Mocha Moms

Yesterday, Steven and I went to our second Mocha Moms playgroup. We're not official members (i.e. we haven't paid any dues yet), so we are only invited to select events. And everything we've been invited to has been on a Friday morning, usually the same week as MOPS :(

I was debating whether or not to go yesterday morning because I just didn't feel like it. Steven has shunned almost all naps longer than 20 minutes the last two days, and that just wears me out. However, I got myself together and we went.

We LOVED it!! I can't tell you how much fun I had hanging out with all the other Mocha Moms. This time we met at a local athetic center that has a kid's club. We had a nice sized playroom all to ourselves, so it was much much quieter than Jungle Java, and we were able to visit more. We talked about practically everything--girl's hair, family and babysitting, friends that we've lost because of kids/not having kids, adoption, cloth diapers, and many many more things.

Everyone loved Steven, of course, and he played it up for them :) I had him in his stroller lying down at first (he fell asleep in the car, and of course when I got him out of his seat and into the stroller, he woke up.) People were looking at him and talking to him, but when I picked him up, you should have seen his face. It was hilarious! His mouth was open all the way, his jaw just dropped, and his eyes were as wide as could be as he slowly looked around at everyone. He was stunned. He looked at me and then back at everyone and at the play area. It was so funny watching him trying to process everything!

I love it that the moms there make me feel 100% welcome. It wasn't awkward at all. I even forgot about the color difference, and when I trying to remember if I had met someone before, the other person said pretty positively that we hadn't. It wasn't until much later that I realized it was because she definitely would have remembered a white mocha mom :)

I highly recommend the group to anyone who had adopted transracially. It's so important to me that Steven grows up with kids the same color as he is. Mocha Moms is primarily for moms, but they do have playgroup meetings once in a while. It's a great way for me to learn more about his culture and background, and I can't recommend it enough. (FYI there is one in Dayton!)

I'm adding the link (available above) to a new list one the side called "Transracial Adoption Resources." Stay tuned for more transracial adoption resources!