I always enjoy Friday. With the week behind us, and the anticipation of the weekend with everyone being at home, it just always makes me look forward to a Friday afternoon. I always take time to sit and think about the week, what was accomplished, as well as to what was left undone. Most of the time I am satisfied with what has been completed, but I suppose that there is always room for improvement, and always more that we wish we would have gotten done!

This Friday was a great one for me. Not only was my husband working from home today, so even though he was very busy, at least I got to have him in the house with me, but do to his being home I was able to leave our youngest with him while I went to pick up my adopted stepson from school.

He has recently joined an after school academic club, which we are just thrilled about. They are gearing up for a meet, so he has had a practice session every day this past week. All week I have gone and picked him up from school, but today was special for me since we got to have the time in the car to ourselves. With his little brother being only four, I usually have him with me all day everyday, so getting some time to spend with my older guy, just the two of us is always special.

While I was annoyed with the traffic on the way to pick him up, the traffic on the way home didn’t bother either one of us, as we got to spend some extra one on one time together. As he is getting older and becoming more man than boy, he has been reaching out to his father more, so getting in a little extra bonding time here and there is great. It was nice to have some uninterrupted time to talk about the week, his day, and how his practice went for today.

And once we got home and my husband wound himself down from a frustrating work day, even though he was at home, we decided to take the boys out to dinner, which was a wonderful way to end the week. We all joked and laughed, as well as talked about my adopted stepsons recent accomplishments, and toasted to his hard work and effort in school. He truly seems to feel as though his belongs in this family, and truly seems to be happy, and if that isn’t something worth celebrating, than I don’t know what is!

Finding these special little moments to spend one on one time, even when they are very short, are so important to bonding and relationships. While we always enjoy a good conversation in the car going to and from places, it can be anywhere. Sometimes stepparents have a hard time with idle conversation with their stepchildren, so strike up some chit chat with them; it is good practice for when the big issues need to be spoken about.

Our best chats always seem to be in the car, where is it that you and your adopted stepchild seem to have the best conversations?