On Thursday morning, I had a weird encounter with the director of Henry and Miss R's daycare. The morning started off well enough. Henry was excited to be going to Miss Stephanie's classroom. I decided that we'd drop off Miss R first. Miss Diana said that Henry was to stay in their classroom for now and that maybe he wouldn't be moving up. Henry was clingy with me. I was frustrated b/c I'd told Henry he'd get to see Miss Stephanie. I asked Diana what was going on. She said that they were still trying to figure out the numbers. They'd sent some kids to Miss Stephanie's class before Henry even though they had birthdays after Henry's (e.g., a child who is the son of another teacher at the school). Miss Diana had told me before that Henry was getting a little bored in their classroom. A bored Henry is not a good thing.
As I left the class, I stopped by the front desk and asked what was going on. The director got rather testy with me and said that she couldn't do anything about it now. It all had to do with the numbers. Then she turned on me and said, "Is this because your son was aggressive with your daughter?" I asked her what she was talking about. Then she accused, "Is he aggressive with her at home?" No one had informed us of Henry being aggressive. And for the record, no, he isn't aggressive at home. We have several friends, family members, a case worker, a family specialist, and a guardian ad litem who can attest that our kids get along really well. Then, she repeated that she couldn't do anything about it. She had to look at the numbers. She couldn't move kids right now. I said, "Well, you moved a couple kids last week. And their birthdays are after Henry's. Why didn't you move him first?" She gave me some crap about how they weren't sure he was cognitively ready, which I know is crap b/c his teacher the previous day told me about how he was much more advanced than the other kids in the current class, how he was really smart, and how his potty training was going well.
I left and called Jeff from the car. I was so mad that I decided to return to the office to talk to the director about the situation. She wasn't there, but the person who is in charge of development was. I talked with her, which was good b/c she is very nice, diplomatic, and parent-oriented. She'd heard the conversation and knew that the director had made a huge error in referring to Henry as "aggressive." I explained to her that it was important the personnel got the story straight and accurate b/c with the scrutiny that we are under, a mistake like that could "disrupt" Miss R from a situation that is incredibly nurturing for her. The developmental coordinator completely understood. And she said that the director had misunderstood a previous day's event in which Henry apparently tried to hug Miss R several times, and Miss R told him to stop it. Apparently, Henry tries to protect and baby her in the new class. She doesn't like that. She wants to be independent. That was it. The developmental coordinator said that she'd clarify the situation with the director, and she agreed that Henry would be better off in Miss Stephanie's class where he'd get more one-on-one attention.
In the afternoon, Jeff picked up the kids. Henry was very chatty. He told Jeff about his friends and what he did. Jeff reported that his chatter was a paragraph long and in complete sentences. Jeff dropped off the kids for a little bit at my parents' house while he ran some errands.
On Friday, the kids were both dressed in Washington State t-shirts. It was "twin" day. So they got to be twins. I talked with the developmental coordinator and she said that the director sent her apologies. Henry would be moving classes next week.
Jeff picked up the kids from school. I met them at Grammy and Poppy's house. All six of us went to Macayo for dinner. Miss R really loved her mini-chimi. She also liked dipping her chip in salsa and sucking it off. The salsa wasn't hot. We parted ways from Grammy and Poppy and went to Halloween Express. We found Miss R a ladybug costume. For some reason, I've had it in my mind for weeks that she should be a ladybug. Although there were a lot of costumes, we didn't find one that seemed like Henry. I wouldn't have minded getting him a cutsie one b/c this will probably be the last Halloween when such a costume would be possible. He seemed to like a Spiderman outfit but it wasn't in his size. We went to Toys R Us to look as well.
Henry was hilarious at Toys R Us. Their costume selection wasn't good. We turned a corner, and there was a display of Snow White dresses and had big pictures of Snow White and Cinderella. Henry yells out, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! It's Cinderella. Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" You would have thought he'd just seen a rock star. He was very enthusiastic. I was fairly tempted to get him the Snow White dress. I dressed up as different "male" cartoon characters as a child, so it would be a bit hypocritical to not allow Henry to try "female" characters (although I realize that's fairly unconventional). The thing that held me back was the price tag: $79.99. That seemed a tad excessive for a costume to be used once.
Henry and Miss R had an excellent time "riding" in plastic cars (kind of like a Flinstone mobile). They enjoyed opening and closing the doors. That entertained them for about 1/2 an hour. Then it was time to go home and go to bed. Henry was upset b/c he wanted to go to Toys R Us "again."
On Saturday morning, we had a "Quarterly" meeting with A Place To Call Home. There really wasn't a toddler room. There was a baby room and a big kids room. We ended up putting them with the "big" kids. Henry cried at first but then he settled down. Miss R had a good time coloring her shirt and skin with blue marker. Jeff and I attended the last part of a session on behaviors and then a talk from a judge who was a product of the foster care system. Jeff and I noticed that only one couple from our training was at the meeting: Charity and David. We hope that the others haven't dropped out. For lunch, we had pizza with the kids outside. Both kids ate A LOT of pizza. A LOT for their size anyway. In the afternoon, Alison took Henry to the jumping castle outside. Miss R went to the baby room where she seemed to have a good time. It was less overwhelming than the "big" kid room. We listened to a presentation from someone from the Yacqui tribe. Then, we all went outside to watch a Yacqui dance presentation.
We dropped the kids off at my parents' house for a nap. They reported that Miss R was moody. I picked them up a couple hours later after getting party supplies for tomorrow. I also found a Spiderman outfit in Henry's size!
We gave the kids a bath. Aunt Carolyn called. I talked with her while Jeff got the kids to bed.
Tomorrow, we are having our party for Miss R. Jeff ordered and picked up a really cute Elmo cake for her.
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