get back to them but lately it has been tough to do so. I apologize when this has happened. Right now my focus is them and me.

BioNews Comment: “Read With Caution” Response to “My Daddy’s Name is Donor” Study

I learnd via Facebook today that a response to the Institute for American Values study “My Daddy’s Name is Donor” was published online at BioNews.org and within BioNews 567. The response published under their “Comment” section was written by Professor Eric Blyth and Wendy Kramer (co-founder of the DSR), two individuals whose work in this area I highly respect.

The review starts out by declaring their “alignment with the authors' desire to acknowledge donor-conceived people's right to access their ancestral, genetic and biological background” but then launches into “serious misgivings” they saw with the report. It is a short read and well worth it for anyone serious enough to want to acknowledge alternative viewpoints and/or criticism, something the IAV rarely seems to acknowledge themselves from my own experiences with their website.

I have stated before that one of the author’s of the IAV piece I consider a friend, Ms. Karen Clark, as I have long admired her blog and her discussions of these topics. But overall I find the “misgivings” posed in the BioNews comment to be serious enough to question the IAV study and to echo the sentiments to "read it with caution”.

Movies: "The Kid's Are All Right"

A majority of the reviews I have read or seen so far are positive for the movie "The Kid's Are All Right". Link to NYT Review. Granted all of these reviewers probably have no connection to donor conception outside flicks like this. They each go on how this is a accurate representation of how a family interacts between parents and teenagers etc.

But can they really say this is accurate for a family with two moms from an insider's perspective ? I don't know as I am just a heterosexual DI Dad and I know very few two mommy familes much less with teenage kids. I must remember to ask the mom's of one of my son's classmates for their reaction or if they even plan on seeing the film.

I do want to see this in the theatre but to be honest I want to see Grown Ups with Adam Sandler first.