Locked Out

On Saturday, Grammy and Poppy returned the kids around 7:30PM. Jeff and I had a productive afternoon and early evening getting things done around the house. While Jeff was putting my computer back together, I got out the Halloween decorations including a newly purchased black spider that moves its legs and has lights on it. I managed to put it together before the kids were returned. Henry, as predicted, was enthralled with it. He said it was "scary."

Grammy reported that the kids took a long nap in the afternoon. So long, in fact, that they didn't get around to watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After their naps, Grammy and Poppy took them to Trader Joe's. The kids enjoyed the samples of scallops.

This morning, Henry wanted to go into the atrium to see the spider.



Miss R joined us outside after she finished eating (which involved dipping the handle of the spoon into her yogurt and sucking it off...took a bit longer than using the scooping end). The kids were very cute running around together, chanting, dancing, and hugging.

At one point, however, Henry went inside and closed the door. Jeff, Miss R, and I were still in our little atrium. Henry then proceeded to lock the door. So there we were, still in our night clothes, no key, and Henry staring at us from the inside. Luckily, Jeff managed to convince Henry to unlock the door. That was a close call.

Jeff has taken the kids to the zoo for the morning. I'm stuck here, writing an exam.

Two Guitars

This morning, Henry was up before Miss R and I got up. Jeff made him pancakes. He ate 4 pancakes, 2 strawberries, and 1.5 sausage links in one sitting. Miss R joined him halfway through his breakfast.

I read "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear" to Henry and Miss R three times. Then Jeff read to them.

I decided to give the kids some Pop Rocks to see what they thought of that. Miss R loved it. Henry was interested at first, but he wasn't crazy about it in the end.

I found a birthday present from May from Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian that we hadn't used yet. It was a guitar. A HUGE hit with Henry. He and Miss R spent a long time dancing this morning.

Henry wasn't too excited about having to share it with Miss R though. When I told him that he had to share with Miss R, he said "Two guitars." Indeed. It it better to have multiple items than to share! He got over it though. I brought out his Little Tykes "drum set" and they both played their instruments and danced.

I took the kids to Grammy and Poppy's house while a fellow came to clean our air ducts. As Poppy entered the family room, he said, "I have a present for you." But Henry had already found it. The "Snow White" DVD. Henry will love that. It has "scary" parts. Scary is very big these days. Henry is loving the Halloween theme.

You Break It, You Buy It

On Friday, both Henry and Miss R were incredibly whiny. I guess that it is "normal" for toddlers to whine. It gets so emotionally exhausting hearing complaints about this and that.

On the car ride to daycare this morning, Henry had the brilliant idea of taking every piece of tissue out of the kleenex box and throwing them on the floor of the back seat. I of course didn't notice this until I went to get the kids out of their carseats.

Miss R happily went to play on the playground equipment when we arrived. Henry met up with his class which was waiting for Miss R's class to finish their session on the slides. There are two little gals who often greet me. They were spinning around on the grass. Henry eventually joined them. But he didn't want me to go, which made me sad.

I picked them up at 5PM. I'd had a long day at school. Miss R's class was in the process of being combined with another class. She was very excited to see me. We then picked up Henry. I told Miss Diana that Miss R will be joining Henry's class on Monday. I guess there are six kids in Henry's class that are getting transferred to the "older" 2s room.

We went to Bashas, a grocery store, across the street. I tend to shop there even if their prices are a little higher b/c the owners are from Arizona and they give quite a bit back to the community. Henry wanted me to buy him a pumpkin. I told him that we'd go to a real pumpkin patch next week to get our pumpkin. Miss R sat in the cart's seat and Henry sat in the basket itself. He managed to sink his teeth into the tortillas that I'd put in the basket. We visited the Halloween decoration section. Henry managed to break a little jack-o-latern that lights up. I ended up buying it (figuring that if we broke it, we should buy it). It still works, its just that there's a crack in one of the windows. Sigh.

We had a good dinner. I was exhausted afterward, having not gotten much sleep last night between Henry wetting the bed, Lily being caught with a croc and having to put her in her kennel for the first time, and then one of the cats shattering a glass, which was knocked off the kitchen counter at 3AM. Jeff was pretty out of it last night. He woke me up to say that a glass had shattered but then fell back asleep.

We let the kids watch an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine after I'd read Henry "Donald Duck and the Magic Stick" and Jeff had read him "The Three Javelinas." I tried to nap on the couch. But Miss R laid on top of me and then Henry smashed my glasses into my face. I think that we got the kids to bed by 8:30PM.

Tomorrow, we get our air ducts cleaned. Hopefully, they aren't completely disgusting.

The CASA

Having stayed up later than usual the night before, Jeff let us sleep a little longer, which was nice, on Thursday morning. That extra sleep didn't translate into extra energy or motivation though for Henry and Miss R. It was an ordeal getting everyone out the door. Herding cats is what it was. In the car, the kids were in a mood. Miss R took Henry's book away from him. When I told her that she had to give it back, she threw it at him.

I talked with Suree, the director of their daycare, about Miss R moving up. As it turns out, there isn't a choice. By state law, 2 year olds aren't allowed in a room designated for 1 year olds. So Friday will be her last full day with Miss Josie and Miss Kristen!

At 3:30PM, I met Ida, Miss R's CASA, in the lobby of their daycare. A CASA is a court appointed representative for a child who gives his/her opinion to the judge about what would be best for the child. Ida graciously brought toys for both Miss R and Henry. We visited Miss R's room first. We then made our way to the playground and found Henry. I ended up having a hug-fest with several little kids. There's one little gal who seems taken with me. She wanted me to give her a hug. I did so but I was a little tentative about it b/c I wasn't sure how other parents would feel about strangers (to them) hugging their kids. That lead to another little girl wanting to hug Miss R. Then someone wanted to hug Henry. It was one big hug exchange.

Afterward, we went to Henry's room to show Ida what Miss R's future room would look like. Henry found a broom and dust pan and started to sweep the room. I asked him if he wanted to go home and he said no. Apparently, "sweeping" was more fun. Ida gave the kids their gifts. It was a Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

Ida followed our car back to our place. She asked me what services I thought that Miss R needed. I said that although Miss R hasn't been evaluated properly, I thought she was doing well. I just wanted to make sure that she had a non-foster parent representative in court to speak with the judge about their relatively "objective" opinion of what was best for her. I mentioned that her lawyer had "forgotten" he was assigned to her case, and even after meeting with us at my request, he forgot to speak up in court. He spent his time representing one of her siblings (who does need representation but so does Miss R). Ida said that she'd be there in court. She said that she thought Miss R was very lucky to have found us. I feel like we are pretty darn lucky too. Ida had read through the case documents. She noted that it really seemed like the parents hadn't made much effort in working the case plan. She also said that during her training, she had seen parents do everything in their power to work their plans (so she had some points of comparison). Miss R, incidentally, will be her first CASA case.

Henry and Miss R were quite interactive while Ida visited with us. When she left, they both said "thank you." Jeff asked me what I thought the CASA brought to the table. I think that she'll bring another opinion for the judge. As foster parents, we won't be offering an opinion about what would be best for Miss R. We'll simply be reporting the facts of how she is doing right now. And that's probably how it should be. It isn't our job to judge the bio parents. That's for the CPS caseworker, CPS' attorney, the FCRB, her guardian ad litem (theoretically), and now the CASA to determine. And hopefully, through their reviews, they'll figure out what is best for Miss R. My concern was that Miss R hasn't had much representation and now I'm feeling more confident that her best interest will be considered.

After Ida left, we went on a family walk. We ran into Swanee, Yvonee, and their canine gangs. Lily has turned into the instigator of playtime, a role formerly occupied by Annie. Lily was trying to engage Annie in some play fighting, but Annie didn't seem to notice Lily, despite the fact that Lily had a mouthful of Annie's neck in her mouth.

Henry and Miss R had leftovers for dinner. They ate pretty well. They had a bath. And then Jeff put them to bed while I went to the grocery store.

I just looked in on the kids a couple minutes ago. Henry's diaper leaked big time (again). He's been drinking mass quantities of water at bedtime. The result wasn't good. I just put him in bed with Jeff, and I'm currently washing the sheets. Fun. I'm thinking that we need to get rid of the one and only bottle of the day once and for all.

"Almost"

My parents met up with Jeff and the kids at Red Robin. I came as soon as my office hours were over. The kids were happily munching on their dinners when I arrived.

Miss R gave me a HUGE smile. Henry wanted me to sit next to him, which was nice. He was singing to the music in the restaurant while Miss R was dancing in her seat.

Jeff shared his strawberry lemonade with Miss R, in particular the sugary strawberries. Not a great idea. Miss R was incredibly hyper after dinner.

We went to the play area in the mall. When we first arrived, it was completely empty. Miss R wanted to go down a slide but was afraid to do it herself. And she'd put her feet down flat, so that her sliding was super slow. Jeff told her that she'd "almost" gotten it down. Miss R appears to have come to the conclusion that "almost" meant going down a slide. She happily went up the steps and went down the slide (provided that I held out my finger) and shouted "almost." Henry also got in on the action.

Miss R was very upset about being put in the car. Jeff reported that she cried all of the way home. And when we arrived home (separate cars), Miss R wanted me. Henry really didn't want to go to bed, but it wasn't optional. They are sound asleep now.

Tomorrow is our appointment with Miss R's CASA.

Class Together?

This morning, both kids were very good brushing their teeth. They are incredibly fascinated with the dog kennel. I wish that Lily was just as excited about it. No problems getting the kids out the door.

We arrived at daycare around 8:10AM. Miss R's class was outside. Henry snuck through the gate and played while I was talking to Miss Josie. Miss Josie's son has a birthday soon and will be moving up a class (to Henry's room in fact). He is in a different "early voyagers" class from Miss R's b/c teachers and their kids aren't allowed to be assigned to the same room. I mentioned that Miss R has a birthday come up soon too. Miss Josie hadn't realized that it was so soon. I asked her if she thought developmentally if Miss R was ready. She said "Yes, she's ready. She's talking a lot." But she said that she knew that Miss R likes her routine and recommended that we request the transition be made gradually over a few days. She'll be put in Henry's class most likely.

We have mixed feelings about Miss R and Henry being in the same class. Our big concern is Henry. If Miss R were to be pulled from our home, it would be a double blow for him. And that's been very much on the back of our minds, although it would appear that if the judge follows the law, that is unlikely to happen. But we are well-aware that judges sometimes use their own brand of logic when "interpreting" the law. We have no impression of the judge assigned to Miss R's case so we don't know if she is the "creative logic" type or not. On a positive note, I think that it will ease the transition for Miss R considerably to have Henry in her new class without a doubt. We really like Henry's teachers a lot, but we agree that Miss Josie and Miss Kristen appear to have a really deep bond with the kids in their class and that's something we've appreciated when it comes to Miss R's care. Consequently, it will be a transition for us too!

I'm going to discuss the moving up arrangements with the director tomorrow, I think. In some cases, they prefer to move the kids up as a group in January, but that's a full three months away. On the one hand, I like the comfort provided by Miss Josie and Miss Kristen. But on the other hand, I want to be as challenging of Miss R as we are of Henry. In truth, we weren't as challenging of her the first couple months that she was with us b/c we wanted her to get settled and wanted to have a good sense of her abilities. We believe that she has tons of raw potential. We've been reading with her more and more. We've been asking her a lot more questions about her day or what she wants. If it was Henry, I would want him challenged. And knowing that her teacher thinks that she is ready makes me want to challenge R in the same way. So, Voyagers, here comes Miss R!

New Furniture

On Monday, Jeff spent the late afternoon and early evening with the kids. They were in bed when I got home, which always makes me a little sad about Monday nights. Jeff reported that they had had a good time together, but that time went so quickly after he picked them. They played a little while, but then there was dinner, walking the dogs, a little more playtime and bed. Jeff was surprised by how much dried fruit Henry ate. He said that Henry just kept requesting it and requesting it

On Tuesday morning, Miss R was playing in our bedroom as I took a shower. When I got out of the shower, I heard "I'm stuck. I'm stuck in the muck." She'd been playing in the dog kennel. Miss R has come such a long way on her language skills. Jeff said that Henry had a full packet of oatmeal plus another third of a second packet. He said that Henry ate about as much as he does in the morning. Henry sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for me, and he did an excellent job brushing his teeth. He earned a pumpkin sticker much to his delight. Miss R did OK on teeth brushing, which earned her a sticker as well. She gave me a hard time when it came to braiding her hair. I always braid her hair on Tuesdays as they are bio parent visitation days. Henry played in a box to his new toy organizer. The kids were good in the car. They requested the train song on the Mymo CD.

We took Miss R to her room first. She and Henry were just about as cute as two kids can get when it came to saying goodbye. I asked Henry if he wanted to give her a goodbye hug. He ran over to her and she opened her arms.

My parents were a little down b/c it didn't look like we were going to be able to schedule a grandparent pick up day. My dad loves picking them up at daycare and seeing how excited the kids get when they see him and my mom. On Tuesdays, one of us spends one-on-one time with Henry while Miss R has her bio parent visitations. They canceled last week's visitation after the driving service had already picked up Miss R. On Wednesday, my parents have a faculty reception to attend; my dad was lobbying to bring the kids, but I nixed that idea. I guess people have brought babies to the reception before, but I wouldn't put it passed my high energy toddler to pull the table clothes off the tables and generally cause mayhem. On Thursday, we meet Miss R's CASA for the first time. A CASA is a court appointed advocate for a foster child. Given how unpredictable some of Miss R's so-called advocates have been (the La Fronterra person still hasn't called, nor has Miss R's lawyer), we are pleased that she has been assigned a CASA. And my parents have plans Friday.

Jeff ended up calling my mom and asking her if she wanted to see Henry today. She said yes. So Jeff forfeited his Henry day. As it turned out, the driver from CPS called me at 4:15PM to say that the bio parent visitation had been cancelled and where did I want Miss R to be dropped off (home or school). I said school. Then, my parents picked up both Henry and Miss R.

Jeff spent the afternoon putting toy organizers and book shelves together. These items were put in the toy room. Definitely not going to return to a dining room any time soon. The organizer is now holding toys that had been in the playpen. We figure that they'll get a lot more use now that Henry and Miss R will be able to get the toys without our assistance.

While Jeff finished the furniture, I walked the dogs. I ran into the sister of one of our neighors. She commented on how big Miss R is getting and how devious Henry looked the other day. She said that she and her brother were commenting the other day on how amazing Henry looks given his early birth.

Jeff picked up the kids at my parents' house. As he was trying to get the kids out the door, Henry got very upset and started to cry. We don't know what caused it, but it took several minutes to calm him down. While Jeff was driving the kids home, my mom called me b/c she was concerned. She also mentioned that Miss R had been out of sorts when they picked her up. She had just been returned to school by the CPS driver. She was clingy for a long time after they arrived at my parents' house. My mom thinks that Miss R has a hard time on visitation days. I've wondered whether visitation days invoke a clingyness response in her. I haven't kept a log of her reactions (maybe I should), but it kind of seems to me like she gets especially upset when I don't hold her immediately for a couple days after visitations. I think that she really likes routine. And the visitations, which sometimes happen, sometimes don't, sometimes partially happen for just a few minutes with older siblings, sometimes involve her being driven to the meeting site where the visitation is then announced canceled, are difficult for her to understand. There isn't anything that we can really do about it other than give her emotional support when she comes back to us.

When the kids arrived home, I read them "Bambi" at Miss R's request. I was pleased that she was adamant about what she wanted, and she listened to all but a page or two of the story (and it is a long one).

Miss R gave Jeff a very hard time about teeth brushing. Henry did a really good job, earning a sticker to put on his d-backs ball. Then, it was time for bed.

When the kids were in bed, Jeff and I organized toys. Jeff commented that our dining room looks like a kindergarten. It does. But I like it.

Here's Lily looking forlorn this evening. "Oh woe is me. The toys have been picked up and I have no objects to destroy."

Greer

On Friday morning, Jeff dropped off the kids at daycare and ran some errands. I packed up toys and clothes for our trip to Greer. The kids stayed at daycare until 11AM. We didn't want to pick them up in the middle of a nap. Their brief daycare stay, however, gave them time to work off some energy on the playground. Jeff bought DVD players to hang on the front seat headrests. He packed the car while I fed the kids some lunch. Then, we headed off to Greer in the early afternoon.

The kids napped for a little over an hour. Henry woke up wanting to watch Robinhood. He woke Miss R up b/c he didn't want her to miss it. "Wake up, R! Wake up, R! R! R! Wake up, R!" She wasn't happy with him. We took a brief stop before the Salt River Canyon. Henry thought we had arrived at "The Mountains!" It was pretty, but we still had a couple hours to go. The dogs handled the trip well. Roger got nervous during the last 1/2 hour of our journey and wedged himself between Henry's carseat and the window. Henry didn't mind until Roger laid across his lap, blocking the DVD screen.

We arrived at the cabin around 6PM. Our friends had already arrived and were making dinner. We had a nice meal. Henry liked the decor of the cabin, which included a bathtub of pillows and bears in front of a TV in the living room. He also liked a cabinet that he kept trying to stuff himself into. Our friends graciously gave us the master bedroom, which had two beds in it. Much nicer than trying to squeeze all four of us in a double!











On Saturday morning, we got up early and walked the dogs with the kids. When we got back, Jeff made everyone pumpkin pancakes, which were excellent. We also had sausage, veggie bacon, and fruit. Dana made eggs. It was a great way to start off the day. As we got ready for our morning hike, Henry said to me, "Mommy, hold your baby!" and reached up with his arms. It was so cute! Miss R then followed suit.












We went on a hike in search of the lake. The directions given to us were off. We ended up taking a long hike away from everything but found a herd of cows. They let us walk through them initially, but one bull was not so keen on our return. So we walked around them, deciding it was best not to upset the bull.

The thing that made the hike taxing was the fact that Henry and Miss R wanted to be held. We forgot the baby/toddler backpacks and held them just about the entire way. Jamie gave me some respite with Miss R, which was nice. I was hitting the exhaustion point. And Miss R would cry if I put her down. On the way back, we parted from the others as they went ahead in search of the lake. Jeff and I took several breaks with the kids as carrying 23-27 lbs sacks isn't easy for long distances.

When we got back to the cabin, we had lunch. Then, it was nap time. It took the kids an hour to settle down, but once they did, they took a much needed 2-hour nap. Lily took a nap on the porch of the cabin.


Jeff and I took the kids to the rec room after their nap. It was a long room filled with lots of toys and games. The kids drove "bikes" up and down the room. Henry had a great time until he flipped the vehicle that he was on and smashed his nose, which became bloody. But he was a trooper.











We had an excellent dinner made by our friends. Jamie played with Miss R after dinner and swung her around, much to her delight. Henry went to the bedroom to watch Sponge Bob.

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast and packed. Henry sang part of "You Can Dance" from Mamma Mia! We took the dogs for a short walk. We took some pictures of the cabin and the view, which was beautiful. Then, headed off around 10AM. All in all, the kids were very good. No major meltdowns. The kids had a lot of fun and were exuberant.














We arrived in Show Low around 10:45AM. We found a park for the kids to run around. We figured that the kids needed some exercise before our long haul home. Jeff had run them around the deck after breakfast, but Henry had been telling us that he wanted to "go to the park" all morning. We found a nice park. The only problem was the wind. But the kids managed.












We made a quick lunch in the parking lot. And then headed home. The trip back was only 4.5 hours (shaved an hour off!). The view was beautiful.




We stopped by Grammy and Poppy's house to say hello. Grammy sent us home with some casserole (meat and potatoes). We got the kids fed, played with the trains, gave them a bath, and got them in bed by 7:15AM. It was a full weekend.

"Shake Your Booty" and "Who Let the Dogs Out"

This morning, we got out of the house at a reasonable hour. Miss R had an OK night so we decided to skip her nebulizer this morning. Hopefully, she is better. Nevertheless, we are packing the nebulizer for our trip to Greer tomorrow.

I picked up the kids around 3:30PM. I was a hit with the little gals in Henry's class. They wanted to show me how they knew their colors and shapes. Then we spent some time trying to balance bean bags on our head, which seemed to make everyone giggle. Miss R's teachers found a couple of her barrettes. That's good b/c we are going through them fast. She loses about two per day. The alternative would be the hard plastic barrettes, but I don't think that they wuld be comfortable to nap in. And foster parents aren't allowed to get their foster kid's hair cut without permission from the bio parents. That's a problem b/c Miss R's bio parents can't be reached until they choose to call the caseworker. Sigh.

We had an appointment with Miss R's development coordinator for 4:30PM. She never called nor showed up for the appointment. It makes me wonder what the heck she's getting paid for. She's never so much as picked up the telephone to call us and ask us questions about Miss R's development. I think that Miss R is doing well, but I don't like that a group is being paid by the state for services that they don't provide. Why the heck does she bother showing up to the CFTs? It isn't like she adds anything given that she knows nothing about Miss R.

While waiting for the person who didn't show, the kids learned the song "Shake Your Booty." They seemed to catch onto it quickly. Miss R said clearly "I want my phone." What's with our kids and phones? That's her second sentence. "Stop it, Mommy" was her first. Uncle Richard and his friend Gary came over to look at the RV garage. Gary is a contractor. While Jeff was outside with them, I was inside with the kids. Miss R landed in timeout for hitting Henry with a hockey stick. I was willing to let her out provided that she said "I'm sorry." She refused the first three requests, which led to all sorts of drama. Mommies can be so unfair! She finally said "sorry" but I suspect that she forgot why she was having to say it.

Jeff got the kids dinner while I took the dogs for a walk. On my way out the door, Henry was singing "Who Let the Dogs Out."




The kids are taking a bath. I'm working on a manuscript due tomorrow. And then tomorrow is our big trip to Greer. We are going with four friends, their dogs, our dogs, and the kids. That's 6 adults, 4 dogs, and 2 children. We are hoping that the kids behave and don't have our friends running for the hills. We recognize that it is one thing to spend a couple hours with kids, another thing to spend a day and a half with them! In that period of time, our friends will get a pretty good sense of the drama involved with toddlers.

Speech

Henry was officially 29 months old on Wednesday (25.5 months adjusted...but we don't really adjust these days). He is simply amazing. He started off the morning telling me "I want to go to Toys R Us and get new toys." I told him that he had to go to school. He said something like "I go to school tomorrow."

Miss R was good for Jeff when it came to the nebulizer. Not so good still when it comes to teeth brushing. We are planning to get her a singing tooth brush, which Alison recommended. Apparently, you can only hear it when you put it in your mouth. We found several on Amazon last night, but Jeff was irked that the shipping cost as much as the tooth brush itself. The sellers wanted over $6 to ship for a $6 tooth brush. I looked at Toys R Us online, but their singing tooth brushes revolve around Hannah Montana or High School Musical. I am not thrilled with either theme. I'd prefer to pay the stupid $6 shipping charge and get her one that sings the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get Started" or Kiss' "I Want To Rock and Roll."

This morning, Henry and Miss R were very cute playing on the Sit and Spin. It is nice to see them be able to work the spinning part now. Henry was sitting on it at one point, and Miss R stood on it opposite him while he spun it. Very cute.

My parents called Jeff in the afternoon and said that they wanted the kids. It has been about a week since the kids have been over there w/o us. I stayed at school until 7:30PM grading and then got the kids at my parents' house.

All was well. Miss R was delighted to see me. Henry wanted to continue watching a Snoopy Halloween special. As we headed out the door, I looked at Henry and found him completely and utterly soaked despite the fact my parents had changed him 20 minutes earlier. He managed to get the pull-up below his front despite his shorts looking normal. He informed me, "I peed on myself" but didn't seem particularly concerned about it.

Miss R fell asleep in the car. We got home after 9PM. Henry wanted a snack before bed. I acquiesed. He started off with animal crackers and was very cute making them play on his tray. Then, he wanted my chex mix. Then, he wanted dried fruit. And then, he wanted the swiss cheese that I was putting on my black bean burger. He said, "I want a big piece."

His speech has become so well-developed in a short period of time. I believe that he's been rather advanced in the area since about 15 months adjusted when he already had 50 words in his pocket. What amazes us is how he went from short sentences or words to stringing a couple sentences together. Plus, he seems to understand words that are used to describe and compare. I was surprised by his "big piece" request. Looking at the speech milestones, I think that he is several months ahead of his age (adjusted or actual). Speech is one of those areas where he really excels.

While I wouldn't consider Miss R's speech a strength yet, we are incredibly impressed by the trajectory of her speech. Over the last 5 months, she has acquired a lot of words. Her progress is stunning. She learned the names of body parts incredibly quickly to the point where we are able to discuss some nuances like "eyes" vs. "eye brows." I'm obviously not a speech therapist, but I think that she a delayed a couple months on speech when she came into our home. Recently, the one speech area where I was a little concerned was her demonstrating an understanding of how to put two concepts together. She's been saying "hold you" for awhile but I don't think that she had internalized "hold" and "you" as two concepts. Just this past week, however, she put together "No, Mommy." Her demonstration of two concepts would of course involve the word "no." While I wasn't thrilled at her obstinence, I was thrilled that her skills are evolving. She is often soft-spoken when she speaks and that soft nature doesn't illustrate all that she knows. But both Jeff and I have noticed her confidence growing and her enunciation improving. The other day, she mimicked some sounds with perfect clarity. And today, she said some words amazingly well. I suspect that she'll be the kind of child that doesn't necessarily do things gradually. Tomorrow, an evaluator from La Fronterra will be visiting us. I'll be surprised if Miss R doesn't test in the normal range (probably above the 50th percentile).

While I'm unimpressed with the fact that Miss R's developmental coodinator through La Fronterra hasn't seen her personally during the time that she's been with us, I guess it is better late than never. I know that they are overloaded with cases. She was supposed to have a developmental follow up after her initial consultation with Blake a couple days after being in our home. Luckily, Jeff and I have been immersed in developmental issues and had a pretty good sense of where we thought her weaknesses might be and a general sense of what therapists would probably have us do. Her motor skills have vastly improved over the last five months. The other day (or perhaps it was this morning), Henry was jumping at my request (love to see those two feet off the ground) and Miss R tried to do it too. It was pretty darn close. And she landed w/o falling. She hasn't been able to make it down the stairs yet w/o holding onto something, but I think that's more of a confidence issue than a lack of ability. Her fine motor skills have always looked advanced to me. She has nimble fingers. Perhaps she'll be a surgeon.

I'm not really sure how much credit Jeff and I can take for Miss R's amazing progress. We have provided a good environment for learning. We talk and read a lot with the kids. But I suspect that Henry has been a much greater source of inspiration and modeling than Jeff or me. Kids definitely learn from each other. And, simply put, Miss R has had it in her to excel.

After Henry's snack, he read "The Penguin Who Hated the Cold" with Jeff. Henry filled in most of the blanks when Jeff would pause after beginning a sentence. Henry's memorization of books is amazing. I'm pretty sure that he gets it from Jeff. Jeff has an interesting ability to recite quotations from movies, for example, word-for-word. I'm quite good at remembering the gist of an idea, but Jeff knows things verbatim.

I'd better get to bed. It is late, and the house is quiet.