Lettuce Makes Henry Sad

Miss R was up and about while Henry took his nap. I think that she rather enjoyed some alone time in the afternoon with us. She basically puttered around and had a fabulous time doing it. She told Jeff that "Princess Jasmine pooped in her pants" and then tried to pawn off her Jasmine doll to Jeff who played along and said "I'm not changing Jasmine. You change Jasmine." She played cook and made us several rounds of "burgers" and "coffee." She had fun walking toward our room, then shrieking at the top of her lungs and running into the living room proclaiming she was scared and something about a monster. And she had fun learning to zerbert Jeff (zerberting = using one's mouth on the skin to simulate gaseous noises...a very high culture activity).

Baby A was active in the late afternoon. She woke up from her nap and downed a 5 oz bottle, which is as large a bottle as she's ever had in one sitting. She spit up a little. And she is still having some back-end issues. I don't think that she's becoming dehydrated, and she is acting happy and active, so we'll wait until Tuesday to call the doctor unless things change for the worse. As she is currently on a hypoallergenic formula, I'm not sure where we go from here. She spent about 15 minutes on her stomach doing tummy time. She managed to turn herself 180 degrees during that time. I suspect that she'll be an early crawler.

When Henry woke up, he was in a happy mood. He and Miss R had fun running around together. They took turns closing themselves in the mini-foldout couch that Aunt Erin and Uncle Brian got Henry for his birthday.

Jeff took the dogs for a walk and ran into our neighbors. Hal and Swanee brought back I LOVE NY t-shirts for the kids (for Baby A, they got a onesie). Today was a fabulous clothes day for the kids as a package from Aunt Jennifer arrived with outfits for each of them. For Henry, it was a Buzz Lightyear shirt and shorts. He wore the shirt today. Not the shorts though. He decided it was casual Saturday and ran around in his Buzz Lightyear underwear instead. For Miss R, there is a fancy long shirt with pants, which will look fantastic on her. And for Baby A, a Winnie the Pooh onesie, which is super cute.

Henry and Miss R resisted the quiche tonight, even though I called it "Captain Hook's Quiche." They also rejected their small lettuce salads. In fact, Henry spit out a piece of his lettuce and then spit on the remaining lettuce on his plate. At one point, he had the following conversation with Jeff at the dinner table:

HENRY: I'm sad.
JEFF: What makes you sad?
HENRY: Lettuce.

It took some work getting the kids to bed. But I put Baby A down when she wasn't fully asleep. I read that it was important to get kids to fall asleep themselves, something that we didn't do with Henry until he was older.

Henry did his usual round of stall techniques. He got me to get extra ice cubes for his water. I told him that we were going to the Splash Pad tomorrow and maybe a movie. He said that he didn't want to go to the movie because it was too scary...as if Henry is ever really scared of anything. I told him that it was the new Shrek movie, so he decided that he wants to see it.

"Yes, sir!"

Last night, Henry said "Yes, sir!" when I asked him to do something. And he said it to Jeff as well. Who is this kid who seemingly responds to orders? Where did he learn that? Is he for real or just mocking us, which is quite possible?

This morning (Saturday), Miss R was up first. She climbed into bed and snuggled with me. Then, Baby A got up. Then, Henry. So much for sleeping in on a holiday weekend. Henry joined Miss R and me in bed, while Jeff fed Baby A. Henry tried to snuggle with Miss R, but she was peeved that he had interrupted mommy-daughter time and was kind of mean to him. So I ended up snuggling with him, which made her even more upset. She then tried to kick Henry with all her might. I'm quite her intentions were not noble, but Henry interpreted her aggression as a sign of play fighting. The problem is that she focuses on the word "fight" out of play fight, and Henry focuses on the word "play." Henry reached out and barely grazed her shoulder (in fact, I don't think there was actual contact), and that sent Miss R into hysterics. Sigh. The tension was broken by breakfast. Jeff had made the kids fabulous waffles in our new waffle maker.

We pretty much just hung out in the living room and played. We were going to go to the Splash Pad at Brandi Fenton. Miss R, however, threw a tantrum and did her high pitched modulating crying, which landed her in timeout. When Jeff went to retrieve her, she was asleep sitting up. I don't think getting up early agreed with her. So we'll be meeting up with friends at the Splash Pad tomorrow instead.

While Miss R napped in the timeout chair (a cushy rocking chair...not exactly a punishment), Henry played in the ball pit, practicing his pitching. His goal was to throw the balls through the window of the playhouse. He also said "Yes, sir!" again to Jeff, which surprised me. He had me read "Bambi Grows Up" to him, but he wanted Bambi's name replaced with Captain Jack and Thumper's name replaced with Captain Hook. For some reason, this entertains him. At one point, he ran into our room and put his face next to Miss R's and said "I love you, R!" He threw a tantrum when I carted him out of the room so that she wouldn't be wakened prematurely.

At the moment, Miss R is up and I believe "helping" Jeff in the kitchen. Henry is taking a nap, having made his usual round of stall requests, which again included having to "pee in the potty." Jeff asked, "Should I let him?" I said yes b/c I figure that we have to get him to do these potty events when he is willing...even if it is a stall technique.

Yo Ho!

On Thursday afternoon, we had a visit from Christy, Miss R's caseworker from St. Nick's. Nothing particularly exciting to report. The kids were cute, but that isn't news. She asked if we were going to try to get Baby A's brother. Her brother is with St. Nick's not CPS as the parents' rights were severed November/December, which is why Christy knows about the brother. I said that I'd left several messages with his caseworker, but she hadn't returned my calls and that if I left any more messages, I'd look like a stalker (I'd left about four over a two-week period). She said that one of their former caseworkers had left, so that the brother's caseworker was pretty overwhelmed with work, but she'd mention to her that we are interested.

After Christy left, we let the kids watch Shrek 2, which they really liked. Henry sang a good part of the "Yo Ho!" song from Peter Pan all by himself. When I pulled out the camera, he forgot the words of course.

On Friday, the kids had Water Day at school. They wore their swim suits and had fun outside. I think that the teachers pull out hoses and put on the misters, etc. The kids were in very good moods when we picked them up. We picked them up at 5:15PM...after Jeff and I had gone on a date to see Iron Man 2.

We took them to Costco. Henry told Daddy that's where he got his Buzz Lightyear DVD, which is true. I took him to Costco last month and got him that DVD. Completely surprised that he remembered where we had bought it.

This evening, we bought the DVD of Toy Story and watched it. Henry wanted more TV, but we wouldn't let him watch more than one movie. So he threw a tantrum. But I tickled him and kissed him, and he seemed to forget about the DVD. He and Miss R took showers before bed, which they seem to like. Much easier to shower them than bathe them.

In other news, I received an annoying call from CPS this morning. [NOTE: Rant to follow.]

CPS person: Hello, this is __(caseworker's secretary)__ from CPS. Is this Kate?
KATE: Yes.
CPS person: Are you the foster parent of the __(baby's last name)__ baby?
KATE: Yes.
CPS person: Could you tell us why she isn't at daycare right now so that she can be taken to her visit?
KATE: She had her visitation yesterday.
CPS person: Well, she is going to have two visits per week.
KATE: First of all, we were never informed of the change in the visitation schedule. And second, if that is case, the baby will need to be picked up at our house, just like she is picked up on Thursdays.
CPS person: Oh. Well, I will have to have __(caseworker's name)__ call you back.

Surprise, surprise. The caseworker never called us back. Moreover, our family specialist at A Place to Call Home left several messages for the CPS caseworker last week and this week, but her calls were never returned. If the caseworker actually returned a telephone call (gasp), she could have passed along this information. Yet another example of how screwed up the system is. I know that they are overloaded, but some simple demonstrations in competency could improve their efficiency so that they could handle their caseloads.

Then add to that picture the whole situation with Baby A's brother. It is incredibly hard to find households that are willing to take two siblings. Very hard. Here Jeff and I are, entertaining this possibility, and we can't get a callback. As I said when we were first contacted about the brother before he was disrupted from his previous foster home, we wanted to spend a day with him and just see if it would be possible for us to handle four kids. I don't think that it would take much time for us to make that assessment. And we know it would not be easy. And we aren't anticipating a happy-go-lucky visit day nor do we need a "perfect" visit to make that assessment. But we do need to meet the child and get a feel. I'd say that the probability is high that we'd go for it and try to get both siblings under the same roof. These kind of opportunities do not fall into caseworkers' laps often. But no callback. Add to that the fact that the brother of Baby A does have some attachment issues for which the system will not invest services until he is in a "stable home." So this poor kid is left without support. What's wrong with this picture?

So right now, I'm pretty irked at "the system." We were very fortunate in having Carmen as our CPS caseworker for Miss R's case and then her boss Katie when Carmen left. Both women were really good. We are fortunate to have Christy as Miss R's St. Nick's caseworker. But not all caseworkers are equally good. And it is amazing how many kids get stuck in the system b/c of people don't doing their jobs and judges do not follow the letter or spirit of the law.

Alright, I'd better get off my soapbox and sign off.

Chuck E. Cheese

On Wednesday, we were confident that Henry would sleep in b/c he stayed up late. He had other plans. He was up at 6:45AM and bright-eyed. On Wednesday afternoon, we decided to make Henry's dreams come true and take him to Chuck E. Cheese, which is on the far other side of town. Henry has been requesting Chuck E. Cheese for months, thanks to the commercials placed around Sponge Bob. He'd never been to Chuck E. Cheese, but through the magic of TV, he knew that it was the place for him. We got the kids in the car but didn't tell them where we were going.

Once we arrived in the parking lot, we didn't tell Henry where we were. As we approached the doors, Henry looked up at the sign. I asked him where we were. And he knew.

We had a fantastic time. The restaurant was the ultimate set up for toddlers. As we walked into the building, we had to get ourselves and the kids stamped with numbers that connected us with them. And upon check out, the staff make sure that adults don't go walking off with someone else's kids based on those stamps. Very, very nice. The staff also placed a huge hand sanitizer dispense at the entrance. Yes!

The building was packed with games, many of which were appropriate for toddlers. There were tons of rides (similar to the toy horses parked in front of grocery stories) that Miss R loves to do. For Henry, there was a climbing set up like the one's that they have at McDonald's, but this one was even longer. He was so excited. And he made a friend while crawling through the tunnels. He and his friend pretended that monsters were chasing them. I'm amazed and pleased at just how easily Henry makes new friends. There were various ticket games that didn't take much skill to get tickets. The tokens were reasonably priced. The one downsize to Chuck E. Cheese is the pizza...which Jeff didn't really consider pizza. It was a bit expensive for the quality, but given how cool the restaurant was overall, that defect can certainly be overlooked.















We did encounter problems toward the end of our perfect family evening. When we'd stayed there about 3 hours, we decided that it was time to go home. It was, afterall, past 8:30PM. The kids had turned in their tickets and the nice person behind the counter gave them extra cool prizes that would have cost more than the tickets they turned in...two stuff animal Chuck E. Cheese toys. We made our way to the car and Henry did a classic toddler protest, which involved making his body go rigid and then flailing his arms about. Our departure was facilitated by the fact that he really needed a diaper change.

As I was changing him in the back of the car, he switched up tactics and asked "Where are we going to go next?" He truly is Party All the Time Henry. I vow to send him to a college that doesn't have a Greek system!

He announced that it was time to go to McDonald's. He'd seen one on the way. As we passed it, he said. "I want to go to McDonald's. Turn the car around!"

This morning (Thursday), Jeff had a 7AM conference call. The kids decided to get up early again. Sigh. Jeff made them a picnic in our bedroom so that they'd be as far from the conference call as possible. I caught Miss R feeding her waffle to Lily. When I let Roger into the room, Henry said, "Lily is Roger's best friend. Roger, do you want to start the party?"

As we got the kids into the car for our daycare drop off, I asked Jeff if he wanted a Hard Eggs Night (one of the breakfast sandwiches from the Glass Onion). Henry announced, "I want a Hard Eggs Night." I asked, "You want a Hard Eggs Night?" Then he said, "No, I want a No Yoko" (which is what I always order. He repeated, "I want a No Yoko from the Glass Onion." That he put those items in the context of the Glass Onion floors me.

The drop off was fine. No problems. It was particularly easy as Baby A had been picked up by the CPS driving service at 8:20AM.

Henry's Bedtime Stall Strategies

On Tuesday morning, Jeff took Miss R to her 8AM dental appointment. That worked out well b/c she got up well before Henry. She came to our bed last night and snuggled with me.

I fed Baby A and got Henry breakfast after Miss R left. Baby A has had diaper issues on and off for over a week. The past couple days, she has eaten small amounts with a little more frequency, but we believed her overall intake was down, so I called the pediatrician's office as soon as they opened. They called back with a 9:40AM appointment. So I rushed to get Henry and Baby A fed, ready, and out the door at 9:15AM. The appointment didn't leave me time to take Henry to school first, so he accompanied us to the doctor's office. He announced that he wanted Dr. Bianchi to check his ears.

Baby A had lost a couple ounces since her appointment 2 weeks previous. Sigh. Dr. Bianchi said that the stomach flu had been making the rounds. But given that Baby A had been having problems for over a week, he recommended a diet change. We now have her on the elemental formula Alimentum and hope that will help. Dr. Bianchi obliged Henry's request for an ear check. His ears are fine. Henry showed Dr. Bianchi the dragons in a magazine and Dr. Bianchi gave him a sticker.

I dropped off Henry w/o a hitch but decided to keep Baby A at home and make the formula switch to see if we could get her system under control. She ate and slept on me today. It wasn't how I planned to spend the day, but she is a sweet, sweet baby. She pretty much ate every 1.5 hour in small amounts. I was pleased that she didn't outright reject Alimentum. Elemental formulas are really gross (yes, we've tasted them). Not that regular formula is anything tasty, but elemental formuals taste and smell especially disgusting.

Jeff picked up Henry and took him to get his eye glasses fixed. Henry has a knack for bending the heck out of them so that they don't fit him well. Miss R had a bio sibling visitation. She came back with candy. Double sigh.

The Twins had fun with Baby A. I took several cute pictures of Baby A and Miss R. Baby A seemed to enjoy their attention. Henry talked about the mommy dinosaur. I asked him what the mommy dinosaur did. He said, "The mommy dinosaur chases people away from Monkey Business." I'm not sure what that's about.

At bedtime, Henry was difficult. Jeff came out to the living room to watch TV with me for a spell. We could hear Henry talking and singing to himself. Then he told Daddy that he had to pee. And he actually peed in the potty! Then he wanted Daddy to snuggle with him. But he eventually told Jeff, "Get out of my bed!" Shortly after that, I saw Henry crossing the foyer into the kitchen. I called out to him. He announced that he needed his nose wiped. So I did that. Then he wanted me to snuggle with him. So I did that. Then he wanted to read. I said no b/c it was bedtime. Then he said he had to go "pee pee." I took him to the potty and he went again. We washed his hands. He wanted to snuggle again, but I told him that it was bedtime. It was about 10:15PM and he seemed to be going strong. No wonder he wants to sleep in! On the one hand, I know that we shouldn't indulge his stall tactics. On the other hand, he actually peed in the potty twice this evening. And that is progress. Perhaps one of these days, he'll be toilet trained at home as well as school!

Livin The Dream

The other day Kate was signing out the kids from daycare at the front desk. A gentleman was doing the same. When asked by the front desk staffer how he was doing he responded with all the enthusiasm of someone in line at the DMV, "You know, livin the dream." I think today was one of those type days for me.

I knew it wasn't going to be good because at 7:45am Henry was still asleep. When cheerily awakened by me, he buried his face and started whining that he didn't want to get up, he didn't want breakfast, no no no. Always the sign of a great day ahead. My current trick is to ask him if I can hold him. He usually responds yes and I get to get a little snuggle in while walking him to his seat at the breakfast table. Don't know how long I can get away with that trick.

At some point he managed to hit me twice with a plastic tube which he refers to as his "gun." He landed in time out. I got to scratch my head and wonder if he picked up the gun thing from Peter Pan in which there are 2 scenes with a gun, not to mention a cannon, an attempted drowning and other attempts on Wendy's life, references to slitting throats, burning at the stake, hands being severed and a bomb. Looking at that list I guess I understand why this has become Henry's favorite movie since he always likes the bad guys and the scariest parts of movies. Darn G rated movies.

Speaking of Peter Pan, Henry did impress me this morning with a recitation of a scene from the movie. He repeated 7 lines of final fight scene between Pan and Hook.

After fighting us on breakfast, teeth brushing, vitamins, hair combing, dressing, and going to the car, Henry finally got off to school. Miss R and Baby A were pretty good, so they will get short changed in this blog entry.

On the way to school Henry was playing with 2 dinosaurs. He claimed one was a baby dinosaur and one was the daddy. Kate asked, "Is the baby dinosaur mean?" Henry responded, "No, the baby dinosaur is nice and kind. The daddy dinosaur is mean." I think I'm a dinosaur in this scenario.

Kate reported that Henry was actually quite good at the drop off at school which doesn't always happen. Miss R was greeted by her favorite teacher so she was OK as well. Baby A distinguished herself. Kate dropped her off, then dropped off the toddlers before returning to Baby A's room to drop off her supplies. In the time it took to drop off Henry and Miss R, Baby A managed to pee on one outfit while being changed and puke on another. That's a personal best that won't soon be topped. I hope.

Kate and I dropped off the new car to get the keys and alarm checked out because it had disabled the car when Kate had tried to lock it last week. Of course they could find nothing wrong so we must have made the whole thing up. I think this will hasten the purchase of a minivan because we can't be without a means to transport our family and we don't know when the alarm will decide we are intruders and render our mazda5 a $20,000 flinstone mobile.

Kate had the pleasure of spending another day doing family stuff, making appointments, filling prescriptions, calling doctors, etc. Amazing how when one gets available time it then gets sucked up.

We picked up the car from the dealer in the afternoon. Kate then went to the pharmacy and grocery store, and I picked up the kids. Baby A managed to distinguish herself again by puking on the floor of Henry's class. At least she didn't spit up on a toddler.

Kate and I got home about the same time. I started to rough house with the toddlers while she took Baby A and went to make some vacation plans. A couple minutes into our play I was smacked in the head with Henry's "gun" again. Back to time out with much protesting. I was about at the boiling point. He wouldn't stay in time out. Then he just wanted his gun back and went to the place where I had thrown it, despite me telling him several times not to go in there. I think if I let what little hair I have left grow out it would be gray.

Kate let me take the dogs for a walk to get a break from the kids. I took Baby A because she tends to enjoy the walks. She fussed a little but not much and eventually fell asleep.

Dinner was a struggle as usual. Miss R was a particular pain, requesting more of something and then not eating it. She cues off Henry too much when it comes to food I'm afraid.

Kate gave the toddlers showers. Miss R again was a pain. Kate offers Elmo underwear. She doesn't want Elmo. Kate puts her in something else. Then she has a major fit because she now wants Elmo. I feel like she and Kate have been butting heads a lot more lately. Hopefully it is a phase. She has been bad about refusing things she is offered and then desperately wanting them when they are taken away and I think we are not going to tolerate that anymore. That means many screaming fits in our immediate future.

Kate is asleep on the couch with Baby A. I'm going to do something fun like load the dishwasher and put sheets on our bed. Having to wash all the bedding every day because it seems we are pretty much all getting pink eye again. Just another day in the life of a couple living the dream.

Zoo, Movies, Splash Pad, Shower

On Saturday morning, we met up with our friends Carolyn, Zak, Adelyn, and Spencer at the zoo. It took awhile to get the kids out of the house, but we managed to do so without too much fuss. The kids had a good time. Baby A pretty much slept the whole time.

Henry demonstrated his lack of shyness on several occasions. He tried to ditch us in favor of joining a large family (or maybe it was a class) of kids about 5-7 years old (all boys, I think...probably a class). While at the bearded dragon and snake room, Henry asked a stranger for some of her crackers. She asked me if she could give him some (which was a nice offer), but I declined, figuring that it was a bad precedent to set for Henry. We parted ways with our friends at the fish and duck pond after feeding the ducks. We took our crew to the Kenya Get Wet area. The kids were already fairly wet having played at the squirting frog near the pond. The Twins enjoyed playing with a water pump. Henry had fun laying in the water.

We had lunch at the zoo cafeteria. The kids ate very well. They split a hot dog and PB'n'J. Henry ate an entire bag of animal crackers (about 2 servings per bag) and then Miss R gave him several of hers. He also ate potato chips. He introduced himself to a nearby family and talked with their young cute toddler (a head shorter than he was). We then headed to South America. We got a rare look at the Cayman who swam toward us and in front of the glass.

We didn't get home until 3:30PM. The kids took naps. I went to Walmart, the only place in town with premade Similac Sensitive. When I got back, I got The Twins ready for a Mommy-only trip to the Foothills Mall for dinner and a movie. I got them a grilled cheese and lemonade. Then, we saw How to Train Your Dragon (which was very funny). The kids were pretty good. Henry had a tendency to talk out loud, which reminded me of movie watching in Philly where talking at the screen is common place. "That's the Daddy!" "What's going to happen?" After the movie, Henry was a wild man. I managed not to loose him, which was a feat. He totally needs a leash.

On Sunday, we took the kids to Brandi Fenton Park. They played on the slides and then for a brief spell on the splash pad. After the park, we went to Village Inn for lunch b/c Henry wanted waffles and potatoes. Henry flirted with a woman nearby. As he left, he said goodbye to restaurant patrons. The manager commented on what a beautiful family we have. It's true. Our brew is quite lovely (when they aren't throwing tantrums, that is).
















In the late afternoon, I let the kids watch Peter Pan with the stipulation that they had to watch the version in Spanish. Miss R was more into the movie than usual. Henry was irked. He knows the words by heart in English (which is why Jeff thought it would be a good candidate for using the Spanish sound track). In the evening, I played matching card games with The Twins and then gave them a shower. Showers are big these days. I had no problems getting Henry's hair washed. I put the shampoo on him before he could protest. Then, he wanted to out of his hair and was therefore willing to go under the water b/c he has been in an anti-bubble phase for awhile now. He doesn't want bubbles in his bath, and he isn't fond of soap. Miss R, on the other hand, was very keen on the bubbles. I also used a new product called Just for Me on her hair. I used the moisturing lotion and detangler too, and the result was very nice. Hoping that her curls will look more controlled tomorrow.

Jeff and I had some wine to counterbalance the toddlers' whines before bed. Henry said to Jeff, "I want you to read You're Not Elected Charlie Brown. Put your wine down!"

Jeff read to the kids. I gave Baby A her bottle. She has been only taking 1-2 ozs but more often. It is getting exhausting feeding her. I wish that she'd eat less often but with more volume at any one sitting.

Summer is Here

On Thursday morning, Baby A had a scheduled bio parent visitation. She was picked up at 8:20AM by the CPS driving service. We'd given her a bath, which she loved. She smiled and giggled throughout the bath. Seeing such joy is a nice way to start a day. Henry returned to school with Miss R. I don't know what happened with the visit, but Baby A was returned to daycare an hour and 45 minutes earlier than anticipated.

We had a 5:30PM visit with Alison from A Place to Call Home. Nothing really to report. She talked with Baby A's caseworker during the day but didn't learn anything specific beyond some things are going on (whatever that means...and it could mean nothing). The long and the short of it is that CPS is strapped and doesn't have the manpower to make as much contact with foster parents or their family specialists as before. One could get one's knickers in a twist over this, but it all comes down to the budget. Normally, a foster parent is informed about what's going on with a case. It would be nice to know where things are headed, but the truth is that we can still provide excellent care without knowing the details immediately, especially given that we are taking care of a baby not an older child. We would certainly like to know, but to quote Jeff's least favorite phrase "It is what it is."

Henry and Miss R helped Alison check the house as they always do. Miss R got mad at Alison when Alison didn't get up to check it again at Miss R's command. As Alison put it, Miss R was in a "feisty" mood.

After Alison left, we took the dogs for a walk.










In the evening, Henry wore his new Super Man PJs from Aunt Carolyn. He and Miss R had fun jumping on their bed before bedtime.



















On Friday morning, Miss R and I had mommy-daughter issues. She was super duper defiant. She would say that she had to go potty but then refuse. "I don't like Elmo" (Elmo potty). "I don't like Dora" (Dora potty seat). "I want Elmo!" (refused to sit on Elmo). It was ridiculous. Then, after refusing to go potty, she refused to pull up her panties and put her pants back on. That lead to me having to get her clothes on without cooperation. And then there was her hair. Her hair is high maintenance. And she was uncooperative to say the least. So she went to school with slightly crazy looking hair. Sigh.

I then took Baby A to get enrolled with WIC. We've been paying for all her formula out of pocket to date and decided it was time to enroll. With Miss R, we could have enrolled her but didn't. I had actually started the process on Thursday afternoon, brought all of the paperwork, but then was told that I couldn't enroll less I brought the baby (of course, they didn't tell me that over the telephone when I asked what was needed). That took awhile, but it was fine. Then, I got Baby A back to school and ran errands.

We had a visit from Ida, Miss R's CASA, at 4:30PM. A CASA is an independent evaluator assigned by the Court. Ida assessed Miss R's situation and ultimately wrote a letter of support of us adopting Miss R. Today, Miss R was shy at first, which is her general disposition around people she doesn't know. She waits and assess the situation. In comparison, Henry handed Ida a book, sat down next her her, and asked/commanded that she read it to him.

After Ida left, we played outside. I bought a flower sprinkler. The kids got wet. Summer is definitely here.

Jeff got the kids dinner while I talked with my mom on the telephone. Jeff told Henry that he could eat his dinner or go to bed. Henry opted for the latter and headed to bed until about 9:20PM when he woke up from his three hour nap. After dinner, Jeff took Baby A and the dogs for a walk. He discovered a rattler outside our garage door. I'm not a fan of them. When Jeff got back, Miss R spent a good part of the evening snuggling next to Jeff as she watched The Princess and the Frog.

Henry watched some Sponge Bob after his nap, and now Jeff is trying to settle the kids down. Baby A went to sleep around 7:45PM or so. I suspect that she'll be up any time now for a bottle.

At 11PM, Henry got out of bed, announcing that he wanted "cold water with lemon." He has been very big on requesting water with lemon lately. That's about it from here.

Adoption Paperwork Signed!

On Tuesday evening, I picked up the girls. There were about four babies in the baby room...all crying. Unfortunately, the person on duty (whom I've never seen) didn't seem to have the touch, and that just made me sad. I had left Henry watching The Princess and the Frog with Jeff snoozing nearby when I went to get the girls. I can't remember much about the evening, except that Henry continued to cough through the night. He joined Jeff and me in bed around 3:30AM.

On Wednesday morning, Baby A rolled over for Jeff! He put her on her tummy and she decided that she didn't want to be there.

I decided to keep Henry home b/c he was still snoozing when Miss R had finished her breakfast, and he hadn't slept well throughout the night. Once Henry was up and fed, we got everyone out the door around 9AM. I took Henry with me so that Jeff could get some work done. I decided that I would make it a Henry-Mommy Day and get Henry back early so he could rest.

The drop off was fine. I let Henry's teachers know that he was fine, but he'd be with me. We first went to the Glass Onion, so that I could get my coffee. Jen made Henry some ice water with lemon per his request and he got some toast, which we liked. Then, we headed to the mall so that he could play on the slides. This is where the whole Henry-Mommy Day fell apart.

We got to the parking lot. I couldn't lock the car. It wouldn't respond to the key. Then, the car alarm went off. With the key in the ignition, the car wouldn't start. So there we were in a hot parking lot with no way to lock the car so that we could wait inside a cool location. I'll spare the details, but the short version is that I eventually got the car started and we went to the Mazda dealership. The car, after all, was less than 2 months old. They were slow, of course, at the dealership. So I made no effort to constrain Henry from crawling all over their new cars in the showroom. Yes, I was "that" mom with the crazy kid, but as far as I is/was concerned, it is their own fill-in-the-blank fault. The alarm guy said it wasn't the alarm. The key guy said he needed to see both keys and did I have them. Why the heck would someone walk around with two car keys? So no, I didn't have both keys. They disarmed the arm. And we have an appointment for Monday. Ugh.

I managed to take Henry back to the mall, two and a half hours of our time having been wasted, where I let Henry play for a little while. Then, we had lunch at Johnny Rockets where Henry had a vanilla milk shake, grilled cheese, and fries. We threw pennies in a fountain. Looked at some puppies and headed home.

It was 2:30PM at this point. So much for getting Henry home early for a nap. We had a 4PM appointment at the adoption lawyer's office. Henry decided to lay down for 5 minutes and announce "I had a good sleep!"

Jeff, Henry, and I went to the adoption lawyer's office in mid-town toward the east side. The lawyer's administrative assistant handled everything. Henry was rambunctious. He wanted to walk into every room. Luckily, as the office was an adoption office, the administrative assistant was very laid back. She asked if he was three. We said yes. She said "Well, he is doing everything age appropriate" and smiled. Having not told her Henry's story (that he's not really three yet), we were pleased in ways she couldn't know.

We signed several documents. She'll be mailing them to the court. She suspects the court date to finalize the adoption will be take place in late July/early August. And then Miss R will be ours legally. She's been ours in our hearts for some time. We are looking forward to getting the legal chapter on her finalized though.

To celebrate, we picked up the girls and headed to Monkey Business. We had a great time. The kids ate well. Henry surprised the heck out of us by announcing that he wanted to see the apples and the raccoon. We had no idea what he was talking about. As we played in the arcade, Henry led me to a game that I had forgotten about b/c it often doesn't work. It involves a raccoon pushing apples from a tree and the player having to move a bucket back and forth to catch them.

When we got home, Jeff gave the kids showers using a new shower device that he hooked up for them. The shower spout is a fish who is their height. The only problem was that the kids didn't want to get out of the shower and had a huge argument with Jeff.

Henry really wanted to hold Baby A before bed, which was sweet.

Baby A had been content throughout dinner, but was a little fussy in the later evening. We did get her into her crib by midnight.

At some point in the night, Miss R joined us in bed. I turned over and noticed her in Jeff's arms. I just got some snuggling time with her this morning. Now it is time for me to get everyone out of bed and get our day started.

Another Sick Day for Henry

We could hear Henry coughing throughout the night. He got up at 5AM, right as I was trying to go to bed. I was on baby duty last night. I got in some cat naps of course, so it wasn't as though I was up all night. Jeff got up at 5AM and let me get some rest in an actual bed.

We decided to keep Henry home b/c he was really tired. Clearly, his cough had made for restless sleep.

At 10AM, we had a visit from Baby A's caseworker from the Blake Foundation. She is also Baby A's bio brother's caseworker. She is going to talk to the brother's St. Nick's caseworker to see if sibling visitations can be arranged. I think that the caseworker was impressed with how well Baby A is doing. She watched Baby A take down a bottle and maintain eye contact with me. Then, I put Baby A on her tummy and showed off her tummy time skills. I was very impressed last night, but she blew me away even more by doing a 90 degree angle with her arms and head for about 5 minutes. Incredible! She is so strong. The Blake Foundation caseworker will be visiting Baby A once a month. Next month, she'll visit Baby A during her time with bio mom.

After the visit from the caseworker, I took Baby A and Miss R to school. No problems there.

Henry basically spent all day in bed. He just got up a half hour ago. He's tired. He still coughs on occasion. His nose is still running. And he feels a little warm (low grade fever).

I'm going to pick up the girls in a little bit.