Happy New Year 2010!!!

On Thursday afternoon, Miss R woke up long before Henry. She tried to get Henry up from his nap, but he announced that he was going back to sleep. Around 4PM, I roused him out of bed and managed to get both kids out the door. Dropped them off at the grandparents' house so that Jeff and I could go see Sherlock Holmes. We then returned to my parents' house for dinner. The kids had fun at Grammy and Poppy's house. They even gave each other hugs. They (especially Miss R) enjoyed gingerbread and whipped cream for dessert.

As it is New Year's Eve, it is time to ponder the past year's events. It has been a very full year. This time last year, Jeff and I had been accepted for, but not started, fostercare training. Miss R joined our home in April. She has grown so much over the past eight months. We're really proud of her. She has gone from knowing two words to speaking full sentences and singing songs. One thing has remained: she continues to be quite a snuggle bug. She melded into our family the first couple days upon her arrival, which I think is unusual. We believe that she was meant to be with us. Our wish for 2010 is that she'll legally become a part of our family forever.

Henry. Where to begin with Henry? I see from my post this time last year that Henry was speaking 80-90 words or so. We stopped counting several months ago. I'm sure that he knows over a 1,000 words. He constantly amazes us with his grasp of the English language. He absorbs words and phrases like a sponge. Instead of saying "no," he often says "maybe not." Miss R has even picked up the phrase. This time last year, I marveled at how he could identify twelve body parts and make eleven animal sounds upon request. Now, I marvel at how he can answer questions, sometimes relatively abstract, about stories. I love asking him how his day was and what he did.

One questions remains about both our kids. How did we managed to have such loud children? Jeff and I aren't that loud, but my goodness, both Henry and Miss R can be quite loud (Miss R only at home; she's quiet around strangers). They are both a little defiant too. I believe that both kids tried to put me in "TIMEOUT!" a couple times this week.

We wish our friends and family a very Happy New Year 2010!!!

Cinderella's Dress

On Wednesday morning, Miss R cried a lot when I dropped her off at school. Henry marched happily into his classroom. Grammy and Aunt Carolyn picked them up at school in the afternoon. They went with them and Poppy to Costco and had a fabulous time as always snacking their way around the building. This time, it was the veggie shushi that caught their fancy.

When they went to Grammy and Poppy's house, they watched Cinderella for the first time (to my knowledge) with Aunt Carolyn. They were familiar with the story from their books. The most shocking part for Miss R was when the evil stepsisters ripped Cinderella's dress. Carolyn said that she looked genuinely shocked that someone would deliberately destroy a lovely outfit. Henry was outraged too. Why would they do that?

Meanwhile, Jeff and I went car shopping. Jeff had started off excited but his dreams have been dashed by the realization that the car he wants isn't going to suit our currently lifestyle. We tried out the Camry. It's nice, but it isn't going to fit three kids. And we are thinking of fostering again if we are needed. We also looked at the Prius, but if we were to get a Hybrid, I'd lean toward the Camry b/c I think that it has a little more room. We then looked mini-vans. First up, the Siena. We visited the Honda dealership to look at Odysseys. We found one that we liked, but didn't test drive it. The salesperson didn't seem excited to try to make a deal with us. We visited Mazda to try the Mazda 5. Jeff drove it. The salesperson didn't say anything about it, which was weird.

And finally, we ended up at Chrysler to check out the Town & Country. The salewoman was better at "selling" the vehicle, but we felt like we were being sized up to see how much they could squeeze out of us. After much waiting, she came back with some BS about we could sign the papers for an exorbitant price. I said, "That's not what we are looking to pay." I hadn't checked out prices for that model online, but it seemed high. I said it was $4K out of the ballpark. So then she hems and haws (maybe they have a "lower" model...blah blah blah). After waiting a long time, she comes back with the "lower" model, but maybe they could work something out. She gives that look of "well, we don't normally do this"...which is crap of course. The whole car sale tango is such a colossal waste of time. She must have said something about getting the deal done tonight three times. How many times did we have to say that we weren't signing ANYTHING last night?

On Thursday morning, Jeff used my mom's Costco account and through their program, he could get the same vehicle for $7-8K less than they were peddling last night. We won't be going back to that dealership obviously.

We had a visit from Miss R's new caseworker from St. Nicholas (the adoption agency). CPS transfers cases to them once severance has happened. We're not certified for adoption yet (wish we had been given the paperwork a long time ago so that it could done already). The caseworker was Christy. She didn't have a lot of questions. She checked out R's room. She gave us papers to fill out. I'm going to start on them now. Yea. More paperwork. The kids played nicely during her visit.

Henry has eaten well today, but when he says he's all done, I know that I can coax more food into him.

The kids are napping. Jeff is looking out more cars/minivans. I hope that he finds something that he likes. If only the Honda Odysessy was a hybrid....

According to the ENT, Henry Can Hear

Jeff picked up Henry at school this afternoon. Henry said that he had a good day. They went to the ENT, Dr. Dean. Henry had his hearing tested. According to the ENT, Henry can hear just fine. So there goes our theory about why Henry often doesn't appear to listen. Turns out, it isn't physiological.

Miss R had her sibling visitation today. The CPS supervisor called me to let me know that her bio parents showed up, which was a surprise to everyone. They told her bio parents that she was in an adoptive placement who didn't want her to have contact with them. We actually never said that, but I guess that's what people usually do. CPS told them that their rights were severed back in November at the hearing that they did not attend. They didn't protest. They had brought her a bag of clothes. CPS called me to ask me if we wanted to accept or reject. I said that we'd accept. CPS is going to set up a different schedule so that Miss R can have a visitation that's on a slightly different schedule from the one that the parents can attend. Perhaps the parents will try to start attending visitations with the older siblings to whom rights were not severed. Both CPS workers whom called me this afternoon seemed startled. The CPS supervisor was worried that Miss R would be upset or unsettled, but she was just fine when she returned home. My impression is that she does enjoy seeing her older siblings. And I think that she feels confident about being returned to us.

Jeff made us dinner: mac & cheese and hot dogs. The kids ate well. They really liked both. I helped them fork the mac & cheese. They had second helpings, which is amazing. Henry also drank all of his juice. Plus, he'd had a Cliff bar before going to the ENT (240 calories!).

We watched a little bit of Pirates of the Caribbean: World's End. Henry wanted to watch something with pirates in it. We think that we are going to try again for Disneyland the second to last weekend of January (that's the weekend after MLK Day).

The kids didn't give us too much hassle about going to bed, although I can still hear Miss R talk to herself.

Henry's Crush

On Monday afternoon, I picked up Henry. He was wearing the cutest little police office costume in his classroom. I love picking him up! He told me that Elijah had pushed him. No idea if it is true. Probably is, but it could have happened days ago and is still active in his mind. Elijah came over and said hello. He always calls me Mommy when I come to pick up Henry. It is interesting how all of the kids know which parents go to which kids. I walk in the door and someone will shout out "Henry!"

On our way out the door, we ran into Miss Casi. I'm pretty sure that Henry has a crush on Miss Casi. A couple weeks ago, I had asked someone (Miss Viriginia?) if Henry talks much at school. She said it depended on who was around. She mentioned that Miss Casi had wanted to know if Henry could talk b/c he won't say anything around her. Anyway, back to the present, Henry was gabbing down the hall. We ran into Miss Casi. Henry went mute, but he smiled at her kind of sheepishly. Looked like a crush to me.

We went to Basha's to stop by the Chase bank inside it. Henry was helpful giving my deposit slips and checks to the teller. He was goofying around in the parking lot and did a twist hanging from my arm and then rolled. Luckily, he rebounded. Yet again, I heard a school-aged kid say "Hey, look at that kid with glasses!" as he pointed at Henry. He was probably 8 or 9 years old. Don't parents teach their kids not to point and stare anymore?

We went to Trader Joe's. Henry went crazy over the samples of truffle pizza. The boy has unique taste buds for a toddler. As we went down another aisle, Henry yelled out that I was to turn around and get more pizza. After getting him pizza round two, which made me feel obligated to buy one of their truffle pizzas, we stopped by the wine and cheese display to get Henry some cheese samples. I could tell that he was in a rare ravenous mood. I ended up getting him some Cliff bars (the ones for body builders NOT for kids b/c I was looking at which ones had the most calories). The cashier gave him a balloon that made him happy.

For dinner, I made a Mexican themed meal. Miss R loved my cheese crisp (which I doused in butter trying to add extra calories for the kids). Both Miss R and Henry enjoyed a lot of guacamole (that made me happy). They also had some lime chipotle chicken, rice, and beans. It was a good meal for them.

We gave the kids a bath. Watched Frosty the Snowman and then it was time for bed. Jeff put Henry down. I started Miss R on her nebulizer. Then I headed out for the store.

This morning (Tuesday), the kids did not eat well. Miss R cried and cried when I left her at daycare. Henry marched into his room without complaint. Miss R has a visit today with her siblings at CPS. Henry has an ENT appointment.

A Morning Filled with Love

On Sunday afternoon, Jeff got Miss R up from her "nap" and nebulized her b/c her cough was keeping her up. They ended up falling asleep on the couch. Around 5PM, I went into Henry's room and he popped up. He found the 3+ hour nap refreshing. We then got Jeff and Miss R up and went over to Grammy and Poppy's house for dinner.

Miss R was particularly funny telling Jeff "Daddy, get up butt" as she poked him in the backside and indicated that he was to get off the chair that she wanted. Henry ate A LOT of vegan meatballs and bread with a french cheese on it. He liked it so much that he stopped eating the bread and just licked the cheese off it. Miss R didn't eat much. After dinner, Henry announced that he didn't want to watch the penguins (March of the Penguins) but wanted to watch pirates (Pirates of the Caribbean). But it was getting late and we headed home (despite the kids being super cute together playing under the coffee table).

We played a little bit in the train room when we got home, but then it was time for bed. Unfortunately, Miss R's cough was back again. I ended up nebulizing her. She fell asleep on my chest. I noticed that she felt very warm. Jeff got the thermometer. Her temp was 101.8, so we gave her children's Tylenol, which brought the fever down. That meant that she couldn't go to school on Monday (24 hour no fever policy).

On Monday, Henry woke up wanted to know where I was. He came bounding into bed and snuggled with me. He insisted that Jeff lay in bed too and take his shoes off. He rolled into Jeff's side and said "I Love You!" then he rolled over to me and said "I Love You!" What a great way to start off a Monday morning.

Miss R woke up soon after. The kids had breakfast while I got ready. Then I took Henry to school. A little girl shared her playdough with him.

When I got home, Jeff was working with Miss R on his lap. A little while later, Aunt Jennifer called. Miss R talked to her for a little bit. While Jeff talked with his sister, Miss R went up to him and said "I Love You, Daddy!" It was a morning filled with *love* in our household.

I think that Miss R has been happy to have us to herself today. Jeff's working but she likes to check up on him. I let her watch a little bit of Mamma Mia! She didn't eat much lunch, but managed to persuade me to give her chocolate milk (Carnation instant breakfast). She didn't struggle too much at nap time, which is where she is now.

"Where's Batman's friend?"

On Sunday morning, we played in the train room for while. Henry was interested in his Batman playset. He asked me, "Where's Batman's friend?" I told him that Robin was on the table. He picked up Robin and had the duo go to Batman's cave to ride the elevator. I heard him have one of the action figures tell the other action figure "I love you!"

Jeff set up the kids' ESPN tee-ball set. I have to say that toys these days are much cooler than when we were kids. This one sets up the ball hanging from a mount with the touch of a button. Both kids took turns. The hardest part was making sure that they didn't stand behind each other while the other person was swinging the bat.

Before lunch, the kids carried a large plastic bin into the half-bathroom and decided to sit in it together. Miss R got irked at Henry for moving in and out of the container. I told her not to be so bossy. Henry then proceeded to say "You're bossy!" several times, which made her cry. I told him to stop it. He then told me that Daddy was bossy (which made me crack up). I told Henry that he (meaning Henry) was often quite bossy and demanding. The news didn't come as much of a shock to him, and I'm quite sure that he didn't internalize it as an insult. He seemed OK with being called bossy. The differences between Henry and Miss R are quite amazing. Henry is very confident and he's got a super thick hide. Miss R, on the other hand, is often overly sensitive. She is quite bossy, but any criticism or correction sends her into a funk. Whenever she does something inappropriate and I correct her, she then lashes out at Henry for the same infraction (whether or not he's actually doing it). For example, yesterday, I told her to get inside. She refused. She was standing near the outside wall. Henry was near the door under the patio. I told R that if she didn't march inside, she'd get put in timeout. She didn't move. I said, "OK. That's it. Timeout" at which point she runs under the patio and says "No, Henry, inside!"

After much coaxing, I got Henry to eat some of my ravioli for lunch. Croutons were also a big hit. The kids are now napping. Well, at least Henry is. Miss R is wiggling around and talking aloud.

"Where's his penis?"

After the kids got up from their nap on Saturday afternoon, Jeff got them a snack of poppyseed bread and orange juice. Henry didn't eat much. Miss R had some.

Jeff took them over to Grammy and Poppy's house in the late afternoon. They raked leaves and were excited by finding a rattlesnake skin.

The kids discovered where their old toys were being kept. Apparently, there was a renewed interest in them, so Poppy got them all out. Henry had wooden panda bear among the old toys. Apparently, he pulled it out and examined it. He then asked Grammy "Where's his penis?" Grammy told him it was under his fur. Henry then asked him where the panda pooped.

Miss R was in a carnivorous mood, which is very unusual for her. She had 2.5 pieces of sausage at dinner. Henry ate fairly well too. He drank quite a bit of goat's milk.

Jeff and I have wondered if Henry's lack of weight gain and constant ear infections could be attributed to his drinking cow's milk recently. We allowed cow's milk and stopped buying goat's milk in June, I think. Henry's big ear infection (which we think was a first) happened in July. I was reading last night that cow's milk has been linked to ear infections in kids. So we are suspending cow's milk for now. I'm not sure how we are going to handle school. I think that we may have to tell them that he isn't allowed to have cow's milk, and we'll supply the goat's milk.

When the kids came home, we played in the train room. The kids played with the Batman set. They were fascinated with the cash registered. Miss R doesn't understand colors yet, but Henry was really doing well with them. He "gets" that certain colored coins have to go in certains slots, otherwise the cash register won't work. I put on one of the lion masks and chased the kids around the train room. Miss R put on the dog mask and looked very cute in it.

Then, it was teeth and bed. The kids didn't protest too much, although I did have to kiss Miss R's feet several times and her forehead too.

Batman and Tee-ball

On Christmas morning, Miss R was the first one up. She got us up around 8:15AM. I was thankful that she let us sleep b/c I didn't go to bed until 3AM. We got out of bed, excited for the kids. Jeff and I decided that we'd let them open the stockings before breakfast.

The big problem was getting Henry out of bed. He didn't want to get up. In fact, he ended up crawling under his bed and trying to nap under it.

It wasn't until 8:45AM before we headed out to the living room, having made our morning stop in the bathroom so that Henry could get ready for the day and his big boy underwear. The kids enjoyed the stockings, but we still don't think that they really "got" the concept of Christmas (spiritual or materalistic). Miss R especially enjoyed the Pez candy dispensers that I put in the kids' stockings. She managed to find Henry's and polish off his candy before anyone could notice.

After a breakfast of french toast, we opened presents. Miss R did catch onto the fact that there were toys to be had on top of the bar. In fact, she went over to the bar and put her arms up and said "Help! I can't reach it! I can't reach it!"

We took our time opening presents. Rather than opening everything at once, we let the kids look at their gifts and play with them for a bit before opening the next set of gifts. Henry really liked this ball and mallet set that I bought him. He and Miss R took turns hitting these balls that would roll down some ramps and out the side of a little tower. Then, one of the kids would replace the balls while the other one would hit them again with the mallet. Miss R seemed to like a shoe lace and wooden objects lacing set. Henry was thrilled that Santa gave me a Harry Potter DVD (the half-blood prince). We put Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (more kid appropriate), however, in the TV, which made Henry very happy.

The big hit was the shopping carts. My mom bought Miss R one (pink). I bought the last one at Toys R Us on Christmas Eve for Henry (blue). My mommy instincts told me that there was going to be pandemonium in the house if we only had one shopping cart. After the kids opened them (Henry immediate knew what they were), I managed to put Henry's together in less than 10 minutes. Jeff, on the other hand, put Miss R's together in about a 1/2 hour. It had A LOT of parts. The kids weren't very patient about it either.

Jeff was a bit disappointed that the kids didn't go crazy over the trikes. I'm not sure that they really understood what they were. Or perhaps nothing could compare to a shopping cart! During our unwrappings, we had visits from Yvonne and her dogs Chocolate and Banjo. The visit was cut short by Henry having an accident. But we are pleased at least that he seems to know when he's wet (unlike when he is in pull ups). Later, Hal stopped by with Annie and Luke. Annie tried to walk into the house. We would have let her wander, except that she hasn't been around cats before.

The kids didn't go down for a nap until the early afternoon. When they got up, it was time to head off to Grammy and Poppy's house for Christmas dinner.

Miss R looked cute in her new sparkly dress and silver tennis shoes. She refused, however, to take off her pink jacket the entire time that she was there. She was also shy. In attendance were my parents, Aunt Carolyn, Aunt Erin & Uncle Brian, and my Aunt Gloria (my dad's sister). It took her a couple hours before she warmed up to people and would walk a couple feet from me.

Everyone got the kids wonderful gifts. The big hit of the evening was a Batman playset from Aunt Carolyn. I think that everyone was surprised at how Henry latched onto it. It is a neat toy. It is Batman's lair, with an evevator, windows, hook, ladder, ramp, etc. But it isn't as though we've ever shown Henry anything Batman related before (although I'm pretty sure that some kids at school have Batman shirts). The kids were very entertained with it. Henry was upset that we wouldn't open (in the house) the tee-ball set given to him by Grammy and Poppy. Silly Grammy wasn't comfortable with Henry playing tee-ball near her Waterford crystal. Henry hugged the tee-ball set box for several minutes, but distracted by the Batman set once again when Jeff opened up it so that they could play with it fully.

Henry claimed not to want dinner, but I coaxed several bites of ham, a bite of green beans, and a couple bites of mashed potatoes into him. Plus, he ate some of Aunt Erin's biscuits. At dessert time, he almost had a whole slice of pumpkin pie. Miss R just ate the whipped cream.

After dinner, the kids horsed around. Henry tried to get Miss R to dance with him. He came up to her and said "I want to dance with you, R." Alas, she rebuffed him and said "no" even though he asked politely.

I taught Henry how to do jumping jacks. I was hoping that it would tire him out, but I think that it only managed to tire me out.

When we neared our house, Henry said that he wanted to go to bed, which was probably a first. He did get distracted by the shopping carts on the way to the bathroom to brush teeth. Miss R was not sleepy. I had to rewind the lullaby machine several times before she finally went down.

This morning (Saturday), we went for a walk after breakfast. The kids rode their trikes while Jeff and I used handles that fit onto the trikes to push them. It worked out pretty well. We learned that Henry can climb the front wall that's about as tall as he is. We talked with Swanee for awhile. She returned Lily who had scampered out into the road. I took the kids outside to sprinkle bird seed. Henry powered through his. Miss R had fun sharing hers. She'd take out a handful and put it in Henry's cup and then he'd dump it out.

Then it was lunch time and nap. Miss R yammered for about an hour. Luckily, she didn't wake up Henry. I wish that they wouldn't fight sleep so much.

Waking Up the Neighborhood...Twas the Night Before Christmas

On Thursday (Christmas Eve) morning, Miss R got up before Henry did. She had her breakfast and then while I was checking on Henry, she decided it was time for him to get up. Turn about is fair play. Henry has woken her up enough times that he has had it coming. She crawled into his bed and hide under his sheets. I was pleased that Henry thought she was funny and wasn't grouchy about being awakened.

The kids were pleased to see Patti today. They don't see her as often because of going to daycare and they have fun when they see her. She lets them "help" with windows and vacuuming.

I took them over to Grammy and Poppy's house around 10:45AM. Henry ran over to Aunt Carolyn and gave her a big hug. Miss R was a bit shy at first. Upon leaving (I had errands to run), Miss R was upset at me leaving. Henry didn't bother to look up from watching The Fox & the Hound. Typical.

Poppy had to go to Trader Joe's. Henry wanted to go with him, so Aunt Carolyn went along to help. Henry announced that he wanted to go to Barnes & Noble, so Poppy and Carolyn took him there first before heading to TJ's. Miss R wanted to stay home with Grammy.

Henry spent almost all of the morning and a good part of the afternoon in his big boy underware with no accidents. Grammy made him put on his pull-ups, however, during nap time. The kids went down late for nap. Apparently, Miss R was up before Henry. My mom witnessed her bonk her own head against something while Henry was asleep. Miss R whimpered and claimed that Henry did it. Poor guy. Gets blamed for things even when he's sound asleep.

Jeff made dinner. His meat lasagne is now the official Christmas Eve dinner. He also made Carolyn and me a tofurkey. I spent the afternoon getting two last minute gifts for the kids. Sadly, the "big" present that was supposed to arrive yesterday did not arrive yesterday or today. So, I wanted to make sure that the kids had several gifts to open tomorrow. When I got home, I wrapped presents.

My parents and Carolyn brought the kids over around 6:45PM. We spent some time in the train room watching the kids play and then had dinner in the living room as our dining room table currently resides in the RV garage. It was a nice, relaxing meal. Miss R refused dinner completely. She spent her time in the train room looking at books. Henry didn't want his dinner. He wanted my carrots that had been cooked with the tofurkey. How on earth are we going to fatten up a kid who chooses cooked carrots over meat lasagne?

Henry never looks behind the bar area. This is where Jeff was hiding the trikes. At 9:30PM, not far off from bedtime, Henry decides to poke his head there. I think that he has my gift hunting skills. I was one for finding my parents' Christmas stashes as a toddler.

Around 9:45-10PM, my parents and Carolyn headed home. We walked them to the cars. Henry yelled his goodbye to Aunt Carolyn. Jeff said under his breath something about waking up the neighborhood. So Henry yelled at the top of his lungs "Wake up the neighborhood! Wake up the neighborhood!" Luckily, the homes in our neighborhood are fairly spaced out.

When we came back inside, Jeff got the kids to brush their teeth but then Henry announced that he wanted dinner. So we got him some cheese and a breakfast bar. Henry, Miss R, and I sat on the couch reading a Christmas book while the kids snacked.

My attempt at getting the kids to leave cookies for Santa didn't work out too well. They wanted the cookies for themselves and ended up leaving Santa some licked cookies.

Jeff and I are still getting the place ready for tomorrow morning. We have some neighbor gifts to complete (our dogs exchange gifts with Yvonne's and Hal and Swanee's dogs every year...it's a tradition). And then, bed.

When the kids wake up, we've decided that we'll let them open their stockings before breakfast. But, the main gifts will be after breakfast. We'll see how that goes! This morning, Henry was talking about bikes and visiting the kids across the street from my parents who have a bike. I think that he is going to be thrilled at his gifts. We have a trike for Miss R too, but I suspect that she is going to be most excited about a pair of silver sneakers that we've gotten her. We also bought her a sparkly dress for tomorrow night.

"Booty & the Beast"

On Tuesday night, Henry and Miss R had a good time at the grandparents' house watching Beauty & the Beast, which Henry calls "Booty & the Beast."

Miss R was excited about the new potty seat that I bought, which is a Dora the Explorer themed seat. Miss R was thrilled to sit on it. As usual, however, she didn't do anything while on the seat (except smile and look happy at being on Dora). She called out to Henry so that he could try it, but he was too irked at me not letting him watch YouTube videos on my computer (b/c the connection has been super slow). When Jeff got her off the potty at her request, she threw a HUGE tantrum when Jeff hung up the seat on a hook and wouldn't let her play with it. Meanwhile, Henry got mad at me a second time when I wouldn't let him climb the ladder that Jeff has in the dining room. Jeff is setting up Henry's birthday train (the Hogwarts Express) so that it travels around the lighted edge near the ceiling.

It was a night filled with tears caused by mean parents who also had the audacity to expect teeth brushing (as if we don't expect this twice a day).

In the morning, I get the fun task of taking Miss R to the dentist. Henry is probably going to stay home tomorrow, which means we'll be keeping Miss R home too. Both Jeff and I have work to do (Jeff's job and for me, cleaning the house). I'm guessing Henry will be having a happy day as I'll probably let him watch a little more TV than usual. Miss R doesn't seem particularly fascinated with the TV, but she sometimes likes her personal time for self-driven play (usually involving tons of toys on the floor).

I forgot to mention on my last post that on Tuesday morning during breakfast, I asked Henry who Mommy's handsome baby was. I was informed by Henry that "I'm not your baby, I'm a big boy." He's growing up way too fast.