What does Adopted Mean?

Last week while Ivan was giving Emery a bath, she asked him the question, "what does adopted mean?" Now, I have no idea where Emery heard the word adopted, but it just shows how much she is growing up. Anyway, Ivan tried to explain what the word adopted meant to Emery. He gave the example of adopting pets and then started to talk about giving our dog, Carter, up for adoption.

Emery then came out of the bathroom and said to me, "Mama, we can't give Carter up for adoption" and put her arm around Carter and started to give him loves. I asked about giving Carter to Auntie Silv and Uncle D and Emery hung onto Carter even tighter and then started to cry.

So, moral of the story - I guess we are keeping Carter for as long as he lives as I'm not willing to break my 3 year olds heart over giving the dog up for adoption :)