Guitar Found!

On Tuesday, we had a visit from a couple who are prospective foster parents. Our agency requires meetings between prospective foster parents and regulars to help socialize new foster parents and build networks. The prospectives honestly didn't seem like they were walking into fostering without a clear understand of what's involved. One gal works as a probation officer at the juvenile courts and has sat in on many hearings. The other gal was raised in a family that did a lot of fostering. And they have a son, so it isn't like the parent-thing will be new to them completely. They seemed like great foster parent candidates.

We then headed to my parents' house for dinner. Aunt Carolyn had arrived! Henry gave her a huge hug.

On Wednesday, my parents picked up The Twins at school. They gave them dinner. Sausage was a big hit. And then brought them home. At 8:30PM, I abandoned Jeff with the three kids so that I could meet Carolyn at the movie theater to watch Twlight: Eclipse. When I asked Jeff if that'd be OK, he said, "Well, there may be a lot of crying, but I'll manage."

On Thursday, I asked Miss Amanda if Henry had gotten into trouble. She said no. I mentioned that Henry thought a teacher was mad at him. She said that on Wednesday, a kid tried to kick Henry so Henry pushed the kid back. She called him over and asked what happened. Henry said, "He started it." She asked him to tell the kid "That's not nice" before resorting to pushing. But he didn't get into trouble. I had told her the first day that Henry wasn't usually a "first-strike" kid, but if pushed, he would push back. And I was actually pleased that Henry held his ground. I was a little worried about him being in a class with near four-year olds and getting pushed around too much. I just don't want him to be bullied. I don't think that will be a problem. And I *think* that we can get him to switch into using words before fists. And hopefully the kid who tried to kick him knows that Henry won't take things lying down so he won't do it again.

Henry had a good Thursday at school. Miss Amanda went on break before the kids' nap time and then got concerned b/c she forget to tell the other teacher to take off Henry's glasses before nap. But Henry had done it on his own. He put his glasses on a table near his cot.

Getting Henry and Miss R out of daycare was a big, huge pain. I picked up Henry first. Then got Miss R. She wanted me to hold her. Then she wanted me to put her down. I put her down and she threw a fit b/c she wanted to be held. We are not catering to her split-requests of yes/no, up/down, want it/don't want it. So she threw herself down on the floor while Henry sprinted down the hall toward the lobby. I ended up picking up a crying Miss R and running after him. I told Miss R that she was not allowed in the babies room if she was crying. So she balled right outside the door. Some baby is always sleeping, so I didn't think it was fair to bring a tantrum-throwing tot into the room. Henry loves the baby room. He got into their toys while I collected Baby A's things. Once Miss R stopped her tears, I let her into the room. Then, Henry threw a tantrum when I tried to get him to leave the room to go home. Oy vey!

While in the car, Henry announced that he wanted to watch Toy Story. I asked him about his day. He repeated his Toy Story request. When we got home, he said it again. I said, "You didn't tell me about your day, so no Toy Story." So Henry finally responded, "I went to school and played with my friends. I went to school and played with my friends. I went to school and played with my friends. And then I watched Toy Story." He is a bit cheeky.

Jeff put on Toy Story 2. That was fine until Henry decided to bop Miss R on the head. It wasn't a big bop, but it was a first-strike that was unprovoked. Miss R produced tears. I said, "R, you'll be fine. It wasn't a major hit, although it was uncalled for and inappropriate. Let's practice telling Henry off. Repeat after me, 'Henry, that's not nice. We don't hit in this family.'" Miss R practiced telling Henry off. The tears went away as she sternly said, "Henry, that's not nice. We don't hit!" Unlike Henry, Miss R doesn't have any interest in retaliatory hits. I think words are her preferred response (she only occasionally does something physically inappropriate, like her biting Henry the other day). Meanwhile, Jeff put Henry in timeout. Henry cried and cried. Jeff had turned off the TV before I left, but I told him that I didn't think that was fair to Miss R who had also been watching TV. So he put on her favorite movie Mamma Mia!. I took the dogs for a walk without Baby A as she was having lot of fun on her jungle mat. She loves her new found rolling skills. According to Jeff, when I left the house with the dogs, he heard the closing of a door. Apparently, Henry had gone out to the garage on his own, went through the garage and out the side door, and was found walking down the driveway calling out for me. Twenty-minutes later, I returned to find Henry still in tears over Toy Story being turned off. He made a plea to turn it back on. I told him that if he was on good behavior for the next day, we'd consider letting him watch it again. I managed to get rid of his tears by letting him play with my Russian doll set.

I abandoned the kids and Jeff in the evening again so that I could go to dinner with my mom and sisters. Baby A apparently slept as soon as I left around 7:15PM. She woke up shortly before I came home at 10:10PM. The kids didn't wear out Jeff too much. I gather that they made tunnels out of the couch cushions.

Baby A wasn't sleepy after her bottle. She wanted to play and was in her crib kicking up her feet. Very cute. We let her play on the jungle mat. And when she showed some subtle signs of sleepiness, I got her pacifier and held her on the couch. We fell asleep. At 2:30PM, I put her in her crib and went to bed.

Baby A slept until 8:15AM this morning when I woke her up b/c we had to get ready for school. She's normally quite happy first thing in the morning, but she was very grumpy over me waking her up. The kids were already fed. Baby A took a 5.5 oz bottle for me. I then switched off with Jeff so I could do Miss R's hair. Jeff found Henry's missing guitar. It had been missing for a year and had been a beloved toy from Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian. Henry was having fun with it. He played the music and Miss R danced. When the music stopped, Miss R asked with her arms shrugged, "What happened to the music?"

The drop off was uneventful. I like uneventful.

On today's docket, we have a visit from an OT who is one of the nation's experts in feeding issues. I called Meal Time Connections for Baby A at the recommendation of her developmental coordinator from the Blake Foundation. I want her suck pattern evaluated b/c I think it is a tad weak. Meal Time Connections also handled Henry's OT needs when he was in early intervention. His OT is out of town. So we were called by Marsha Dunn Klein, who has written books on child-food issues and gives seminars nationally and internationally on the subject. She mentioned to us when she made the appointment yesterday that she'd like to check up on Henry too. I've never met her, but I've heard about her. Am looking forward to this appointment.