Things I feel guilty about, presented without comment:
1. Submitting the kids for DHS Christmas gift program.
2. Signing up miss M for Free and Reduced lunch program.
3. Taking advantage of the daycare being open till 6, by running errands or catching a power nap in the parking lot.
4. Feeling a sliver of empathy for Baby A's abuser. God, when that kid screams he absolutely rattles my brains.
5. Neglecting quality time with my husband for quality time with my pillow.
Yeah.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Happy Baby
Baby A contines to grow & thrive- he is active, curious, and most of all, happy! After weeks of teething, he seems to trading whining for laughing.
He wakes up happy, joyous, grinning and mugging for us from changing table to high chair.
He's delighted to gobble up bananas, pears, Cheerios, you name it! And then squawk and bang his tray for more!
He giggles with glee to see his teachers at Daycare and they are happy to see him too.
~~~
Although, by the end of the day, when I pick him (& Miss M of course) he's pretty much done. He'll play for a bit, but the closer it gets to six, the crankier he gets. Bed by 7,7:30 & he's down for the count.
A solid 12 hours & he's good to go!
~~~
I love to tickle his feet to get a smile.
Bench press him to the sky to get a shriek of glee.
And snuggle him tight to get a delighted squeal.
He's a curious, easy going, generally happy kid. We're so lucky to have him around.
He wakes up happy, joyous, grinning and mugging for us from changing table to high chair.
He's delighted to gobble up bananas, pears, Cheerios, you name it! And then squawk and bang his tray for more!
He giggles with glee to see his teachers at Daycare and they are happy to see him too.
~~~
Although, by the end of the day, when I pick him (& Miss M of course) he's pretty much done. He'll play for a bit, but the closer it gets to six, the crankier he gets. Bed by 7,7:30 & he's down for the count.
A solid 12 hours & he's good to go!
~~~
I love to tickle his feet to get a smile.
Bench press him to the sky to get a shriek of glee.
And snuggle him tight to get a delighted squeal.
He's a curious, easy going, generally happy kid. We're so lucky to have him around.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Hi, Yes & Yes readers!
Welcome- lots has changed since I wrote the interview for Yes & Yes.
Our first foster placement (boys, 6&8, referred to here as Big Bro & Little Bro) went home in June & we got a 2nd placement a few weeks later!- a little girl, 5, & her baby brother, 18 months.
The little girl is Miss M & the baby, Baby A.
We're not allowed to post identifying information, hence the code names & back of the head pictures.
Fostering continues to be challenging, but such an adventure! I hope you'll check out some of my past posts and leave a comment! Thanks for stopping by!
Our first foster placement (boys, 6&8, referred to here as Big Bro & Little Bro) went home in June & we got a 2nd placement a few weeks later!- a little girl, 5, & her baby brother, 18 months.
The little girl is Miss M & the baby, Baby A.
We're not allowed to post identifying information, hence the code names & back of the head pictures.
Fostering continues to be challenging, but such an adventure! I hope you'll check out some of my past posts and leave a comment! Thanks for stopping by!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Kid free weekend
Hallelujah! We got a break this weekend from Miss M & Baby A! An honest-to-God break.
Their former foster parents (who I've taken to calling their 'foster grandparents') wanted to borrow them for an overnight visit, for BOTH Friday & Saturday. Amazing!
They picked them up from daycare Friday afternoon & brought them back Sunday afternoon.
Greg & I got two whole days to sleep and wake up on OUR schedule, eat when WE were hungry, shop at Target in an extremely leisurely pace, putter, do some chores, go see a movie, etc. It was divine.
But darned if by Sunday morning we didn't miss those munchkins.
We were so glad to see them, even though we had to put them to bed early (baby A fell asleep during dinner, in his high chair) & this morning was rough for Miss M.
We're glad to get back in the swing of things, rested up & ready to rumble.
Their former foster parents (who I've taken to calling their 'foster grandparents') wanted to borrow them for an overnight visit, for BOTH Friday & Saturday. Amazing!
They picked them up from daycare Friday afternoon & brought them back Sunday afternoon.
Greg & I got two whole days to sleep and wake up on OUR schedule, eat when WE were hungry, shop at Target in an extremely leisurely pace, putter, do some chores, go see a movie, etc. It was divine.
But darned if by Sunday morning we didn't miss those munchkins.
We were so glad to see them, even though we had to put them to bed early (baby A fell asleep during dinner, in his high chair) & this morning was rough for Miss M.
We're glad to get back in the swing of things, rested up & ready to rumble.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
S(lee)plicity
Miss M often has a hard time falling asleep. We have an elaborate bedtime ritual that involves bedtime stories, fresh sippy cup of water, rubbing her back, double-checking the nightlight, etc. And then often she'll come complain of not being able to sleep, after she's been in bed for 10 whole minutes. It's frustrating, to say the least.
However, I've added a new technique to my arsenal, courtesy of "Yo Gabba Gabba."
Courtesy of a song called, "I can't sleep", we learned to visualize "happy thoughts". So last night, we laid together in the semi-dark of her bottom bunk and made the following list of things that make us happy:
Rainbows (her)
Kitty cats (her)
Riding bikes (her)
Walking Lola (me)
SWIMMING (her)
grapes (her)
Strawberries (me)
Coloring (her)
Swinging in a hammock (me)
Swinging in a kids' sized hammock (her)
New clothes (both)
Donuts with pink frosting (her)
Singing loud in the car (both- its our new thing)
Sweet sweet sleepy girl, now GO TO SLEEP!
However, I've added a new technique to my arsenal, courtesy of "Yo Gabba Gabba."
Courtesy of a song called, "I can't sleep", we learned to visualize "happy thoughts". So last night, we laid together in the semi-dark of her bottom bunk and made the following list of things that make us happy:
Rainbows (her)
Kitty cats (her)
Riding bikes (her)
Walking Lola (me)
SWIMMING (her)
grapes (her)
Strawberries (me)
Coloring (her)
Swinging in a hammock (me)
Swinging in a kids' sized hammock (her)
New clothes (both)
Donuts with pink frosting (her)
Singing loud in the car (both- its our new thing)
Sweet sweet sleepy girl, now GO TO SLEEP!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Update on Baby A
Baby A shouldn't be here.
He was so drastically abused before he and Miss M entered DHS, that his survival and now, recovery is nothing short of miraculous.
He had/has brain damage from his abuse and as a consequence, is delayed in some areas of his development, particularly, his physical development.
He is 16 months, but doesn't walk yet.
The right side of his body was paralyzed; and is still delayed.
But! Since he resumed physical/occupational therapy a few weeks ago, he has progressed immensely!
He used to refuse to hold his own bottle, but now handles a sippy cup with ease!
Baby food? Pssh! He devours whole bananas & gobbles down gram crackers!
Weak right side? Still a little, but he can clap, and eat, and grab with both now.
Crawling? Yes, with a vengeance, but he's 16 months! He should be walking. But now, within the last week, he's started pulling up, on everything!
It's so startling, to walk by his room after nap time and see him standing in his crib, like, "hey lady, you gonna let me out?"
He is a joy and a delight and so smart. He is thriving and we couldn't be more thrilled.
Soon I imagine he'll be walking and we'll really be in for an adventure!
He was so drastically abused before he and Miss M entered DHS, that his survival and now, recovery is nothing short of miraculous.
He had/has brain damage from his abuse and as a consequence, is delayed in some areas of his development, particularly, his physical development.
He is 16 months, but doesn't walk yet.
The right side of his body was paralyzed; and is still delayed.
But! Since he resumed physical/occupational therapy a few weeks ago, he has progressed immensely!
He used to refuse to hold his own bottle, but now handles a sippy cup with ease!
Baby food? Pssh! He devours whole bananas & gobbles down gram crackers!
Weak right side? Still a little, but he can clap, and eat, and grab with both now.
Crawling? Yes, with a vengeance, but he's 16 months! He should be walking. But now, within the last week, he's started pulling up, on everything!
It's so startling, to walk by his room after nap time and see him standing in his crib, like, "hey lady, you gonna let me out?"
He is a joy and a delight and so smart. He is thriving and we couldn't be more thrilled.
Soon I imagine he'll be walking and we'll really be in for an adventure!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Little Liar
Turns out our girl Miss M has developed a lying streak. Last week she told me that she got to visit her "real Dad," on a day that she doesn't usually go for visits. At first I was just confused, but my suspicions were further raised by the fact that she said they went to go visit her "real mom" in the hospital. Which is pretty impossible considering her mom is in jail.
Then yesterday, I when I picked her up from daycare, the first words out of her mouth were "I've been a good girl today." I already had Baby A in my arms, so I rather distractedly said "I know, that's good baby" and herded her towards the car.
But later at home, she kept repeating that sentiment that she was a good girl so I probed a little bit deeper and asked her "why were you a good girl? What made you be a good girl?"
To which she replied, unhelpfully, "I don't know." Hmmm, okay.
The puzzle was unlocked this morning when Greg got back from taking her to school. Turns out they had a substitute yesterday and Miss M was NOT a good girl at all, in fact she ran away from the substitute at one point, down the halls of the school!
Me thinks the little girl doth protest too much!
Good to know that although she has a tendency to lie, she's not very good at it. I hope that we can nip the lying thing in the bud, but she doesn't seem to really grasp the concept of WHY lying is a bad thing or understand the idea of consequences...she's very dismissive of our attempts to explain it. I hope that restarting therapy will be useful in this aspect. Until then, we've got our eye on you, Missy!
Then yesterday, I when I picked her up from daycare, the first words out of her mouth were "I've been a good girl today." I already had Baby A in my arms, so I rather distractedly said "I know, that's good baby" and herded her towards the car.
But later at home, she kept repeating that sentiment that she was a good girl so I probed a little bit deeper and asked her "why were you a good girl? What made you be a good girl?"
To which she replied, unhelpfully, "I don't know." Hmmm, okay.
The puzzle was unlocked this morning when Greg got back from taking her to school. Turns out they had a substitute yesterday and Miss M was NOT a good girl at all, in fact she ran away from the substitute at one point, down the halls of the school!
Me thinks the little girl doth protest too much!
Good to know that although she has a tendency to lie, she's not very good at it. I hope that we can nip the lying thing in the bud, but she doesn't seem to really grasp the concept of WHY lying is a bad thing or understand the idea of consequences...she's very dismissive of our attempts to explain it. I hope that restarting therapy will be useful in this aspect. Until then, we've got our eye on you, Missy!
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