I was at school on Wednesday because we had a faculty meeting. I called Jeff around 3:30PM. Henry had just gotten up from a 3 hour nap.
When I got home around 7PM after going to Trader Joe's, Jeff reported that Henry was feeling rather hot. Had a 102 degree temperature. Jeff had stripped him down to his diaper to cool him off. Gave him some Tylenol.
Henry wanted to watch pics, so I let him. He wasn't acting sick, but he did feel hot. His temp came down to 100 degrees.
We let him run around the house sans diaper. Given his diaper rash, we had wanted him to have some air exposure anyway. He enjoyed the lack of clothes.
He went to a place where I have several books. He pointed to "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and said "Harry Potter." There are no pictures on the cover to identify it as a Harry Potter book. But I guess he was familiar with the color and knew what it was. I went to another bookshelf and pulled out "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." That book does have the book cover with picture. The cover has Dumbledore and Harry on it. I asked Henry where Harry Potter was. He pointed to the correct figure. I then asked where Dumbledore was. He pointed to Dumbledore. Very cute. But how does he know these things? I've never shown him the cover before.
We eventually gave him a bath. He was very upset when we were drying him off. He wanted Dada to hold him afterward. By this point, he actually felt a little cool to me. Temp: 98.something, but that's an under the arm reading, so really 97.something. Then onto watching pics with me. After about 10 minutes, I asked him if he wanted another clip or bed. He said bed.
Jeff set the alarm clock so that we could do a temp check. Henry feels hot again. Temp is about 101. Gave him more Tylenol.
Maybe he is teething. Maybe he is sick. I don't know. I thought that he was breathing a little hard last night when sleeping.
We will call Alicia this morning to cancel and Patty too.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Passed AZ Home Inspection!
On Tuesday, Jeff went to bed around 3AM, which is when I got up and wrote the last blog entry. The place looked great! Jeff took a personal day off from work. Henry got up early again, shortly after 6AM. He was very wet.
Henry was stubborn about eating his breakfast and lunch. The only thing that he wanted was pics and was most annoyed when he was told he couldn't have them for breakfast.
We read books. I ended up sending him to time out when he ripped a book. He thought the world had ended. While reading "The Haunted House," he picked up the phrase "Go Away!" which is something the "ghosts" (who are really bank robbers) say to Mickey, Donald, and Pluto. He also picked up the words "bank robbers" and said them several times.
The home inspector arrived at 3PM. She was very nice. I think that our agency has a reputation for preparing their future foster parents well. The whole thing took less than a 1/2 hour. She said that she could mail the home inspection forms into APTCH or I could drop them off. I'm doing the later so that our stuff will get mailed to the state by Friday. Then, it will probably be a month before we get our license (maybe less; one couple got theirs in a week).
Henry was cute around the inspector. Eventually, though, he considered her an obstacle to watching pics and started saying goodbye after 20 minutes.
It was Jeff's and my wedding anniversary. We took Henry over to Grammy and Poppy's house around 5:30PM. We went for a four-course dinner at The Melting Pot, which was really good. We stopped by World Sports Grille afterward to play three rounds of air hockey while our food was digesting. We picked up Henry around 9:30PM. He was sound asleep on Grammy. My parents reported that Henry had a relatively quiet evening. Read books but wasn't as active as usual. He fell asleep at 8:40PM, which is great. A bit of a surprise though, considering that he had a pretty good nap (about 2 hours) earlier in the day. Maybe he's growing again.
He was easy to put down when we came home. He burrowed his head into the side of my body, which of course meant that I was required to fall asleep with him. So I'm up now. Going to get started on my day. I'm finding the early morning hours good for writing.
Henry was stubborn about eating his breakfast and lunch. The only thing that he wanted was pics and was most annoyed when he was told he couldn't have them for breakfast.
We read books. I ended up sending him to time out when he ripped a book. He thought the world had ended. While reading "The Haunted House," he picked up the phrase "Go Away!" which is something the "ghosts" (who are really bank robbers) say to Mickey, Donald, and Pluto. He also picked up the words "bank robbers" and said them several times.
The home inspector arrived at 3PM. She was very nice. I think that our agency has a reputation for preparing their future foster parents well. The whole thing took less than a 1/2 hour. She said that she could mail the home inspection forms into APTCH or I could drop them off. I'm doing the later so that our stuff will get mailed to the state by Friday. Then, it will probably be a month before we get our license (maybe less; one couple got theirs in a week).
Henry was cute around the inspector. Eventually, though, he considered her an obstacle to watching pics and started saying goodbye after 20 minutes.
It was Jeff's and my wedding anniversary. We took Henry over to Grammy and Poppy's house around 5:30PM. We went for a four-course dinner at The Melting Pot, which was really good. We stopped by World Sports Grille afterward to play three rounds of air hockey while our food was digesting. We picked up Henry around 9:30PM. He was sound asleep on Grammy. My parents reported that Henry had a relatively quiet evening. Read books but wasn't as active as usual. He fell asleep at 8:40PM, which is great. A bit of a surprise though, considering that he had a pretty good nap (about 2 hours) earlier in the day. Maybe he's growing again.
He was easy to put down when we came home. He burrowed his head into the side of my body, which of course meant that I was required to fall asleep with him. So I'm up now. Going to get started on my day. I'm finding the early morning hours good for writing.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Foster/Adoption Training -- Day 16: Graduation!
Henry had a good nap today (Monday), or at least seemed to if noise is an indicator. The house was quiet from about 10:30-2PM. He was very insistent about watching pics around 3:30PM, which I obliged b/c I knew we wouldn't get to it in the evening. We watched the Peanut's "Lucy is the Boss" clip, which has become one of his favorites from o-tube.
As we drove to Grammy and Poppy's house in the afternoon, we missed the light near the highway underpass where the train often comes (much to Jeff's frustration as the trains seem to sense when Jeff is coming and make him wait). As we waited for the light to change, Henry said "train." Apparently, he knew what usually comes by.
Jeff and I had our last foster/adoption training class. All in all, we felt pretty good about the process.
Tonight, there was a panel of recent foster parents. One couple had a very cute baby boy (10 months actual, 3 months adjusted) whose mother had been picked up on an arrest warrant from Missouri where she is currently serving time. The clock for severance from the child won't start until after she is out of prison. Perhaps a flaw in the system. If the point of the clock is to give children the opportunity to find and attach to loving parents, why should their needs be put on hold b/c mom landed herself in jail? It's not like the child's psyche gets put on hold while parent is serving time. Sigh. Anyway, the boy was very cute. The couple have had him since mid-December. His file didn't contain much information, but they did find his original pediatrician who was able to fill in some background information for them. I showed foster mom some photos of Henry from the NICU so that she could see what things looked like there. The boy had some issues similar to Henry's (e.g., hernia repair, lung issues and is currently on Synagis, etc.). Another foster mom (single) took care of 2 girls from a meth house until their aunt got the rights to take them. And, another couple are currently taking care of 3 and 5 year old siblings (from a group of 5) who have some behavioral issues (although things are improving). Bio mom's rights to the children have been severed. It is unclear whether bio father's rights will severed yet (to be determined in April). That couple just graduated in December, so they are very recent foster parents.
Our training is complete. Our home inspection takes place in about 11 hours from now. Then, all our paperwork will be sent to the state.
Jeff offered to take me to Pastiche after class (one of my favorite restaurants) as it was graduation and my b-day. I opted for a quick stop at Lovin' Spoonfuls for a cup of soup and then back to the grandparents' to see our boy. Henry was cuddling with Grammy on the couch watching a replay of the Eagles lose to the Cardinals. Henry had spent a lot of time outside in our absence. Grammy and Poppy had spent a 1/2 hour outside in the dark with him looking at the moon at his request shortly before we arrived. Poppy said that he and Grammy were cold but stuck it out as Henry wanted to be outside. Henry was dressed in his warm PJs and was comfortable there.
On our way home, Henry got to see the train at the crossing, much to his delight. He wasn't asleep when we got home but close. It took several minutes for Henry to settle down. I snuggled with Henry until 3AM when Jeff got me up.
Jeff had been cleaning in preparation for our home inspection. I'm working on a manuscript, which should be done in a few hours. In his cleaning, Jeff found my grandfather's service medal from Korea and his money clip. I have been looking for them for awhile, but they had gotten lost in the shuffle. These are two items that I really want Henry to have some day, so they were a great cap to my b-day. They are now in a very safe place.
As we drove to Grammy and Poppy's house in the afternoon, we missed the light near the highway underpass where the train often comes (much to Jeff's frustration as the trains seem to sense when Jeff is coming and make him wait). As we waited for the light to change, Henry said "train." Apparently, he knew what usually comes by.
Jeff and I had our last foster/adoption training class. All in all, we felt pretty good about the process.
Tonight, there was a panel of recent foster parents. One couple had a very cute baby boy (10 months actual, 3 months adjusted) whose mother had been picked up on an arrest warrant from Missouri where she is currently serving time. The clock for severance from the child won't start until after she is out of prison. Perhaps a flaw in the system. If the point of the clock is to give children the opportunity to find and attach to loving parents, why should their needs be put on hold b/c mom landed herself in jail? It's not like the child's psyche gets put on hold while parent is serving time. Sigh. Anyway, the boy was very cute. The couple have had him since mid-December. His file didn't contain much information, but they did find his original pediatrician who was able to fill in some background information for them. I showed foster mom some photos of Henry from the NICU so that she could see what things looked like there. The boy had some issues similar to Henry's (e.g., hernia repair, lung issues and is currently on Synagis, etc.). Another foster mom (single) took care of 2 girls from a meth house until their aunt got the rights to take them. And, another couple are currently taking care of 3 and 5 year old siblings (from a group of 5) who have some behavioral issues (although things are improving). Bio mom's rights to the children have been severed. It is unclear whether bio father's rights will severed yet (to be determined in April). That couple just graduated in December, so they are very recent foster parents.
Our training is complete. Our home inspection takes place in about 11 hours from now. Then, all our paperwork will be sent to the state.
Jeff offered to take me to Pastiche after class (one of my favorite restaurants) as it was graduation and my b-day. I opted for a quick stop at Lovin' Spoonfuls for a cup of soup and then back to the grandparents' to see our boy. Henry was cuddling with Grammy on the couch watching a replay of the Eagles lose to the Cardinals. Henry had spent a lot of time outside in our absence. Grammy and Poppy had spent a 1/2 hour outside in the dark with him looking at the moon at his request shortly before we arrived. Poppy said that he and Grammy were cold but stuck it out as Henry wanted to be outside. Henry was dressed in his warm PJs and was comfortable there.
On our way home, Henry got to see the train at the crossing, much to his delight. He wasn't asleep when we got home but close. It took several minutes for Henry to settle down. I snuggled with Henry until 3AM when Jeff got me up.
Jeff had been cleaning in preparation for our home inspection. I'm working on a manuscript, which should be done in a few hours. In his cleaning, Jeff found my grandfather's service medal from Korea and his money clip. I have been looking for them for awhile, but they had gotten lost in the shuffle. These are two items that I really want Henry to have some day, so they were a great cap to my b-day. They are now in a very safe place.
Monday, March 9, 2009
A Visit with a Foster Mom
On Sunday, Henry got up early. He has readjusted his clock to a 6AM wake up. Apparently, his internal clock recognizes daylight savings even though the state of Arizona does not. He was very cranky by 10:30AM and Jeff managed to get him to sleep without much hoopla. Around 12:50PM, I asked my parents if they could pick Henry up b/c I wanted him to sleep as long as possible, and Jeff and I had an appointment at 2PM. They came around 1:30PM, which was great. By that time, Henry was up...prodded by me around 1:10PM...which only made him try to bury his head in the pillows. He is undeniably my child on the sleep front...a tad grumpy when someone tries to arise him from his slumber.
At 2PM, we met up with Foster Mom M. I'm not going to use her real name b/c many foster parents prefer their privacy. She is friends with our foster mom trainer for our MAPPs classes. Foster Mom M has been foster children for 7 years. She deals primarily with medically fragile infants, usually kids who were born having been exposed to drugs. She adopted her third placement D, who was born 3.5 months prematurely and addicted to meth. D is four years old now and doing very well. She had hydrocephalus and therefore has a shunt that drains the extra fluid from the brain into pelvis area for reabsorption. Foster Mom M has only taken care of infants, especially with the adoption of D b/c she wanted to make sure that D was the oldest in the house. Foster Mom M is going back to school soon, so that she can become a kindergarten teacher. With that goal in place and raising D, she has decided to stop fostering children (her last placement found a permanent home in January). She was told that foster parents usually get burnt out after about 5 years. She's lasted a bit beyond that. She will still be coming to quarterlies (meeting that take place every three months to keep foster parents' training active, which keeps them certifiable) b/c she plans to continue providing respite care on occasion.
Here's just a sample of what we learned/discussed:
(1) Ask for transitional time rather than having the child ripped from the foster home and placed back directly with the bio family for reunification. Apparently, transitional time often has to be requested.
(2) A lot of people do foster care for the money, even though the money is supposed to go directly for the child's expenses. She said that she has been surprised at how some of the foster care children appear at quarterlies...dressed in very worn clothes suggesting that the foster parents aren't spending the money on the kids.
(3) Make sure that your bio family comes first. If you are hesitant about taking a child into your come, then don't. She was almost given a charge whose description didn't match what was said over the telephone. The child in question was a shaken baby syndrome child and on several seizure medications. Because she also had D's needs to consider, she passed. She is a single parent. If the child had a seizure while she was giving D a bath or something, she wasn't sure that she could handle both children's needs at the same time.
(4) There is a lot of variance in the quality of CPS workers. Some are great. Some are terrible.
(5) Biological families will often view you (the foster parent) as the enemy.
(6) CPS sometimes makes mistakes. Sometimes they rip a child from a home and then ask questions later about the child's home situation. Sometimes they are very slow to ask questions. And sometimes, they don't ask enough questions about biological parents and reunify children with their bio familes even when it doesn't seem like the bio parents are going to do a good job (e.g., bio parents clearly displaying inappropriate levels of anger around others...gee, what do you think is going to happen to the kids behind closed doors if the bio parents already showing so much anger in public?).
(7) Having a foster child taken from your home is very hard. It is "like a limb being ripped from your body." And yet it is also important work.
Jeff and I filled out our special needs preference form when we left our visit with Foster Mom M. I think that we have a better understanding of some things that we think we can handle and some things not. Unfortunately, we just don't think we could handle a shaken baby syndrome baby at this time. And we are also skeptical about whether or not we could handle babies going through drug withdrawals, given that we have full-time jobs and Henry to consider. We are OK with respiratory issues, g-tubes (to some extent), injections (e.g., insulin), some developmental delays, etc. We are expecting some behavioral problems, but if the child is already showing extreme aggressive tendencies and/or abuse to others and animals, we will not be able to care for them at this time.
In the evening, we went over to my parents' house for my family b-day dinner. Henry had a great afternoon with Poppy in the backyard. As usual, they read lots of books.
Henry said Brian's name rather than referring to him as "Dude." He said Brian's name very well in fact. Erin was convinced that her name was going to be the very last that he'd ever say. But he surprised her with an "Erin" after the meal.
When my cake come out, Henry was sitting in my lap. I'm pretty sure that he thought the birthday song was for him, and he was delighted by it. He wasn't interested in the cake though after the candles had been blown.
This morning, Henry arose at 6AM. Sigh. I took care of him while Jeff worked as Jeff is on EST and we now have a 3 hour difference between here and Philly. Henry and I read "The Haunted House" and "The Magic Grinder." At one point, Henry dropped his bottle and said "Bottle fall down."
He's playing with Alicia and Karina now.
At 2PM, we met up with Foster Mom M. I'm not going to use her real name b/c many foster parents prefer their privacy. She is friends with our foster mom trainer for our MAPPs classes. Foster Mom M has been foster children for 7 years. She deals primarily with medically fragile infants, usually kids who were born having been exposed to drugs. She adopted her third placement D, who was born 3.5 months prematurely and addicted to meth. D is four years old now and doing very well. She had hydrocephalus and therefore has a shunt that drains the extra fluid from the brain into pelvis area for reabsorption. Foster Mom M has only taken care of infants, especially with the adoption of D b/c she wanted to make sure that D was the oldest in the house. Foster Mom M is going back to school soon, so that she can become a kindergarten teacher. With that goal in place and raising D, she has decided to stop fostering children (her last placement found a permanent home in January). She was told that foster parents usually get burnt out after about 5 years. She's lasted a bit beyond that. She will still be coming to quarterlies (meeting that take place every three months to keep foster parents' training active, which keeps them certifiable) b/c she plans to continue providing respite care on occasion.
Here's just a sample of what we learned/discussed:
(1) Ask for transitional time rather than having the child ripped from the foster home and placed back directly with the bio family for reunification. Apparently, transitional time often has to be requested.
(2) A lot of people do foster care for the money, even though the money is supposed to go directly for the child's expenses. She said that she has been surprised at how some of the foster care children appear at quarterlies...dressed in very worn clothes suggesting that the foster parents aren't spending the money on the kids.
(3) Make sure that your bio family comes first. If you are hesitant about taking a child into your come, then don't. She was almost given a charge whose description didn't match what was said over the telephone. The child in question was a shaken baby syndrome child and on several seizure medications. Because she also had D's needs to consider, she passed. She is a single parent. If the child had a seizure while she was giving D a bath or something, she wasn't sure that she could handle both children's needs at the same time.
(4) There is a lot of variance in the quality of CPS workers. Some are great. Some are terrible.
(5) Biological families will often view you (the foster parent) as the enemy.
(6) CPS sometimes makes mistakes. Sometimes they rip a child from a home and then ask questions later about the child's home situation. Sometimes they are very slow to ask questions. And sometimes, they don't ask enough questions about biological parents and reunify children with their bio familes even when it doesn't seem like the bio parents are going to do a good job (e.g., bio parents clearly displaying inappropriate levels of anger around others...gee, what do you think is going to happen to the kids behind closed doors if the bio parents already showing so much anger in public?).
(7) Having a foster child taken from your home is very hard. It is "like a limb being ripped from your body." And yet it is also important work.
Jeff and I filled out our special needs preference form when we left our visit with Foster Mom M. I think that we have a better understanding of some things that we think we can handle and some things not. Unfortunately, we just don't think we could handle a shaken baby syndrome baby at this time. And we are also skeptical about whether or not we could handle babies going through drug withdrawals, given that we have full-time jobs and Henry to consider. We are OK with respiratory issues, g-tubes (to some extent), injections (e.g., insulin), some developmental delays, etc. We are expecting some behavioral problems, but if the child is already showing extreme aggressive tendencies and/or abuse to others and animals, we will not be able to care for them at this time.
In the evening, we went over to my parents' house for my family b-day dinner. Henry had a great afternoon with Poppy in the backyard. As usual, they read lots of books.
Henry said Brian's name rather than referring to him as "Dude." He said Brian's name very well in fact. Erin was convinced that her name was going to be the very last that he'd ever say. But he surprised her with an "Erin" after the meal.
When my cake come out, Henry was sitting in my lap. I'm pretty sure that he thought the birthday song was for him, and he was delighted by it. He wasn't interested in the cake though after the candles had been blown.
This morning, Henry arose at 6AM. Sigh. I took care of him while Jeff worked as Jeff is on EST and we now have a 3 hour difference between here and Philly. Henry and I read "The Haunted House" and "The Magic Grinder." At one point, Henry dropped his bottle and said "Bottle fall down."
He's playing with Alicia and Karina now.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Project Runway Designer in the Making
Henry got up early this morning. Sigh. Again, he didn't get the memo that he can sleep in on the weekends.
He didn't eat much. At one point, he claimed that he wanted "macaroni cheese." He got pancakes instead. I read to him while Jeff made them. After rejecting a good part of his breakfast, he and Jeff played. Then, Jeff took him to my parents' house. They had late afternoon plans, so they wanted him earlier than usual.
He didn't sleep much (except in the car). He helped Poppy in the yard. Henry identified pine cones to pick up and told Poppy where the dog poop was for disposal.
When he returned home around 4:30PM, we tried to get him to take a nap. Our efforts were unsuccessful. I was impressed that he knows the word "cell phone." He was having a pretend conversation on Jeff's cell phone that lasted a couple minutes.
While Jeff worked, it took me awhile to get Henry's jacket and shoes on him so that we could play in the backyard. Henry discovered the treadmill and swung on its railing. He also sat down at the kitchen table, which is covered with mail. He made himself a hat out of one of the envelops...completely unprompted. I'm thinking of trying to get him an audition for Project Runway. He already shows creativity. And if there is ever an episode where the task revolves around using envelops to create high fashion, he is sure to win, especially if he is allowed to be his own model!
He and I spread bird seed around the backyard. Henry did a good job getting some of the bird seed into the bird feeder while I held him up. He climbed on things and generally kept me on my toes.
He didn't really eat dinner. He had a bite of my rice. He wanted his bottle. He had a bath. His articulation is amazing. We went through the names of the various Harry Potter characters. He has no problem repeating three syllable words now. I was throwing some four syllable names at him. He has some trouble with clear F sounds. After his bath, we watched a couple minutes of "Lucy is the boss" video from o-tube. Jeff took Henry to bed, and he was down within a matter of minutes.
Jeff and I will be doing lots of cleaning tomorrow in preparation for the state inspection. Yikes! In the afternoon, we have an appointment to meet a foster mom who has worked with medically fragile children. I should be done with my last manuscript tonight (then my attention returns to my book). In the evening, we are going to my parents' house for my birthday dinner. Erin and Brian will be there.
Next Saturday, Henry will be going to his first birthday party. One of my friends is having a get-together for her daughter's first birthday. I'm honestly looking forward to showing him off a bit. A downside to staying cloistered during RSV season is not being able to show him off as much as we want. Obviously that downside isn't as big as our desire to keep him healthy! Jeff was telling me about how Patty was just so impressed with Henry's vocabulary on Thursday. For some reason, the phrase "lean back" came up. When people ask how he is doing and I mention his vocabulary skills (I've been saying that he knows about 150 words, but I'm confident that it is a lot bigger than that right now especially if you include proper names from all of his books and Thomas the Tank Engine videos...it is probably past 200 words by now...that's spoken words, his comprehension exceeds that), I've gotten the looks that say "18 month olds don't articulate that many words and you must be another over the top proud parent." I confess that I am the latter, but he does have an extraordinary vocabulary and can't wait to show it off. :-)
He didn't eat much. At one point, he claimed that he wanted "macaroni cheese." He got pancakes instead. I read to him while Jeff made them. After rejecting a good part of his breakfast, he and Jeff played. Then, Jeff took him to my parents' house. They had late afternoon plans, so they wanted him earlier than usual.
He didn't sleep much (except in the car). He helped Poppy in the yard. Henry identified pine cones to pick up and told Poppy where the dog poop was for disposal.
When he returned home around 4:30PM, we tried to get him to take a nap. Our efforts were unsuccessful. I was impressed that he knows the word "cell phone." He was having a pretend conversation on Jeff's cell phone that lasted a couple minutes.
While Jeff worked, it took me awhile to get Henry's jacket and shoes on him so that we could play in the backyard. Henry discovered the treadmill and swung on its railing. He also sat down at the kitchen table, which is covered with mail. He made himself a hat out of one of the envelops...completely unprompted. I'm thinking of trying to get him an audition for Project Runway. He already shows creativity. And if there is ever an episode where the task revolves around using envelops to create high fashion, he is sure to win, especially if he is allowed to be his own model!
He and I spread bird seed around the backyard. Henry did a good job getting some of the bird seed into the bird feeder while I held him up. He climbed on things and generally kept me on my toes.He didn't really eat dinner. He had a bite of my rice. He wanted his bottle. He had a bath. His articulation is amazing. We went through the names of the various Harry Potter characters. He has no problem repeating three syllable words now. I was throwing some four syllable names at him. He has some trouble with clear F sounds. After his bath, we watched a couple minutes of "Lucy is the boss" video from o-tube. Jeff took Henry to bed, and he was down within a matter of minutes.
Jeff and I will be doing lots of cleaning tomorrow in preparation for the state inspection. Yikes! In the afternoon, we have an appointment to meet a foster mom who has worked with medically fragile children. I should be done with my last manuscript tonight (then my attention returns to my book). In the evening, we are going to my parents' house for my birthday dinner. Erin and Brian will be there.
Next Saturday, Henry will be going to his first birthday party. One of my friends is having a get-together for her daughter's first birthday. I'm honestly looking forward to showing him off a bit. A downside to staying cloistered during RSV season is not being able to show him off as much as we want. Obviously that downside isn't as big as our desire to keep him healthy! Jeff was telling me about how Patty was just so impressed with Henry's vocabulary on Thursday. For some reason, the phrase "lean back" came up. When people ask how he is doing and I mention his vocabulary skills (I've been saying that he knows about 150 words, but I'm confident that it is a lot bigger than that right now especially if you include proper names from all of his books and Thomas the Tank Engine videos...it is probably past 200 words by now...that's spoken words, his comprehension exceeds that), I've gotten the looks that say "18 month olds don't articulate that many words and you must be another over the top proud parent." I confess that I am the latter, but he does have an extraordinary vocabulary and can't wait to show it off. :-)
Friday, March 6, 2009
Chasing Bitsy
Henry had an appointment with Shirley the PT this afternoon. We learned on Wednesday that DDD has decided to cut all intervention services as of March 12. So this will be our last appointment with her (at least for now). I think that we can actually appeal the decision b/c PT and OT are written in our IFSP (individualized family service plan, which is in essence a contract with state). Given the length of the appeal process, however, and knowing that Henry is doing quite well, I suspect that we'll discontinue services BUT pay out-of-pocket for evaluations a couple times a year. And then if Henry does need a return of regular services, we'll just have to pay for it somehow. Jeff asked Shirley about private payments. She has never done them before (everything has been through insurance or EIP), so she'll have to look into it.
Jeff reported that when Shirley arrived, Henry said her name. She was surprised to hear it. She thought that he looked great! Toe walking is still an issue. She wants us to get some different kinds of shoes and was willing to go shopping with us if we wanted. Very kind of her.
Henry spent part of the afternoon chasing Bitsy around with some packing paper from my birthday presents, which arrived via UPS and Fed-Ex. Jeff set one of them up...my second monitor (26"). It's beautiful. Ah, to have two monitors again! It is heavenly! How did I go this long without dual monitor support?
Anyway, Henry had fun with the paper. When Jeff and I talked on the telephone (I was at school today), I could hear Henry squealing at the top of his lungs. He and Bitsy are quite the pair. She is a very good cat for a little boy. More like a dog actually. She does scratch him every now and then, but given the number of times he pulls her tail, I figure that they end up even.
Henry wouldn't eat his dinner. He had just a couple bites. But Jeff counted up his ounces and said that he's had about 30 ozs of goat's milk today, which is on the heavier side for an almost 19 month old. We tried to weigh him last night. We think that he's up to about 25 lbs. We are wondering if he's better able to put on weight b/c he's no longer on the acid blockers. Acid blockers make the digestive process inefficient. Just wondering if perhaps now that his system is breaking down the foods better, he is actually absorbing the calories. We feel that he's increased his milk intake overall ever since he went off Prevacid.
We watched some Thomas, Winnie the Pooh, and Snoopy clips on the computer...on the new screen of course. Then, Henry went to bed. That's all from here.
Signing off...
Jeff reported that when Shirley arrived, Henry said her name. She was surprised to hear it. She thought that he looked great! Toe walking is still an issue. She wants us to get some different kinds of shoes and was willing to go shopping with us if we wanted. Very kind of her.
Henry spent part of the afternoon chasing Bitsy around with some packing paper from my birthday presents, which arrived via UPS and Fed-Ex. Jeff set one of them up...my second monitor (26"). It's beautiful. Ah, to have two monitors again! It is heavenly! How did I go this long without dual monitor support?
Anyway, Henry had fun with the paper. When Jeff and I talked on the telephone (I was at school today), I could hear Henry squealing at the top of his lungs. He and Bitsy are quite the pair. She is a very good cat for a little boy. More like a dog actually. She does scratch him every now and then, but given the number of times he pulls her tail, I figure that they end up even.
Henry wouldn't eat his dinner. He had just a couple bites. But Jeff counted up his ounces and said that he's had about 30 ozs of goat's milk today, which is on the heavier side for an almost 19 month old. We tried to weigh him last night. We think that he's up to about 25 lbs. We are wondering if he's better able to put on weight b/c he's no longer on the acid blockers. Acid blockers make the digestive process inefficient. Just wondering if perhaps now that his system is breaking down the foods better, he is actually absorbing the calories. We feel that he's increased his milk intake overall ever since he went off Prevacid.
We watched some Thomas, Winnie the Pooh, and Snoopy clips on the computer...on the new screen of course. Then, Henry went to bed. That's all from here.
Signing off...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
"Come on!"
Today, Henry played outside with Jeff. He found a broom and made designs in the dirt with it.After work, I stopped by UMC and dropped off the breast pump that I had been renting for the past 22 months. I think that Rene the LC was impressed by the duration that I stuck with it. She told me that it was good that I didn't bring Henry for a visit. They've had nine cases of RSV in the hospital. She characterized it as a bad RSV season. I checked out today's state RSV report. There have been 58 cases in Pima county in the last three weeks. That's a huge increase in comparison to December when there was only a handful. Anyway, I dropped off a picture of Henry for the nurses to see.
Henry and I watched Thomas the Tank Engine when I got home. So I guess we are letting him watch TV now officially, but we are still trying to limit it. We watched the DVD on James the Engine. It had shrink wrap on it. I took it off the case and then asked Henry to take the wrap to the garbage...and he did! I got him some pea crisps as a snack. As I handed him the cup, he said, "Nank you!" (that's "thank you") complete with sign language.
At dusk, we went for a walk that took forever. Walks with Henry take a really long time. He had to point out all of the "poop" in the road. Given the number of dogs on our street, not to mention the packs of coyotes and the horses, there was a lot to observe.
Henry was very cute calling out for Roger. Roger had run ahead of us. I squated down a little, getting down at dog eye level, clapped my hands, and called out "Roger, come on!" Henry copied me. He squat down, put his hands together and yelled "Come on! Come on! Come on!" It was so cute.
We ran into Yvonne who had Banjo and Chocolate with her. Precious died a few weeks ago. Henry looked around and said "Precious!" which was so sweet but made us a bit sad too.
Henry wants to live on puffs and crunchies alone. He was irked that we wanted him to eat something besides snack food. He rejected ham, raspberries, and a cheese crisp. He finally accepted some pancake. It was a very poor dinner. He looked tired in his high chair, so we gave him a bath and got him ready for bed.
Here he is playing with Pete the Pirate Penguin:
I want to buy Henry a Fisher Price village. Jeff thinks Henry has enough toys. Jeff's already purchased my b-day gift so I can't ask for more gifts for that event. But I'm requesting a Fisher Price village for my wedding anniversary present (day after my birthday).
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Foster/Adoption Training -- Day 15
Jeff took Henry to bed last night. We switched places at 3AM. I had just finished an article manuscript, and Jeff wanted to go to the store to get supplies for sweet potato burritos for the class potluck we had tonight. He headed to our new Walmart grocery store (we aren't fans of Walmart but it is the closest grocery store to us boonie dwellers and it's the only venue open at 3AM). Jeff came home and made the burritos. One of our classmates is vegan, so Henry made a version of them just for her and made the tortillas from scratch (b/c all of the store-bought ones contain animal products). Not sure how Jeff and I have been together for 16 years, and I had no idea that he knew how to make homemade tortillas.
Henry got up at 6AM. I swear that he has a sensor that goes off if Jeff leaves the bed. Jeff's kind of like a human security blanket.
Henry and Karina's nap time has been getting pushed back later than usual. They don't settle down until after 11AM these days. Henry caught me coming out of Jeff's office right before nap time. He insisted that I read "Little Quack" before his nap. Glad that he's become very interested in books again. His interest in books comes and goes in waves. There are days when maybe he'll read two books and days when he reads twenty-some of them. After Alicia left, I was still working, doing the final analysis check for my manuscript (I always run my analysis at least twice to make sure everything it correct). I let Henry watch Thomas the Tank Engine while I checked the last table. Henry is amazing. The show goes through several of the engines with their names printed near them. Henry could name all of the trains shown. Gordon has suddenly become very popular with Henry.
Henry went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and spent a lot of time outdoors, picking up pine cones in their side yard. He also read lots of books. Poppy looked a little tired when we arrived to pick up Henry.
We had 15th foster class tonight. It was potluck night. Jeff's sweet potato burritos were a huge hit! We had a visitor tonight. Ed is one of the foster parent trainers, but he hasn't been involved with training our class. He has been a foster parent for 35 years and has helped nearly 400 children during that time. He has adopted five of them. Another five of his foster children have had terminal illnesses and passed away in his and his wife's care. It sounds like he has taken in some very medically fragile children. Our only complaint about tonight's session is that we would have loved Ed to have stayed and talked with us longer.
We are nearing the end of our foster training. One more class to go and then graduation! The class has been moved to Monday, which is fine with us. It's my birthday that day. Then, Tuesday is Jeff's and my wedding anniversary. That's also the date of our state inspection.
We have been discussing our vehicle situation. We don't think that there is anyway around it. A mini-van is somewhere in our future.
It's 11:30PM. I was going to try to work, but I'm beat. Time for an early bedtime. Signing off...
Henry got up at 6AM. I swear that he has a sensor that goes off if Jeff leaves the bed. Jeff's kind of like a human security blanket.
Henry and Karina's nap time has been getting pushed back later than usual. They don't settle down until after 11AM these days. Henry caught me coming out of Jeff's office right before nap time. He insisted that I read "Little Quack" before his nap. Glad that he's become very interested in books again. His interest in books comes and goes in waves. There are days when maybe he'll read two books and days when he reads twenty-some of them. After Alicia left, I was still working, doing the final analysis check for my manuscript (I always run my analysis at least twice to make sure everything it correct). I let Henry watch Thomas the Tank Engine while I checked the last table. Henry is amazing. The show goes through several of the engines with their names printed near them. Henry could name all of the trains shown. Gordon has suddenly become very popular with Henry.
Henry went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and spent a lot of time outdoors, picking up pine cones in their side yard. He also read lots of books. Poppy looked a little tired when we arrived to pick up Henry.
We had 15th foster class tonight. It was potluck night. Jeff's sweet potato burritos were a huge hit! We had a visitor tonight. Ed is one of the foster parent trainers, but he hasn't been involved with training our class. He has been a foster parent for 35 years and has helped nearly 400 children during that time. He has adopted five of them. Another five of his foster children have had terminal illnesses and passed away in his and his wife's care. It sounds like he has taken in some very medically fragile children. Our only complaint about tonight's session is that we would have loved Ed to have stayed and talked with us longer.
We are nearing the end of our foster training. One more class to go and then graduation! The class has been moved to Monday, which is fine with us. It's my birthday that day. Then, Tuesday is Jeff's and my wedding anniversary. That's also the date of our state inspection.
We have been discussing our vehicle situation. We don't think that there is anyway around it. A mini-van is somewhere in our future.
It's 11:30PM. I was going to try to work, but I'm beat. Time for an early bedtime. Signing off...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Joe-Bama
Jeff had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon near my parents' house. In the car, I asked Henry who the Veep was, and he said "Joe-Bama!" Saying Obama's name and derivations thereof is his most current obsession.
Henry and I dropped Jeff off at the doctor's office. Henry spent some time with Grammy. Drank three bottles, while I picked Jeff up. Then, we picked up Henry and headed home. Henry was very cute at Grammy's. I asked him who I should kiss. He said, "Dada." So I gave Jeff a kiss. I asked again who I should kiss. Again, Henry said, "Dada." I kissed Jeff again, at which point Henry says, "Kiss Henry!" So very, very cute. I have to savor these moments while I can.
Henry played with Jeff and read lots of books. They took a nap for about an hour and a half in the late afternoon. I'm still working on manuscripts.
Henry ran all over the house in the evening. He was quite the energizer bunny. We worked on jumping. We're pretty sure that Henry knows four colors: blue, red, yellow, and green. I'd ask him for a certain color ball from the ball pit, and he'd retrieve it. He had a bath and then Jeff took him to bed. Sounds like they are asleep now.
I forgot to mention that over the weekend, we had another "Can Henry read?" moment. Jeff was watching the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, which took place not far from here. Henry was watching it too and started staying "ATT, ATT, ATT." Jeff had no idea what he was talking about. Then, Jeff looked at the television screen, and there was an AT&T advertisement on one of the holes. Coincidence? We have had a string of very weird moments just like this. I googled "gifted babies" about a month ago. There was a quotation that basically said that babies are born geniuses and then we (meaning parents, family, and caregivers) spend six years undoing their potential (that's rather a depressing thought). I suspect that Henry would benefit from a strong preschool experience. Jeff and I need to visit the Accelerated Learning Lab (ALL) and see what that's like. The ALL is a charter elementary through junior high school, but they also have a preschool. We've avoided daycare for obvious reasons. And I'd like to get him potty trained before sending him off. We haven't made any effort on the potty training, other than buying him a bilingual Elmo potty (cheers in English and Spanish). I figure that Henry will tell us when he's ready.
Henry and I dropped Jeff off at the doctor's office. Henry spent some time with Grammy. Drank three bottles, while I picked Jeff up. Then, we picked up Henry and headed home. Henry was very cute at Grammy's. I asked him who I should kiss. He said, "Dada." So I gave Jeff a kiss. I asked again who I should kiss. Again, Henry said, "Dada." I kissed Jeff again, at which point Henry says, "Kiss Henry!" So very, very cute. I have to savor these moments while I can.
Henry played with Jeff and read lots of books. They took a nap for about an hour and a half in the late afternoon. I'm still working on manuscripts.
Henry ran all over the house in the evening. He was quite the energizer bunny. We worked on jumping. We're pretty sure that Henry knows four colors: blue, red, yellow, and green. I'd ask him for a certain color ball from the ball pit, and he'd retrieve it. He had a bath and then Jeff took him to bed. Sounds like they are asleep now.
I forgot to mention that over the weekend, we had another "Can Henry read?" moment. Jeff was watching the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, which took place not far from here. Henry was watching it too and started staying "ATT, ATT, ATT." Jeff had no idea what he was talking about. Then, Jeff looked at the television screen, and there was an AT&T advertisement on one of the holes. Coincidence? We have had a string of very weird moments just like this. I googled "gifted babies" about a month ago. There was a quotation that basically said that babies are born geniuses and then we (meaning parents, family, and caregivers) spend six years undoing their potential (that's rather a depressing thought). I suspect that Henry would benefit from a strong preschool experience. Jeff and I need to visit the Accelerated Learning Lab (ALL) and see what that's like. The ALL is a charter elementary through junior high school, but they also have a preschool. We've avoided daycare for obvious reasons. And I'd like to get him potty trained before sending him off. We haven't made any effort on the potty training, other than buying him a bilingual Elmo potty (cheers in English and Spanish). I figure that Henry will tell us when he's ready.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Tired Boy
We went to Joel's on Sunday morning. Had a lovely breakfast. Henry walked around the courtyard. We ran into our friend Carolyn and her daughter Adelyn. Adelyn is having a 1 year birthday party in two weeks, and Henry is invited. That should be fun.
Henry refused to take a nap, although he fell asleep in the car on the way home. He didn't want lunch either. So he played. He ended up taking a nap around 4:15PM, but Jeff didn't want it to mess up his bedtime, so he woke him up around 5:15PM to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. He was pretty cranky when Jeff woke him up.
He kept Grandma and Grandpa busy as usual. He had lots of book reading requests. They dropped him back at the house around 8:30PM. No signs of sleepiness. We gave him a bath. He managed to throw a full cup of water at me. I can't remember what time we finally got him to bed, but it took a long time for him to settle down. 10:45PM or something. Yeeish. How are we going to handle that and another child or two from foster care?
On Monday, Jeff had a doctor's appointment in the morning. I got up and managed to take a shower without waking Sleeping Beauty who was stacked out completely. I got ready for work. Alicia and Karina had already arrived. As I was packing up my laptop, Prince Henry emerged from the bedroom. He transitioned well (relatively speaking) to Alicia, but he was clearly irked that Daddy wasn't around as he arose.
I left for work at 8AM. Around 2:30PM, I decided to head home b/c I wanted to see Henry before Grandma took him to her house. He played at Grammy's and had dinner there. Then, Jeff picked him up. The grandparents reported that Henry had macaroni and banana for dinner, but he refused the corn souffle, which he enjoyed several times the previous week. The boys got home around 8:30PM, and Henry was already passed out. I sneaked in some snuggle time with him. He woke up for a brief spell and demanded a bottle. Unusual.
We took him off Prevacid a couple weeks ago. We've been hoping that this time is the charm. So far, so good. It seems like the last couple days, his milk intake as increased a lot. And he is waking up with substantially wetter diapers than before. We don't know if that's Prevacid related or not.
Signing off from the Wild Kingdom...
Henry refused to take a nap, although he fell asleep in the car on the way home. He didn't want lunch either. So he played. He ended up taking a nap around 4:15PM, but Jeff didn't want it to mess up his bedtime, so he woke him up around 5:15PM to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. He was pretty cranky when Jeff woke him up.
He kept Grandma and Grandpa busy as usual. He had lots of book reading requests. They dropped him back at the house around 8:30PM. No signs of sleepiness. We gave him a bath. He managed to throw a full cup of water at me. I can't remember what time we finally got him to bed, but it took a long time for him to settle down. 10:45PM or something. Yeeish. How are we going to handle that and another child or two from foster care?
On Monday, Jeff had a doctor's appointment in the morning. I got up and managed to take a shower without waking Sleeping Beauty who was stacked out completely. I got ready for work. Alicia and Karina had already arrived. As I was packing up my laptop, Prince Henry emerged from the bedroom. He transitioned well (relatively speaking) to Alicia, but he was clearly irked that Daddy wasn't around as he arose.
I left for work at 8AM. Around 2:30PM, I decided to head home b/c I wanted to see Henry before Grandma took him to her house. He played at Grammy's and had dinner there. Then, Jeff picked him up. The grandparents reported that Henry had macaroni and banana for dinner, but he refused the corn souffle, which he enjoyed several times the previous week. The boys got home around 8:30PM, and Henry was already passed out. I sneaked in some snuggle time with him. He woke up for a brief spell and demanded a bottle. Unusual.
We took him off Prevacid a couple weeks ago. We've been hoping that this time is the charm. So far, so good. It seems like the last couple days, his milk intake as increased a lot. And he is waking up with substantially wetter diapers than before. We don't know if that's Prevacid related or not.
Signing off from the Wild Kingdom...
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