On Monday morning, Henry couldn't have looked any cuter today in a new outfit. Henry and Jeff had the following conversation:
JEFF: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger are golfing. [Jeff pointing to Henry's shirt.]
HENRY: I want to go golfing.
JEFF: Someday we'll go golfing together.
HENRY: I want to go golfing with you. We can get in the car and go to the golf course together.
JEFF: You have to go to school.
HENRY: I don't want to go to school. I want to go golfing.
And yes, for a moment, Jeff considered taking the day off to go golfing with Henry. I suspect that if Jeff's knee wasn't still in recovery, he'd have done it in a heart beat.
I took the kids to school. It takes 1.5 hours to get the kids up and out the door. We have to figure out some way to short that time up. No problems getting everyone inside. I dropped off Baby A. Took Miss R and Henry to their respective rooms and got their clean blankets into their baskets. Then, I swung back to Baby A's room and got her sheets and bottles unpacked. Then, it was back to the car to get Henry's glasses and take them to his room. He was pleased to see me. I said hello to several of the kids who know that I'm "Henry's mom."
In the afternoon, Miss R and Henry were picked up by Grammy and Poppy. I gather that they were very much in toddler mode. Apparently, Miss R put Grammy's white blanket on the floor, which was OK with Grammy. Henry tried to pick up one of the edges, and Miss R got possessive and decided to body slam Henry to the floor. Lovely. Henry was in whine mode. When Grammy and Poppy dropped off the kids at 7:30PM, I heard Grammy tell Henry to stop being a "butt head," which I figured meant that the kids had overextended their welcome.
The kids were hyper when they arrived. Jeff wrestled with them for a half hour. Their favorite part was Jeff holding them up in the air by their waistlines and the kids yelling "We can fly! We can fly!"
I picked up Baby A after work. Baby A was a bit fussy. She's not eating as much as she was, but she didn't want her pacifier or to play with Dennis the Red Hen (toy). She did some incredibly impressive tummy time, where she held herself at a 90 degree angle for two minutes. She eventually passed out on my chest.
Jeff got The Twins to bed. Miss R did a sommersault out of bed when she was horsing around and landed hard on the floor. She's OK. Hopefully, she'll learn from the event...unlike certain boys I know.
Signing off...
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Henry's Belated Birthday Party
On Thursday, Henry and Miss R went over to Grammy and Poppy's house after school. Jeff picked up Baby A.
On Friday, Jeff got all three kids to school and picked them up too. Jeff had planned to go to the CFT for Baby A on Friday morning at 10AM. Although I had told Jeff the correct address, the case worker from the Blake Foundation had called Thursday and left a different and incorrect address for the meeting. So Jeff went to the wrong location. By the time Jeff got to the right place, the meeting was over. In the afternoon, I called Baby A's CPS caseworker and left a message asking about what was going on with Baby A's brother's case. There was a court hearing on Tuesday about his case. I figured that if the court had decided to return him to kin, then returning Baby A to kin wasn't going to be too far behind. The caseworker had left a messaging saying that the court decided that the kin hadn't done enough to get him back but are giving a couple months extension. Long story short, everything is still up in the air.
I got back Friday night. The kids were asleep when I returned. Jeff was asleep with Baby A on his chest. I switched places with him and he went to bed.
On Saturday, we had a Foster Parent's Appreciation Picnic to attend at Brandi Fenton Park. It was a nice event. Apparently, another pair of our former classmates from last year has decided to no longer do fostering, which is sad. I'm guessing that there were about 40 people who were screened and approved for training and showed up at the first class last year. That quickly dropped to about 20 people who graduated from the training. Of those 20, I think that just 5 of us are still doing fostering. One couple, one single gal (although she has a boyfriend now), and me and Jeff. I was talking with one of our former classmates (gal from the other couple) who volunteers at APTCH. She mentioned that one of our graduating classmate couples turned out to be coyotes (guess the police caught up with them). She said that she thought a lot of people did fostering for the money, not the kids. Sad, sad, sad. The foster care system provides a stipend that basically is enough to take care of basic needs, but not anything more. To raise a child properly, you have to give more. That's just the way it is. She and her husband are on the path to adopt a young boy whom they've had for about four months.
The picnic was fun. There was a jumping castle that Henry played on. There was the splash pad. There were bubbles. There was a "train" that drove around the park with the kids in it. Henry being Henry tried to stand up while the train was moving, which made the driver stop several times. There was food (hot dogs and hamburger). There was music. After the picnic, we went to the splash pad. Our camera unfortunately broke, so we don't have pictures of it. Henry jumped right in. Miss R was tentative. But after 10 minutes, Miss R really got into it. She became willing to get her face wet. She was clearly having a fabulous time. We were surprised and pleased at her delight.
We went home. The kids napped.
In the evening, we went to Grammy and Poppy's house for Henry's belated birthday party. I bought the kids outfits at the Disney Store in Chicago. Henry wore Buzz Lightyear PJs and Miss R wore a Belle dress (Belle from Beauty and the Beast). In attendance were Grammy, Poppy, Great Aunt Gloria, Aunt Erin, Uncle Brian, Henry, Miss R, Baby A, Jeff, and me. Baby A slept through most of it.
Henry got two plasma cars (one for him, one for Miss R). We started off the evening with Henry and Miss R finding the cars so that they could play with them in the remaining light. The kids watered plants outside. There was a humming bird calmly sitting in a nest outside. I shot a picture of it. Very rare to find a humming bird sitting still. Then, we had dinner.
After dinner, we had cake and he opened his other presents: a nice Toy Story couch, Toy Story aliens, Buzz Lightyear, a toy car, Berenstain bears books, Superman PJs, and other cool stuff. Grammy and Poppy got him a cake with pirates theme. Throughout the evening, we had to correct Henry on his behavior: "Henry, don't play with the knife," "Henry, don't blow out the candles" (the dinner candles), "Henry, put down the knife," etc. We had to correct him on the knife several times. He keeps wanting to use dinner knives as swords so that he can be Captain Hook. The kids fell asleep on the way home.
On Sunday, we spent the day around the house. The kids played with the new toys. They really liked a matching card game that involved animals. They had fun on Henry's Toy Story couch.
Baby A had a rough day. In the afternoon, she projectile vomited on Jeff. I gave her a bath as he put the kids down for nap. She was unhappy about the bath. She was very hungry, having emptied her stomach. I tried to give her a little milk, but she puked that up too. She managed to take an ounce a little later. She definitely didn't feel hot, but her cheeks were rosy.
A couple hours after being put down for nap, I heard Henry cry. I went to check on The Twins. Miss R was out of her bed. In her commanding voice she said, "No touch my Henry!"
After Henry and R's nap, they "helped" Jeff wash the dogs. Actually, they both went outside to help wash the dogs. Miss R was the only one out of the two who actually made an effort to help. Henry spent his time swinging Jeff's golf club around.
It was a casual evening. The kids watched Miss R's new Tinkerbell movie. Then, Jeff gave them a bath. I held Baby A, giving her a little food.
Jeff is holding Baby A now. I'm off to fill out paperwork for APTCH.
On Friday, Jeff got all three kids to school and picked them up too. Jeff had planned to go to the CFT for Baby A on Friday morning at 10AM. Although I had told Jeff the correct address, the case worker from the Blake Foundation had called Thursday and left a different and incorrect address for the meeting. So Jeff went to the wrong location. By the time Jeff got to the right place, the meeting was over. In the afternoon, I called Baby A's CPS caseworker and left a message asking about what was going on with Baby A's brother's case. There was a court hearing on Tuesday about his case. I figured that if the court had decided to return him to kin, then returning Baby A to kin wasn't going to be too far behind. The caseworker had left a messaging saying that the court decided that the kin hadn't done enough to get him back but are giving a couple months extension. Long story short, everything is still up in the air.
I got back Friday night. The kids were asleep when I returned. Jeff was asleep with Baby A on his chest. I switched places with him and he went to bed.
On Saturday, we had a Foster Parent's Appreciation Picnic to attend at Brandi Fenton Park. It was a nice event. Apparently, another pair of our former classmates from last year has decided to no longer do fostering, which is sad. I'm guessing that there were about 40 people who were screened and approved for training and showed up at the first class last year. That quickly dropped to about 20 people who graduated from the training. Of those 20, I think that just 5 of us are still doing fostering. One couple, one single gal (although she has a boyfriend now), and me and Jeff. I was talking with one of our former classmates (gal from the other couple) who volunteers at APTCH. She mentioned that one of our graduating classmate couples turned out to be coyotes (guess the police caught up with them). She said that she thought a lot of people did fostering for the money, not the kids. Sad, sad, sad. The foster care system provides a stipend that basically is enough to take care of basic needs, but not anything more. To raise a child properly, you have to give more. That's just the way it is. She and her husband are on the path to adopt a young boy whom they've had for about four months.
The picnic was fun. There was a jumping castle that Henry played on. There was the splash pad. There were bubbles. There was a "train" that drove around the park with the kids in it. Henry being Henry tried to stand up while the train was moving, which made the driver stop several times. There was food (hot dogs and hamburger). There was music. After the picnic, we went to the splash pad. Our camera unfortunately broke, so we don't have pictures of it. Henry jumped right in. Miss R was tentative. But after 10 minutes, Miss R really got into it. She became willing to get her face wet. She was clearly having a fabulous time. We were surprised and pleased at her delight.
We went home. The kids napped.
In the evening, we went to Grammy and Poppy's house for Henry's belated birthday party. I bought the kids outfits at the Disney Store in Chicago. Henry wore Buzz Lightyear PJs and Miss R wore a Belle dress (Belle from Beauty and the Beast). In attendance were Grammy, Poppy, Great Aunt Gloria, Aunt Erin, Uncle Brian, Henry, Miss R, Baby A, Jeff, and me. Baby A slept through most of it.
Henry got two plasma cars (one for him, one for Miss R). We started off the evening with Henry and Miss R finding the cars so that they could play with them in the remaining light. The kids watered plants outside. There was a humming bird calmly sitting in a nest outside. I shot a picture of it. Very rare to find a humming bird sitting still. Then, we had dinner.After dinner, we had cake and he opened his other presents: a nice Toy Story couch, Toy Story aliens, Buzz Lightyear, a toy car, Berenstain bears books, Superman PJs, and other cool stuff. Grammy and Poppy got him a cake with pirates theme. Throughout the evening, we had to correct Henry on his behavior: "Henry, don't play with the knife," "Henry, don't blow out the candles" (the dinner candles), "Henry, put down the knife," etc. We had to correct him on the knife several times. He keeps wanting to use dinner knives as swords so that he can be Captain Hook. The kids fell asleep on the way home.
On Sunday, we spent the day around the house. The kids played with the new toys. They really liked a matching card game that involved animals. They had fun on Henry's Toy Story couch.
Baby A had a rough day. In the afternoon, she projectile vomited on Jeff. I gave her a bath as he put the kids down for nap. She was unhappy about the bath. She was very hungry, having emptied her stomach. I tried to give her a little milk, but she puked that up too. She managed to take an ounce a little later. She definitely didn't feel hot, but her cheeks were rosy.
A couple hours after being put down for nap, I heard Henry cry. I went to check on The Twins. Miss R was out of her bed. In her commanding voice she said, "No touch my Henry!"
After Henry and R's nap, they "helped" Jeff wash the dogs. Actually, they both went outside to help wash the dogs. Miss R was the only one out of the two who actually made an effort to help. Henry spent his time swinging Jeff's golf club around.
It was a casual evening. The kids watched Miss R's new Tinkerbell movie. Then, Jeff gave them a bath. I held Baby A, giving her a little food.
Jeff is holding Baby A now. I'm off to fill out paperwork for APTCH.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
On the Chin
On Wednesday, both Henry and Miss R were grumpy about getting up. Henry wanted to "sleep" in the train room while Jeff made breakfast. Miss R wanted me to hold her like a baby. I relented. They didn't eat well at breakfast.
It didn't take too much effort to get all three kids from the car to their respective classrooms. I dropped off Baby A, then took Miss R to her class, and then took Henry to his. Henry's class was still on the playground but just getting ready to come in. As the class walked inside, Henry easily falled into step. Joaquin ran up to Henry and said "Hi Henry! Hi Henry!" Joaquin is one of my favorites. I forgot Henry's glasses in the car. So I swung back toward Baby A's room. Unpacked her bottles and said goodbye. Then I signed the kids into the school logs, which is a pain. There are three log books by last name. And we have one child in each book. I'm very much looking forward to Miss R taking on Jeff's last name in July! I got Henry's glass from the car and went back to Henry's class. Henry was seated at the table with the other kids eating. It was fun seeing him chat away with his friends in conversation. Everyone at the table was eating their yogurt and fruit snack...except Henry. Henry smiled when I came into the room and happily put on his glasses. I managed to get a few bites into him as I talked with the other kids about how yogurt tastes good and makes one tall and healthy.
Jeff picked up the kids in the afternoon. An incident report was waiting for him. Apparently, a child hit Henry on the chin with a puzzle piece...his already injured chin. It bleed a lot and they had a bandaid on it. Sigh. Henry said it was Aidan, who has a tendency to hit other kids.
I took off the bandaid when Henry got home and took a look. We don't think it will scar. I put some Neosporin on it and a new bandaid (Winnie the Pooh and Tigger). Because Henry had a bandaid, Miss R wanted a bandaid on her chin too (Elmo). To keep up with the bandaid theme, I put one on my chin too (a yellow crayon).
We watched a little bit of The Three Muskateers as Jeff made dinner. Baby A was cooing at me and smiled. Henry and Miss R said that they loved Baby A.
After dinner, we gave everyone a bath. Baby A was first. She has a bio mother visitation tomorrow. Then, it was Henry and Miss R's turn. Baby A fell asleep on me, while The Twins had their bath. After their bath, I braided Miss R's hair so that Jeff won't have to do much with it while I'm in Chicago. She was a big pain in the behind about it. Her behavior landed her in timeout, where she woke up Baby A. Grrrrr. Fortunately, Baby A did go back to sleep. Then, Jeff put the kids to bed.
I'm leaving early in the morning. Finishing up my presentation now. Leaving at 4:15AM. Presentation is tomorrow at 4PM Chicago time. I stay in Chicago overnight. I have dinner plans with my friend Kristen, which will be great. And then, I spent a good part of the day in Chicago before heading home.
It didn't take too much effort to get all three kids from the car to their respective classrooms. I dropped off Baby A, then took Miss R to her class, and then took Henry to his. Henry's class was still on the playground but just getting ready to come in. As the class walked inside, Henry easily falled into step. Joaquin ran up to Henry and said "Hi Henry! Hi Henry!" Joaquin is one of my favorites. I forgot Henry's glasses in the car. So I swung back toward Baby A's room. Unpacked her bottles and said goodbye. Then I signed the kids into the school logs, which is a pain. There are three log books by last name. And we have one child in each book. I'm very much looking forward to Miss R taking on Jeff's last name in July! I got Henry's glass from the car and went back to Henry's class. Henry was seated at the table with the other kids eating. It was fun seeing him chat away with his friends in conversation. Everyone at the table was eating their yogurt and fruit snack...except Henry. Henry smiled when I came into the room and happily put on his glasses. I managed to get a few bites into him as I talked with the other kids about how yogurt tastes good and makes one tall and healthy.
Jeff picked up the kids in the afternoon. An incident report was waiting for him. Apparently, a child hit Henry on the chin with a puzzle piece...his already injured chin. It bleed a lot and they had a bandaid on it. Sigh. Henry said it was Aidan, who has a tendency to hit other kids.
I took off the bandaid when Henry got home and took a look. We don't think it will scar. I put some Neosporin on it and a new bandaid (Winnie the Pooh and Tigger). Because Henry had a bandaid, Miss R wanted a bandaid on her chin too (Elmo). To keep up with the bandaid theme, I put one on my chin too (a yellow crayon).
We watched a little bit of The Three Muskateers as Jeff made dinner. Baby A was cooing at me and smiled. Henry and Miss R said that they loved Baby A.
After dinner, we gave everyone a bath. Baby A was first. She has a bio mother visitation tomorrow. Then, it was Henry and Miss R's turn. Baby A fell asleep on me, while The Twins had their bath. After their bath, I braided Miss R's hair so that Jeff won't have to do much with it while I'm in Chicago. She was a big pain in the behind about it. Her behavior landed her in timeout, where she woke up Baby A. Grrrrr. Fortunately, Baby A did go back to sleep. Then, Jeff put the kids to bed.
I'm leaving early in the morning. Finishing up my presentation now. Leaving at 4:15AM. Presentation is tomorrow at 4PM Chicago time. I stay in Chicago overnight. I have dinner plans with my friend Kristen, which will be great. And then, I spent a good part of the day in Chicago before heading home.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
30 lbs. and 38"
On Tuesday afternoon, we took Henry for his 3 year wellness check. He weighed 30 lbs. and was 38" tall. I've been worried about his weight. Jeff put a pair of shorts on him today that he had worn last summer. Dr. Bianchi looked at his weight and height on the charts. While Henry is thin, he doesn't think that he is too far off from his usual trajectory, so he doesn't think we should put him on an appetite stimulant yet...especially since we mentioned that Henry will on occasion eat a lot. All in all, his check went well. His one "problem" area today was a huge scrap and bruise on his chin from last night's 3AM fall out of bed. Once Henry was lying flat on the examination table, I could really see the lower part of the chin and he has a little swollen bump and bruise. Henry had one of his two required shots today. We have an appointment in June for the second one. We still prefer to split Henry's shots rather than giving several at once.
As a foster child, Baby A wasn't so lucky when it came to spacing shots. Basically, because of foster care rules, we have to follow AAP guidelines to the letter, meaning that she received five shots today. Today, she had her 2 month wellness check. We got some eye drops for her eyes. She has a little goop in them in the mornings, but it doesn't look like pinkeye. Dr. Bianchi thinks that it might be dry ducts. She weighed 10 lbs 4 ozs...up 4 lbs. since birth. All in all, she's looking great.
Henry went to Grammy and Poppy's house after the doctor's appointment. I went back home with Baby A to wait for Miss R to return from her sibling visitation. As it turned out, she was never picked up by CPS' driving service. At 6:10PM, when she had not returned, I called the daycare and found out that she was still there. So Jeff changed his plans and picked her up. She went shopping with him and they went out to dinner together.
Henry had a good time with his grandparents who returned him home after his visit with them. He didn't eat much for them, but then declared that he wanted a snack when he got in their car. When he arrived home, he wanted oatmeal. And he again insisted on "small bites." Jeff is wondering if the bump on the chin is making it difficult for him to open his mouth all of the way. He had oatmeal, some of my french fries, and a piece of Miss R's cookie.
Then it was bed for The Twins. Miss R was hilarious before going to bed. She was commenting on my attire. At one point, she pointed to my backside and said, "You have a silly butt?" which cracked me up.
Baby A is sleeping now but I suspect that she'll be up soon.
Edited 5/24/10
As a foster child, Baby A wasn't so lucky when it came to spacing shots. Basically, because of foster care rules, we have to follow AAP guidelines to the letter, meaning that she received five shots today. Today, she had her 2 month wellness check. We got some eye drops for her eyes. She has a little goop in them in the mornings, but it doesn't look like pinkeye. Dr. Bianchi thinks that it might be dry ducts. She weighed 10 lbs 4 ozs...up 4 lbs. since birth. All in all, she's looking great.
Henry went to Grammy and Poppy's house after the doctor's appointment. I went back home with Baby A to wait for Miss R to return from her sibling visitation. As it turned out, she was never picked up by CPS' driving service. At 6:10PM, when she had not returned, I called the daycare and found out that she was still there. So Jeff changed his plans and picked her up. She went shopping with him and they went out to dinner together.
Henry had a good time with his grandparents who returned him home after his visit with them. He didn't eat much for them, but then declared that he wanted a snack when he got in their car. When he arrived home, he wanted oatmeal. And he again insisted on "small bites." Jeff is wondering if the bump on the chin is making it difficult for him to open his mouth all of the way. He had oatmeal, some of my french fries, and a piece of Miss R's cookie.
Then it was bed for The Twins. Miss R was hilarious before going to bed. She was commenting on my attire. At one point, she pointed to my backside and said, "You have a silly butt?" which cracked me up.
Baby A is sleeping now but I suspect that she'll be up soon.
Edited 5/24/10
Three Kids Three and Under
On Monday morning, Baby A started daycare. It was interesting herding the toddlers from the car to the door of the daycare while holding Baby A, everyone's blankets, and Baby A's start up supplies. Somehow, I managed. I dropped off The Twins in their respective classrooms first. Everyone ooooew'd and aaaaah'd at just how cute Baby A was. And she is a very cute baby. Super curly, thick black hair. Beautiful. Baby A is in the other Miss Stephanie's room, which is great. I frequently talk with Stephanie b/c of the long amounts of time that I spent with Henry and Miss R in front of her baby room staring at the babies.
The pick up wasn't too horrendous. I got the "big" kids first. Then, I got them to stand on the bench in front of the window of the room so that I could keep an eye on them while getting Baby A from her afternoon teacher, Miss Jennifer. She had a good day.
We then went to my parents' house. Henry and Miss R wanted to see Grammy and Poppy b/c they missed them during our vacation. Baby A slept the entire time. In fact, her sheet said that she had a bottle at 3:15PM, she fell asleep in the car, and then didn't wake up until we were home at 8:45PM. I had managed to get Miss R home and bathed before Baby A woke up. Henry had left Grammy and Poppy's house with Jeff and gone to the store.
This morning (Tuesday), Henry was the whiniest I'd seen him. He was upset that Jeff got him oatmeal, not grits. And then after getting grits, he was upset if the amount on the spoon wasn't "small." We thought he might be coming down with something. He said he wanted to go back to bed. He's usually only "that" whiny when he is sick. He fell out of bed last night around 3AM and bumped his chin and has a pretty good scrap on it. Maybe that's affecting him. I'm at school now. I called Jeff to say that Henry had a miracle cure after I left and was currently playing in the train room. In short, I think that Jeff and I got played.
The pick up wasn't too horrendous. I got the "big" kids first. Then, I got them to stand on the bench in front of the window of the room so that I could keep an eye on them while getting Baby A from her afternoon teacher, Miss Jennifer. She had a good day.
We then went to my parents' house. Henry and Miss R wanted to see Grammy and Poppy b/c they missed them during our vacation. Baby A slept the entire time. In fact, her sheet said that she had a bottle at 3:15PM, she fell asleep in the car, and then didn't wake up until we were home at 8:45PM. I had managed to get Miss R home and bathed before Baby A woke up. Henry had left Grammy and Poppy's house with Jeff and gone to the store.
This morning (Tuesday), Henry was the whiniest I'd seen him. He was upset that Jeff got him oatmeal, not grits. And then after getting grits, he was upset if the amount on the spoon wasn't "small." We thought he might be coming down with something. He said he wanted to go back to bed. He's usually only "that" whiny when he is sick. He fell out of bed last night around 3AM and bumped his chin and has a pretty good scrap on it. Maybe that's affecting him. I'm at school now. I called Jeff to say that Henry had a miracle cure after I left and was currently playing in the train room. In short, I think that Jeff and I got played.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
San Diego
After breakfast on Saturday, we packed up and headed to San Diego, where I’d made Hotwire reservations the night before. Hotwire selected the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, a hotel less than a mile from Seaworld.
The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay was beautiful. Jeff unloaded our bags while I got the kids a snack. We then got a taxi and headed to Seaworld. Seaworld was packed, but as we weren’t particularly interested in the animal shows (owing to The Twins’ ages), we had no problems finding things to do.
Our first stop was the kids’ play area. It was hot, so the sprinklers were turned on. Henry saw kids playing and stripped down. It took some work to convince him to keep his pants on. As we didn’t have a change of clothes, we didn’t want him completely soaked. So we diverted his attention to other play areas. I ran after Henry as he decided to climb up 3 stories of netting and then climb through 100 feet of tunnels suspended in the air. I earned my mommy gold star, that’s for sure. Miss R had fun in some dry tunnels on the grounded that required no crawling on Jeff’s behalf.
Once Henry and I were back on the ground, I switched kids with Jeff. I took Miss R to the Toddler Tidal Pool, which Henry at 37.5” was too tall to enter. The Toddler Tidal Pool is a blue, springy floor with soft large blocks in it. Jeff took Henry to play in the sand and then climb on a hill. Jeff took Henry on a ride called Abby’s Sea Star Spin, while I got Miss R an ice cream cone. Miss R is the slowest eater on the planet. She got upset at the ice cream melting on her. I hoped that it would be a learning experience (eat faster!), but I’m not so sure.
Miss R looked tired as the kids refused naps at the hotel room. We made our way to the World of the Sea aquarium, which is spacious on the inside and quiet. She snoozed for awhile. Henry did not. He liked pretending to be scared at the sharks and giant fish. I took him to the Tidal Pool where people get to touch star fish. The water was quite cold, so we didn’t stay long, but he did get to pet a star fish. We went back down to the aquarium, where Henry and Jeff played around. When Miss R stirred, we went back to the Tidal Pool. We then went to see the dolphins and fed a dolphin named Crunch some fish. Miss R was brave and touched Crunch on the head. We looked at Sea Lions, had some dinner (pizza and hot dogs), and went to a 4D Sesame Lights, Camera, Imagination! show. We fed the flamingos. Henry and Miss R demonstrated their different styles. Henry would take a handful of feed and throw it. Miss R would take a single pellet and throw it. The kids liked the Shark Exhibit so much that we did it twice. As Jeff pointed out, Henry’s favorite part was the moving side walk, not the sharks floating above him. The kids split a churro, and then we headed to the penguins. Henry fell asleep on the way. So Miss R and I went without the boys. As it turned out, most of the penguins were asleep too. I got the kids two stuffed animal penguins, and we called it a night, deciding to skip the fireworks show. We caught a taxi back to the hotel. It didn’t take much to get the kids to bed.
On Sunday morning, we got room service and had a picnic on the floor. We then walked around the marina, a view of which could be seen from our room. Henry jogged a good part of the way. We packed our belongings and headed to Mission Beach.
Upon seeing the ocean, Henry exclaimed, “We made it! We made it! We made it!” The kids looked at the waves and made a sand castle with Jeff. They also buried Jeff’s good leg in the sand. We walked a little ways down the beach to check out some surfers. Henry enjoyed climbing a huge sand pile near a life guard station.
Then, we headed back to the entrance and got an early lunch before heading back to Tucson. On a funny note, Henry's diaper was quite wet in the restaurant, so Jeff took him to the bathroom but didn't have a spare diaper so he let him go "free and easy" from the restaurant to the car. Henry seemed to find the experience perplexing. He kept holding up his pants, afraid that they were going to fall down (which they weren't). I think, however, that he liked the experience, so we'll try more underwear work this week (now is a good time given the warmth of the season).
We stopped at a Carl’s Jr. in Yuma. It had a play area, much to Henry’s delight. We spent about an hour there as Henry was having so much fun. He was very cute around a baby who was crawling around the floor. He tried to convince the baby to climb up the equipment. He also said, "I love you, baby!" as he gave the little boy a hug. Henry actually went willingly back to the car. It helped knowing that Peter Pan was waiting for him. Peter Pan was on repeat during the drive. Jeff wanted to see if Henry would eventually get sick of it, but alas, no boredom was conveyed.
When we got back home, I gave the kids a much needed bath. Henry had managed to get sand in his ears. Jeff made the kids chicken soup. He then went to pick up Baby A, while I got the kids fed, let them watch a little Sponge Bob, brushed their teeth, read them Peter Pan and Captain Hook, and turned out the lights. Baby A needed a bottle when she got home, and then she settled down. I'm on the first shift tonight. I just changed Henry who was calling out b/c he wet his diaper, something that usually doesn't bother him. Maybe potty training in earnest is in his future!
The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay was beautiful. Jeff unloaded our bags while I got the kids a snack. We then got a taxi and headed to Seaworld. Seaworld was packed, but as we weren’t particularly interested in the animal shows (owing to The Twins’ ages), we had no problems finding things to do.
Our first stop was the kids’ play area. It was hot, so the sprinklers were turned on. Henry saw kids playing and stripped down. It took some work to convince him to keep his pants on. As we didn’t have a change of clothes, we didn’t want him completely soaked. So we diverted his attention to other play areas. I ran after Henry as he decided to climb up 3 stories of netting and then climb through 100 feet of tunnels suspended in the air. I earned my mommy gold star, that’s for sure. Miss R had fun in some dry tunnels on the grounded that required no crawling on Jeff’s behalf.
Once Henry and I were back on the ground, I switched kids with Jeff. I took Miss R to the Toddler Tidal Pool, which Henry at 37.5” was too tall to enter. The Toddler Tidal Pool is a blue, springy floor with soft large blocks in it. Jeff took Henry to play in the sand and then climb on a hill. Jeff took Henry on a ride called Abby’s Sea Star Spin, while I got Miss R an ice cream cone. Miss R is the slowest eater on the planet. She got upset at the ice cream melting on her. I hoped that it would be a learning experience (eat faster!), but I’m not so sure.Miss R looked tired as the kids refused naps at the hotel room. We made our way to the World of the Sea aquarium, which is spacious on the inside and quiet. She snoozed for awhile. Henry did not. He liked pretending to be scared at the sharks and giant fish. I took him to the Tidal Pool where people get to touch star fish. The water was quite cold, so we didn’t stay long, but he did get to pet a star fish. We went back down to the aquarium, where Henry and Jeff played around. When Miss R stirred, we went back to the Tidal Pool. We then went to see the dolphins and fed a dolphin named Crunch some fish. Miss R was brave and touched Crunch on the head. We looked at Sea Lions, had some dinner (pizza and hot dogs), and went to a 4D Sesame Lights, Camera, Imagination! show. We fed the flamingos. Henry and Miss R demonstrated their different styles. Henry would take a handful of feed and throw it. Miss R would take a single pellet and throw it. The kids liked the Shark Exhibit so much that we did it twice. As Jeff pointed out, Henry’s favorite part was the moving side walk, not the sharks floating above him. The kids split a churro, and then we headed to the penguins. Henry fell asleep on the way. So Miss R and I went without the boys. As it turned out, most of the penguins were asleep too. I got the kids two stuffed animal penguins, and we called it a night, deciding to skip the fireworks show. We caught a taxi back to the hotel. It didn’t take much to get the kids to bed.
On Sunday morning, we got room service and had a picnic on the floor. We then walked around the marina, a view of which could be seen from our room. Henry jogged a good part of the way. We packed our belongings and headed to Mission Beach.Upon seeing the ocean, Henry exclaimed, “We made it! We made it! We made it!” The kids looked at the waves and made a sand castle with Jeff. They also buried Jeff’s good leg in the sand. We walked a little ways down the beach to check out some surfers. Henry enjoyed climbing a huge sand pile near a life guard station.
Then, we headed back to the entrance and got an early lunch before heading back to Tucson. On a funny note, Henry's diaper was quite wet in the restaurant, so Jeff took him to the bathroom but didn't have a spare diaper so he let him go "free and easy" from the restaurant to the car. Henry seemed to find the experience perplexing. He kept holding up his pants, afraid that they were going to fall down (which they weren't). I think, however, that he liked the experience, so we'll try more underwear work this week (now is a good time given the warmth of the season).
We stopped at a Carl’s Jr. in Yuma. It had a play area, much to Henry’s delight. We spent about an hour there as Henry was having so much fun. He was very cute around a baby who was crawling around the floor. He tried to convince the baby to climb up the equipment. He also said, "I love you, baby!" as he gave the little boy a hug. Henry actually went willingly back to the car. It helped knowing that Peter Pan was waiting for him. Peter Pan was on repeat during the drive. Jeff wanted to see if Henry would eventually get sick of it, but alas, no boredom was conveyed.
When we got back home, I gave the kids a much needed bath. Henry had managed to get sand in his ears. Jeff made the kids chicken soup. He then went to pick up Baby A, while I got the kids fed, let them watch a little Sponge Bob, brushed their teeth, read them Peter Pan and Captain Hook, and turned out the lights. Baby A needed a bottle when she got home, and then she settled down. I'm on the first shift tonight. I just changed Henry who was calling out b/c he wet his diaper, something that usually doesn't bother him. Maybe potty training in earnest is in his future!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Disneyland Again!
On Wednesday, Henry wore his Batman shirt from his new PJs to school. I have a feeling that it is going to become one of those items he can't live without. Before we left for school, I said goodbye to Corinne who has done most of the nannying for us with Baby A. Due to cost, we have to put Baby A in daycare next week. We're pleased with the daycare, but we know Corinne will be missed.
I picked up the kids after my work. That meant I didn't get them until about 5:45PM. Miss Marissa was watching them. Her last day was Thursday, so it was sad to say goodbye. I picked up fast food Mexican for dinner. Meanwhile, Jeff took Lily to a place that boards dogs, Roger to my parents' house, and Baby A to her respite providers on the far east side of town. We hadn't packed at all, so that was quite a task, and we didn't leave until 10PM.
On Thursday, we rolled into Anaheim at 5:30AM. Henry realized that we were somewhere exciting when he saw the statue of Mickey in the lobby (we're at the Disneyland Hotel). The kids had managed to sleep in the car. I got in a few catnaps, but Jeff didn't sleep much when I was driving as he doesn't have my ability to sleep in a car.
Henry was fussy b/c he wanted to go to Disneyland. He didn't buy our explanations that the park wasn't yet open. We all managed to get two hours of nap before getting up and ordering room service. While we waited for room service, I took the kids to walk around outside because Henry clearly had energy to work off. He was being very loud in the hotel room. The kids had fun dancing in a gazebo until Jeff called us to say that breakfast had arrived. The kids liked their Mickey Mouse pancakes.
We made use of the "Magic Mornings" hotel privilege, which meant getting into the park an hour before opening. We took the Monorail into the park. We went to several attractions, starting with the Matterhorn, which Miss R was a fraction too short to ride (so Henry rode it once with me and then once with Jeff). Henry’s favorite was Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Miss R’s favorites were Pirates of the Caribbean and King Arthur’s Carousel. Henry fell asleep on our way to lunch. Miss R got a sudden burst of energy. So I stayed with Miss R in the park after lunch while Henry and Jeff went back to the hotel to nap.
Miss R and I went on the Winnie the Pooh ride three times, visited Winnie the Pooh whom she gave a hug, and then went into The Haunted House (having already visited it once earlier in the day). Then, it was time to head back to the hotel, where she slept quite soundly. Henry got up before she did. So Jeff took Henry back to the park, where they enjoyed a couple rounds on the Teacups.
This is a view of the Neverland pool from our balcony at the hotel. Once Miss R woke up from her nap, we met the boys in Fantasyland.
The park closed at 8PM on Thursday. We made our way back through Downtown Disney on the way to the hotel. There were people doing live music throughout Downtown Disney. Henry enjoyed songs by a man playing Spanish music on his guitar. A little girl (about 2) was dancing to the music so Henry joined her. The little girl actually had an incredibly good sense of rhythm. Henry mimicked many of her moves as well as doing a little rumba-matador movements around her. The funniest moment was when she put her hand on the ground and started wiggling her derriere around. Henry then got down next to her and did the same thing. It left her mother and us in stitches. We had dinner at the Rainforest Café, and then headed back to the hotel.
On Friday morning, the park was fairly well-filled at the opening. We arrived on the Monorail at 9AM and decided to hit the Finding Nemo Submarine ride first because the line is usually quite long.
We had lunch in New Orleans Square at a gumbo place. The restaurant had outdoor seating near the Pirates line. Henry dropped a cracker on the ground, jumped off his seat, picked it up, and ate it before I could catch him. This made a man in line laugh. The man said, “Don’t worry. He’ll grow up fine. Just look at this one who did the same thing.” The man’s son (probably about 20) was standing next to him. We went on the Pirates ride after lunch. Henry startled a woman on the boat just as she was drinking from her water bottle by shouting out the “Yo Ho” song right behind her. That made her husband (assuming) laugh.
We went over to California Adventure around 1:15PM in an effort to see “Aladdin: The Musical Spectacular,” which is a shortened stage production of the Aladdin movie. The production was probably an hour or so, and the kids did reasonably well sitting through it. That was their first musical (unless we count last year’s Elmo Live!, which Henry didn’t sit through but Miss R did). While we waited in line for the show, Henry met a little girl who was probably about 1 year old. He was fascinated with her and gave her a few hugs. He was being very sweet to her.
We headed back to the hotel for naps after riding Monsters, Inc. twice. Henry took a very good nap. Miss R rolled around the bed for two hours but did not sleep. She sang the Eagles theme song at the top of her lungs however. I didn’t know she knew the words (that’s definitely Jeff’s doing). After nap time, we headed to the pool area. Unfortunately, they closed the slides before Henry could ride on them. Henry and Miss R played in some sand near the pool. Miss R pranced around singing “Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me.” I got into the jacuzzi. It wasn't a very hot jacuzzi and there were a lot of kids in it. Henry joined me. We didn't let him stay in it long. A six year old boy came up to Henry and struck up a conversation with him. He seemed drawn to Henry and surprised at Henry answering his questions. It was cute.
We decided to get some pretzels on the way to the Monorail. Riding the Monorail was a HUGE mistake. They had “a slight delay,” which meant keeping us stopped about 3 minutes from the station in Tomorrowland for a half-hour. Being trapped with Henry in a small space was no picnic. When we got off, they gave us tickets for jumping the lines of any single ride we wanted. We went to It’s a Small World for the first time on our trip. The kids liked it. We then sat toward the back of Fantasyland and had a fabulous view of the fireworks. It was not as crowded as the front of the castle is, so we got to sit down on the ground and enjoy ourselves. The only disadvantage of the spot was we didn’t get to hear the music that goes with the fireworks, but as we’d heard it before, it wasn’t a big loss. I’d probably choose that spot again if given the choice.
After the fireworks, we went on the Fantasyland train. Then, we walked around, eventually making our way back to Fantasyland. The Peter Pan ride was a 45 minute wait. So we used our coupon to jump the line and got on it in about 10 minutes. Miss R was sound asleep. So we “switched riders,” which allows parents of small kids to ride a ride and then switch places. That allowed Henry to go on it twice (first with Jeff, then with me). After that, we headed back to the hotel. To say that the lines were crazy is an understatement. At 10:15PM at night, the lines for “little kid” rides were the longest we’d seen them ever (and it wasn’t because of tons of kids in the park).
On Saturday morning, we had reservations for a “character breakfast” at Goofy’s Kitchen. The kids saw many characters who stopped by our table: Pluto, Dale, Mulan, Goofy, Chip, Baloo, and Snow White.
I picked up the kids after my work. That meant I didn't get them until about 5:45PM. Miss Marissa was watching them. Her last day was Thursday, so it was sad to say goodbye. I picked up fast food Mexican for dinner. Meanwhile, Jeff took Lily to a place that boards dogs, Roger to my parents' house, and Baby A to her respite providers on the far east side of town. We hadn't packed at all, so that was quite a task, and we didn't leave until 10PM.On Thursday, we rolled into Anaheim at 5:30AM. Henry realized that we were somewhere exciting when he saw the statue of Mickey in the lobby (we're at the Disneyland Hotel). The kids had managed to sleep in the car. I got in a few catnaps, but Jeff didn't sleep much when I was driving as he doesn't have my ability to sleep in a car.
Henry was fussy b/c he wanted to go to Disneyland. He didn't buy our explanations that the park wasn't yet open. We all managed to get two hours of nap before getting up and ordering room service. While we waited for room service, I took the kids to walk around outside because Henry clearly had energy to work off. He was being very loud in the hotel room. The kids had fun dancing in a gazebo until Jeff called us to say that breakfast had arrived. The kids liked their Mickey Mouse pancakes.
We made use of the "Magic Mornings" hotel privilege, which meant getting into the park an hour before opening. We took the Monorail into the park. We went to several attractions, starting with the Matterhorn, which Miss R was a fraction too short to ride (so Henry rode it once with me and then once with Jeff). Henry’s favorite was Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Miss R’s favorites were Pirates of the Caribbean and King Arthur’s Carousel. Henry fell asleep on our way to lunch. Miss R got a sudden burst of energy. So I stayed with Miss R in the park after lunch while Henry and Jeff went back to the hotel to nap.
Miss R and I went on the Winnie the Pooh ride three times, visited Winnie the Pooh whom she gave a hug, and then went into The Haunted House (having already visited it once earlier in the day). Then, it was time to head back to the hotel, where she slept quite soundly. Henry got up before she did. So Jeff took Henry back to the park, where they enjoyed a couple rounds on the Teacups.
This is a view of the Neverland pool from our balcony at the hotel. Once Miss R woke up from her nap, we met the boys in Fantasyland.
The park closed at 8PM on Thursday. We made our way back through Downtown Disney on the way to the hotel. There were people doing live music throughout Downtown Disney. Henry enjoyed songs by a man playing Spanish music on his guitar. A little girl (about 2) was dancing to the music so Henry joined her. The little girl actually had an incredibly good sense of rhythm. Henry mimicked many of her moves as well as doing a little rumba-matador movements around her. The funniest moment was when she put her hand on the ground and started wiggling her derriere around. Henry then got down next to her and did the same thing. It left her mother and us in stitches. We had dinner at the Rainforest Café, and then headed back to the hotel.
On Friday morning, the park was fairly well-filled at the opening. We arrived on the Monorail at 9AM and decided to hit the Finding Nemo Submarine ride first because the line is usually quite long.We had lunch in New Orleans Square at a gumbo place. The restaurant had outdoor seating near the Pirates line. Henry dropped a cracker on the ground, jumped off his seat, picked it up, and ate it before I could catch him. This made a man in line laugh. The man said, “Don’t worry. He’ll grow up fine. Just look at this one who did the same thing.” The man’s son (probably about 20) was standing next to him. We went on the Pirates ride after lunch. Henry startled a woman on the boat just as she was drinking from her water bottle by shouting out the “Yo Ho” song right behind her. That made her husband (assuming) laugh.
We went over to California Adventure around 1:15PM in an effort to see “Aladdin: The Musical Spectacular,” which is a shortened stage production of the Aladdin movie. The production was probably an hour or so, and the kids did reasonably well sitting through it. That was their first musical (unless we count last year’s Elmo Live!, which Henry didn’t sit through but Miss R did). While we waited in line for the show, Henry met a little girl who was probably about 1 year old. He was fascinated with her and gave her a few hugs. He was being very sweet to her.
We headed back to the hotel for naps after riding Monsters, Inc. twice. Henry took a very good nap. Miss R rolled around the bed for two hours but did not sleep. She sang the Eagles theme song at the top of her lungs however. I didn’t know she knew the words (that’s definitely Jeff’s doing). After nap time, we headed to the pool area. Unfortunately, they closed the slides before Henry could ride on them. Henry and Miss R played in some sand near the pool. Miss R pranced around singing “Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me.” I got into the jacuzzi. It wasn't a very hot jacuzzi and there were a lot of kids in it. Henry joined me. We didn't let him stay in it long. A six year old boy came up to Henry and struck up a conversation with him. He seemed drawn to Henry and surprised at Henry answering his questions. It was cute.
We decided to get some pretzels on the way to the Monorail. Riding the Monorail was a HUGE mistake. They had “a slight delay,” which meant keeping us stopped about 3 minutes from the station in Tomorrowland for a half-hour. Being trapped with Henry in a small space was no picnic. When we got off, they gave us tickets for jumping the lines of any single ride we wanted. We went to It’s a Small World for the first time on our trip. The kids liked it. We then sat toward the back of Fantasyland and had a fabulous view of the fireworks. It was not as crowded as the front of the castle is, so we got to sit down on the ground and enjoy ourselves. The only disadvantage of the spot was we didn’t get to hear the music that goes with the fireworks, but as we’d heard it before, it wasn’t a big loss. I’d probably choose that spot again if given the choice.
After the fireworks, we went on the Fantasyland train. Then, we walked around, eventually making our way back to Fantasyland. The Peter Pan ride was a 45 minute wait. So we used our coupon to jump the line and got on it in about 10 minutes. Miss R was sound asleep. So we “switched riders,” which allows parents of small kids to ride a ride and then switch places. That allowed Henry to go on it twice (first with Jeff, then with me). After that, we headed back to the hotel. To say that the lines were crazy is an understatement. At 10:15PM at night, the lines for “little kid” rides were the longest we’d seen them ever (and it wasn’t because of tons of kids in the park).
On Saturday morning, we had reservations for a “character breakfast” at Goofy’s Kitchen. The kids saw many characters who stopped by our table: Pluto, Dale, Mulan, Goofy, Chip, Baloo, and Snow White.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Return to Daycare
On Tuesday, Henry went back to daycare. His face still has faint red blotches from where the spots were, but it looks pretty good. He wasn't happy about returning to daycare and said several times "I want to stay home." Upon hearing Henry upset, Miss R started throwing little tantrums too. She is a particularly reactive child. Henry pretty much marches to the beat of his own drummer. Miss R figures out what Henry's doing and then copies him. It can make for a harrowing time when Henry acts up.
Miss R was irked b/c I carried Henry into daycare. His face was snuggled into my neck. If Henry was being held, she wanted to be held too. She usually gets a lot of the "holding" attention in the morning so she threw a fit b/c I couldn't hold both of them and decided that Henry's need was greater than hers.
Henry didn't want to let me go. He held me tight. Miss Stephanie asked about his face. I said that he was no longer contagious and the face was a HUGE improvement from last week. She asked if it was hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) as she was the one who let me know that it was going around the school. I wouldn't have known about HFMD had I not heard it from her. Anyway, she took care of Henry, and I went off to get the party goodie bags together and pick up cupcakes for his class. I had bought the party supplies the previous week. I got Toy Story party bags and put a Toy Story kaleidoscope, slinkie, key chain, pencil, sticker and map into each bag. Plus I included a plastic bracelet and party toy in each bag too. I got the bags ready while I ate breakfast at my coffee shop (The Glass Onion). Got the cupcakes. Picked up some paperworks from Dr. Bianchi's office (fostercare paperwork). Then dropped off the party bags and cupcakes at daycare. Miss Stephanie was on break. She said that Henry had settled down minutes after I left. I didn't see Henry when I dropped off the supplies, which was probably a good thing. Miss Stephanie said that the school may be changing up classrooms this week or next. I don't really care as long as Henry stays with his classmates who are his age.
Henry and Miss R went over to Grammy and Poppy's after school. Henry had a good day at school. Miss R had an accident in her pants. She's regressing a bit on the potty front. She doesn't completely wet her pants but she does it a little. Perhaps having Henry get so much attention with his illness last week (attention = given medications) has brought this about. Sigh. When she got home, she pooped in her panties right in front of Jeff for no reason whatsoever. Double sigh. As a result, she's probably going to land herself back into pull-ups when we go to Disneyland.
Jeff had picked up the kids at Grammy and Poppy's house. I took care of Baby A while he got them. In Baby A news, she is at the stage where she no longer wants to just sleep. She wants interaction. She enjoyed looking at my hands and reaching out to touch them with hers. A fascinating stage of human development. And she is so cute when she smiles.
Henry was in great spirits when he came home. I think that the party in his honor had put him in a good mood. He liked school today and informed me that the party had been for him, not Aidan. "It was Henry's party."
After Jeff read the kids books before bedtime, I brought Baby A into their bedroom to say goodnight. Both kids enjoyed showing Baby A their beds. Henry was happy b/c I let him hug Baby A tonight, which is something that I've denied him for an entire week. Hugging her made him happy.
Wednesday is my last day of lecturing for the semester. Yes! Then, we have a lot to do before we head out on our family vacation.
Miss R was irked b/c I carried Henry into daycare. His face was snuggled into my neck. If Henry was being held, she wanted to be held too. She usually gets a lot of the "holding" attention in the morning so she threw a fit b/c I couldn't hold both of them and decided that Henry's need was greater than hers.
Henry didn't want to let me go. He held me tight. Miss Stephanie asked about his face. I said that he was no longer contagious and the face was a HUGE improvement from last week. She asked if it was hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) as she was the one who let me know that it was going around the school. I wouldn't have known about HFMD had I not heard it from her. Anyway, she took care of Henry, and I went off to get the party goodie bags together and pick up cupcakes for his class. I had bought the party supplies the previous week. I got Toy Story party bags and put a Toy Story kaleidoscope, slinkie, key chain, pencil, sticker and map into each bag. Plus I included a plastic bracelet and party toy in each bag too. I got the bags ready while I ate breakfast at my coffee shop (The Glass Onion). Got the cupcakes. Picked up some paperworks from Dr. Bianchi's office (fostercare paperwork). Then dropped off the party bags and cupcakes at daycare. Miss Stephanie was on break. She said that Henry had settled down minutes after I left. I didn't see Henry when I dropped off the supplies, which was probably a good thing. Miss Stephanie said that the school may be changing up classrooms this week or next. I don't really care as long as Henry stays with his classmates who are his age.
Henry and Miss R went over to Grammy and Poppy's after school. Henry had a good day at school. Miss R had an accident in her pants. She's regressing a bit on the potty front. She doesn't completely wet her pants but she does it a little. Perhaps having Henry get so much attention with his illness last week (attention = given medications) has brought this about. Sigh. When she got home, she pooped in her panties right in front of Jeff for no reason whatsoever. Double sigh. As a result, she's probably going to land herself back into pull-ups when we go to Disneyland.
Jeff had picked up the kids at Grammy and Poppy's house. I took care of Baby A while he got them. In Baby A news, she is at the stage where she no longer wants to just sleep. She wants interaction. She enjoyed looking at my hands and reaching out to touch them with hers. A fascinating stage of human development. And she is so cute when she smiles.
Henry was in great spirits when he came home. I think that the party in his honor had put him in a good mood. He liked school today and informed me that the party had been for him, not Aidan. "It was Henry's party."
After Jeff read the kids books before bedtime, I brought Baby A into their bedroom to say goodnight. Both kids enjoyed showing Baby A their beds. Henry was happy b/c I let him hug Baby A tonight, which is something that I've denied him for an entire week. Hugging her made him happy.
Wednesday is my last day of lecturing for the semester. Yes! Then, we have a lot to do before we head out on our family vacation.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Spots
On Sunday, the kids and I stayed home. Henry's spots had again improved greatly, but as shown in the picture, he was still spotted. Rather early in the day (about 11AM), he announced that he was going to his room to take a nap. That's unusual behavior from him.Jeff spent the afternoon running errands all over town. We needed a new shower head in our bathroom b/c the head on my side of the shower split from the hose. Jeff also got supplies to finish up the flooring in Henry and Miss R's bedroom. I think that Jeff didn't mind getting off the reservation for a couple hours.
Danger-prone Henry decided to add a new trick to his slide techniques. He got the stools to the picnic table, put them at the top of the slide, and sat on one, backwards of course, while tipping it so that it went down the slide.
One of Jeff's stops on his errands list was Babies R Us. He bought The Twins several outfits, getting ready for summer. Miss R loves clothes and really liked her new lady bug outfit. Henry loved his Buzz Lightyear PJs. He put them on and wore them Monday as well. As Jeff said, we'll probably have to strip them off his body when he is asleep, clean them, and then have then ready in the morning.
On Monday, we decided that Henry should stay home another day. He was OK in terms of energy, but I really want those facial sores to be practically non-existent when he returns. Jeff commented this evening on how he kind of liked having Henry around throughout the day (with the nanny of course...otherwise Jeff wouldn't get anything done). Henry was again a champion napper...napping between 12-4PM. Very easy for the nanny.
Poppy picked up Miss R and brought her home. She was excited to see me when I came through the door.
We had a quiet evening. Baby A was very sleepy. That was about it. I'm up doing April fostercare paperwork for Miss R and Baby A. Tomorrow will be packed with things to do in preparation for our Disneyland trip. I spoke with the person who will be doing respite for Baby A while we are gone. She's an expert in taking care of babies. I'm glad Baby A will be in such experienced hands.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Improvement
We had a quiet day at home for the most part. I was on Baby A duty last night. I ended up holding her all night because she had a stuffy nose and seemed to breath easier when held upright. Around 3AM, I had to use saline solution to get some of the gunk out of her nose. She wasn't happy with me about that. She didn't eat particularly well yesterday or today.
On Saturday morning, Jeff got The Twins breakfast. Jeff gave Henry a bath in an attempt to soak his feet and get some of the dead skin to peel off. His face looked like it was in the process of healing, but he wasn't looking in tip top shape by any stretch. I can't remember if it was this morning or yesterday, but Henry looked into the mirror and kind of freaked out. It is difficult seeing his handsome face marred with crusty, red spots.
Miss R and I took Jackson, our cat who has had some medical issues lately, for a hydration treatment. Jackson often needs help from the vet to get hydrated. The receptionist was very keen on Miss R and said several times how cute she was. I put Miss R on the pet scale. She weighed 25.9 lbs.
We stopped by Grammy's house. I figured that Grammy could see Miss R b/c she isn't sick. The short visit made Grammy and Miss R happy. Both Miss R and Henry often request to see their grandparents.
Miss R fell asleep in the car and went down for her nap as soon as we got home. Henry spent the morning watch TV. I brought some Chinese food home. He ate a little bit, but I wouldn't call his lunch appetite impressive. Henry and Jeff had a fight about taking a nap. Henry was put done for a nap at 3PM and the slept until 7PM. Obviously, he needed his rest.
For dinner, Henry just wanted fruit bars. He can't fully open his mouth yet b/c when he does so, it pulls at the skin around the healing sores. I let him eat whatever he wanted. He wanted the fruit bars, so that's what he ate. He also had some birthday cake, which I had to feed him in much smaller bites than his normal bite size.
I made him soak his feet in the evening, again to get the dead skin to slough off. And I took small scissors and cut some of the dried layers off. In the end, his feet didn't looking quite so bad. And I'm hopeful that by Monday, he will be looking well. I noticed that after his nap, his facial sores looked better too.
Miss R wanted to soak her feet as well. So after Henry was done with his foot bath, I got another bowl and had Miss R sit and soak her feet. I put some scented bath salts in the water, which she loved. She called them candy.
Jeff took care of Baby A while I took care of the "big" kids. After feet were cleaned and treated, we had birthday cake while watching Stuart Little. Then, we listened to music and played the matching game. Something clicked for Miss R when it came to matching. She now "gets" what a match is. She did very, very well with the matching. I was happy for her.
After the matching game, we played dominoes...kind of. I thought maybe The Twins would be able to match numbers of dots, but it turned out that the dominoes were much more fun to use as blocks. Transferring the dominoes from the domino case to a party hat and back to the domino case proved a fascinating game that occupied the kids for 15-20 minutes.
I had words with Henry on several occasions. I could hear Jeff chuckling at my words: "Henry find the missing domino you had," "Henry don't run around with the toilet plunger. Put it down now," "Henry march [to the bathroom]....now!" etc.
One thing that we haven't been very good about is teaching the kids to spit. We don't put much toothpaste on their brushes as a result. So I located the step stool, positioned Henry near the bathroom sink, got a cup of water, and tried to get him to practice spitting. He ended up swallowing the water before trying to spit. I then said, "OK, Henry. Do you want R to show you how to do it?" Calling my bluff, Henry said, "Yes. R do it! I'm little." Lately, he's been calling himself "little" as a way to get out of certain tasks. I put R on the step stool. Showed her how to spit. She got it right away. A genius spitter. I was very pleased with her.
Then, it was bedtime. We read Hamilton and Peter Pan. Jeff had placed Baby A in the crib, so I then urged him to say goodnight to the kids (and hopefully have some soothing effect on Henry!).
I swear that parenting Henry is like the work of parenting three typical kids. And if I'm not completely gray from taking care of him in the next 5 years, I'll be shocked.
On Saturday morning, Jeff got The Twins breakfast. Jeff gave Henry a bath in an attempt to soak his feet and get some of the dead skin to peel off. His face looked like it was in the process of healing, but he wasn't looking in tip top shape by any stretch. I can't remember if it was this morning or yesterday, but Henry looked into the mirror and kind of freaked out. It is difficult seeing his handsome face marred with crusty, red spots.
Miss R and I took Jackson, our cat who has had some medical issues lately, for a hydration treatment. Jackson often needs help from the vet to get hydrated. The receptionist was very keen on Miss R and said several times how cute she was. I put Miss R on the pet scale. She weighed 25.9 lbs.
We stopped by Grammy's house. I figured that Grammy could see Miss R b/c she isn't sick. The short visit made Grammy and Miss R happy. Both Miss R and Henry often request to see their grandparents.
Miss R fell asleep in the car and went down for her nap as soon as we got home. Henry spent the morning watch TV. I brought some Chinese food home. He ate a little bit, but I wouldn't call his lunch appetite impressive. Henry and Jeff had a fight about taking a nap. Henry was put done for a nap at 3PM and the slept until 7PM. Obviously, he needed his rest.
For dinner, Henry just wanted fruit bars. He can't fully open his mouth yet b/c when he does so, it pulls at the skin around the healing sores. I let him eat whatever he wanted. He wanted the fruit bars, so that's what he ate. He also had some birthday cake, which I had to feed him in much smaller bites than his normal bite size.
I made him soak his feet in the evening, again to get the dead skin to slough off. And I took small scissors and cut some of the dried layers off. In the end, his feet didn't looking quite so bad. And I'm hopeful that by Monday, he will be looking well. I noticed that after his nap, his facial sores looked better too.
Miss R wanted to soak her feet as well. So after Henry was done with his foot bath, I got another bowl and had Miss R sit and soak her feet. I put some scented bath salts in the water, which she loved. She called them candy.
Jeff took care of Baby A while I took care of the "big" kids. After feet were cleaned and treated, we had birthday cake while watching Stuart Little. Then, we listened to music and played the matching game. Something clicked for Miss R when it came to matching. She now "gets" what a match is. She did very, very well with the matching. I was happy for her.
After the matching game, we played dominoes...kind of. I thought maybe The Twins would be able to match numbers of dots, but it turned out that the dominoes were much more fun to use as blocks. Transferring the dominoes from the domino case to a party hat and back to the domino case proved a fascinating game that occupied the kids for 15-20 minutes.
I had words with Henry on several occasions. I could hear Jeff chuckling at my words: "Henry find the missing domino you had," "Henry don't run around with the toilet plunger. Put it down now," "Henry march [to the bathroom]....now!" etc.
One thing that we haven't been very good about is teaching the kids to spit. We don't put much toothpaste on their brushes as a result. So I located the step stool, positioned Henry near the bathroom sink, got a cup of water, and tried to get him to practice spitting. He ended up swallowing the water before trying to spit. I then said, "OK, Henry. Do you want R to show you how to do it?" Calling my bluff, Henry said, "Yes. R do it! I'm little." Lately, he's been calling himself "little" as a way to get out of certain tasks. I put R on the step stool. Showed her how to spit. She got it right away. A genius spitter. I was very pleased with her.
Then, it was bedtime. We read Hamilton and Peter Pan. Jeff had placed Baby A in the crib, so I then urged him to say goodnight to the kids (and hopefully have some soothing effect on Henry!).
I swear that parenting Henry is like the work of parenting three typical kids. And if I'm not completely gray from taking care of him in the next 5 years, I'll be shocked.
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