To Grammy and Poppy's House We Go

This afternoon, I took Miss R to Borders while Henry took his nap. I think that Miss R enjoyed the one-on-one time. I bought her a cookie and chocolate milk after we picked out some books. She ended up eating my rice crispy treat before eating her cookie. She looked happy. And very cute in her new braids.

Early this evening, we went over to Grammy and Poppy's house for dinner and swimming. We took the dogs with us.



We hadn't seen my parents in a couple weeks. My mom had an infection last week that prevented her third taxol treatment and kept her quarantined to her house. She's made a recovery and "gets" to resume chemo tomorrow. As the kids, Jeff, and I were healthy, we got to visit, which was fantastic.

Henry, especially, has been missing Grammy and Poppy. In fact, Jeff told me that this afternooon, Henry was looking at a block that we pulled out for Baby A. It has pictures of family members on each of the faces. It was a block that Jeff made for Henry when he was a baby. Anyway, Henry looked at the block and saw a picture of Poppy. Then, he suddenly look sad. Jeff said he went off to the side. Henry didn't cry, but Jeff said it was like he needed "a moment" to gather himself.

The kids weren't shy about the pool. They plopped onto the first step without any inhibitions. My mom held Baby A and rocked her on a poolside bench, while my dad and Jeff took the kids into the water. I was in a swim suit but pretty much just dangled my feet into the water and took pictures of everyone. Henry did very well, but once again, his lack of body fat meant that he got the chills relatively quickly. Miss R stayed in the pool for about 10-15 minutes longer than Henry did. She really enjoyed it when Jeff and Poppy pushed her around in her pink dolphin.

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Here's a picture of my parent's cute dog Winston:
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And here's a picture that I took of Poppy:
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I think that Jeff was disappointed because our dogs showed absolutely no interest in the water. He was hoping that Lily would show some lab initiative. Lily behaved herself during the entire visit.

It was really nice being with my parents. Unfortunately, we aren't going to be able to resume grandparent pickups from daycare in the afternoons for awhile. My mom really needs to make it through her chemo treatments before we do those again. The kids (especially because they are in daycare) pose some risks, which would be careless to take. My mom's current situation isn't unlike the situation we were in when Henry came home from the NICU. I know that being quarantined isn't fun for my mom. At least when Henry came home, he wasn't missing things that he hadn't yet experienced. I'm hoping that we can get a video camera set up at my mom's computer so that we can teleconference with her. That way, Henry would get to see and not just hear her every day.

In a random bit of news, this afternoon, I came across a craigslist posting for a Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machine. It is a 1/2 size machine. The poster claims it doesn't take up too much room and is in great working condition. I really wanted it, but Jeff came me the "Where are we going to put it?" line along with the "there my wife goes again with her crazy ideas" eye roll. Anyway, I mentioned it to my mom and she said we could put it at their place. So I contacted the poster via email and her husband will be calling me tomorrow! I'm really excited over this future purchase.

That's about it from here. Everyone is asleep, which is where I'm heading.

The Yellow Waterfall

In the late afternoon on Sunday, I took Henry and Miss R to see Shrek Forever After. The kids were great and they enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed it too, but I assume that the whole alternate life plot would have been a bit confusing for the kids to understand. The theme of the movie is that time gets altered and Shrek gets to see what his life was like if he hadn't saved Princess Fiona.

On Monday morning, Jeff was taking care of Baby A. He'd actually fallen asleep with her on the couch. I got up when I heard Henry having a nightmare. He calmed down when I got into bed with him and snuggled. He shouts and cries during his dreams. He wanted his Daddy but I was glad that he was willing to use me as a substitute!

I put Henry in big boy underwear. I should have sent him to the potty every hour. Yesterday, I wrote "...Henry actually used the toilet. Maybe he will get toilet trained by summer's end. Hope I didn't just jinx us by writing that." Yes indeed. I had jinxed myself. Mid-morning, he decided to pee at the top of the slide in the living room. The top landing of the slide caught most of it, but part of it did run down the slide like a water fall. I told Henry not to move, while I got paper towels and disinfectant wipes from the kitchen. In my absence, Henry decided to stomp in his puddle, which made a bit of a splatter. I was a tad vexed.

So Henry and Miss R got showers mid-morning. Then, I did Miss R's hair. I made my first earnest attempt at cornrows, not just a couple braids. 14 braids in an hour and a half. Miss R fell asleep during the last part of the braiding.

Henry stayed up while Miss R slept. Jeff made him a peanut butter and jelly bagel. Henry announced that he wanted the Charlie Brown peanut butter. Jeff had no idea what he was talking about. Turns out that there is a tiny Charlie Brown figure on the label of Skippy peanut butter. Henry sometimes pays attention to details.

Spending the Summer Holiday at the Splash Pad

This morning, the kids got up early. I wish that they'd get up so easily on days when we truly need to get them out the door. I made them pancakes. Henry had four of them. Miss R wasn't that keen on them; she picked at hers. Later in the morning, they fought over a non-existent cup of coffee. It is amazing how they can convince themselves that imaginary objects are real (or close to real).

Fortunately, the fight over the "coffee" was broken up when I announced that we needed to head out the door to go to the Splash Pad to meet Adelyn and her family. When we arrived at the Splash Pad, Henry and Miss R were very cute holding hands. They played on the slides for awhile. Once Adelyn arrived, we made our way to the Splash Pad.

I pretty sure that I ended up getting more wet than the kids. I was trying to take pictures of them and a couple buckets came down near me. We probably didn't splash around for more than 20 minutes. Henry's lack of padding makes it very easy for him to get the chills. Darn 6.8 BMI. Miss R had a good time, but once she saw that Henry wanted a towel, she wanted one too. After drying off, the kids headed back to the playsets for a spell. They were very entertained by the wood chips around the equipment and pretended that they were sausage. For some reason, they decided that they wanted to make sausage.





















Baby A pretty much slept the entire time as she seems to do whenever we are outside. Right before we left the park, she woke up and wanted a bottle. As Jeff took the toddlers to the car and changed them, I sat on the ground and gave her the bottle, which she sucked down in about 5-7 minutes. She actually drank the whole thing, which is fabulous.

After our time at the park, we took the kids to Village Inn. As Jeff put it, there weren't as badly behaved as he would have expected. Henry found a little nook that he called a timeout chair. He tried to send Jeff to it once. He also announced during the meal that he had to pee. His timing is impeccable. Much to Jeff's surprise, Henry actually used the toilet. Maybe he will get toilet trained by summer's end. Hope I didn't just jinx us by writing that.

Lettuce Makes Henry Sad

Miss R was up and about while Henry took his nap. I think that she rather enjoyed some alone time in the afternoon with us. She basically puttered around and had a fabulous time doing it. She told Jeff that "Princess Jasmine pooped in her pants" and then tried to pawn off her Jasmine doll to Jeff who played along and said "I'm not changing Jasmine. You change Jasmine." She played cook and made us several rounds of "burgers" and "coffee." She had fun walking toward our room, then shrieking at the top of her lungs and running into the living room proclaiming she was scared and something about a monster. And she had fun learning to zerbert Jeff (zerberting = using one's mouth on the skin to simulate gaseous noises...a very high culture activity).

Baby A was active in the late afternoon. She woke up from her nap and downed a 5 oz bottle, which is as large a bottle as she's ever had in one sitting. She spit up a little. And she is still having some back-end issues. I don't think that she's becoming dehydrated, and she is acting happy and active, so we'll wait until Tuesday to call the doctor unless things change for the worse. As she is currently on a hypoallergenic formula, I'm not sure where we go from here. She spent about 15 minutes on her stomach doing tummy time. She managed to turn herself 180 degrees during that time. I suspect that she'll be an early crawler.

When Henry woke up, he was in a happy mood. He and Miss R had fun running around together. They took turns closing themselves in the mini-foldout couch that Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian got Henry for his birthday.

Jeff took the dogs for a walk and ran into our neighbors. Hal and Swanee brought back I LOVE NY t-shirts for the kids (for Baby A, they got a onesie). Today was a fabulous clothes day for the kids as a package from Aunt Jennifer arrived with outfits for each of them. For Henry, it was a Buzz Lightyear shirt and shorts. He wore the shirt today. Not the shorts though. He decided it was casual Saturday and ran around in his Buzz Lightyear underwear instead. For Miss R, there is a fancy long shirt with pants, which will look fantastic on her. And for Baby A, a Winnie the Pooh onesie, which is super cute.

Henry and Miss R resisted the quiche tonight, even though I called it "Captain Hook's Quiche." They also rejected their small lettuce salads. In fact, Henry spit out a piece of his lettuce and then spit on the remaining lettuce on his plate. At one point, he had the following conversation with Jeff at the dinner table:

HENRY: I'm sad.
JEFF: What makes you sad?
HENRY: Lettuce.

It took some work getting the kids to bed. But I put Baby A down when she wasn't fully asleep. I read that it was important to get kids to fall asleep themselves, something that we didn't do with Henry until he was older.

Henry did his usual round of stall techniques. He got me to get extra ice cubes for his water. I told him that we were going to the Splash Pad tomorrow and maybe a movie. He said that he didn't want to go to the movie because it was too scary...as if Henry is ever really scared of anything. I told him that it was the new Shrek movie, so he decided that he wants to see it.

"Yes, sir!"

Last night, Henry said "Yes, sir!" when I asked him to do something. And he said it to Jeff as well. Who is this kid who seemingly responds to orders? Where did he learn that? Is he for real or just mocking us, which is quite possible?

This morning (Saturday), Miss R was up first. She climbed into bed and snuggled with me. Then, Baby A got up. Then, Henry. So much for sleeping in on a holiday weekend. Henry joined Miss R and me in bed, while Jeff fed Baby A. Henry tried to snuggle with Miss R, but she was peeved that he had interrupted mommy-daughter time and was kind of mean to him. So I ended up snuggling with him, which made her even more upset. She then tried to kick Henry with all her might. I'm quite her intentions were not noble, but Henry interpreted her aggression as a sign of play fighting. The problem is that she focuses on the word "fight" out of play fight, and Henry focuses on the word "play." Henry reached out and barely grazed her shoulder (in fact, I don't think there was actual contact), and that sent Miss R into hysterics. Sigh. The tension was broken by breakfast. Jeff had made the kids fabulous waffles in our new waffle maker.

We pretty much just hung out in the living room and played. We were going to go to the Splash Pad at Brandi Fenton. Miss R, however, threw a tantrum and did her high pitched modulating crying, which landed her in timeout. When Jeff went to retrieve her, she was asleep sitting up. I don't think getting up early agreed with her. So we'll be meeting up with friends at the Splash Pad tomorrow instead.

While Miss R napped in the timeout chair (a cushy rocking chair...not exactly a punishment), Henry played in the ball pit, practicing his pitching. His goal was to throw the balls through the window of the playhouse. He also said "Yes, sir!" again to Jeff, which surprised me. He had me read "Bambi Grows Up" to him, but he wanted Bambi's name replaced with Captain Jack and Thumper's name replaced with Captain Hook. For some reason, this entertains him. At one point, he ran into our room and put his face next to Miss R's and said "I love you, R!" He threw a tantrum when I carted him out of the room so that she wouldn't be wakened prematurely.

At the moment, Miss R is up and I believe "helping" Jeff in the kitchen. Henry is taking a nap, having made his usual round of stall requests, which again included having to "pee in the potty." Jeff asked, "Should I let him?" I said yes b/c I figure that we have to get him to do these potty events when he is willing...even if it is a stall technique.

Yo Ho!

On Thursday afternoon, we had a visit from Christy, Miss R's caseworker from St. Nick's. Nothing particularly exciting to report. The kids were cute, but that isn't news. She asked if we were going to try to get Baby A's brother. Her brother is with St. Nick's not CPS as the parents' rights were severed November/December, which is why Christy knows about the brother. I said that I'd left several messages with his caseworker, but she hadn't returned my calls and that if I left any more messages, I'd look like a stalker (I'd left about four over a two-week period). She said that one of their former caseworkers had left, so that the brother's caseworker was pretty overwhelmed with work, but she'd mention to her that we are interested.

After Christy left, we let the kids watch Shrek 2, which they really liked. Henry sang a good part of the "Yo Ho!" song from Peter Pan all by himself. When I pulled out the camera, he forgot the words of course.

On Friday, the kids had Water Day at school. They wore their swim suits and had fun outside. I think that the teachers pull out hoses and put on the misters, etc. The kids were in very good moods when we picked them up. We picked them up at 5:15PM...after Jeff and I had gone on a date to see Iron Man 2.

We took them to Costco. Henry told Daddy that's where he got his Buzz Lightyear DVD, which is true. I took him to Costco last month and got him that DVD. Completely surprised that he remembered where we had bought it.

This evening, we bought the DVD of Toy Story and watched it. Henry wanted more TV, but we wouldn't let him watch more than one movie. So he threw a tantrum. But I tickled him and kissed him, and he seemed to forget about the DVD. He and Miss R took showers before bed, which they seem to like. Much easier to shower them than bathe them.

In other news, I received an annoying call from CPS this morning. [NOTE: Rant to follow.]

CPS person: Hello, this is __(caseworker's secretary)__ from CPS. Is this Kate?
KATE: Yes.
CPS person: Are you the foster parent of the __(baby's last name)__ baby?
KATE: Yes.
CPS person: Could you tell us why she isn't at daycare right now so that she can be taken to her visit?
KATE: She had her visitation yesterday.
CPS person: Well, she is going to have two visits per week.
KATE: First of all, we were never informed of the change in the visitation schedule. And second, if that is case, the baby will need to be picked up at our house, just like she is picked up on Thursdays.
CPS person: Oh. Well, I will have to have __(caseworker's name)__ call you back.

Surprise, surprise. The caseworker never called us back. Moreover, our family specialist at A Place to Call Home left several messages for the CPS caseworker last week and this week, but her calls were never returned. If the caseworker actually returned a telephone call (gasp), she could have passed along this information. Yet another example of how screwed up the system is. I know that they are overloaded, but some simple demonstrations in competency could improve their efficiency so that they could handle their caseloads.

Then add to that picture the whole situation with Baby A's brother. It is incredibly hard to find households that are willing to take two siblings. Very hard. Here Jeff and I are, entertaining this possibility, and we can't get a callback. As I said when we were first contacted about the brother before he was disrupted from his previous foster home, we wanted to spend a day with him and just see if it would be possible for us to handle four kids. I don't think that it would take much time for us to make that assessment. And we know it would not be easy. And we aren't anticipating a happy-go-lucky visit day nor do we need a "perfect" visit to make that assessment. But we do need to meet the child and get a feel. I'd say that the probability is high that we'd go for it and try to get both siblings under the same roof. These kind of opportunities do not fall into caseworkers' laps often. But no callback. Add to that the fact that the brother of Baby A does have some attachment issues for which the system will not invest services until he is in a "stable home." So this poor kid is left without support. What's wrong with this picture?

So right now, I'm pretty irked at "the system." We were very fortunate in having Carmen as our CPS caseworker for Miss R's case and then her boss Katie when Carmen left. Both women were really good. We are fortunate to have Christy as Miss R's St. Nick's caseworker. But not all caseworkers are equally good. And it is amazing how many kids get stuck in the system b/c of people don't doing their jobs and judges do not follow the letter or spirit of the law.

Alright, I'd better get off my soapbox and sign off.

Chuck E. Cheese

On Wednesday, we were confident that Henry would sleep in b/c he stayed up late. He had other plans. He was up at 6:45AM and bright-eyed. On Wednesday afternoon, we decided to make Henry's dreams come true and take him to Chuck E. Cheese, which is on the far other side of town. Henry has been requesting Chuck E. Cheese for months, thanks to the commercials placed around Sponge Bob. He'd never been to Chuck E. Cheese, but through the magic of TV, he knew that it was the place for him. We got the kids in the car but didn't tell them where we were going.

Once we arrived in the parking lot, we didn't tell Henry where we were. As we approached the doors, Henry looked up at the sign. I asked him where we were. And he knew.

We had a fantastic time. The restaurant was the ultimate set up for toddlers. As we walked into the building, we had to get ourselves and the kids stamped with numbers that connected us with them. And upon check out, the staff make sure that adults don't go walking off with someone else's kids based on those stamps. Very, very nice. The staff also placed a huge hand sanitizer dispense at the entrance. Yes!

The building was packed with games, many of which were appropriate for toddlers. There were tons of rides (similar to the toy horses parked in front of grocery stories) that Miss R loves to do. For Henry, there was a climbing set up like the one's that they have at McDonald's, but this one was even longer. He was so excited. And he made a friend while crawling through the tunnels. He and his friend pretended that monsters were chasing them. I'm amazed and pleased at just how easily Henry makes new friends. There were various ticket games that didn't take much skill to get tickets. The tokens were reasonably priced. The one downsize to Chuck E. Cheese is the pizza...which Jeff didn't really consider pizza. It was a bit expensive for the quality, but given how cool the restaurant was overall, that defect can certainly be overlooked.















We did encounter problems toward the end of our perfect family evening. When we'd stayed there about 3 hours, we decided that it was time to go home. It was, afterall, past 8:30PM. The kids had turned in their tickets and the nice person behind the counter gave them extra cool prizes that would have cost more than the tickets they turned in...two stuff animal Chuck E. Cheese toys. We made our way to the car and Henry did a classic toddler protest, which involved making his body go rigid and then flailing his arms about. Our departure was facilitated by the fact that he really needed a diaper change.

As I was changing him in the back of the car, he switched up tactics and asked "Where are we going to go next?" He truly is Party All the Time Henry. I vow to send him to a college that doesn't have a Greek system!

He announced that it was time to go to McDonald's. He'd seen one on the way. As we passed it, he said. "I want to go to McDonald's. Turn the car around!"

This morning (Thursday), Jeff had a 7AM conference call. The kids decided to get up early again. Sigh. Jeff made them a picnic in our bedroom so that they'd be as far from the conference call as possible. I caught Miss R feeding her waffle to Lily. When I let Roger into the room, Henry said, "Lily is Roger's best friend. Roger, do you want to start the party?"

As we got the kids into the car for our daycare drop off, I asked Jeff if he wanted a Hard Eggs Night (one of the breakfast sandwiches from the Glass Onion). Henry announced, "I want a Hard Eggs Night." I asked, "You want a Hard Eggs Night?" Then he said, "No, I want a No Yoko" (which is what I always order. He repeated, "I want a No Yoko from the Glass Onion." That he put those items in the context of the Glass Onion floors me.

The drop off was fine. No problems. It was particularly easy as Baby A had been picked up by the CPS driving service at 8:20AM.

Henry's Bedtime Stall Strategies

On Tuesday morning, Jeff took Miss R to her 8AM dental appointment. That worked out well b/c she got up well before Henry. She came to our bed last night and snuggled with me.

I fed Baby A and got Henry breakfast after Miss R left. Baby A has had diaper issues on and off for over a week. The past couple days, she has eaten small amounts with a little more frequency, but we believed her overall intake was down, so I called the pediatrician's office as soon as they opened. They called back with a 9:40AM appointment. So I rushed to get Henry and Baby A fed, ready, and out the door at 9:15AM. The appointment didn't leave me time to take Henry to school first, so he accompanied us to the doctor's office. He announced that he wanted Dr. Bianchi to check his ears.

Baby A had lost a couple ounces since her appointment 2 weeks previous. Sigh. Dr. Bianchi said that the stomach flu had been making the rounds. But given that Baby A had been having problems for over a week, he recommended a diet change. We now have her on the elemental formula Alimentum and hope that will help. Dr. Bianchi obliged Henry's request for an ear check. His ears are fine. Henry showed Dr. Bianchi the dragons in a magazine and Dr. Bianchi gave him a sticker.

I dropped off Henry w/o a hitch but decided to keep Baby A at home and make the formula switch to see if we could get her system under control. She ate and slept on me today. It wasn't how I planned to spend the day, but she is a sweet, sweet baby. She pretty much ate every 1.5 hour in small amounts. I was pleased that she didn't outright reject Alimentum. Elemental formulas are really gross (yes, we've tasted them). Not that regular formula is anything tasty, but elemental formuals taste and smell especially disgusting.

Jeff picked up Henry and took him to get his eye glasses fixed. Henry has a knack for bending the heck out of them so that they don't fit him well. Miss R had a bio sibling visitation. She came back with candy. Double sigh.

The Twins had fun with Baby A. I took several cute pictures of Baby A and Miss R. Baby A seemed to enjoy their attention. Henry talked about the mommy dinosaur. I asked him what the mommy dinosaur did. He said, "The mommy dinosaur chases people away from Monkey Business." I'm not sure what that's about.

At bedtime, Henry was difficult. Jeff came out to the living room to watch TV with me for a spell. We could hear Henry talking and singing to himself. Then he told Daddy that he had to pee. And he actually peed in the potty! Then he wanted Daddy to snuggle with him. But he eventually told Jeff, "Get out of my bed!" Shortly after that, I saw Henry crossing the foyer into the kitchen. I called out to him. He announced that he needed his nose wiped. So I did that. Then he wanted me to snuggle with him. So I did that. Then he wanted to read. I said no b/c it was bedtime. Then he said he had to go "pee pee." I took him to the potty and he went again. We washed his hands. He wanted to snuggle again, but I told him that it was bedtime. It was about 10:15PM and he seemed to be going strong. No wonder he wants to sleep in! On the one hand, I know that we shouldn't indulge his stall tactics. On the other hand, he actually peed in the potty twice this evening. And that is progress. Perhaps one of these days, he'll be toilet trained at home as well as school!

Livin The Dream

The other day Kate was signing out the kids from daycare at the front desk. A gentleman was doing the same. When asked by the front desk staffer how he was doing he responded with all the enthusiasm of someone in line at the DMV, "You know, livin the dream." I think today was one of those type days for me.

I knew it wasn't going to be good because at 7:45am Henry was still asleep. When cheerily awakened by me, he buried his face and started whining that he didn't want to get up, he didn't want breakfast, no no no. Always the sign of a great day ahead. My current trick is to ask him if I can hold him. He usually responds yes and I get to get a little snuggle in while walking him to his seat at the breakfast table. Don't know how long I can get away with that trick.

At some point he managed to hit me twice with a plastic tube which he refers to as his "gun." He landed in time out. I got to scratch my head and wonder if he picked up the gun thing from Peter Pan in which there are 2 scenes with a gun, not to mention a cannon, an attempted drowning and other attempts on Wendy's life, references to slitting throats, burning at the stake, hands being severed and a bomb. Looking at that list I guess I understand why this has become Henry's favorite movie since he always likes the bad guys and the scariest parts of movies. Darn G rated movies.

Speaking of Peter Pan, Henry did impress me this morning with a recitation of a scene from the movie. He repeated 7 lines of final fight scene between Pan and Hook.

After fighting us on breakfast, teeth brushing, vitamins, hair combing, dressing, and going to the car, Henry finally got off to school. Miss R and Baby A were pretty good, so they will get short changed in this blog entry.

On the way to school Henry was playing with 2 dinosaurs. He claimed one was a baby dinosaur and one was the daddy. Kate asked, "Is the baby dinosaur mean?" Henry responded, "No, the baby dinosaur is nice and kind. The daddy dinosaur is mean." I think I'm a dinosaur in this scenario.

Kate reported that Henry was actually quite good at the drop off at school which doesn't always happen. Miss R was greeted by her favorite teacher so she was OK as well. Baby A distinguished herself. Kate dropped her off, then dropped off the toddlers before returning to Baby A's room to drop off her supplies. In the time it took to drop off Henry and Miss R, Baby A managed to pee on one outfit while being changed and puke on another. That's a personal best that won't soon be topped. I hope.

Kate and I dropped off the new car to get the keys and alarm checked out because it had disabled the car when Kate had tried to lock it last week. Of course they could find nothing wrong so we must have made the whole thing up. I think this will hasten the purchase of a minivan because we can't be without a means to transport our family and we don't know when the alarm will decide we are intruders and render our mazda5 a $20,000 flinstone mobile.

Kate had the pleasure of spending another day doing family stuff, making appointments, filling prescriptions, calling doctors, etc. Amazing how when one gets available time it then gets sucked up.

We picked up the car from the dealer in the afternoon. Kate then went to the pharmacy and grocery store, and I picked up the kids. Baby A managed to distinguish herself again by puking on the floor of Henry's class. At least she didn't spit up on a toddler.

Kate and I got home about the same time. I started to rough house with the toddlers while she took Baby A and went to make some vacation plans. A couple minutes into our play I was smacked in the head with Henry's "gun" again. Back to time out with much protesting. I was about at the boiling point. He wouldn't stay in time out. Then he just wanted his gun back and went to the place where I had thrown it, despite me telling him several times not to go in there. I think if I let what little hair I have left grow out it would be gray.

Kate let me take the dogs for a walk to get a break from the kids. I took Baby A because she tends to enjoy the walks. She fussed a little but not much and eventually fell asleep.

Dinner was a struggle as usual. Miss R was a particular pain, requesting more of something and then not eating it. She cues off Henry too much when it comes to food I'm afraid.

Kate gave the toddlers showers. Miss R again was a pain. Kate offers Elmo underwear. She doesn't want Elmo. Kate puts her in something else. Then she has a major fit because she now wants Elmo. I feel like she and Kate have been butting heads a lot more lately. Hopefully it is a phase. She has been bad about refusing things she is offered and then desperately wanting them when they are taken away and I think we are not going to tolerate that anymore. That means many screaming fits in our immediate future.

Kate is asleep on the couch with Baby A. I'm going to do something fun like load the dishwasher and put sheets on our bed. Having to wash all the bedding every day because it seems we are pretty much all getting pink eye again. Just another day in the life of a couple living the dream.

Zoo, Movies, Splash Pad, Shower

On Saturday morning, we met up with our friends Carolyn, Zak, Adelyn, and Spencer at the zoo. It took awhile to get the kids out of the house, but we managed to do so without too much fuss. The kids had a good time. Baby A pretty much slept the whole time.

Henry demonstrated his lack of shyness on several occasions. He tried to ditch us in favor of joining a large family (or maybe it was a class) of kids about 5-7 years old (all boys, I think...probably a class). While at the bearded dragon and snake room, Henry asked a stranger for some of her crackers. She asked me if she could give him some (which was a nice offer), but I declined, figuring that it was a bad precedent to set for Henry. We parted ways with our friends at the fish and duck pond after feeding the ducks. We took our crew to the Kenya Get Wet area. The kids were already fairly wet having played at the squirting frog near the pond. The Twins enjoyed playing with a water pump. Henry had fun laying in the water.

We had lunch at the zoo cafeteria. The kids ate very well. They split a hot dog and PB'n'J. Henry ate an entire bag of animal crackers (about 2 servings per bag) and then Miss R gave him several of hers. He also ate potato chips. He introduced himself to a nearby family and talked with their young cute toddler (a head shorter than he was). We then headed to South America. We got a rare look at the Cayman who swam toward us and in front of the glass.

We didn't get home until 3:30PM. The kids took naps. I went to Walmart, the only place in town with premade Similac Sensitive. When I got back, I got The Twins ready for a Mommy-only trip to the Foothills Mall for dinner and a movie. I got them a grilled cheese and lemonade. Then, we saw How to Train Your Dragon (which was very funny). The kids were pretty good. Henry had a tendency to talk out loud, which reminded me of movie watching in Philly where talking at the screen is common place. "That's the Daddy!" "What's going to happen?" After the movie, Henry was a wild man. I managed not to loose him, which was a feat. He totally needs a leash.

On Sunday, we took the kids to Brandi Fenton Park. They played on the slides and then for a brief spell on the splash pad. After the park, we went to Village Inn for lunch b/c Henry wanted waffles and potatoes. Henry flirted with a woman nearby. As he left, he said goodbye to restaurant patrons. The manager commented on what a beautiful family we have. It's true. Our brew is quite lovely (when they aren't throwing tantrums, that is).
















In the late afternoon, I let the kids watch Peter Pan with the stipulation that they had to watch the version in Spanish. Miss R was more into the movie than usual. Henry was irked. He knows the words by heart in English (which is why Jeff thought it would be a good candidate for using the Spanish sound track). In the evening, I played matching card games with The Twins and then gave them a shower. Showers are big these days. I had no problems getting Henry's hair washed. I put the shampoo on him before he could protest. Then, he wanted to out of his hair and was therefore willing to go under the water b/c he has been in an anti-bubble phase for awhile now. He doesn't want bubbles in his bath, and he isn't fond of soap. Miss R, on the other hand, was very keen on the bubbles. I also used a new product called Just for Me on her hair. I used the moisturing lotion and detangler too, and the result was very nice. Hoping that her curls will look more controlled tomorrow.

Jeff and I had some wine to counterbalance the toddlers' whines before bed. Henry said to Jeff, "I want you to read You're Not Elected Charlie Brown. Put your wine down!"

Jeff read to the kids. I gave Baby A her bottle. She has been only taking 1-2 ozs but more often. It is getting exhausting feeding her. I wish that she'd eat less often but with more volume at any one sitting.

Summer is Here

On Thursday morning, Baby A had a scheduled bio parent visitation. She was picked up at 8:20AM by the CPS driving service. We'd given her a bath, which she loved. She smiled and giggled throughout the bath. Seeing such joy is a nice way to start a day. Henry returned to school with Miss R. I don't know what happened with the visit, but Baby A was returned to daycare an hour and 45 minutes earlier than anticipated.

We had a 5:30PM visit with Alison from A Place to Call Home. Nothing really to report. She talked with Baby A's caseworker during the day but didn't learn anything specific beyond some things are going on (whatever that means...and it could mean nothing). The long and the short of it is that CPS is strapped and doesn't have the manpower to make as much contact with foster parents or their family specialists as before. One could get one's knickers in a twist over this, but it all comes down to the budget. Normally, a foster parent is informed about what's going on with a case. It would be nice to know where things are headed, but the truth is that we can still provide excellent care without knowing the details immediately, especially given that we are taking care of a baby not an older child. We would certainly like to know, but to quote Jeff's least favorite phrase "It is what it is."

Henry and Miss R helped Alison check the house as they always do. Miss R got mad at Alison when Alison didn't get up to check it again at Miss R's command. As Alison put it, Miss R was in a "feisty" mood.

After Alison left, we took the dogs for a walk.










In the evening, Henry wore his new Super Man PJs from Aunt Carolyn. He and Miss R had fun jumping on their bed before bedtime.



















On Friday morning, Miss R and I had mommy-daughter issues. She was super duper defiant. She would say that she had to go potty but then refuse. "I don't like Elmo" (Elmo potty). "I don't like Dora" (Dora potty seat). "I want Elmo!" (refused to sit on Elmo). It was ridiculous. Then, after refusing to go potty, she refused to pull up her panties and put her pants back on. That lead to me having to get her clothes on without cooperation. And then there was her hair. Her hair is high maintenance. And she was uncooperative to say the least. So she went to school with slightly crazy looking hair. Sigh.

I then took Baby A to get enrolled with WIC. We've been paying for all her formula out of pocket to date and decided it was time to enroll. With Miss R, we could have enrolled her but didn't. I had actually started the process on Thursday afternoon, brought all of the paperwork, but then was told that I couldn't enroll less I brought the baby (of course, they didn't tell me that over the telephone when I asked what was needed). That took awhile, but it was fine. Then, I got Baby A back to school and ran errands.

We had a visit from Ida, Miss R's CASA, at 4:30PM. A CASA is an independent evaluator assigned by the Court. Ida assessed Miss R's situation and ultimately wrote a letter of support of us adopting Miss R. Today, Miss R was shy at first, which is her general disposition around people she doesn't know. She waits and assess the situation. In comparison, Henry handed Ida a book, sat down next her her, and asked/commanded that she read it to him.

After Ida left, we played outside. I bought a flower sprinkler. The kids got wet. Summer is definitely here.

Jeff got the kids dinner while I talked with my mom on the telephone. Jeff told Henry that he could eat his dinner or go to bed. Henry opted for the latter and headed to bed until about 9:20PM when he woke up from his three hour nap. After dinner, Jeff took Baby A and the dogs for a walk. He discovered a rattler outside our garage door. I'm not a fan of them. When Jeff got back, Miss R spent a good part of the evening snuggling next to Jeff as she watched The Princess and the Frog.

Henry watched some Sponge Bob after his nap, and now Jeff is trying to settle the kids down. Baby A went to sleep around 7:45PM or so. I suspect that she'll be up any time now for a bottle.

At 11PM, Henry got out of bed, announcing that he wanted "cold water with lemon." He has been very big on requesting water with lemon lately. That's about it from here.

Adoption Paperwork Signed!

On Tuesday evening, I picked up the girls. There were about four babies in the baby room...all crying. Unfortunately, the person on duty (whom I've never seen) didn't seem to have the touch, and that just made me sad. I had left Henry watching The Princess and the Frog with Jeff snoozing nearby when I went to get the girls. I can't remember much about the evening, except that Henry continued to cough through the night. He joined Jeff and me in bed around 3:30AM.

On Wednesday morning, Baby A rolled over for Jeff! He put her on her tummy and she decided that she didn't want to be there.

I decided to keep Henry home b/c he was still snoozing when Miss R had finished her breakfast, and he hadn't slept well throughout the night. Once Henry was up and fed, we got everyone out the door around 9AM. I took Henry with me so that Jeff could get some work done. I decided that I would make it a Henry-Mommy Day and get Henry back early so he could rest.

The drop off was fine. I let Henry's teachers know that he was fine, but he'd be with me. We first went to the Glass Onion, so that I could get my coffee. Jen made Henry some ice water with lemon per his request and he got some toast, which we liked. Then, we headed to the mall so that he could play on the slides. This is where the whole Henry-Mommy Day fell apart.

We got to the parking lot. I couldn't lock the car. It wouldn't respond to the key. Then, the car alarm went off. With the key in the ignition, the car wouldn't start. So there we were in a hot parking lot with no way to lock the car so that we could wait inside a cool location. I'll spare the details, but the short version is that I eventually got the car started and we went to the Mazda dealership. The car, after all, was less than 2 months old. They were slow, of course, at the dealership. So I made no effort to constrain Henry from crawling all over their new cars in the showroom. Yes, I was "that" mom with the crazy kid, but as far as I is/was concerned, it is their own fill-in-the-blank fault. The alarm guy said it wasn't the alarm. The key guy said he needed to see both keys and did I have them. Why the heck would someone walk around with two car keys? So no, I didn't have both keys. They disarmed the arm. And we have an appointment for Monday. Ugh.

I managed to take Henry back to the mall, two and a half hours of our time having been wasted, where I let Henry play for a little while. Then, we had lunch at Johnny Rockets where Henry had a vanilla milk shake, grilled cheese, and fries. We threw pennies in a fountain. Looked at some puppies and headed home.

It was 2:30PM at this point. So much for getting Henry home early for a nap. We had a 4PM appointment at the adoption lawyer's office. Henry decided to lay down for 5 minutes and announce "I had a good sleep!"

Jeff, Henry, and I went to the adoption lawyer's office in mid-town toward the east side. The lawyer's administrative assistant handled everything. Henry was rambunctious. He wanted to walk into every room. Luckily, as the office was an adoption office, the administrative assistant was very laid back. She asked if he was three. We said yes. She said "Well, he is doing everything age appropriate" and smiled. Having not told her Henry's story (that he's not really three yet), we were pleased in ways she couldn't know.

We signed several documents. She'll be mailing them to the court. She suspects the court date to finalize the adoption will be take place in late July/early August. And then Miss R will be ours legally. She's been ours in our hearts for some time. We are looking forward to getting the legal chapter on her finalized though.

To celebrate, we picked up the girls and headed to Monkey Business. We had a great time. The kids ate well. Henry surprised the heck out of us by announcing that he wanted to see the apples and the raccoon. We had no idea what he was talking about. As we played in the arcade, Henry led me to a game that I had forgotten about b/c it often doesn't work. It involves a raccoon pushing apples from a tree and the player having to move a bucket back and forth to catch them.

When we got home, Jeff gave the kids showers using a new shower device that he hooked up for them. The shower spout is a fish who is their height. The only problem was that the kids didn't want to get out of the shower and had a huge argument with Jeff.

Henry really wanted to hold Baby A before bed, which was sweet.

Baby A had been content throughout dinner, but was a little fussy in the later evening. We did get her into her crib by midnight.

At some point in the night, Miss R joined us in bed. I turned over and noticed her in Jeff's arms. I just got some snuggling time with her this morning. Now it is time for me to get everyone out of bed and get our day started.

Another Sick Day for Henry

We could hear Henry coughing throughout the night. He got up at 5AM, right as I was trying to go to bed. I was on baby duty last night. I got in some cat naps of course, so it wasn't as though I was up all night. Jeff got up at 5AM and let me get some rest in an actual bed.

We decided to keep Henry home b/c he was really tired. Clearly, his cough had made for restless sleep.

At 10AM, we had a visit from Baby A's caseworker from the Blake Foundation. She is also Baby A's bio brother's caseworker. She is going to talk to the brother's St. Nick's caseworker to see if sibling visitations can be arranged. I think that the caseworker was impressed with how well Baby A is doing. She watched Baby A take down a bottle and maintain eye contact with me. Then, I put Baby A on her tummy and showed off her tummy time skills. I was very impressed last night, but she blew me away even more by doing a 90 degree angle with her arms and head for about 5 minutes. Incredible! She is so strong. The Blake Foundation caseworker will be visiting Baby A once a month. Next month, she'll visit Baby A during her time with bio mom.

After the visit from the caseworker, I took Baby A and Miss R to school. No problems there.

Henry basically spent all day in bed. He just got up a half hour ago. He's tired. He still coughs on occasion. His nose is still running. And he feels a little warm (low grade fever).

I'm going to pick up the girls in a little bit.

"I want to go golfing."

On Monday morning, Henry couldn't have looked any cuter today in a new outfit. Henry and Jeff had the following conversation:

JEFF: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger are golfing. [Jeff pointing to Henry's shirt.]
HENRY: I want to go golfing.
JEFF: Someday we'll go golfing together.
HENRY: I want to go golfing with you. We can get in the car and go to the golf course together.
JEFF: You have to go to school.
HENRY: I don't want to go to school. I want to go golfing.

And yes, for a moment, Jeff considered taking the day off to go golfing with Henry. I suspect that if Jeff's knee wasn't still in recovery, he'd have done it in a heart beat.

I took the kids to school. It takes 1.5 hours to get the kids up and out the door. We have to figure out some way to short that time up. No problems getting everyone inside. I dropped off Baby A. Took Miss R and Henry to their respective rooms and got their clean blankets into their baskets. Then, I swung back to Baby A's room and got her sheets and bottles unpacked. Then, it was back to the car to get Henry's glasses and take them to his room. He was pleased to see me. I said hello to several of the kids who know that I'm "Henry's mom."

In the afternoon, Miss R and Henry were picked up by Grammy and Poppy. I gather that they were very much in toddler mode. Apparently, Miss R put Grammy's white blanket on the floor, which was OK with Grammy. Henry tried to pick up one of the edges, and Miss R got possessive and decided to body slam Henry to the floor. Lovely. Henry was in whine mode. When Grammy and Poppy dropped off the kids at 7:30PM, I heard Grammy tell Henry to stop being a "butt head," which I figured meant that the kids had overextended their welcome.

The kids were hyper when they arrived. Jeff wrestled with them for a half hour. Their favorite part was Jeff holding them up in the air by their waistlines and the kids yelling "We can fly! We can fly!"

I picked up Baby A after work. Baby A was a bit fussy. She's not eating as much as she was, but she didn't want her pacifier or to play with Dennis the Red Hen (toy). She did some incredibly impressive tummy time, where she held herself at a 90 degree angle for two minutes. She eventually passed out on my chest.

Jeff got The Twins to bed. Miss R did a sommersault out of bed when she was horsing around and landed hard on the floor. She's OK. Hopefully, she'll learn from the event...unlike certain boys I know.

Signing off...

Henry's Belated Birthday Party

On Thursday, Henry and Miss R went over to Grammy and Poppy's house after school. Jeff picked up Baby A.

On Friday, Jeff got all three kids to school and picked them up too. Jeff had planned to go to the CFT for Baby A on Friday morning at 10AM. Although I had told Jeff the correct address, the case worker from the Blake Foundation had called Thursday and left a different and incorrect address for the meeting. So Jeff went to the wrong location. By the time Jeff got to the right place, the meeting was over. In the afternoon, I called Baby A's CPS caseworker and left a message asking about what was going on with Baby A's brother's case. There was a court hearing on Tuesday about his case. I figured that if the court had decided to return him to kin, then returning Baby A to kin wasn't going to be too far behind. The caseworker had left a messaging saying that the court decided that the kin hadn't done enough to get him back but are giving a couple months extension. Long story short, everything is still up in the air.

I got back Friday night. The kids were asleep when I returned. Jeff was asleep with Baby A on his chest. I switched places with him and he went to bed.

On Saturday, we had a Foster Parent's Appreciation Picnic to attend at Brandi Fenton Park. It was a nice event. Apparently, another pair of our former classmates from last year has decided to no longer do fostering, which is sad. I'm guessing that there were about 40 people who were screened and approved for training and showed up at the first class last year. That quickly dropped to about 20 people who graduated from the training. Of those 20, I think that just 5 of us are still doing fostering. One couple, one single gal (although she has a boyfriend now), and me and Jeff. I was talking with one of our former classmates (gal from the other couple) who volunteers at APTCH. She mentioned that one of our graduating classmate couples turned out to be coyotes (guess the police caught up with them). She said that she thought a lot of people did fostering for the money, not the kids. Sad, sad, sad. The foster care system provides a stipend that basically is enough to take care of basic needs, but not anything more. To raise a child properly, you have to give more. That's just the way it is. She and her husband are on the path to adopt a young boy whom they've had for about four months.

The picnic was fun. There was a jumping castle that Henry played on. There was the splash pad. There were bubbles. There was a "train" that drove around the park with the kids in it. Henry being Henry tried to stand up while the train was moving, which made the driver stop several times. There was food (hot dogs and hamburger). There was music. After the picnic, we went to the splash pad. Our camera unfortunately broke, so we don't have pictures of it. Henry jumped right in. Miss R was tentative. But after 10 minutes, Miss R really got into it. She became willing to get her face wet. She was clearly having a fabulous time. We were surprised and pleased at her delight.

We went home. The kids napped.

In the evening, we went to Grammy and Poppy's house for Henry's belated birthday party. I bought the kids outfits at the Disney Store in Chicago. Henry wore Buzz Lightyear PJs and Miss R wore a Belle dress (Belle from Beauty and the Beast). In attendance were Grammy, Poppy, Great Aunt Gloria, Aunt Erin, Uncle Brian, Henry, Miss R, Baby A, Jeff, and me. Baby A slept through most of it.

















Henry got two plasma cars (one for him, one for Miss R). We started off the evening with Henry and Miss R finding the cars so that they could play with them in the remaining light. The kids watered plants outside. There was a humming bird calmly sitting in a nest outside. I shot a picture of it. Very rare to find a humming bird sitting still. Then, we had dinner.

After dinner, we had cake and he opened his other presents: a nice Toy Story couch, Toy Story aliens, Buzz Lightyear, a toy car, Berenstain bears books, Superman PJs, and other cool stuff. Grammy and Poppy got him a cake with pirates theme. Throughout the evening, we had to correct Henry on his behavior: "Henry, don't play with the knife," "Henry, don't blow out the candles" (the dinner candles), "Henry, put down the knife," etc. We had to correct him on the knife several times. He keeps wanting to use dinner knives as swords so that he can be Captain Hook. The kids fell asleep on the way home.










On Sunday, we spent the day around the house. The kids played with the new toys. They really liked a matching card game that involved animals. They had fun on Henry's Toy Story couch.

Baby A had a rough day. In the afternoon, she projectile vomited on Jeff. I gave her a bath as he put the kids down for nap. She was unhappy about the bath. She was very hungry, having emptied her stomach. I tried to give her a little milk, but she puked that up too. She managed to take an ounce a little later. She definitely didn't feel hot, but her cheeks were rosy.

A couple hours after being put down for nap, I heard Henry cry. I went to check on The Twins. Miss R was out of her bed. In her commanding voice she said, "No touch my Henry!"

After Henry and R's nap, they "helped" Jeff wash the dogs. Actually, they both went outside to help wash the dogs. Miss R was the only one out of the two who actually made an effort to help. Henry spent his time swinging Jeff's golf club around.

It was a casual evening. The kids watched Miss R's new Tinkerbell movie. Then, Jeff gave them a bath. I held Baby A, giving her a little food.

Jeff is holding Baby A now. I'm off to fill out paperwork for APTCH.

On the Chin

On Wednesday, both Henry and Miss R were grumpy about getting up. Henry wanted to "sleep" in the train room while Jeff made breakfast. Miss R wanted me to hold her like a baby. I relented. They didn't eat well at breakfast.

It didn't take too much effort to get all three kids from the car to their respective classrooms. I dropped off Baby A, then took Miss R to her class, and then took Henry to his. Henry's class was still on the playground but just getting ready to come in. As the class walked inside, Henry easily falled into step. Joaquin ran up to Henry and said "Hi Henry! Hi Henry!" Joaquin is one of my favorites. I forgot Henry's glasses in the car. So I swung back toward Baby A's room. Unpacked her bottles and said goodbye. Then I signed the kids into the school logs, which is a pain. There are three log books by last name. And we have one child in each book. I'm very much looking forward to Miss R taking on Jeff's last name in July! I got Henry's glass from the car and went back to Henry's class. Henry was seated at the table with the other kids eating. It was fun seeing him chat away with his friends in conversation. Everyone at the table was eating their yogurt and fruit snack...except Henry. Henry smiled when I came into the room and happily put on his glasses. I managed to get a few bites into him as I talked with the other kids about how yogurt tastes good and makes one tall and healthy.

Jeff picked up the kids in the afternoon. An incident report was waiting for him. Apparently, a child hit Henry on the chin with a puzzle piece...his already injured chin. It bleed a lot and they had a bandaid on it. Sigh. Henry said it was Aidan, who has a tendency to hit other kids.

I took off the bandaid when Henry got home and took a look. We don't think it will scar. I put some Neosporin on it and a new bandaid (Winnie the Pooh and Tigger). Because Henry had a bandaid, Miss R wanted a bandaid on her chin too (Elmo). To keep up with the bandaid theme, I put one on my chin too (a yellow crayon).

We watched a little bit of The Three Muskateers as Jeff made dinner. Baby A was cooing at me and smiled. Henry and Miss R said that they loved Baby A.

After dinner, we gave everyone a bath. Baby A was first. She has a bio mother visitation tomorrow. Then, it was Henry and Miss R's turn. Baby A fell asleep on me, while The Twins had their bath. After their bath, I braided Miss R's hair so that Jeff won't have to do much with it while I'm in Chicago. She was a big pain in the behind about it. Her behavior landed her in timeout, where she woke up Baby A. Grrrrr. Fortunately, Baby A did go back to sleep. Then, Jeff put the kids to bed.

I'm leaving early in the morning. Finishing up my presentation now. Leaving at 4:15AM. Presentation is tomorrow at 4PM Chicago time. I stay in Chicago overnight. I have dinner plans with my friend Kristen, which will be great. And then, I spent a good part of the day in Chicago before heading home.

30 lbs. and 38"

On Tuesday afternoon, we took Henry for his 3 year wellness check. He weighed 30 lbs. and was 38" tall. I've been worried about his weight. Jeff put a pair of shorts on him today that he had worn last summer. Dr. Bianchi looked at his weight and height on the charts. While Henry is thin, he doesn't think that he is too far off from his usual trajectory, so he doesn't think we should put him on an appetite stimulant yet...especially since we mentioned that Henry will on occasion eat a lot. All in all, his check went well. His one "problem" area today was a huge scrap and bruise on his chin from last night's 3AM fall out of bed. Once Henry was lying flat on the examination table, I could really see the lower part of the chin and he has a little swollen bump and bruise. Henry had one of his two required shots today. We have an appointment in June for the second one. We still prefer to split Henry's shots rather than giving several at once.

As a foster child, Baby A wasn't so lucky when it came to spacing shots. Basically, because of foster care rules, we have to follow AAP guidelines to the letter, meaning that she received five shots today. Today, she had her 2 month wellness check. We got some eye drops for her eyes. She has a little goop in them in the mornings, but it doesn't look like pinkeye. Dr. Bianchi thinks that it might be dry ducts. She weighed 10 lbs 4 ozs...up 4 lbs. since birth. All in all, she's looking great.

Henry went to Grammy and Poppy's house after the doctor's appointment. I went back home with Baby A to wait for Miss R to return from her sibling visitation. As it turned out, she was never picked up by CPS' driving service. At 6:10PM, when she had not returned, I called the daycare and found out that she was still there. So Jeff changed his plans and picked her up. She went shopping with him and they went out to dinner together.

Henry had a good time with his grandparents who returned him home after his visit with them. He didn't eat much for them, but then declared that he wanted a snack when he got in their car. When he arrived home, he wanted oatmeal. And he again insisted on "small bites." Jeff is wondering if the bump on the chin is making it difficult for him to open his mouth all of the way. He had oatmeal, some of my french fries, and a piece of Miss R's cookie.

Then it was bed for The Twins. Miss R was hilarious before going to bed. She was commenting on my attire. At one point, she pointed to my backside and said, "You have a silly butt?" which cracked me up.

Baby A is sleeping now but I suspect that she'll be up soon.

Edited 5/24/10

Three Kids Three and Under

On Monday morning, Baby A started daycare. It was interesting herding the toddlers from the car to the door of the daycare while holding Baby A, everyone's blankets, and Baby A's start up supplies. Somehow, I managed. I dropped off The Twins in their respective classrooms first. Everyone ooooew'd and aaaaah'd at just how cute Baby A was. And she is a very cute baby. Super curly, thick black hair. Beautiful. Baby A is in the other Miss Stephanie's room, which is great. I frequently talk with Stephanie b/c of the long amounts of time that I spent with Henry and Miss R in front of her baby room staring at the babies.

The pick up wasn't too horrendous. I got the "big" kids first. Then, I got them to stand on the bench in front of the window of the room so that I could keep an eye on them while getting Baby A from her afternoon teacher, Miss Jennifer. She had a good day.

We then went to my parents' house. Henry and Miss R wanted to see Grammy and Poppy b/c they missed them during our vacation. Baby A slept the entire time. In fact, her sheet said that she had a bottle at 3:15PM, she fell asleep in the car, and then didn't wake up until we were home at 8:45PM. I had managed to get Miss R home and bathed before Baby A woke up. Henry had left Grammy and Poppy's house with Jeff and gone to the store.

This morning (Tuesday), Henry was the whiniest I'd seen him. He was upset that Jeff got him oatmeal, not grits. And then after getting grits, he was upset if the amount on the spoon wasn't "small." We thought he might be coming down with something. He said he wanted to go back to bed. He's usually only "that" whiny when he is sick. He fell out of bed last night around 3AM and bumped his chin and has a pretty good scrap on it. Maybe that's affecting him. I'm at school now. I called Jeff to say that Henry had a miracle cure after I left and was currently playing in the train room. In short, I think that Jeff and I got played.

San Diego

After breakfast on Saturday, we packed up and headed to San Diego, where I’d made Hotwire reservations the night before. Hotwire selected the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, a hotel less than a mile from Seaworld.

The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay was beautiful. Jeff unloaded our bags while I got the kids a snack. We then got a taxi and headed to Seaworld. Seaworld was packed, but as we weren’t particularly interested in the animal shows (owing to The Twins’ ages), we had no problems finding things to do.

Our first stop was the kids’ play area. It was hot, so the sprinklers were turned on. Henry saw kids playing and stripped down. It took some work to convince him to keep his pants on. As we didn’t have a change of clothes, we didn’t want him completely soaked. So we diverted his attention to other play areas. I ran after Henry as he decided to climb up 3 stories of netting and then climb through 100 feet of tunnels suspended in the air. I earned my mommy gold star, that’s for sure. Miss R had fun in some dry tunnels on the grounded that required no crawling on Jeff’s behalf.

Once Henry and I were back on the ground, I switched kids with Jeff. I took Miss R to the Toddler Tidal Pool, which Henry at 37.5” was too tall to enter. The Toddler Tidal Pool is a blue, springy floor with soft large blocks in it. Jeff took Henry to play in the sand and then climb on a hill. Jeff took Henry on a ride called Abby’s Sea Star Spin, while I got Miss R an ice cream cone. Miss R is the slowest eater on the planet. She got upset at the ice cream melting on her. I hoped that it would be a learning experience (eat faster!), but I’m not so sure.

Miss R looked tired as the kids refused naps at the hotel room. We made our way to the World of the Sea aquarium, which is spacious on the inside and quiet. She snoozed for awhile. Henry did not. He liked pretending to be scared at the sharks and giant fish. I took him to the Tidal Pool where people get to touch star fish. The water was quite cold, so we didn’t stay long, but he did get to pet a star fish. We went back down to the aquarium, where Henry and Jeff played around. When Miss R stirred, we went back to the Tidal Pool. We then went to see the dolphins and fed a dolphin named Crunch some fish. Miss R was brave and touched Crunch on the head. We looked at Sea Lions, had some dinner (pizza and hot dogs), and went to a 4D Sesame Lights, Camera, Imagination! show. We fed the flamingos. Henry and Miss R demonstrated their different styles. Henry would take a handful of feed and throw it. Miss R would take a single pellet and throw it. The kids liked the Shark Exhibit so much that we did it twice. As Jeff pointed out, Henry’s favorite part was the moving side walk, not the sharks floating above him. The kids split a churro, and then we headed to the penguins. Henry fell asleep on the way. So Miss R and I went without the boys. As it turned out, most of the penguins were asleep too. I got the kids two stuffed animal penguins, and we called it a night, deciding to skip the fireworks show. We caught a taxi back to the hotel. It didn’t take much to get the kids to bed.

On Sunday morning, we got room service and had a picnic on the floor. We then walked around the marina, a view of which could be seen from our room. Henry jogged a good part of the way. We packed our belongings and headed to Mission Beach.

Upon seeing the ocean, Henry exclaimed, “We made it! We made it! We made it!” The kids looked at the waves and made a sand castle with Jeff. They also buried Jeff’s good leg in the sand. We walked a little ways down the beach to check out some surfers. Henry enjoyed climbing a huge sand pile near a life guard station.


























































Then, we headed back to the entrance and got an early lunch before heading back to Tucson. On a funny note, Henry's diaper was quite wet in the restaurant, so Jeff took him to the bathroom but didn't have a spare diaper so he let him go "free and easy" from the restaurant to the car. Henry seemed to find the experience perplexing. He kept holding up his pants, afraid that they were going to fall down (which they weren't). I think, however, that he liked the experience, so we'll try more underwear work this week (now is a good time given the warmth of the season).

We stopped at a Carl’s Jr. in Yuma. It had a play area, much to Henry’s delight. We spent about an hour there as Henry was having so much fun. He was very cute around a baby who was crawling around the floor. He tried to convince the baby to climb up the equipment. He also said, "I love you, baby!" as he gave the little boy a hug. Henry actually went willingly back to the car. It helped knowing that Peter Pan was waiting for him. Peter Pan was on repeat during the drive. Jeff wanted to see if Henry would eventually get sick of it, but alas, no boredom was conveyed.

When we got back home, I gave the kids a much needed bath. Henry had managed to get sand in his ears. Jeff made the kids chicken soup. He then went to pick up Baby A, while I got the kids fed, let them watch a little Sponge Bob, brushed their teeth, read them Peter Pan and Captain Hook, and turned out the lights. Baby A needed a bottle when she got home, and then she settled down. I'm on the first shift tonight. I just changed Henry who was calling out b/c he wet his diaper, something that usually doesn't bother him. Maybe potty training in earnest is in his future!

Disneyland Again!

On Wednesday, Henry wore his Batman shirt from his new PJs to school. I have a feeling that it is going to become one of those items he can't live without. Before we left for school, I said goodbye to Corinne who has done most of the nannying for us with Baby A. Due to cost, we have to put Baby A in daycare next week. We're pleased with the daycare, but we know Corinne will be missed.

I picked up the kids after my work. That meant I didn't get them until about 5:45PM. Miss Marissa was watching them. Her last day was Thursday, so it was sad to say goodbye. I picked up fast food Mexican for dinner. Meanwhile, Jeff took Lily to a place that boards dogs, Roger to my parents' house, and Baby A to her respite providers on the far east side of town. We hadn't packed at all, so that was quite a task, and we didn't leave until 10PM.

On Thursday, we rolled into Anaheim at 5:30AM. Henry realized that we were somewhere exciting when he saw the statue of Mickey in the lobby (we're at the Disneyland Hotel). The kids had managed to sleep in the car. I got in a few catnaps, but Jeff didn't sleep much when I was driving as he doesn't have my ability to sleep in a car.

Henry was fussy b/c he wanted to go to Disneyland. He didn't buy our explanations that the park wasn't yet open. We all managed to get two hours of nap before getting up and ordering room service. While we waited for room service, I took the kids to walk around outside because Henry clearly had energy to work off. He was being very loud in the hotel room. The kids had fun dancing in a gazebo until Jeff called us to say that breakfast had arrived. The kids liked their Mickey Mouse pancakes.

We made use of the "Magic Mornings" hotel privilege, which meant getting into the park an hour before opening. We took the Monorail into the park. We went to several attractions, starting with the Matterhorn, which Miss R was a fraction too short to ride (so Henry rode it once with me and then once with Jeff). Henry’s favorite was Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Miss R’s favorites were Pirates of the Caribbean and King Arthur’s Carousel. Henry fell asleep on our way to lunch. Miss R got a sudden burst of energy. So I stayed with Miss R in the park after lunch while Henry and Jeff went back to the hotel to nap.

Miss R and I went on the Winnie the Pooh ride three times, visited Winnie the Pooh whom she gave a hug, and then went into The Haunted House (having already visited it once earlier in the day). Then, it was time to head back to the hotel, where she slept quite soundly. Henry got up before she did. So Jeff took Henry back to the park, where they enjoyed a couple rounds on the Teacups.

This is a view of the Neverland pool from our balcony at the hotel. Once Miss R woke up from her nap, we met the boys in Fantasyland.

The park closed at 8PM on Thursday. We made our way back through Downtown Disney on the way to the hotel. There were people doing live music throughout Downtown Disney. Henry enjoyed songs by a man playing Spanish music on his guitar. A little girl (about 2) was dancing to the music so Henry joined her. The little girl actually had an incredibly good sense of rhythm. Henry mimicked many of her moves as well as doing a little rumba-matador movements around her. The funniest moment was when she put her hand on the ground and started wiggling her derriere around. Henry then got down next to her and did the same thing. It left her mother and us in stitches. We had dinner at the Rainforest Café, and then headed back to the hotel.

On Friday morning, the park was fairly well-filled at the opening. We arrived on the Monorail at 9AM and decided to hit the Finding Nemo Submarine ride first because the line is usually quite long.

We had lunch in New Orleans Square at a gumbo place. The restaurant had outdoor seating near the Pirates line. Henry dropped a cracker on the ground, jumped off his seat, picked it up, and ate it before I could catch him. This made a man in line laugh. The man said, “Don’t worry. He’ll grow up fine. Just look at this one who did the same thing.” The man’s son (probably about 20) was standing next to him. We went on the Pirates ride after lunch. Henry startled a woman on the boat just as she was drinking from her water bottle by shouting out the “Yo Ho” song right behind her. That made her husband (assuming) laugh.











































We went over to California Adventure around 1:15PM in an effort to see “Aladdin: The Musical Spectacular,” which is a shortened stage production of the Aladdin movie. The production was probably an hour or so, and the kids did reasonably well sitting through it. That was their first musical (unless we count last year’s Elmo Live!, which Henry didn’t sit through but Miss R did). While we waited in line for the show, Henry met a little girl who was probably about 1 year old. He was fascinated with her and gave her a few hugs. He was being very sweet to her.

We headed back to the hotel for naps after riding Monsters, Inc. twice. Henry took a very good nap. Miss R rolled around the bed for two hours but did not sleep. She sang the Eagles theme song at the top of her lungs however. I didn’t know she knew the words (that’s definitely Jeff’s doing). After nap time, we headed to the pool area. Unfortunately, they closed the slides before Henry could ride on them. Henry and Miss R played in some sand near the pool. Miss R pranced around singing “Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me.” I got into the jacuzzi. It wasn't a very hot jacuzzi and there were a lot of kids in it. Henry joined me. We didn't let him stay in it long. A six year old boy came up to Henry and struck up a conversation with him. He seemed drawn to Henry and surprised at Henry answering his questions. It was cute.

We decided to get some pretzels on the way to the Monorail. Riding the Monorail was a HUGE mistake. They had “a slight delay,” which meant keeping us stopped about 3 minutes from the station in Tomorrowland for a half-hour. Being trapped with Henry in a small space was no picnic. When we got off, they gave us tickets for jumping the lines of any single ride we wanted. We went to It’s a Small World for the first time on our trip. The kids liked it. We then sat toward the back of Fantasyland and had a fabulous view of the fireworks. It was not as crowded as the front of the castle is, so we got to sit down on the ground and enjoy ourselves. The only disadvantage of the spot was we didn’t get to hear the music that goes with the fireworks, but as we’d heard it before, it wasn’t a big loss. I’d probably choose that spot again if given the choice.

After the fireworks, we went on the Fantasyland train. Then, we walked around, eventually making our way back to Fantasyland. The Peter Pan ride was a 45 minute wait. So we used our coupon to jump the line and got on it in about 10 minutes. Miss R was sound asleep. So we “switched riders,” which allows parents of small kids to ride a ride and then switch places. That allowed Henry to go on it twice (first with Jeff, then with me). After that, we headed back to the hotel. To say that the lines were crazy is an understatement. At 10:15PM at night, the lines for “little kid” rides were the longest we’d seen them ever (and it wasn’t because of tons of kids in the park).

On Saturday morning, we had reservations for a “character breakfast” at Goofy’s Kitchen. The kids saw many characters who stopped by our table: Pluto, Dale, Mulan, Goofy, Chip, Baloo, and Snow White.