Toddler Talk

Jeff managed to contact La Frontera this morning, and they tracked exactly which office was holding the meeting about Miss R and her siblings service plans. Her siblings already have plans in place, and the Blake Foundation is taking a "wait and see" approach on Miss R. My impression at the hearing was that the bio parents were told that they should be attending these meetings as an indicant of them working their plan to get the kids back. Bio parents were a no show. But CPS was also a no show. The meeting was short. Jeff did get a tid bit of insight into how the family was functioning prior to the children's removal form the home. Not much, but a little.

I arrived in the evening after a somewhat grueling trek back from Florida through Houston. My flight from Ft. Lauderdale was late, arriving at the time my connecting flight was boarding in another terminal at the absolute farthest point from my arrival gate and requiring a bus ride to get to the other terminal. It was crazy. Somehow I made it.

Jeff, Henry, and Miss R picked me up at the airport. Henry and Miss R were happy to see me. Henry continues to be LOUD. His latest obsession is The Fox & The Hound (thanks Grammy and Poppy). Henry talked about it on the way home. He thought we didn't get what he wanted, so he tried to explain himself by stressing different syllables.

Fox and Hound
FOX and Hound
Fox and HOUND
Fox AND Hound
FOX and HOUND
FOX AND Hound
Fox AND HOUND

Jeff and I had a hard time not sniggering. It was pretty funny. Apparently, Henry likes the scene with the bear. That's the scary scene.

Henry pointed out Miss R to me and said her name. Then, she'd giggle. They went through this several times. They also seem to be able read each other sometimes in ways that I just don't get. Is it a secret baby/toddler non-verbal language? I don't know.

Although the addition of Miss R has probably been more stressful for Henry more than anyone else, I think that it is safe to say that he and Miss R like each other a lot.

We picked up dinner from Lovin Spoonfuls on the way home. Henry was diggin the vegan meatballs but not the pasta. Miss R loved the pasta but wasn't so keen on the vegan meatballs. We watched Finding Nemo as we don't own The Fox & The Hound.

One of Miss R's accomplishments tonight was pointing to her nose. In my opinion, she is a bit beyond on some milestones when it comes to speech. Prior to this evening, she had never pointed to a body part correctly upon request. I don't think that she knows them. But we've been working on it. I can't explain exactly why I feel this, but I suspect that she is a smart little girl but just doesn't have the expressive skills one normally sees in a child her age. She can grunt and point but says just a couple words: momma, ball, baby. We've worked on dog, which right now is more daw. And now she knows nose. It is an excellent start considering that she's been with us less than a month.

Her other accomplishment was "reading" a book in the right direction. When she came into our house, she was perfectly happy with a book held upside down. I mentioned this to Jeff a couple days ago. He couldn't remember a time when Henry didn't know how a book should be held. Even when he started leafing through books on his own, he'd look at them the "right" way. I'm not sure whether or not she'd experienced books before staying with us. But I decided not to be heavy handed about the books when she first came into house. I wanted her to explore and be interested in them. So I'd let her look at them upside down or sideways if that's what she wanted to do. When I tried to read them to her, she was resistant, and I backed off. Well, tonight, we leafed through the pages of a book together, right side up, and we looked at the cartoons of various animals. I think that she is beginning to get the idea of symbols/cartoons representing something. Way to Go, Miss R!

Henry went to bed first. A huge surprise. Miss R stayed with me in the living room and feel asleep on my lap.