Thanks to my brilliant friend Julie (whose husband attended baby classes at a local hospital), Jon and I will be taking "Newborn Care" classes on May 12th and May 19th. Even though we can't predict if or when we will get a baby, we just want to be as prepared as possible. This is sure to be another humiliating experience for Jon and I as everyone in the room plays the fun old fashioned game of "what are those two guys who arrived together and look really nervous doing in our Newborn Care class? Are they here to snatch our babies or turn them gay?'' Though Jon and I use these experiences as preparation for when we will receive those stares/questions when we have a newborn baby, possibly of another race.
The best part is that every form we have filled out (including my registration for this class) has required a Mother's name and a Father's name. It is funny how we didn't flip a coin or wrestle to see who would be Mother on all of the forms. It was just automatically me. I should just legally change my name to "Keith Burgess (Adoptive Father)" since that is what all of my forms say when they ask for Mother's Name.
Jon and I think we should open an adoption agency or more importantly a "forms" agency where we can eliminate these types of humiliations for people. Thank God Jon and I don't get penalized for the use of N/A because half of our forms are covered with N/A.
Chuck took those before Jacob was born and said they were great.
ReplyDeleteThink of the mother/father stuff as an opportunity to think about what your kid will call you both... obviously dad doesn't work for both. We're still trying to figure that one out.