Henry's First Hair Cut

Patty came today to clean the house. She taught Henry the phrase, "Clean the windows." He appears to love cleaning things. Somehow, I suspect that his enthusiasm for cleaning won't last, but we'll try to make the most of it while we can.

Shortly after 2PM this afternoon, I received a call from Alison, our family specialist from A Place to Call Home. They are looking for potential foster parents for a boy who is almost 3 years old. According to his file, he is "well-behaved," "is able to attached to people," and "is developmentally appropriate" for his age. Alison asked if we wanted our name submitted to CPS as an interested party. We said "Yes!" She doesn't know when CPS will make a decision. It could happen within a matter of days; it could be weeks. Once they make a decision, things will move fast. We are thrilled at the possible addition to our family. As I told Jeff, however, I feel badly that our excitement over having a new child comes at the expense of having a child come from not-so-good circumstances (in other words, at someone else's loss...if that makes sense). I'm guessing that there are many other interested foster families in this child. The decision is truly in CPS' hands now.

Incidentally, if we are chosen, we won't be disclosing many details about the situation for the sake of the child's privacy, that includes not giving the child's real name on this blog. If and when our family and friends were to meet him, we will be referring to him as our son rather than as our foster son. According to what we learned in our training, it is better to not give labels that emphasis that the child is different than other children in the family. It avoids any stigmatism that a child might feel from being in foster care when in public settings.

Grammy picked up Henry at 3PM. I believe they watched "Robin Hood" or at least the first part of it. I met them at Gadabout shortly after 5:45PM. When I arrived, Henry and Poppy were near the fountain. Henry managed to get most of the sleeve of his sweat shirt wet.

Todd was cutting Grammy's hair when we went inside. I showed Henry what Todd was doing. Henry seemed perplexed and a little concerned when Todd gave me a piece of Grammy's hair that he'd just cut off (he gave it to me at my request). The idea was to warm up Henry for his cut.

Before Todd blew Grammy's hair dry, he decided that it would be a good time to cut Henry's hair b/c Henry was in Grammy's lap and looked relatively calm. Here is a pre-hair cut photo...









Note the long lock sticking out in the back.

Before Todd cut his hair, Henry was staring in the mirror. I asked Henry "Who's that cute boy?" He enthusiastically said, "Henry!" He's so cute. Henry insisted on taking two of Todd's combs before Todd was able to get to Henry's hair. Once Henry's hands were full, it was much easier.














Henry was a little squirmy but not bad. He's even squirmy when I try to comb his hair b/c he is so darn insistent that he do everything himself.














After Henry's haircut, we went to Grammy and Poppy's for pizza. Jeff stayed home b/c he wanted to get some work done around the house. With a potential new child on the way, we are on a serious mission to get this house in order!

Henry and I got back here around 8:15-8:30PM. Henry played in the living room and then took a bath. He's getting pretty good at splashing water out of the tub. He had fun leaning back while I held his head in my arms as I leaned over the side of the tub. Thank goodness it is sleeveless shirt weather! Very useful during toddler bath time.

Henry wanted to watch some pictures on the computer instead of "Robin Hood." That's a refreshing change! After watching a 1.5 minute clip of Pooh singing a lullabee song (lullaby to the bees), I asked Henry if he was ready for bed. He jumped off my lap and went searching for Daddy to take him to bed.

Henry and Jeff are snoozing. I should be too. I want to get a good start on the day tomorrow. Much to do!