Happy New Year 2010!!!

On Thursday afternoon, Miss R woke up long before Henry. She tried to get Henry up from his nap, but he announced that he was going back to sleep. Around 4PM, I roused him out of bed and managed to get both kids out the door. Dropped them off at the grandparents' house so that Jeff and I could go see Sherlock Holmes. We then returned to my parents' house for dinner. The kids had fun at Grammy and Poppy's house. They even gave each other hugs. They (especially Miss R) enjoyed gingerbread and whipped cream for dessert.

As it is New Year's Eve, it is time to ponder the past year's events. It has been a very full year. This time last year, Jeff and I had been accepted for, but not started, fostercare training. Miss R joined our home in April. She has grown so much over the past eight months. We're really proud of her. She has gone from knowing two words to speaking full sentences and singing songs. One thing has remained: she continues to be quite a snuggle bug. She melded into our family the first couple days upon her arrival, which I think is unusual. We believe that she was meant to be with us. Our wish for 2010 is that she'll legally become a part of our family forever.

Henry. Where to begin with Henry? I see from my post this time last year that Henry was speaking 80-90 words or so. We stopped counting several months ago. I'm sure that he knows over a 1,000 words. He constantly amazes us with his grasp of the English language. He absorbs words and phrases like a sponge. Instead of saying "no," he often says "maybe not." Miss R has even picked up the phrase. This time last year, I marveled at how he could identify twelve body parts and make eleven animal sounds upon request. Now, I marvel at how he can answer questions, sometimes relatively abstract, about stories. I love asking him how his day was and what he did.

One questions remains about both our kids. How did we managed to have such loud children? Jeff and I aren't that loud, but my goodness, both Henry and Miss R can be quite loud (Miss R only at home; she's quiet around strangers). They are both a little defiant too. I believe that both kids tried to put me in "TIMEOUT!" a couple times this week.

We wish our friends and family a very Happy New Year 2010!!!

Cinderella's Dress

On Wednesday morning, Miss R cried a lot when I dropped her off at school. Henry marched happily into his classroom. Grammy and Aunt Carolyn picked them up at school in the afternoon. They went with them and Poppy to Costco and had a fabulous time as always snacking their way around the building. This time, it was the veggie shushi that caught their fancy.

When they went to Grammy and Poppy's house, they watched Cinderella for the first time (to my knowledge) with Aunt Carolyn. They were familiar with the story from their books. The most shocking part for Miss R was when the evil stepsisters ripped Cinderella's dress. Carolyn said that she looked genuinely shocked that someone would deliberately destroy a lovely outfit. Henry was outraged too. Why would they do that?

Meanwhile, Jeff and I went car shopping. Jeff had started off excited but his dreams have been dashed by the realization that the car he wants isn't going to suit our currently lifestyle. We tried out the Camry. It's nice, but it isn't going to fit three kids. And we are thinking of fostering again if we are needed. We also looked at the Prius, but if we were to get a Hybrid, I'd lean toward the Camry b/c I think that it has a little more room. We then looked mini-vans. First up, the Siena. We visited the Honda dealership to look at Odysseys. We found one that we liked, but didn't test drive it. The salesperson didn't seem excited to try to make a deal with us. We visited Mazda to try the Mazda 5. Jeff drove it. The salesperson didn't say anything about it, which was weird.

And finally, we ended up at Chrysler to check out the Town & Country. The salewoman was better at "selling" the vehicle, but we felt like we were being sized up to see how much they could squeeze out of us. After much waiting, she came back with some BS about we could sign the papers for an exorbitant price. I said, "That's not what we are looking to pay." I hadn't checked out prices for that model online, but it seemed high. I said it was $4K out of the ballpark. So then she hems and haws (maybe they have a "lower" model...blah blah blah). After waiting a long time, she comes back with the "lower" model, but maybe they could work something out. She gives that look of "well, we don't normally do this"...which is crap of course. The whole car sale tango is such a colossal waste of time. She must have said something about getting the deal done tonight three times. How many times did we have to say that we weren't signing ANYTHING last night?

On Thursday morning, Jeff used my mom's Costco account and through their program, he could get the same vehicle for $7-8K less than they were peddling last night. We won't be going back to that dealership obviously.

We had a visit from Miss R's new caseworker from St. Nicholas (the adoption agency). CPS transfers cases to them once severance has happened. We're not certified for adoption yet (wish we had been given the paperwork a long time ago so that it could done already). The caseworker was Christy. She didn't have a lot of questions. She checked out R's room. She gave us papers to fill out. I'm going to start on them now. Yea. More paperwork. The kids played nicely during her visit.

Henry has eaten well today, but when he says he's all done, I know that I can coax more food into him.

The kids are napping. Jeff is looking out more cars/minivans. I hope that he finds something that he likes. If only the Honda Odysessy was a hybrid....

According to the ENT, Henry Can Hear

Jeff picked up Henry at school this afternoon. Henry said that he had a good day. They went to the ENT, Dr. Dean. Henry had his hearing tested. According to the ENT, Henry can hear just fine. So there goes our theory about why Henry often doesn't appear to listen. Turns out, it isn't physiological.

Miss R had her sibling visitation today. The CPS supervisor called me to let me know that her bio parents showed up, which was a surprise to everyone. They told her bio parents that she was in an adoptive placement who didn't want her to have contact with them. We actually never said that, but I guess that's what people usually do. CPS told them that their rights were severed back in November at the hearing that they did not attend. They didn't protest. They had brought her a bag of clothes. CPS called me to ask me if we wanted to accept or reject. I said that we'd accept. CPS is going to set up a different schedule so that Miss R can have a visitation that's on a slightly different schedule from the one that the parents can attend. Perhaps the parents will try to start attending visitations with the older siblings to whom rights were not severed. Both CPS workers whom called me this afternoon seemed startled. The CPS supervisor was worried that Miss R would be upset or unsettled, but she was just fine when she returned home. My impression is that she does enjoy seeing her older siblings. And I think that she feels confident about being returned to us.

Jeff made us dinner: mac & cheese and hot dogs. The kids ate well. They really liked both. I helped them fork the mac & cheese. They had second helpings, which is amazing. Henry also drank all of his juice. Plus, he'd had a Cliff bar before going to the ENT (240 calories!).

We watched a little bit of Pirates of the Caribbean: World's End. Henry wanted to watch something with pirates in it. We think that we are going to try again for Disneyland the second to last weekend of January (that's the weekend after MLK Day).

The kids didn't give us too much hassle about going to bed, although I can still hear Miss R talk to herself.

Henry's Crush

On Monday afternoon, I picked up Henry. He was wearing the cutest little police office costume in his classroom. I love picking him up! He told me that Elijah had pushed him. No idea if it is true. Probably is, but it could have happened days ago and is still active in his mind. Elijah came over and said hello. He always calls me Mommy when I come to pick up Henry. It is interesting how all of the kids know which parents go to which kids. I walk in the door and someone will shout out "Henry!"

On our way out the door, we ran into Miss Casi. I'm pretty sure that Henry has a crush on Miss Casi. A couple weeks ago, I had asked someone (Miss Viriginia?) if Henry talks much at school. She said it depended on who was around. She mentioned that Miss Casi had wanted to know if Henry could talk b/c he won't say anything around her. Anyway, back to the present, Henry was gabbing down the hall. We ran into Miss Casi. Henry went mute, but he smiled at her kind of sheepishly. Looked like a crush to me.

We went to Basha's to stop by the Chase bank inside it. Henry was helpful giving my deposit slips and checks to the teller. He was goofying around in the parking lot and did a twist hanging from my arm and then rolled. Luckily, he rebounded. Yet again, I heard a school-aged kid say "Hey, look at that kid with glasses!" as he pointed at Henry. He was probably 8 or 9 years old. Don't parents teach their kids not to point and stare anymore?

We went to Trader Joe's. Henry went crazy over the samples of truffle pizza. The boy has unique taste buds for a toddler. As we went down another aisle, Henry yelled out that I was to turn around and get more pizza. After getting him pizza round two, which made me feel obligated to buy one of their truffle pizzas, we stopped by the wine and cheese display to get Henry some cheese samples. I could tell that he was in a rare ravenous mood. I ended up getting him some Cliff bars (the ones for body builders NOT for kids b/c I was looking at which ones had the most calories). The cashier gave him a balloon that made him happy.

For dinner, I made a Mexican themed meal. Miss R loved my cheese crisp (which I doused in butter trying to add extra calories for the kids). Both Miss R and Henry enjoyed a lot of guacamole (that made me happy). They also had some lime chipotle chicken, rice, and beans. It was a good meal for them.

We gave the kids a bath. Watched Frosty the Snowman and then it was time for bed. Jeff put Henry down. I started Miss R on her nebulizer. Then I headed out for the store.

This morning (Tuesday), the kids did not eat well. Miss R cried and cried when I left her at daycare. Henry marched into his room without complaint. Miss R has a visit today with her siblings at CPS. Henry has an ENT appointment.

A Morning Filled with Love

On Sunday afternoon, Jeff got Miss R up from her "nap" and nebulized her b/c her cough was keeping her up. They ended up falling asleep on the couch. Around 5PM, I went into Henry's room and he popped up. He found the 3+ hour nap refreshing. We then got Jeff and Miss R up and went over to Grammy and Poppy's house for dinner.

Miss R was particularly funny telling Jeff "Daddy, get up butt" as she poked him in the backside and indicated that he was to get off the chair that she wanted. Henry ate A LOT of vegan meatballs and bread with a french cheese on it. He liked it so much that he stopped eating the bread and just licked the cheese off it. Miss R didn't eat much. After dinner, Henry announced that he didn't want to watch the penguins (March of the Penguins) but wanted to watch pirates (Pirates of the Caribbean). But it was getting late and we headed home (despite the kids being super cute together playing under the coffee table).

We played a little bit in the train room when we got home, but then it was time for bed. Unfortunately, Miss R's cough was back again. I ended up nebulizing her. She fell asleep on my chest. I noticed that she felt very warm. Jeff got the thermometer. Her temp was 101.8, so we gave her children's Tylenol, which brought the fever down. That meant that she couldn't go to school on Monday (24 hour no fever policy).

On Monday, Henry woke up wanted to know where I was. He came bounding into bed and snuggled with me. He insisted that Jeff lay in bed too and take his shoes off. He rolled into Jeff's side and said "I Love You!" then he rolled over to me and said "I Love You!" What a great way to start off a Monday morning.

Miss R woke up soon after. The kids had breakfast while I got ready. Then I took Henry to school. A little girl shared her playdough with him.

When I got home, Jeff was working with Miss R on his lap. A little while later, Aunt Jennifer called. Miss R talked to her for a little bit. While Jeff talked with his sister, Miss R went up to him and said "I Love You, Daddy!" It was a morning filled with *love* in our household.

I think that Miss R has been happy to have us to herself today. Jeff's working but she likes to check up on him. I let her watch a little bit of Mamma Mia! She didn't eat much lunch, but managed to persuade me to give her chocolate milk (Carnation instant breakfast). She didn't struggle too much at nap time, which is where she is now.

"Where's Batman's friend?"

On Sunday morning, we played in the train room for while. Henry was interested in his Batman playset. He asked me, "Where's Batman's friend?" I told him that Robin was on the table. He picked up Robin and had the duo go to Batman's cave to ride the elevator. I heard him have one of the action figures tell the other action figure "I love you!"

Jeff set up the kids' ESPN tee-ball set. I have to say that toys these days are much cooler than when we were kids. This one sets up the ball hanging from a mount with the touch of a button. Both kids took turns. The hardest part was making sure that they didn't stand behind each other while the other person was swinging the bat.

Before lunch, the kids carried a large plastic bin into the half-bathroom and decided to sit in it together. Miss R got irked at Henry for moving in and out of the container. I told her not to be so bossy. Henry then proceeded to say "You're bossy!" several times, which made her cry. I told him to stop it. He then told me that Daddy was bossy (which made me crack up). I told Henry that he (meaning Henry) was often quite bossy and demanding. The news didn't come as much of a shock to him, and I'm quite sure that he didn't internalize it as an insult. He seemed OK with being called bossy. The differences between Henry and Miss R are quite amazing. Henry is very confident and he's got a super thick hide. Miss R, on the other hand, is often overly sensitive. She is quite bossy, but any criticism or correction sends her into a funk. Whenever she does something inappropriate and I correct her, she then lashes out at Henry for the same infraction (whether or not he's actually doing it). For example, yesterday, I told her to get inside. She refused. She was standing near the outside wall. Henry was near the door under the patio. I told R that if she didn't march inside, she'd get put in timeout. She didn't move. I said, "OK. That's it. Timeout" at which point she runs under the patio and says "No, Henry, inside!"

After much coaxing, I got Henry to eat some of my ravioli for lunch. Croutons were also a big hit. The kids are now napping. Well, at least Henry is. Miss R is wiggling around and talking aloud.

"Where's his penis?"

After the kids got up from their nap on Saturday afternoon, Jeff got them a snack of poppyseed bread and orange juice. Henry didn't eat much. Miss R had some.

Jeff took them over to Grammy and Poppy's house in the late afternoon. They raked leaves and were excited by finding a rattlesnake skin.

The kids discovered where their old toys were being kept. Apparently, there was a renewed interest in them, so Poppy got them all out. Henry had wooden panda bear among the old toys. Apparently, he pulled it out and examined it. He then asked Grammy "Where's his penis?" Grammy told him it was under his fur. Henry then asked him where the panda pooped.

Miss R was in a carnivorous mood, which is very unusual for her. She had 2.5 pieces of sausage at dinner. Henry ate fairly well too. He drank quite a bit of goat's milk.

Jeff and I have wondered if Henry's lack of weight gain and constant ear infections could be attributed to his drinking cow's milk recently. We allowed cow's milk and stopped buying goat's milk in June, I think. Henry's big ear infection (which we think was a first) happened in July. I was reading last night that cow's milk has been linked to ear infections in kids. So we are suspending cow's milk for now. I'm not sure how we are going to handle school. I think that we may have to tell them that he isn't allowed to have cow's milk, and we'll supply the goat's milk.

When the kids came home, we played in the train room. The kids played with the Batman set. They were fascinated with the cash registered. Miss R doesn't understand colors yet, but Henry was really doing well with them. He "gets" that certain colored coins have to go in certains slots, otherwise the cash register won't work. I put on one of the lion masks and chased the kids around the train room. Miss R put on the dog mask and looked very cute in it.

Then, it was teeth and bed. The kids didn't protest too much, although I did have to kiss Miss R's feet several times and her forehead too.

Batman and Tee-ball

On Christmas morning, Miss R was the first one up. She got us up around 8:15AM. I was thankful that she let us sleep b/c I didn't go to bed until 3AM. We got out of bed, excited for the kids. Jeff and I decided that we'd let them open the stockings before breakfast.

The big problem was getting Henry out of bed. He didn't want to get up. In fact, he ended up crawling under his bed and trying to nap under it.

It wasn't until 8:45AM before we headed out to the living room, having made our morning stop in the bathroom so that Henry could get ready for the day and his big boy underwear. The kids enjoyed the stockings, but we still don't think that they really "got" the concept of Christmas (spiritual or materalistic). Miss R especially enjoyed the Pez candy dispensers that I put in the kids' stockings. She managed to find Henry's and polish off his candy before anyone could notice.

After a breakfast of french toast, we opened presents. Miss R did catch onto the fact that there were toys to be had on top of the bar. In fact, she went over to the bar and put her arms up and said "Help! I can't reach it! I can't reach it!"

We took our time opening presents. Rather than opening everything at once, we let the kids look at their gifts and play with them for a bit before opening the next set of gifts. Henry really liked this ball and mallet set that I bought him. He and Miss R took turns hitting these balls that would roll down some ramps and out the side of a little tower. Then, one of the kids would replace the balls while the other one would hit them again with the mallet. Miss R seemed to like a shoe lace and wooden objects lacing set. Henry was thrilled that Santa gave me a Harry Potter DVD (the half-blood prince). We put Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (more kid appropriate), however, in the TV, which made Henry very happy.

The big hit was the shopping carts. My mom bought Miss R one (pink). I bought the last one at Toys R Us on Christmas Eve for Henry (blue). My mommy instincts told me that there was going to be pandemonium in the house if we only had one shopping cart. After the kids opened them (Henry immediate knew what they were), I managed to put Henry's together in less than 10 minutes. Jeff, on the other hand, put Miss R's together in about a 1/2 hour. It had A LOT of parts. The kids weren't very patient about it either.

Jeff was a bit disappointed that the kids didn't go crazy over the trikes. I'm not sure that they really understood what they were. Or perhaps nothing could compare to a shopping cart! During our unwrappings, we had visits from Yvonne and her dogs Chocolate and Banjo. The visit was cut short by Henry having an accident. But we are pleased at least that he seems to know when he's wet (unlike when he is in pull ups). Later, Hal stopped by with Annie and Luke. Annie tried to walk into the house. We would have let her wander, except that she hasn't been around cats before.

The kids didn't go down for a nap until the early afternoon. When they got up, it was time to head off to Grammy and Poppy's house for Christmas dinner.

Miss R looked cute in her new sparkly dress and silver tennis shoes. She refused, however, to take off her pink jacket the entire time that she was there. She was also shy. In attendance were my parents, Aunt Carolyn, Aunt Erin & Uncle Brian, and my Aunt Gloria (my dad's sister). It took her a couple hours before she warmed up to people and would walk a couple feet from me.

Everyone got the kids wonderful gifts. The big hit of the evening was a Batman playset from Aunt Carolyn. I think that everyone was surprised at how Henry latched onto it. It is a neat toy. It is Batman's lair, with an evevator, windows, hook, ladder, ramp, etc. But it isn't as though we've ever shown Henry anything Batman related before (although I'm pretty sure that some kids at school have Batman shirts). The kids were very entertained with it. Henry was upset that we wouldn't open (in the house) the tee-ball set given to him by Grammy and Poppy. Silly Grammy wasn't comfortable with Henry playing tee-ball near her Waterford crystal. Henry hugged the tee-ball set box for several minutes, but distracted by the Batman set once again when Jeff opened up it so that they could play with it fully.

Henry claimed not to want dinner, but I coaxed several bites of ham, a bite of green beans, and a couple bites of mashed potatoes into him. Plus, he ate some of Aunt Erin's biscuits. At dessert time, he almost had a whole slice of pumpkin pie. Miss R just ate the whipped cream.

After dinner, the kids horsed around. Henry tried to get Miss R to dance with him. He came up to her and said "I want to dance with you, R." Alas, she rebuffed him and said "no" even though he asked politely.

I taught Henry how to do jumping jacks. I was hoping that it would tire him out, but I think that it only managed to tire me out.

When we neared our house, Henry said that he wanted to go to bed, which was probably a first. He did get distracted by the shopping carts on the way to the bathroom to brush teeth. Miss R was not sleepy. I had to rewind the lullaby machine several times before she finally went down.

This morning (Saturday), we went for a walk after breakfast. The kids rode their trikes while Jeff and I used handles that fit onto the trikes to push them. It worked out pretty well. We learned that Henry can climb the front wall that's about as tall as he is. We talked with Swanee for awhile. She returned Lily who had scampered out into the road. I took the kids outside to sprinkle bird seed. Henry powered through his. Miss R had fun sharing hers. She'd take out a handful and put it in Henry's cup and then he'd dump it out.

Then it was lunch time and nap. Miss R yammered for about an hour. Luckily, she didn't wake up Henry. I wish that they wouldn't fight sleep so much.

Waking Up the Neighborhood...Twas the Night Before Christmas

On Thursday (Christmas Eve) morning, Miss R got up before Henry did. She had her breakfast and then while I was checking on Henry, she decided it was time for him to get up. Turn about is fair play. Henry has woken her up enough times that he has had it coming. She crawled into his bed and hide under his sheets. I was pleased that Henry thought she was funny and wasn't grouchy about being awakened.

The kids were pleased to see Patti today. They don't see her as often because of going to daycare and they have fun when they see her. She lets them "help" with windows and vacuuming.

I took them over to Grammy and Poppy's house around 10:45AM. Henry ran over to Aunt Carolyn and gave her a big hug. Miss R was a bit shy at first. Upon leaving (I had errands to run), Miss R was upset at me leaving. Henry didn't bother to look up from watching The Fox & the Hound. Typical.

Poppy had to go to Trader Joe's. Henry wanted to go with him, so Aunt Carolyn went along to help. Henry announced that he wanted to go to Barnes & Noble, so Poppy and Carolyn took him there first before heading to TJ's. Miss R wanted to stay home with Grammy.

Henry spent almost all of the morning and a good part of the afternoon in his big boy underware with no accidents. Grammy made him put on his pull-ups, however, during nap time. The kids went down late for nap. Apparently, Miss R was up before Henry. My mom witnessed her bonk her own head against something while Henry was asleep. Miss R whimpered and claimed that Henry did it. Poor guy. Gets blamed for things even when he's sound asleep.

Jeff made dinner. His meat lasagne is now the official Christmas Eve dinner. He also made Carolyn and me a tofurkey. I spent the afternoon getting two last minute gifts for the kids. Sadly, the "big" present that was supposed to arrive yesterday did not arrive yesterday or today. So, I wanted to make sure that the kids had several gifts to open tomorrow. When I got home, I wrapped presents.

My parents and Carolyn brought the kids over around 6:45PM. We spent some time in the train room watching the kids play and then had dinner in the living room as our dining room table currently resides in the RV garage. It was a nice, relaxing meal. Miss R refused dinner completely. She spent her time in the train room looking at books. Henry didn't want his dinner. He wanted my carrots that had been cooked with the tofurkey. How on earth are we going to fatten up a kid who chooses cooked carrots over meat lasagne?

Henry never looks behind the bar area. This is where Jeff was hiding the trikes. At 9:30PM, not far off from bedtime, Henry decides to poke his head there. I think that he has my gift hunting skills. I was one for finding my parents' Christmas stashes as a toddler.

Around 9:45-10PM, my parents and Carolyn headed home. We walked them to the cars. Henry yelled his goodbye to Aunt Carolyn. Jeff said under his breath something about waking up the neighborhood. So Henry yelled at the top of his lungs "Wake up the neighborhood! Wake up the neighborhood!" Luckily, the homes in our neighborhood are fairly spaced out.

When we came back inside, Jeff got the kids to brush their teeth but then Henry announced that he wanted dinner. So we got him some cheese and a breakfast bar. Henry, Miss R, and I sat on the couch reading a Christmas book while the kids snacked.

My attempt at getting the kids to leave cookies for Santa didn't work out too well. They wanted the cookies for themselves and ended up leaving Santa some licked cookies.

Jeff and I are still getting the place ready for tomorrow morning. We have some neighbor gifts to complete (our dogs exchange gifts with Yvonne's and Hal and Swanee's dogs every year...it's a tradition). And then, bed.

When the kids wake up, we've decided that we'll let them open their stockings before breakfast. But, the main gifts will be after breakfast. We'll see how that goes! This morning, Henry was talking about bikes and visiting the kids across the street from my parents who have a bike. I think that he is going to be thrilled at his gifts. We have a trike for Miss R too, but I suspect that she is going to be most excited about a pair of silver sneakers that we've gotten her. We also bought her a sparkly dress for tomorrow night.

"Booty & the Beast"

On Tuesday night, Henry and Miss R had a good time at the grandparents' house watching Beauty & the Beast, which Henry calls "Booty & the Beast."

Miss R was excited about the new potty seat that I bought, which is a Dora the Explorer themed seat. Miss R was thrilled to sit on it. As usual, however, she didn't do anything while on the seat (except smile and look happy at being on Dora). She called out to Henry so that he could try it, but he was too irked at me not letting him watch YouTube videos on my computer (b/c the connection has been super slow). When Jeff got her off the potty at her request, she threw a HUGE tantrum when Jeff hung up the seat on a hook and wouldn't let her play with it. Meanwhile, Henry got mad at me a second time when I wouldn't let him climb the ladder that Jeff has in the dining room. Jeff is setting up Henry's birthday train (the Hogwarts Express) so that it travels around the lighted edge near the ceiling.

It was a night filled with tears caused by mean parents who also had the audacity to expect teeth brushing (as if we don't expect this twice a day).

In the morning, I get the fun task of taking Miss R to the dentist. Henry is probably going to stay home tomorrow, which means we'll be keeping Miss R home too. Both Jeff and I have work to do (Jeff's job and for me, cleaning the house). I'm guessing Henry will be having a happy day as I'll probably let him watch a little more TV than usual. Miss R doesn't seem particularly fascinated with the TV, but she sometimes likes her personal time for self-driven play (usually involving tons of toys on the floor).

I forgot to mention on my last post that on Tuesday morning during breakfast, I asked Henry who Mommy's handsome baby was. I was informed by Henry that "I'm not your baby, I'm a big boy." He's growing up way too fast.

Blood Work

On Tuesday morning, Henry and Miss R both had coughs. Miss R's was short-lived, but she wheezed. We decided to call Dr. Bianchi's office and get an appointment. They called us back and asked us when we wanted to come. Guess it wasn't a busy day there.

The good news was that Henry's lungs sounded clear, despite the cough. The bad news was that Dr. Bianchi is concerned about his growth. He's lost about 3/4 of a pound since April. He was at an all-time percentile high then (apparently 40th approximately, when he was usually 25th). Now, he's at the 15th percentile. He's also gone from the 75th percentile in height to the 50th. He thought his head circ was fine, but I'm not so sure. I don't think Henry's grown in that department. I think the gal doing it has been taking low readings. She ended up re-doing the first one she took today. I think that last time, she was lower than I thought the neurologist had said it was, but I didn't correct it at the time b/c we'd just seen the neurologist and at that time, everything seemed OK. In short, she underestimated it last time, so once she corrected it this time, it looked like there was a little growth.

Dr. Bianchi wanted blood work done (electrolytes, CBC, thyroid T4). We ended up going to a different SonoraQuest than our usual place. We liked this one better. They were fairly quick anyway. It was not a pleasant experience though. Henry was very upset at the sensation of having his arm squeezed with the rubber band (a couple times as they tried to figure out where the best vein was). He was terribly upset at the needle. Plus, he must have low pressure like I used to, because it took a really long time to fill up two small vials. He cried and begged for us to make it stop.

We stopped by Burger King on the way home and went to Basha's. The kids liked sitting in the "car" cart. They could pretend that they were stirring.

I went shopping while they napped. I ended up calling Jeff from the Toys R Us parking lot b/c I locked my keys in the car. Jeff woke up the kids as they'd been sleeping a long time and got me a spare set of keys on his way to drop the kids off at my parents. He talked to Dr. Bianchi before he left. Dr. Bianchi didn't have the thyroid results back yet, but Henry's electrolytes and blood count looked fine.

All in all, not a great day.

A Day Around the House

On Monday, we had a family day at home. Last night, we were a little concerned because Henry's temperature went from about 101.5 before bed to about 96 degrees within a couple hours. Jeff had given him a children's motrin. I stayed up and checked on him. Henry felt cold and a little damp to me. I put an extra blanket on him and took him temp (about 96). I then got Jeff up to double check. There was nothing in the parent books about what to do when a child's temperature drops suddenly.

Henry had a low grade temperature today. Cough and runny nose.

Jeff played with the kids in the morning, while I cleaned up several months of cardboard box build up in the garage. Managed to get a lot of old newspapers and such out to the curb before the recycling truck came. I guess that's the silverlining of not going to Disneyland...doing a couple things around the house that just never seem to get done.

The kids took a long nap after lunch. When they got up, we had a picnic on the kitchen floor. They liked playing picnic. I played with them while Jeff went grocery shopping. We read books. We played with the trains. Henry and Miss R did some self-contained play, which pretty much involved emptying half their toys onto the floor. They played in the ball pit and threw balls at me. I asked Henry to throw balls of certain colors to see how well he knew his colors. He did very well. I was thrilled that Henry found his missing pair of classes in the ball pit.

I took Henry's temperature at one point and told him that we were playing doctor. He was the patient, and I was Dr. Mommy. He told me that he wanted to be Dr. Henry. After I took his temperature, he took mine. He was still running a low grade temp. Not enough to give medication. He later told me that he was a "Joseph Anicker."

Henry, Miss R, and Jeff had Trader Joe's chicken and rice for dinner. The kids decided to help themselves to my mushroom and garlic pizza as well. They both really liked it (much to Jeff's dismay as he is anti-mushroom).

After dinner, we let the kids watch a movie. We gave them the choice of several Christmas videos that Jeff bought last week. They wanted to watch "Mickey's A Christmas Carol." They liked it. They also liked the Disney cartoons that followed.

Then it was teeth and bed. The kids are putting up a fight. Lots of tears over going to bed.

Hide and Seek

On Sunday morning, Henry's cough remained. Jeff fed the kids breakfast and tried to let me sleep in. Last night, I went to bed feeling feverish, woke up several times with chills, but seemed OK in the morning. After breakfast, Henry gave Jeff the slip and came bounding into bed. Miss R followed. They had fun hiding under my sheets and jumping up and down.

On our walk with the dogs, we took the kids part way down one of the washes. Henry and Roger enjoyed that. Miss R was irked b/c I made her walk. She tries to get me to hold her and screams if I don't. When we are in public, I usually don't let her scream b/c I don't want her to bother other people. But as we were in the middle of nowhere, I let her cry it out.

We visited the horses on our way back home. After looking at the horses, Henry left me to walk up the path to Nick and Janice's door. I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I'm getting cookies for me and R." Nick and Janice had given them cookies on Halloween, and Henry apparently thought that they were a cookie supply source.

When we got home, we attempted to play hide and seek. Jeff and Miss R counted, while Henry and I hid. It didn't work quite as well as I had hoped b/c Henry had a hard time staying quiet (go figure). We tried it a second time with Henry, Miss R, and I counting and Jeff hiding. It took awhile, but we finally found Jeff under Henry's bed.

We had lunch. Or at least Jeff and I did. The kids didn't eat much. At nap time, Miss R got up long before Henry. She climbed on Jeff while he watched football and seemed quite content. Henry slept 3.5 hours.

We went to Grammy and Poppy's to set up the Christmas tree. My parents usually get live trees, but this year they bought an artificial tree. Jeff and Grammy did the set up (no ornaments yet). Henry, Miss R, and I set up the manger, and I told them about Baby Jesus. Then, the kids had fun playing piano with Poppy.

We went to Swensons for dinner. Henry ate quite a bit (grilled cheese, hamburger, fries, and ice cream). Miss R ate french fries and ice cream. As usual, Henry didn't want his ice cream, he wanted Jeff's sundae. He likes the whipped cream. Unfortunately, Miss R was acting silly and ended up banging her forehead into the table. It made a thump. Part of the problem in dealing with her is that it is hard to tell when she's really hurt and when she's being hypersensitive. She seemed OK after she quieted down.

We gave the kids a bath when we came home. We read several books. Then it was teeth and bed. Miss R zonked out quickly. Henry, on the other hand, was singing and talking to himself for a long time.

Disneyland Cancelled - boo hoo

Thursday and Friday the kids went to their grandparents in the afternoon. They were not expecting to see them for a few days and so wanted to get some extra time in while allowing Kate and I to get things ready for our trip to Disneyland. One day they went to Barnes and Noble. Henry enjoyed the trains as usual. He almost gave Grammy and Poppy the slip. He followed Poppy who didn't realize Henry was following him. Poppy then ended up going down the escalator and seeing Henry going up it by himself. He loves the escalator.

There have been no further reports of behavior problems from daycare. That is a relief.

Today we were supposed to go to a holiday party put on by our foster care agency and then head off to Disneyland for a few days. Unfortunately Henry has been coughing and sneezing for the last couple days and today he had a low fever. Despite really wanting to go we decided it would be best to hold off for now. We didn't want to get all the way there and end up spending a few days sitting in a hotel room with a sick kid. Also, when one kid gets sick the other is generally not far behind. Miss R shows no signs yet.

Henry is doing pretty well. He still has a low grade fever but his demeanor is normal. We didn't take him to the Holiday party because we didn't want him spreading whatever he has. He would have had a really good time.

Miss R did ok but it wasn't really her thing. She clung to Kate the entire time and even took an hour nap on her. She wouldn't sit with Santa which wasn't surprising. The big treat for her was that she ate a candy cane. She loooves candy.

We spent most of the time talking with a family we went to training with. We only saw one other person from our training class. We think our class is down to about 4 active families, including ourselves. It's an extremely low retention rate.

While we were at the party Henry hung out with Grammy. They strung chili Christmas lights and worked outside. They also watched Garfield, "Babes and Bulletts." It's a funny one where Garfield plays Sam Spayed.

We did some shopping after the party. I think Miss R enjoyed having both parents to herself. We had her pick out some wrapping paper and tried to get her to pick a stocking for herself but she wouldn't do it. In the grocery store she decided she wanted to push the cart. I was helping her but then got distracted. When I looked back she was going full speed and rammed into the dairy case. Another customer, an older lady, saw this and jokingly said to her, "You're going to lose your license!" Miss R seemed to take that news badly and buried her face in my legs. She recovered quickly.

We picked up Henry and headed home. We let the kids open a couple presents they received from the holiday party. Miss R seems to really like her Elmo jack in the box. It's likely to drive me bonkers with it's limited vocabulary that repeats endlessly, some of which I can't even understand. Henry received a Thomas the Tank Engine track set and a book. The track is a nice addition and he like the book about giving a moose a muffin.

Kate is now running a low fever herself and is off to bed. Hopefully I'll get to sit this one out.

Geography Genius

Yesterday (Wednesday) was not a great day. Jeff managed to get Henry an ENT appointment b/c Henry had been complaining about his ears hurting. Unfortunately, his ENT was working at his East side office, which is on the other side of the city from where we live.

On Tuesday, the late afternoon teacher Marisa had said that Miss Stephanie had reported that Henry had been aggressive with the other kids all day. This was a concern to us in part b/c he mentioned to me the other day how another kid hits him. Plus, I've seen a couple of the girls be super aggressive with each other. Anyway, Jeff and I wondered if Henry's ear problems were causing his poor behavior. For example, he was SUPER whiny in Oregon. Little did we know at the time that he had a major ear infection.

I picked up the kids in the afternoon on Wednesday. There was a "report" waiting for me at the front desk. Apparently, Henry scratched another kid. It sounded as though they didn't see Henry do it, but he'd been sitting next to the child and then the child was found with a scratch on his face. I talked with Henry's teachers. They said that he hasn't been acting like himself for a couple weeks. He randomly bopped some kid on the head the day before for no reason. And, he tried to stick pieces of corn into his own ears. When we got home, Jeff hopped into the car and took Henry to the ENT. I stayed home with Miss R.

Henry had a good time in the waiting room. He met several kids there. He had fun with the wire toys. Jeff and Henry waited there awhile as the staff tried to fit Henry into the already full schedule. Long story short, his ears look good. No problems observed by the ENT. Dr. Dean told Jeff that Henry's sensory experience is probably quite different from his pre-tube experience b/c he can hear now w/o the sound being muffled. I suppose that was good news, except it also means that there's no easy fix to Henry's supposed behavioral issues.

On the way back home, Jeff took First Ave heading toward Wetmore, on which resides the restaurant Sweet Tomatoes. We rarely drive on First Ave with the kids except when going from the UofA to my parents' house. We haven't spent much time at the UofA this fall (once?) with the kids for weekend breakfasts. Jeff turned onto Wetmore. When he was a block from Sweet Tomatoes (too far to actually see the restaurant), Henry announced "Sweet Tomatoes!" Bizarre. He truly has an uncanny sense of geography.

Jeff picked up food from Jason's Deli. He and Henry visited Toys R Us while they waited for the food. The kids had a good dinner. Play time. Bath. Teeth. Bed.

On Thursday morning, I had a talk with Miss Stephanie. I was concerned about the so-called aggressive behavior. Whereas the previous day, I came away with the impression that something was wrong. I came away from this morning's conversation with the understanding that he was exhibiting behavior that was typical for his age. While I was talking to her, I witnessed a boy try to take a toy away from Henry, but Henry held his ground and didn't hit the kid who was in his face. The boy was pretty upset at not being able to steal the toy away. I told Miss Stephanie that I was concerned over the comments from the previous day. She said that kids sometimes act out more at school b/c the teachers are limited in how they "punish" the kids (e.g., they don't do timeouts).

In the afternoon, Grammy and Poppy picked up the kids. The kids had had a good day. When they got home, we played in the train room. Read books. Teeth and bed.

I'm very much looking forward to our trip on Saturday. I think that we are going to have a great time.

Two Events: Case Transfer and IEP

On Monday, the kids went over to Grammy and Poppy's house after school. I had a busy day of meetings at school. Jeff and I met up at the Oracle View and saw "District 9." Then, Jeff got the kids.

On Tuesday, I took the kids to school in the morning and rushed back to make a webinar at 9AM. Jeff and I went to meet with a person from the school system about Henry's entrance into their program. She had us fill out forms and explained their services. At age 3, kids are discharged from "early intervention" and the school system takes over the services.

Our son's developmental coordinator was there with results from a test that she did over the telephone with me. I wasn't keen on the test b/c it wanted yes/no responses, where half the time I felt "sometimes" was the correct answer.

I told the school district person that our concerns were primarily fine and gross motor oriented. The most pressing concerns are the continued toe-walking and holding of the right arm into the body when running.

The EI coordinator basically said that he was fine (around 50th percentile in most areas). Look at the yes/no test. Blah, blah, blah. The school district person told her that the test she had used was unreliable, especially with gross and fine motor skills.

Long story short, we have to get his hearing tested and we have to have the opthamalogist send the eye report. Once received, Lisa, the school district person, will schedule a 1.5 hour evaluation with their on-site PT, OT, and ST. Had we known that we needed the reports, we would have copied the eye exam from November. Per the EI coordinator's directions (which didn't mention the hearing or eye exams needed), we brought his birth certificate, proof of residency, and vaccination records. Turns out Lisa didn't need all of that until he is officially in their system.

We've been trying to get an OT evaluation for the past 6 weeks through our son's former OT, but her office isn't returning calls in a timely fashion. I've been leaving messages. They don't pick up their telephone. The OT's office finally got ahold of the EI coordinator to make sure that the state would pay for the exam. But the person from the OT's office insisted that we wanted a feeding evaluation, which confused the heck out of the EI coordinator, who really doesn't know Henry well. I was floored. Where did the person get that from? The OT's office was under the impression that Henry had serious feeding issues (he doesn't...that was 2 years ago; we just need a fine motor exam) and yet they've been dragging their feet making an appointment. What the heck? If a child was having serious feeding issues, wouldn't it make sense to call the parents right away? Geez. I mean, thank goodness that our son doesn't have those issues now, but I'm still frustrated that this is how "the system" works. What happens to kids whose parents aren't as proactive as we are? Do the kids just starve while the OT's office staff just sit on their behinds? I'm so disappointed in the OT's office that we decided to have the school district do the OT evaluation. Besides, it will give us a chance to have someone evaluate Henry with fresh eyes.

The school district person was very focused on speech. It truly isn't a concern of ours, which surprised her. She said that almost all of the kids that they see have speech issues. Based on their rules, he'll have to have an ST evaluation, which he hasn't had since 9-10 months adjusted. We think that he's ahead on speech, but our parental goggles could probably use a cleaning.

In order to qualify for the program, he has to be "delayed" in 2 areas. Given our specific concerns, I walked out of the meeting telling Jeff that Henry isn't going to qualify. I doubt that they will consider his issues enough of a concern to be in the program. He toe walks, but he can walk. He holds his arm in an unique way, but he *can* use both sides. He has some issue undressing (e.g. can't take off shirt consistently, doesn't take off socks by himself).

My biggest general concern is that I want to make sure that if he were to develop other issues down the road, he'd be able to get into the program. I reiterated that there was empirical evidence to suggest that micropreemie problems (or VLBW problems in general) often don't rear their ugly heads until later. The school district person seemed sensitive to that concern. Her eyes popped a bit when she saw the birth weight at 570 grams. She implied that evaluations could also be done later if there was a need. So that was good.

After the meeting, Jeff and I went to lunch and then did some Christmas shopping. We picked up Henry at school. Miss Marisa told Jeff that Miss Stephanie had reported that Henry was aggressive today (pushing and shoving). I believe that Marisa doesn't watch Henry's class until 3:30PM. She said that she hadn't witnessed any problems. In the car, Henry said that his ears hurt and he stuck his fingers in his ears. We were wondering if that spurred his bad temper. He could also be learning from others. I've noticed that a couple kids in his class are hitters.

Miss R arrived home shortly after we did. She was happy to see us. No problems there.

Today makes the official transfer date of Miss R's case from CPS to St. Nicholas. We haven't heard anything, but I suspect that a case manager hasn't been assigned yet.

Henry and Miss R didn't eat much at dinner. Henry wanted to finish watching Treasure Island. He liked the scene where the pirates are chasing young Jim. Henry landed in timeout three times. He tried to hit Miss R. After being in timeout, he tried to take an unopen snack from her. He was just not in a good frame of mind.

Miss R and I talked with Aunt Carolyn. Then it was teeth and bed.

"I want to go back to timeout."

Timeouts simply don't work as they should when it comes to Henry. Poppy told me that on Saturday night, Jeff had put Henry in timeout upon pick up b/c Henry was not cooperating. As usual, he wanted to stay at Grammy and Poppy's house. As they walked out to the car afterward, Henry turned around and headed back inside announcing that he wanted to "go back to timeout." Obviously, we need to figure out a new discliplnary deterent.

On Sunday morning, everyone slept in. It was nice. We sat at the table for breakfast, which is a novelty. Usually, the kids are in their high chairs in the kitchen, and Jeff and I stand near them eating.

At the table, the kids had a loud "Yes!" "No!" battle. I asked Miss R what was in her cup. She pretty much answered everything under the sun BUT the real substance...milk.

KATE: What's in your cup?
MISS R: Henry!
HENRY: That's silly, R.

Watching Henry put together concepts has been an amazing experience. His grasp of the abstract is much more advanced than I would have anticipated for a 2 year old.

Jeff took the kids for a walk.

Getting them down for a nap was trying. Jeff put them in their room around 12:15-12:30PM. They were still yammering at 1:40PM...which is approximately when Henry fell asleep, I think. I don't think that Miss R slept at all. That was a problem b/c I was supposed to meet up with a friend in the afternoon. We were going to take the kids to the Desert Museum. But we worked around their nap schedules and did Zoo Lights instead.

In the evening, we had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. The kids like the table, I believe. At least it is something different.

In the car, Henry announced that his finger hurt and it had cactus in it. I'm pretty sure that he was fibbing. He then claimed his shoulder hurt. It was a ruse to get out of his car seat. He yelled, "R, don't touch me!" as though Miss R had invaded his space. In reality, I "think" that his hand was on her carseat, so I can hardly blame her for pushing it away. We met up with our friends Carolyn, Zak, and Adelyn at the Tucson Zoo around 7PM. The place was filled with lights. Adelyn is 21 months old...a great age for Miss R and Henry. The kids enjoyed the lights. We enjoyed watching the kids. The biggest hit was the empty stage in a grassy area. The kids danced on the stage and jumped off it.


Henry also enjoyed tipping over a very large air filled snow globe. The evening ended with the kids fighting over a tractor ride (the kind where you put in 25 cents). Adelyn wasn't thrilled to have Henry bustle his way onto the seat. Henry didn't want to share with Miss R, and he wasn't releasing his place to let Adelyn back aboard either. We'll have to work harder in 2010 on the concept of sharing. That can be Henry's first New Year's resolution. Miss R was pretty chill. I don't think that she gave two hoots about the tractor. Henry, on the other hand, gave his rather fake cry with his mouth downturned as we left the zoo. I think that we were the last ones to leave. Despite the tearful ending, we had a good time and are thinking of returning one of the evenings.

Miss R fell asleep in the car. Henry kept trying to wake her up. "Wake up, R! Wake up, R! It's green" (referring to the traffic light). "Wake up, R! It's time for breakfast!" (a bit of a fib). I put her to bed easily when we returned home. Henry stayed up and looked at ads with me. He loves the Sunday paper for that reason. Then Jeff read him a Disney story.

We've decided to change our spontaneous trip to San Diego to a trip to Disneyland. We've decided that we'll just do Disneyland, nothing else. Keep it simple. Not try to do too much each day. I think that both kids will love the characters. They already have several favorites. That leaves us with five days to get the house ready for the holidays so that things will be ready when we get back.

Playing with Other Children

On Friday, Henry and Miss R went over to Grammy and Poppy's house in the late afternoon. Grammy and Poppy took them across the street to play with some other neighborhood grand kids. The kids across the street are a bit older (7, 8, 9 years old). Poppy said that they were perplexed and amused by Henry's boldness. He took a jump rope and tried to swing an end. He also showed them how he could jump. Miss R rode a trike.

I picked up the kids after my final exam (given on a Friday night between 5-7PM). The exam went well, other than a do-do blurting out some answers as I was explaining the fill-in-the-blanks. Sigh. I don't think that it was intentional...the gal just doesn't know how to think or when to keep her trap shut. I don't think that anyone cheated, which is a relief. I really didn't want to have to deal with the extra paperwork involved in dealing with lapses of integrity.

When I arrived, Henry and Miss R had just had their diapers changed. Miss R greeted me with the usual enthusiasm. She is an excellent greeter. Henry's mood ranged from indifferent to wanting me to go away so that he could stay at Grammy's house. In the car, he said, "I don't like Mommy. I don't like Mommy. I don't like Mommy. I want to go back to Grammy's house." On the ride home, I asked him about his day. He said that Aidan had taken his book and Alex had hit him. Then he said that Alex had taken a book, so I don't know if it was true or made up.

On Saturday, Jeff made the kids French toast. He took care of the kids in the morning while I attended the funeral for the mother of a former colleague who is perhaps the nicest, most genuine fellow whom I've ever met. Two of my current colleagues were there. One of them sang one of the hymns, which was nice. My parents were unable to attend b/c my dad was giving a speech to a political group in town.

I stopped by my parents' house on the way home. The funeral had been had my childhood parish, not far from their house. They had just returned. They ended up meeting Jeff and the kids at Costco. Costco is one of Henry's favorite stores (after Barnes & Noble, Toys R Us, Trader Joe's, and Walgreen's). Henry can identify the names/logos of many stores. The boy loves to shop. The other day, he told me that he wanted to go to Walgreen's. "Walgreen's make me feel better," he said. I don't know if he said that b/c shopping generally makes him feel better or if it has to do with us getting our pharmaceuticals there.

The grandparents took Henry and Miss R after the shopping excursion. They played outside a lot today. Jeff picked them up. When they got home, I read them "Mickey Mouse and the Haunted House."

Then it was teeth and bed. I'm staying up grading exams tonight. Fun, fun.

Broken Glasses

On Tuesday, Jeff picked up Henry while I waited for Miss R to arrive home. She was dropped off early. Turns out that the sibling visits are only one hour and not two. Jeff made a delicious pasta and vegetable dinner for us. It was a nice, not particularly eventful evening.

On Wednesday, Grammy and Poppy picked up the kids after school. Apparently, Henry had snapped his glasses in half a naptime. Luckily, the shop said that they are under warranty, which is nice. The kids had a good time with Grammy and Poppy. Miss R was happy to see me when I arrived to pick them up. Henry was cordial but didn't want to come home.

On Thursday morning, we had a visit from Miss R's new CPS caseworker who was Carmen's supervisor. Carmen's cases were switched over to a person named Katie. She was nice. She's switching the case over to St. Nicholas. I'm not exactly sure how this works or why the system is set up as it is, but the only agency that handles adoptions in our area is St. Nicholas of Myra, which is a catholic services organization. Basically, we will be assigned a new caseworker who will vet us, I guess. Apparently, they usually go with CPS' recommendation. CPS is recommending us as the permanent home for Miss R. An aunt from another state left one message with the CPS workers, but they have not heard from her since. So she's a big question mark. Katie said that they usually don't get as excited about distant family members who don't seem to have a bond with a child who come into the picture as a last resort option. Miss R's lawyer said something similar the second time that he visited Miss R. He said that when family members come into the picture at the last minute, the impression given is that they are doing it because they "have" to, not because they really "want" to. He wants children going to homes where they are wanted. Things look positive, but we know that things aren't final until the judge says so.

Katie hadn't seen Miss R in a long time. She'd seen her a long time ago during one of the supervised visits at the CPS office. Katie's short observation of the kids was fairly representative of their true relationship. When she arrived, she witnessed Henry taking a card from Miss R's hands, Miss R getting upset, me telling Henry that we don't take objects from others w/o permission and that he had to give it back and apologize. She also saw them laugh and dive into the ball pitt together. As I said, a fairly representative snipet of what their relationship is like.

I took the kids to daycare right before their lunch times. Their time at daycare was relatively short, but gave me some time to get some things done.

We had a visit from Alison, our family specialist from APTCH, in the late afternoon. She's preparing the paperwork for St. Nick's. It will be similar to our foster parent home study, but this one will be particularly tailored for Miss R. Jeff picked up the kids and Henry was pleased to see her when he got home. He walked up to her and said "Let's check the house," which is what she does every visit. Makes sure medicines are locked up and that we have locks on the cabinets.

Alison wanted to know if we wanted to foster other children. Right now, our car situation is a limitation. Jeff really wants a Prius. He thinks that we can fit three cars seats in the back of one. I'm doubtful. Apparently, there was a baby who needed a home. Alison had thought of us, but wasn't sure that we entertaining the idea of more kids yet. It's an open question.

I made pizza tonight. I had Henry help me roll out the premade dough, put sauce on the dough, put cheese on the dough, and then lay out the pepperoni on one side. I had Miss R help me with putting mushrooms on the otherside and then putting the pan in the oven. Jeff made a fire after dinner. The kids loved it. He had to tell Henry to not touch it several times.

Henry wanted to play dress up. He announced that he wanted to be a princess. This probably had something to do with us watching Snow White before and during dinner. At one point, he wanted to be the princess. But then he wanted to kiss the princess.

Both kids did a great job letting us brush their teeth. Henry then wanted to brush our teeth. Henry brushed my teeth, and Miss R brushed Jeff's. They didn't make too much of a mess, but they did almost gag us a couple times. Then it was bedtime.

Black Out!

On Monday, Jeff picked up the kids and they went to Sunflower (organic grocery store). Henry liked the rain drops in the parking lot. When they got home, Henry rediscovered the Yoda hat that Jamie made him last year. He even called it the Yoda hat, even though he hadn't seen it in several months. After dinner, Jeff gave them a bath. He put them in very cute PJs. Henry didn't want to be in PJs though. He announced that he wanted a night gown. So Jeff got the smallest t-shirt that he could find and gave it to Henry. Miss R wore dinosaur jammies. By the time I came home, they were in bed.

It was very windy night. When I went to bed, it was raging. I could see the windows shake in their frames. We had a blackout around 3:30PM or so. I woke up with a start and found Jeff missing. He was dealing with our alarm system that was beeping. There's a battery for it but it was running low. Thank goodness for flashlights. Jeff had seen a transmitter box blow outside on the mainroad.

On Tuesday morning, the kids looked super cute as we headed out the door. Henry is fond of my childhood sunglasses.










I took the kids to Gadabout for haircuts. Grammy had a 9AM appointment with Todd. I had scheduled a 10AM appointment for Miss R with Tammy...completely independent of Grammy's haircut. It worked out really well. While Grammy got her haircut, we threw many pennies in the water fountain. We visited the wall of water in the waiting area, and the kids hid behind the two-stories tall curtains. Henry got his haircut by Todd (haircut number 3). This time, he sat in the chair all by himself rather than on Grammy's lap.

Miss R had her very first haircut. When I called the Gadabout office, they recommended Tammy who works with kids and has experience with African-American hair. Miss R was fabulous. She sat in the chair like a trooper. I think that Tammy was impressed with Miss R's patience. I was pleased that Tammy thought that Miss R's hair felt pretty good. It is nice to know that we've been doing a good job with a hair type with which we had no prior experience. Upon getting Miss R, I called my friend Brenda and asked her what I needed to know about African-American hair. We've been using Nexxus' Humectress during bath time and have only been shampooing once every two weeks. We also have the Humectress leave-in conditioner to wet and style her hair in the mornings. I also use an olive oil spray. The needs of AA hair are completely different from white hair. Tammy recommended doing as little styling as possible as Miss R's particular kind of hair is very fine and fragile. The haircut looks really good. Everything is even now. And Miss R was really great about having someone cut her hair.

Grammy took Henry to Trader Joe's while Miss R had her hair cut. We met up at Grammy and Poppy's house. Miss R had a scone. Then, it was off to school. Henry didn't want to go. When we arrived, he said, "I don't like my friends." "I don't like..." has been a common phrase the past couple weeks. Don't know where he got it. At times, he has said, "I don't like Mommy...," "I don't like Daddy...," "I don't like Grammy...," etc. So far, I think that Poppy is the only one not on the "don't like" list. In fact, this morning on the way to Gadabout, Henry said, "I like Poppy." Anyway, I told Henry that he had to stay.

MISS STEPHANIE: Henry, don't you want toys for Christmas?
HENRY: Toys!
MISS STEPHANIE: Well then, Mommy has to go to work to make money so that she can buy you toys.

Henry got down and sat at the table. I was allowed to leave to make my fortune to buy him presents.

When I got home, Elsa from Project Amor called. We have a meeting with the school system next week. Since she doesn't visit us and doesn't know Henry well, she had several questions to ask about him.

There are some things that he doesn't do well in the area of fine motor skills (e.g. taking off articles of clothing). But on the social and communication indices, he was doing some of the items on the set for 48 month olds. I think that he is advanced in those areas, but I'm not convinced that he's really at at a 48 month level. One item was "Can your child speak between 300-1,000 words?" He was over 350 words 7 months ago when I stopped counting. He's probably beyond 1,000 words by now.

I called the OT's office a month ago to get an evaluation for him. I would have liked that to have taken place BEFORE talking with the school system next week. But the OT hasn't called us back. I sent an email. No response. Left yet another message. I don't know what's going on with that office. Fine motor is the one area where I would like to see his skills assessed. And of course, we still have the toe walking issue being handled by the PT.

That's all for now. Back to work...

A Great Day

On Saturday, Jeff took care of the kids when they woke up from their nap. I was zonked out. I think that I was fighting whatever Jeff and the kids had had the days before. The evening was nice.

On Sunday, we had a really great day. The kids slept in past 8AM. We had French toast for breakfast. We gave the kids a bath, which was needed after Henry spilled OJ all over himself.

Then, we took the kids to Golf'N'Stuff for a nice event sponsored by the CASA program. Miss R's CASA had invited us. They gave us tokens for the games and wrist bands for unlimited play on the outdoor rides. The kids were too small for most of them, but we did fit in a bumper boat ride.
















The kids also saw Santa Claus. Miss R was thrilled with her candy cane from his elf. The kids rode a little carousel several times.

We attempted to play miniature golf. The kids decided that using their hands was the way to go. We walked the course more than played it. We had pizza for lunch. The elf went around to the tables and made balloon animals for the kids. All of the kids were given Teddy Bears too. Ida, Miss R's CASA, was amused that Henry chose the pink bear. What can I say? Henry really likes the color pink. Miss R chose a brown bear.

We didn't leave 2:30PM or so. After Ida left and the event had officially ended, we continued to play games in the arcade. We amassed tickets with which we purchased two hackie sacks and two bracelets. Henry decided to wear his as a necklace. The kids fell asleep in the car on the way to Grammy and Poppy's house. We dropped them off around 3:15PM.





Jeff and I stopped by the Glass Onion for an early dinner. We didn't really eat much at the event. A blue grass group called "The Old Buzzards" was performing, so we had our lunch there and listened to some music. I was fascinated by the washtub instrument.

We came home. Jeff straightened out some things outside. I did some work. We watched almost all of 10,000 B.C. while I did some things on my laptop. Then, my parents brought the kids back.

They had eaten well for my parents. They were in great moods. We played in the train room. I convinced Henry to play a new game called "How Quickly Can You Pick This Up." Miss R decided not to play. We read "The Great Snail Race." Then it was teeth and bed for the kids. Jeff and I watched Gran Torino. Two movies in one day! I was working through them, but still. It was nice.

Happy kids. Happy parents. A great day.

Up

Henry and I slept in. Miss R and Jeff started their day at a normal hour. The big event today was taking the kids to see Up. It was playing at a second-run theater near the Tucson Mall. This was our first adventure taking the kids to see a movie on the "big screen."

We got there a little after it had started but given the number of previews, I don't think that we missed much. Cost: $2 for all four of us. We've wondered how they make money. We bought $11.20 worth of refreshments (1 large lemonade, 1 medium popcorn, and a soft pretzel). Still don't know how they make money.

We started off in a row about 1/3 back from the screen. Eventually, Henry wanted to explore, so he got past Jeff and walked down the aisle. I managed to follow him, and he and I sat in the front row for several minutes. Jeff and Miss R eventually joined us. All in all, the kids were quite good, but they did pace up and down the front and tried out several seats. I had to stop Henry from making one seat squeak as he tried to fold himself into it, which he enjoyed.

We were surprised that the kids made it through the entire movie...especially one that they hadn't seen before. We find that they pay attention more to things with which they are already familiar. I think that Henry enjoyed it a bit more than Miss R, but both did good jobs.

We had planned to take the kids to see "The Princess and the Frog," which opens next week. I've been particularly excited by that one b/c the heroine is black. Finally, a Disney movie with a black princess! Having Miss R in our lives makes me a bit sensitive to things. I think that I've mentioned this before, but I feel awkward buying Disney products with all white characters (e.g., her princess underware has Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel on it). Not that I'm claiming that she needs all black or mostly black characters, but some major characters should be black. A mix is needed.

I'm not sure if we are going to take them next weekend to see the movie next week or if we are going to wait until it hits the second-run theaters. They do like to walk around a lot, and we would expect a first-run theater to be much more crowded than what we experienced today.

As we got in the car, Henry announced that he "want to go to Sweet Potatoes!" He meant "Sweet Tomatoes." We've take the kids there maybe two or three times, so I'm surprised that he remembered its name. Moreover, I was surprised that he mentioned it b/c it wasn't far from where we were but not visible from our location. Henry has an amazing sense of geography. It's like he has an internal GPS or something. Where he got it is a mystery! He didn't get it from me, that's for sure.

We went to "Sweet Tomatoes." The kids didn't eat as much as usual. The big item was that Henry and Miss R got their very own ice cream cones. I don't think that they've had their own ones before. Henry made a HUGE mess but had a lot of fun eating it. As we left, Henry and I had the following conversation:

KATE: Let's go home and take a nap.
HENRY: No!
KATE: Let's go home and close our eyes for three hours.
HENRY: OK.

We headed home. Now the kids are asleep.

Trader Joe's

Jeff and Miss R stayed home on Friday. Jeff said that they sat on the couch. He rested while Miss R climbed on him.

Henry marched onto the playground without glancing back at me this morning. I went to school, worked, made a hair appointment for Miss R, and then picked Henry up around 4:45PM. He was sitting at a table with his remaining classmates playing with legos. His back was to the door. I snuck up on him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled. I love his smile.

We went to Pearle Vision so that I could exchange my glasses. Henry tried out several pairs. He loves glasses, which I guess is a good thing. Then, we went to Trader Joe's. Henry loves Trader Joe's. He helped pick out several items and enjoyed taste testing. As much as Henry tires me out, I enjoy shopping with him. He makes mundane activities lively. He takes such pleasure in basic things like picking out fruit.

We had dinner and watched a little bit of Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone (Henry's choice of course). Miss R sat on me a bit. Then it was teeth and bed.

A Call from School

On Thursday morning, the dropoff at school wasn't so bad when it came to Henry. He was interested again in the snack, so he marched right to one of the tables in his classroom and sat down. Barely a backward glance for me.

With Miss R, it was another story. She has been very clingy and uncooperative lately. She was mad when I made her walk through the door of the daycare. Then she refused to walk down the hall. I said, "See you later, R." I was twenty feet away from her and she called my bluff. Sigh. She cried when I took her to her classroom.

At 3:15PM, the daycare called. Miss R had a temp of 101.7 under the arm and she'd been fairly lethargic all day. So I hustled down to pick up the kids. We had planned to take them to Monkey Business, but obviously Miss R couldn't go. So when arrived back home with the kids, Jeff took Henry for some one-on-one time. They brought Miss R a bracelet, which she liked, from the restaurant.

Miss R didn't act lethargic at home. She sneezed a lot though. Pretty much ever sneeze resulted in double-barreled snot cannons. I gave her a children's motrin to bring down her temp that was 100.3 under the arm at the time. It could be that the ear infection hasn't responded yet to the antibiotics. We started the antibiotics last night.

Miss R and I looked at pictures and made a new family photo for our holiday cards. I created a collage last weekend with a center picture of the four of us. I wrote to Miss R's new caseworked and asked permission for the family photo as it wouldn't go onto our website and would only be sent to family/friends via snail mail. But unfortunately, that was a no-go with CPS. So, I've made a new Henry 2009 collage instead. We decided not to have another photo taken of just Jeff, Henry, and me b/c it just wouldn't feel right to take a family photo without Miss R. We are keenly aware that she isn't legally ours, but she certainly feels like an integral part of the family at this moment in time.

Henry had a fabulous time with Jeff. They brought back pizza and mac'n'cheese from Monkey Business.

Henry wanted to turn on the lights to the Christmas tree. I told him that we still needed an extension cord. When Jeff came back into the kitchen, Henry said, "Daddy, I need you to get me an extention cord." I'm not sure that he really knew what one was, but it is amazing how closely he listens to me when he wants something done. Jeff did indeed find a cord.

We played a little in the living room. Then it was teeth and bed. Henry rode his Hippo to the bathroom. Miss R protested, so I carried her. She cried. Then Henry tried to throw a hissy fit as well. I told him to knock it off, and he did. I think that his acting skills in the tear department have improved considerably. He is no longer the world's worst actor...but as his mother I can still tell when he's faking.



After brushing his teeth, Henry announced that he wanted to wear a night gown. Unfortunately, his one night gown is too small for him and Miss R is now wearing it. He really, really wanted one, so I found a small t-shirt in my closet from my trip to China. It's a small for an adult, but Henry was swimming in it...but he was happy. I read the kids two stories before they went to sleep: "The Monster Under the Shed" and "Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash." After some light protests, the kids went to bed.

Jeff is beginning to not feel so well. His head is all stuffed up. I suspect that he is going to follow the same path as the kids. Miss R is going to be allowed back at school tomorrow. She doesn't have a fever now but she has to be fever-free for 24 hours. I suspect that Henry and I will be going to our respective schools. Hopefully, I won't be going down the same path as Jeff, but only time will tell.

Kids Don't Make Good Alarm Clocks

Our kids are always up before 7:30AM...at least one of them is. Jeff and I don't really sleep in on the weekends b/c someone is always up and ready to start their day.

I went to bed around 2AM. We are almost all aways up around 7AM. Jeff hears the kids, gets up to check on them and get them breakfast while I shower. We are out the door around 8AM. It works.

On Wednesday, I wake up to Jeff's voice. "Kate, it's 8:24AM. You didn't need to get to school right away, did you?" Unfortunately, I did. I teach late on Mondays and Wednesdays but I do have 10AM research team on Wednesdays. The kids were still asleep. A bit surprising given that they'd had a FOUR HOUR nap on Tuesday afternoon. Guess they were still recovering from whatever bug they've been fighting.

Miss R was upset that I abandoned her in the arms of her teacher. Henry was OK with me leaving. He sat down at his class table and waited for snack.

The kids went over to Grammy and Poppy's house in the afternoon. I believe that my parents picked them up after 4:30PM. They have playground time at 4PM that we don't like them to miss. Then, I arrived at the house at 6:15PM to get the kids. They hadn't had dinner yet. Poppy was gone at the b-ball game. Grammy was just getting their plates ready. Neither child ate much. Henry did OK. Miss R picked out her food for well over an hour. She is the slowest eater on the planet. A bit annoying considering that she probably only had a couple bites altogether. The kids were hyper while trying to round them up. They showed Grammy their Maniac dances.

Then, it was homeward bound. When Miss R saw our house, she yelled "To Daddy!" I asked Henry to say "Bonjourno, Papa!" to Jeff when he saw him. He said, "Say Bonjourno Papa"...wish that he'd left out the "say." Trying to convince Jeff that I should take up a 5-week teaching gig in Italy this summer, and we should take the kids there.

We played in the living room briefly. Then it was teeth and bed.

Sick Day

On Tuesday, both kids stayed home. We called CPS to cancel Miss R's sibling visit. I took the kids to Dr. Bianchi's. Dr. Bianchi said that Henry looked fine. He had felt warm when he first woke up. Miss R's fever came down but she wasn't feeling her best. Turns out that she has an infection in her right ear. So she's now on antibiotics (oral and eye drops). Grammy met me at the doctor's office so that I didn't have to do it alone.

Henry and Miss R enjoyed mini-burgers from Burger King for lunch. It's probably the first time in my life that I have personally drive a car through a Burger King drive-thru. I did it b/c Henry had announced that he wanted french fries. Given that the kids have been sick, I was happy that they had expressed interest in food.

The kids got put down for their nap by Jeff at 1PM. I left at 1:30PM for a meeting at school. The kids didn't wake up until 5PM.

After dinner, we played in the living room. The kids tackled Jeff. Then, we played dress up with slippers and a purple tutu and beads. Henry looked lovely. He was gracious about sharing the costume with Miss R. Years from now, I'm quite sure that he'll wonder what the heck Jeff and I were thinking for let him dress up as a ballerina. As of yet, we haven't instituted firm gender rules about dress. I'd rather that he grow up with a progressive outlook on colors anyway.

It's been a week since Henry had his ear tubes put in. Whenever Jeff gives Henry his ear drops, Henry tells him "I'm all better..." as an argument for no longer needing the drops. He's such a smart boy. All in all, he hasn't fought the drops as much as I would have expected.

The kids continue to be fascinated with Lily's kennel. They climb into the kennel, close the door, and announce that they are going to some location (Costco, Toys R Us, etc.) . They've also discovered how to swing from the top of the cage. I told Henry that he was a monkey. When I came back from getting the camera, Henry announced that he was the "Jungle VIP" (straight from King Louie's song in The Jungle Book).

Tomorrow, the kids will start back at school.