"I look like the Little Mermaid!"

While getting Henry ready this morning (Tuesday), Jeff asked Henry to take his night gown off. Henry's favorite sleepwear is an oversized t-shirt. He managed to get his head and arms through the hole for the head and made a halter top out of the shirt. He then declared "I look like the Little Mermaid!"

Henry was demanding in the car. He is now at the point where he not only requests particular CDs but wants specific songs. He was happy with A Boy Named Sue and whatever song comes after it. I then turned it to Folsom Prison because Henry likes it when Johnny Cash says "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." But Henry said "No, No, I want Man in Black." He the proceeded to be obnoxious and made Miss R cry. I told him in my stern mommy voice that he was in trouble. He yelled back, "No, Mommy's in trouble!" Oy vey! I decided to switch tracks and see if I could induce guilt by calmly saying that I was disappointed in his behavior. I'm pretty sure that Henry is impervious to guilt! On the one hand, I love that he has a strong sense of self. On the other hand, perhaps we've done too good a job at boosting his self-esteem.

A teacher from one of the babies' rooms was pushing four babies around in a crib on wheels. Henry was thrilled b/c he got to visit them up close. He stood on a bench and bent down. I monitored the situation to make sure he wasn't rough. He did a good job. Miss R was uninterested in them. We dropped off Miss R as her class was entering their room. Henry and Miss R spontaneously hugged, which turned into a round of Ring-Around-the-Rosie. Miss Lulu asked where Henry's glasses were. That induced some parental guilt in me. He's been glassless for a week b/c he broke that fourth pair. The eyeglass place then didn't order the right size. They were supposed to order another pair, but "lost" our number so it was a week before we found out that never ordered another pair. We're headed to yet another eye glass place today. We just don't see the point in spending money on glasses that Henry will break within 24-48 hours. We found a place online but given all of the size problems we've seen at the four face-to-face places we've already looked, we aren't excited about flying blind on the Internet. No problems dropping off Henry. It was snacktime in his room so he happily went into his room, where his friend Joaquin came over to say hello to him.

Henry-isms

Henry and Miss R didn't give me too much trouble when I dropped them off at daycare. Their classes were still on the playground, which was nice. Grammy and Poppy picked them up after school and took them to Wholefoods.

Jeff picked them up after they had dinner. On their way home, Henry told his Tinker Bell toy "I love you more than peaches!" Then, he said, "He's my best friend." Jeff asked, "Who is your best friend?" Henry said, "Tinker Bell." Jeff said, "Did you know Tinker Bell is a girl?" Henry said, "Yes."

When the kids got home, Miss R was in tears b/c Jeff made her get out of the car. She had a major tantrum. I sat with her on the couch and tried to get her to breath in and out. She ignored me and continued to cry, but I got Henry to attempt breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. He was very funny when concentrating on breathing in through his nose. Henry's out breathing was akin to the big bad wolf trying to blow a house down, but he did breath. I was rather impressed that he was able to follow my suggestions. Miss R didn't quite get the breathing down, but her nose was stuffy. She enjoyed us reaching up into the air when we inhaled and bringing our hands into a prayer-like position on the exhale. And that motion seemed to calm her (or distract her in any event).

At one point, Henry was playing with a little Winnie the Pooh case of mine. Miss R ran over to him yelling that it was hers. Then he said "No. It's mine." I said, "Actually, kids, it is my Winnie the Pooh." Henry was so cute. He closed it up and walked away saying "Not today, dear!"

As usual, it was a struggle to get the kids to brush their teeth (Henry ended up in timeout) and go to bed. But eventually, we managed to do that and have a late dinner.

"Get out of my bed! It's my bed, not your bed!"

On Sunday, we got to sleep in! I didn't go to bed until 3:30AM b/c of work that I had to complete for various projects, so I was thrilled! Miss R had awoken some time before 9AM and Jeff brought her to our bed so that I could snuggle with her. She loves that and easily falls back asleep when in my arms. Henry woke up around 9AM on his own. He was in a chipper mood, and for the first time, he crawled out of his bed himself and came to us. We've been fortunate that he hasn't been a wanderer. Every morning, he calls out to us when he begins stirring. The four of us snuggled until 9:30AM. I think that Miss R was a little annoyed at Henry's attempts to hug me, but she got over it. The kids were very cute and giggly.

For breakfast, Henry ate his eggs and bagel with cream cheese. Then, he requested a waffle. Miss R hasn't been eating much, and we're calling her dentist tomorrow to see if we can change our appointment on the 18th to something earlier. We think that her eight cavities (four of which are more developed than the others) are bothering her. The dentist wanted to see if we could slow down the rate of decay so that we could put off having them filled, which will require putting her under. She hasn't been eating much the past two months, and we suspect that her poor teeth are contributing to this.

We put the kids in their big boy and big girl underwear after breakfast. We attempted to do a family session of yoga. Miss R sat in her Elmo chair and watched. Henry participated for about 5 minutes. And Jeff and I attempted it with kids and Bitsy crawling on us and Roger and Lily walking under Jeff during his "Downward Dog" yoga position. Then, Henry decided to pee on the carpet about 15 minutes into the session. Jeff cleaned him up while I cleaned the carpet. Henry put on a new pair of underwear with Cars on it. Fifteen minutes later he decides to poop in his underwear, which were changed to Thomas. It then occurred to us that maybe he is willfully doing this so that he can try on different characters (underwear number three was Thomas the Tank Engine). This is a boy, after all, who goes potty while at school but refuses to use the potty at home. Sigh.

We gave the kids a shower. It was well past noon by this point. Jeff played with the kids for awhile while I worked. Then, we had lunch and attempted to put the kids down for nap after 2PM. They refused to nap, which was frustrating. Jeff pulled them out of bed b/c they were screaming at the top of their lungs. Not panicked screams but I-want-to-see-how-loud-I-can-yell screams. So he took them on a walk. When they got back, it was time to head to Grammy and Poppy's for the Super Bowl. The kids fell asleep about 5 minutes away from my parents' house. We let them sleep for an hour but then got them up for dinner.

They didn't eat much. My mom made carnitas, which was an unfamiliar food. Toddlers are so picky, but if they are never exposed to new flavors, their diets will be way too limited. Henry enjoyed playing in Grammy's pantry. He stood on a stool in the pantry and closed the door. Then, Grammy turned off the lights to the pantry and he threw open the door and said "TURN ON THE LIGHT PLEASE!!!" The pantry entertained him for a long time. The kids were in a huggy mood with each other. They were pleased that Uncle Dan, Jeff, and Poppy were excited over the Saints' victory. Henry shouted "Touch Down!" He and Miss R hugged. Henry said, "I love you, R!" and Miss R replied "I love you, Henry!" They couldn't have been any cuter.

Then, it was time to head home. After teeth brushing, I read the kids a Winnie the Pooh book. Henry was mad that I wouldn't read a second book b/c it was past 9PM. Henry talked to himself for awhile. I thought he was sleep a couple minutes ago, but then I heard him say loudly, "Get out of my bed! It's my bed, not your bed!" I went to investigate what was going on. Bitsy had curled herself in a ball at the bottom of Henry's bed. She was about two feet from his toes but he didn't want her there for some reason. So I had to evict her. Hopefully, he'll now sleep for the rest of the evening.

Gentle Henry

On Saturday, we got the kids up at 7:30AM so that we could take them to Grammy and Poppy's b/c we had our CPR re-certification class at A Place To Call Home. The class went well, and it was definitely a good idea to have to do everything again. We also enjoyed being in class with a couple of our old classmates. We made a good impression on one of our classmate's foster kids whom we went out to lunch with last week. He's five and apparently told his foster mom that he hoped that he'd see us again, which was very sweet.

At Grammy and Poppy's house, Henry and Miss R had a good time. They spent some time in the backyard "helping" Poppy. And they also went to the store. Unfortunately, Miss R fell asleep before lunch time. When Grammy tried to settle Henry down for a nap, he managed to wake up Miss R early but then fall asleep himself. Basically, their nap cycle was off and they didn't nap two hours.

The kids watched Beauty and the Beast. Miss R claimed that she was "scared" but seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Jeff picked them up. When they got home, Henry announced that he wanted to go outside and spread out bird seed. I took the kids to the bird feeder and gave them some seed to dump inside it. Then, we went out to the front of the house to throw birdseed. Jeff gave them cups with a little bird seed each. Henry's approach was to dump everything out at once. Miss R's approach was to pinch two seeds at a time.

We went on a dog walk and ran into several neighbors. We ran into Swanee first. Or rather, Henry ran to Swanee first. He was so cute. He ran up her driveway and gave her a big hug. She carried him up the road to meet up with Hal who is Swanee's husband, Yvonne, and Marie, Charlie, and their daughter Kim. Kim had her two-month old Tenzin in a stroller. It was the first time that we'd met him, so that was exciting.

Henry adores babies. He hasn't really had much exposure to them directly. Mostly, he gets to look at the babies at school from behind glass. So he was thrilled to meet Tenzin and get to touch him. Jeff mentioned how amazed he was at how gentle Henry was with Tenzin. I was too. Henry isn't known for his light touch, but he instinctively seemed to know that babies needed light touches.















Miss R was in a quiet, shy mood. She did peak at Tenzin, but I think the lack of nap was catching up to her.

Jeff made tortilla pizzas for dinner. They were really good. Henry ate half of a tortilla plus sliced apples for dinner. He demanded chocolate milk, which we gave him. He outright rejected tapioca pudding. Miss R, however, was willing to eat his portion.

The kids goofed around after dinner. They had fun walking on the treadmill, especially Miss R. We snuggled and wrestled. The kids were giggly. Henry's understanding of language continues to impress. Henry said to Jeff, "Want to see a trick?" Jeff said, "Sure." Henry, who was standing in back of Jeff, put a hand in each of Jeff's back pockets and hung from them, letting his legs swing around. It was pretty funny. It is amazing to see Henry use broad constructs, such as "tricks." After brushing teeth, we read "The Three Little Javelinas" and "The Grouchy Lady Bug." I had to be firm about the kids getting to bed. They of course wanted to stay up longer, but after much complaining, they finally fell asleep.

"Give me a big hug, Henry!"

We arrived at daycare on Friday morning just as Miss R's class was coming into the classroom from the playground. I told the kids it was time to say goodbye. Rather than saying goodbye to me, they said goodbye to each other. Miss R said, "Give me a big hug, Henry" and opened up her arms. Henry hugged her and said "I love you!" Then, we went to Henry room. The kids were sitting down for snack, so Henry took his jacket off and left me to go wash his hands.

Jeff picked up the kids in the afternoon. Jeff took the kids for a walk with the dogs, and they ran into several neighbors. They didn't eat well at dinner. I got home around 6:30PM. I talked with Aunt Erin. Miss R clearly said "Aunt Erin" but then started calling Erin "Aunt Carolyn." I think the n's were throwing her off. I made dinner for me and Jeff. Didn't get to spend much time with the kids. They talked to Grammy on the telephone. Jeff thought they looked quite tired so we tried to get them ready for bed. Henry was in a mood. He refused to brush his teeth so he ended up in "timeout." He seemed content to stay there. I eventually got him to brush his teeth. Then it was bed.

Tomorrow, we are getting the kids up early to take to Grammy and Poppy's b/c we have a CPR re-certification class for our foster care license.

Getting R's Goat

Grammy and Poppy picked up the kids at school on Thursday afternoon. Their teachers said that they'd had a good day. They again wanted bagels. My mom gave them English muffins with peanut butter and jelly, which was their request. A surprise to us b/c we haven't had luck getting them to eat either peanut butter or jelly.

When we picked up the kids at 7:30PM, they were reading with Poppy on the couch. After Poppy finished whatever book they were reading, Henry brought me two books and demanded that I read them with him. Grammy reported that Henry likes to agitate Miss R for attention. Miss R likes to cry out for attention. Grammy said that she told a couple fibs in her oh-woe-is-me moments.

When we got home at 8:20PM, Henry wanted pancakes, even after having eatened a snack and dinner at Grammy and Poppy's house. We let him have some. Plus he had a link of sausage. Maybe he'll have a growth spurt soon.

I mentioned to Jeff yesterday that I thought that Miss R's teeth could be part of the problem in her decisions not to eat much. The other day, she said her teeth hurt. My mom independently came up with the same explanation this evening. We've wanted to put off the fillings until she was older and bigger. We aren't excited that they'll have to use anesthesia. Sigh. But I think we have reached a point where we don't really have much choice.

A Good Food Day

On Wednesday, Grammy and Poppy picked up the kids at school. I had a meeting at 5PM and then some work to do before I left school. I didn't get the kids until 7:45PM. That is a bit too late for them. It meant that we didn't get the kids into bed until 9AM. Henry is actually OK with that, but Miss R needs sleep. She gets superhyper when she is tired.

They'd had a great food day at the grandparents' house. They wanted bagels with cream cheese when they arrived. Then, for dinner, they had potato patties and ham and some other things that I'm forgetting. Henry ate three potato patties by himself AND a plate of ham. Plus they both had two glasses of chocolate milk each. I think that it was probably the "Boost" chocolate milk, but I didn't verify. When the kids say me in the doorway, they both said "No, Mommy!" because they wanted to stay with Grammy and Poppy. I managed to entice Henry out the door by promising that we'd stop by the gas station, which for some reason intrigues him.

This morning, Henry was stubborn getting out of bed. Miss R had finished her breastfast before Henry even got to the table. They had Pro/Fat pancakes and really liked them.

They were angels getting out of the car when we got to daycare. It was the easiest transition that I've ever had with them. The only mildly gross part was requesting a kiss from Henry, which he obliged. That would have been nice but for the runny nose, which I didn't notice until after the kiss.

The kids sped into the daycare. Henry said "Hi Miss Toni!" to someone who I've never seen before. She was thrilled that he knew her name. It sounds like she helps out with different rooms, but the younger ones only manage to squeak out "Miss T," so she was excited and surprised that Henry knew and could say her full name.

We stopped by the windows of both babies' rooms. That's something we do every morning.

Then, the kids raced to Miss R's classroom. It was 9AM and the kids were just sitting down for snack time. A little boy said "Hi R!" as we walked into the room. Henry and Miss R played hide and seek around my legs. I said, "It's time to say goodbye." Henry turned to Miss R and said, "Give me a big hug." Then they hugged and Henry marched out the door. We got to Henry's class and everyone was already seated. Henry took off his jacket and marched off to the bathroom to wash his hands before the snack. That allowed me to slip out quietly.

I then took Jackson to the vets. He lost his voice a couple days ago and had been looking dehydrated. Plus, he had some backend issues. He weighs 7 lbs 2 ozs. He should probably weigh in the higher 8s. But the good news was that he hadn't lost weight since his December appointment. The vet said that his lymph nodes were 50% larger than they should be. And yes, he was severely dehydrated. So, the vet took him to the back and pumped him full of liquids. The vet suspects that Jackson's dehydration is causing his problems. Jackson has always been a frustrating cat when it comes to food and liquids. He is a creature of habit, and when we moved, despite having a home three times the size of our 1-bedroom condo, he was unhappy. He barely ate the first three months we moved to Tucson. And he lived in our bedroom closet for a year and a half. New changes throw him into a mood (e.g., getting the dogs, bringing Henry home, adding Miss R to our crew, etc.). He gives himself the illusion of control by not eating. As of late, he will eat, but only if it is Fancyfeast Grilled Tuna (not tuna and oceanfish or anything else). Although I'm not thrilled with his choice, we are pretty much giving him whatever he'll consume. We've been home about 2.5 hours, and I think that Jackson already looks a little better. He gave me his usually head to head greeting. He likes to put his forehead into my forehead. He is also one of those rare cats who enjoys being kissed on the head (by me or Jeff).

That's all for now. Back to work.

Who Knew the Treadmill Could Be So Fun!

On Tuesday morning, the kids were relatively easy getting to school. It was 9AM, the start of snack time, which meant that the kids were easily distracted. I talked with Miss Stephanie who said that she hadn't heard anyone say "Honky," but she would keep her ears open for it. She said that the child whom Henry said called him a Honky doesn't talk. Whether or not she meant that he doesn't talk period or doesn't talk much, I don't know. It is odd, though, because Henry has talked about the child several times and I've had the impression that he has talked to Henry in the past. There was a time when one of the teachers didn't think Henry could speak (which was laughable), so perhaps this boy just doesn't talk with the teachers but talks with the other kids. Or perhaps Henry heard it from someone else and is misattributing it to X_____. In any event, I'm hoping that the word "Honky" does not resurface.

Jeff picked up Henry in the afternoon. They went to Basha's before coming home. Then, they took the dogs for a walk, while I waited for CPS to drop off Miss R as she had a sibling visitation today. When she arrived and I opened the door, she said "No, Mommy!" That wasn't exactly the greeting that I had anticipated. Lately, she and Henry have been saying that a lot. She came home with pictures of her bio brothers, which was nice.

Henry ate chicken, raspberries, and two helpings of carrots at dinner. He only had a couple bites of the StoveTop stuffing. Miss R had a couple bites of chicken and maybe a raspberry or two. Henry claimed that he wanted to use the potty in order to get down from the dinner table. A common ploy. I made him use the potty and was pleased that he did it without protest. I gave him a cookie. Henry had a bite of cookie before giving it to me to hold while he played on the treadmill. He claimed to be the "Jungle VIP" (a Jungle Book reference) as he swung for one of the handles. I removed items that had been lying on the treadmill so that Henry could walk on it. I set it to 1 mph and he had a blast. Miss R thought the whole thing was hilarious. After she ate some chicken, I gave her a cookie too. Then, she joined Henry on the treadmill. I think that they both walked off most of the calories from their dinner. Jeff put the treadmill at an incline to see if it would minimize Henry's toe walking. It seemed to help.



The kids giggled their way to our bedroom and climbed in our bed announcing that they were going to sleep there. We, however, made them brush their teeth and put on their nightgowns.

Henry is currently chattering away in his bed. He is mad because we've reduce their nightly bottles of water to a smaller size and we aren't doing refills. Our goal is to get rid of the bottles completely in the next few months. We know that we probably should never had let them have nightly water bottles (their only bottle each day since June). But Henry talks so darn much, it is nice to have something in his mouth so that he won't keep himself up. I suspect that it is going to be a rough couple of weeks while we try to break the habit.

"Honky"

On Monday morning, Jeff had a heck of a time getting the kids out of bed. We had been using a dark UofA blanket to prevent the light from streaming into their room in the mornings, but Jeff has taken it down. We want them getting up a little earlier than they have been (and going to bed a little ealier too).

Jeff picked up the kids at school. The teachers said that they had a good day. Jeff is skeptical b/c they always say that the kids have had a good day. When they all got home, they took the dogs for a walk and ran into several neighbors.

When I arrived home at 6:30PM, I could hear tons of giggling from the living room. I got tackled by the kids.

We had a good dinner. Miss R didn't eat much, but I suppose it would be too much to ask to have two decent dinners in a row from her. After dinner, we measured everyone's height. Henry was almost 36.5 inches tall. Miss R was 32.5 inches tall. We gave the kids a bath. They didn't want to come out of the tub. Miss R got out first, much to her dismay. Then it was Henry's turn.

Upon drying Henry, he said the word "Honky" several times. While I would not have found the word particularly troublesome in the past, I confess that I was utterly appalled that my 2.5 year old would have heard the word, let alone say it. I asked Henry where he had heard that word. He said "X_____." I let it slide. But then he said the word again. So again, I asked him who told him that word. Henry said, "X_____ said Henry was a honky." Needless to say, I'm going to be having a talk with Henry's teachers tomorrow. I'm confident that the only place where he had would have heard that word was from school.

Ties

On Sunday morning, Jeff began to make the kids what we call Pro/Fat pancakes, but then he had to do some things for work. I finished making them, and the kids loved them. Henry had 4.5 pancakes. Miss R had 2-2.5 pancakes. They also had a little egg. We played around the house. Miss R took a shower. Then, we headed over to the grandparents' house because my dad gave us tickets to the Cal-UA game...the hottest game of the season. It'd been well over a year since we'd attended a UA basketball game. We went with Jamie and Steve, which was fun.

The kids had a good day with the grandparents. They didn't nap until 2:15PM but managed to get at least 2 hours worth of nap.

We brought the kids home and took a walk up to Yvonne's place so that we could thank her for Friday's rice and beans. We ran into Kim, another one of our neighbors, who was on her bike. Henry had a good time asking her questions about her bike. Yvonne took the kids to her backyard to cut some broccoli, which we brought home and cooked for dinner. Henry did OK on his eating. Miss R did really, really well. We were pleased.

After dinner, the kids put on ties. Henry had been pretending that Lily's leash was a tie (like Poppy's), so Jeff thought it would be safer just to let them wear real ties. We watched Toy Story, while Jeff worked. Then, it was teeth and bed. Miss R got herself landed into timeout for screaming in protest over going to bed. I wish toddlers would give parents a break on occasion.