[tchr_678]

DH and I adopted 4.5 and 2.5 yr. old brothers ..

Like Kretz said .. these are personal decisions .. but here is our story.

We did not (really) change our (now) 5 yr old's name. He is, and always will be, Dima to me. We did give him a first name we chose and kept his Russian name as his middle name (Thus, Craig Dimitry), but we still call him Dima. I didn't want to cahnge his name on him, when it is all he has known. Also, our little boy was so shy in the beginning, I don't think he could have told us honestly if he wanted a different name or wanted to keep his own. He is named after my father, so -- if he eventually wants to have that as his name, I'm all for it. It was important to me to give him a first name - because he is my son -- but, like I said .. he's still Dima to me!!

As for school - We are going to keep him back a year. I am a special ed teacher and the coop I work for offers an at-risk preschool program - which he will be in the fall. But, we decided to hold back on Kdg for a year ... I just decided that I'd rather hold him back now, then when he is in 3rd or 4th grade .. I know that isn't a guarantee, but it was a possibility and I just didn't want to do that right now. He is small for his age, very shy .. so I think this catch-up year will do him good.