"Why is it called 'birthday?'"

Maya turned 6 today, and today was all "Happy Birthday" all the time! When I went into her room to wake her up this morning, before I could say a word, she announced, "I'm 6! I didn't sleep all night waiting to be six!" She celebrated at school with Mama coming to have lunch with her and bringing a yummy cookie cake to share with her class, and with Mimi & Grandpa by opening presents at their house and then going out to dinner, where the wait staff brought her cake and sang her "Happy Birthday. "

Driving home, Maya asked, "Why is it called 'birthday?'" I was surprised, since she'd asked the same question yesterday, and I explained it was the day she was born, and that another word for being born is "birth." (In fact, she and Zoe decided birthday should be renamed Born-Day!) I repeated the same explanation tonight.

"Oh," she said, "I thought it had somthing to do with 'birth mother.'"

LOL!! "Well, yes, birthday and birth mother both have the word 'birth' in them because you were born on that day and you were born from your birth mother, remember?"

Maya mumbled something I didn't catch from the back of the van, so I ventured a question: "Are you thinking about your birth mother today, sweetie?"

Maya replied, "Sort of . . . ."

"What are you thinking about," I ask?

Maya: "That she's happy I have a mom."

Awwww! I'm amazed at how different my kids are when it comes to adoption (when it comes to most things, actually!). Unlike Zoe, Maya doesn't really think much about her birth parents -- or at least she denies that she does. And when she does talk about them, she almost always turns it to emphasize her forever family. But I wasn't surprised to hear she was thinking about her birth mom today -- after all, birthdays are frequently a trigger for adoptees to do so.

And after all, I also think about my kids' birth moms on their birthdays. (Click here to read what I had to say to Maya's birth mom and foster mom on this day last year.)