On Friday morning, Jeff took the kids to school while I took Baby A to the CFT (child-family team meeting). Baby A looked super cute in a new outfit that her mom had sent home with her a couple weeks ago. Bio mom, however, did not show up to the meeting. As I've stated before, I can't go into details about the case for privacy reasons (hence the pseudonyms). I can say that the CPS caseworker and developmental coordinator from the Blake Foundation were not thrilled at the particular judge assigned to the case. They said that this particular judge is known for biasing the system for the bio families giving them extensions to "work the case plan" time and time again. In their opinion, he ignores the recommendations of CPS and likes to play father to the bio parents and thinks he can be their "savior." So the children involved cases assigned to his court room often are in the system a very long time. That's not good news for those of us who believe the system should be geared toward putting children first.
I took Baby A to work for a couple minutes as I had to pick up a form for a new key to my new office. Nancy and Tina commented on what a beautiful baby she is. And Baby A is truly a gorgeous child. She's got a beautiful head of hair and a stellar smile. Then, I took her to daycare.
In the afternoon, Jeff and I picked up The Twins early from daycare and took them to Toy Story 3. They liked it. Henry had his loud moments of course, but both he and Miss R were pretty good overall. After the movie, they wanted to see it again.
As we walked back through the mall to the car, Henry got whiny. He scrunched up his face and said in a pouty but demanding voice, "I Want Toys!" It was one of those frustrating parental moments. He pretty much gave the air of the quintessential spoiled American kid who is too preoccupied with objects, a product of consumer culture. As Jeff put it later when the kids were a sleep, it was the first time that Henry looked "ugly." While he is an incredibly good looking boy, with the attitude and the scrunched up face, I concurred. We love him so much. I have never been much of a shopper, but I do enjoy buying things for him and Miss R. But we are going to pull back the reigns on unnecessary consumption. Henry is going to have to wait for Christmas before he sees another present. I really don't want him to act spoiled.
We picked up Baby A and headed home. We had a nice dinner. I took Baby A for a walk with the dogs. Jeff got The Twins ready for bed. Baby A took her last bottle of the night before midnight.
Around 6AM on Saturday, I heard Baby A cry and Jeff got up and attended to her. I asked him when she had last fed and was surprised when he said midnight. At 3.5 months old, Baby A slept through the night (or at least pretty darn close!). Hoping that she does it again tonight!
In comparison to Henry, of course, her feeding and sleep needs have been a breeze, even if that meant holding her through the night for the first nine weeks or so. For the last couple weeks, her pattern has been that she has a bottle around 8 or 9PM, sleeps until 11PM and takes another smaller bottle. Sleeps until 1AM and has a bottle but goes back to sleep fairly quickly. Then has a bottle around 4AM and usually goes back to sleep OR has a bottle around 5AM but wants to play a little bit after her bottle. Then takes another nap.
Jeff got Baby A's bottle, but I fed her. He went back to bed. She was clearly in a playful mood after her bottle and ready to get started on the day. So she and I took the dogs for a morning walk. The kids got up shortly after we got back. They got Jeff up. We had a family breakfast, which included eggs at Henry's request. We thought about taking the kids somewhere, but realized that we very rarely just spend time at home. We let the kids play with their toys. They played in the ball pit and pretended that they were blowing bubbles under water. They played in their house.
After breakfast, the kids were playing in Lily's dog cage. Jeff heard an "Ouch!" coming from Henry and walked into the room finding Henry hitting Miss R. She wailed. I asked her what she'd done to Henry and she denied that she'd done anything wrong (which is her MO even when she has clearly been the initial aggressor). Meanwhile, Jeff put Henry in the timeout chair and he was upset. He called out for me, and I talked with him. He claimed that Miss R had bitten him. I got him out of the chair, and Jeff found a clear bit mark on his upper back. That landed Miss R in timeout for biting and lying about it.
As I took a shower, they played in our clothes closet and both took shirts of mine. Henry was in a nice white cotton blouse. Miss R chose one of my maternity shirts that I never really wore given Henry's early arrival. The way it hung on her reminded me of a Farrah Fawcett type outfit from the actress during the Charlie's Angels days. The shirt had straps that tie in the back. Henry used them instead as a leash. They pretended that Miss R was the puppy, and Henry was the dog walker.
Around noon, I took off for school. I was told on Tuesday that I'd be switching offices, but they had to do the move within a week. There are three offices involved in the move with the movers only coming on one day (this Tuesday). That means for the move to actually work, someone had to make the first move (that'd be me). So I spent a couple hours moving things from my cabinets and desk down to my new space. Jeff came around 3PM after dropping off the kids at my parents' house. He helped me move my three book cases and books, not a small feat given the new office is one flight down and the book cases are big. We are both going to be very sore tomorrow.
Apparently, Henry and Miss R refused to take naps. Henry bopped Miss R at the beginning of the nap and that didn't set a relaxing tone. Unlike Miss R who never claims to doing wrong to Henry, Henry was perfectly willing to admit to hitting Miss R when asked point blank. He hasn't developed a sense of shame. Not sure what his punishment for hitting was. Grammy told him that he wasn't allowed to watch TV unless he napped. Being super stubborn, he stuck to his guns.
Jeff took the kids swimming upon his return. Henry was as bold as ever. He went under water several times. Miss R begged Jeff to dunk her under water. After repeated requests, he obliged and she was upset about it. She still hasn't figure out how to blow bubbles out of her nose.
We had a nice dinner. Henry ate very well. Miss R ate pretty well. Then, it was homeward bound. Baby A fell asleep in the car.
Jeff has been putting the kids to bed without water cups. This is to cut down on the chances of them having an accident. Henry is having a hard time with this because he used to drink over a cup of "cold water" every night at bed. He got up about a half hour after being put to bed and wanted some. I let him have a couple sips. Hope that isn't his undoing.
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