Christmas Is All Around Us

And it won't stop.

Tomorrow will be the fourth of five stops in the Christmas Tour '12.  That's in addition to the Christmas that the kids had with their parents at visits last week.  We have now done Christmas with Leonard and Penny at The Wife's parents' house, Christmas morning (on the 27th) with Leonard, Penny and The Kid, Christmas with The Kid at The Wife's parents' house and tomorrow will be the next to last stop at The Wife's brother and sister-in-law's house for Christmas with all of the kids.  

As predicted, they got a lot of wildly inappropriate things for kids their ages from the parents.  No two and four year old should be given books of stickers... unless their parents (or foster parents in this case) would like the house decorated with Dora or trucks or whatever they happened to be.  But hey... at least they got toothbrushes and toothpaste.  And the toothpaste was the non-fluoride version, which for two kids that know how to brush their teeth already, is pretty useless.  Other things included eighteen packets of fruit snacks, books that neither of them can read yet, and some glittery gluesticks that they will not be decorating our walls or carpet with anytime soon.

Santa brought the kids two gifts each... including a trike for Leonard that he can actually pedal and some My Little Ponies for Penny.

After their Santa gifts were opened, we informed all of the children that they had more gifts, but they'd have to work for them.  We hid all of the other gifts throughout the kitchen, living room, playroom, dining room and bathroom.  Planning ahead for our eventual forgetting gifts, we had a list of where everything was located.  It took the kids about fifteen minutes to find everything, with The Kid leading the charge... or perhaps the only one actually grasping the idea.  They gathered the gifts, opened them and then we had some chocolate cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  The kids spent most of the rest of they day playing with all of the new toys and things that they received as gifts.

Oscar was at his grandparents' for Christmas, but he got to open his gifts, with help, after daycare Thursday evening.  The book was the best tasting gift that he received, as you can tell by the picture below.

Gifts Galore

The agency provides gifts, through donations, to kids for Christmas every year.  It's a pretty awesome thing really.  The list we gave Marty at the beginning of October had four things each for Leonard and Penny for Christmas.  We didn't have Oscar at the time, but apparently his last foster home submitted a list for him.  We were thoughtful in our lists, putting a game, a toy, something educational and something with art.  The Wife went by the agency today to pick up the gifts on her lunch hour.  She met Gloria, who presented her with four giant bags of gifts... both wrapped and unwrapped.  Tonight's project will be The Wife and I going through all of the gifts to both sort and wrap them.  Her estimation was at least ten gifts per kid.  Depending on how long that project takes, there may be another post later this evening with a few of the highlights from the bags.

Back In The Bloggin' Game

It's been quite a while since the last blog entry.  Not a lot has happened, but at the same time, a lot has happened.

I'll start with the kids.  They're all still here.

Oscar has been spending weekends with his grandparents, which has been a nice break for us from the screaming.  He's not an especially happy baby when he's not being held.  Good news is that he is now sleeping through the night and is generally still asleep when we go in to get him in the mornings.  I noticed last night that his bottom front teeth are breaking through his gums.  That could be the reason for his anger issues... but somehow I doubt it.  The next court date is on the 27th, but we have no idea what to expect from it.  The judge said that he prefers for Oscar to be placed with either his mom or dad, rather than just being placed with his grandparents as a kinship placement.  The problem with that approach is that his mom doesn't do anything in her plan and his dad is on disability for whatever reason, so he doesn't really have a reliable income.  So here's to hoping something gives two weeks from tomorrow.

Leonard and Penny were represented in court yesterday.  Not a whole lot happened... much like the court date in September... and the initial one in July.  Here are a couple of excerpts from the email that Gloria sent after court:

"A parent was not chosen for reintegration at this point.  A 6 month reintegration plan is being offered to both parents, I am hoping to have this completed next week.  A review hearing was set for February 13, 2013 at 11am to see what progress has been made.   

As of now, visits will be remaining the same.  The judge did authorize increased hours but they are to remain fully supervised.  Myself and the GAL will be looking into other resources to assist with the supervision of visits." 

So yeah... not really changing at all.  We're hoping that the six month mark that Gloria mentioned in her email is about the time they will be able to go back... as that will be just short of eleven months of being here.

In us related news... things have changed greatly....

LOOK!!! LOOK!!! IT'S A BABY!!!

The Wife is about eight weeks pregnant and we couldn't be happier about it.  We will be welcoming him/her around the end of July.  Obviously it's too early to know which way it will go, but the sonographer assured us that there was only one in there... so that's something.  As soon as the kids start leaving our care, we are going to start the re-configuring of the bedrooms to be a nursery, which will involve a switch for The Kid as well.  The news of a baby may, or may not, have created a need to make the annual Ikea run a little earlier in the year than normal.  We also found some things that we really like from the Land of Nod... and there just happens to be a location in Chicago.  The Wife, The Kid and myself will be road-tripping in the Spring to retrieve many necessary baby related items.  The next appointment for the baby is January 8th, where we will get to hear the heartbeat.  We assume the next sonogram won't be until it's time to find out the sex of the baby.  Either way, we're super excited and can't wait to start getting things ready for next summer's arrival.

The Results Are In

And it looks like Oscar may be hanging around until March or so.  I talked to his grandma for a while last night and she filled me in on the stuff they covered at court.  The judge pointed out that his goal is to reunify Oscar with either his mom or dad (obviously), but that the grandparents would be the next option.  The next court date was set for December 27th, so maybe we'll be surprised by a late Christmas gift for everyone in the form of Oscar getting to go be with his family forever.

In related news, we have already discussed that Oscar will spend from noon on Saturday until sometime Sunday with his family.  And then next week, for Thanksgiving, he will be over there from Wednesday evening through Sunday afternoon/evening.  Ultimately, Oscar is going to end up with that side of the family, which is something we are at least 99.9% sure of, so the relationship we have built with the family is ideal.  He gets a chance to be around his grandparents, as well as his dad and aunt and other little kids.  Things can always change, but we're definitely heading in the right direction for a positive outcome in his life.

Their Day in Court

Court for Oscar is less than two hours from now.  The Wife and I are unable to attend... due to this whole "work" thing getting in the way.  Oscar's grandma said that she would let me know what all happens at court once they are out.  We're really hoping that he gets to go there sooner rather than later, but who knows.  I seriously doubt that his mom will both show up and care what happens to him (as long as he's taken care of).  She has made it to two out of three visits since he came to us, but that's apparently way above her average, according to Elaine.  Last week, in separate instances, she referred to me as "dad" and to The Wife as "mom" to Oscar.  Sure, he's not quite eight months old, so he doesn't understand, but still... who would refer to other people as "mom" and "dad" to their own child?  She's super nice, but she's a little off.  We should know in a few hours what is going to be asked of his grandparents (and dad) to get him to their house, so here's to hoping for the best.

Things... and Other Things

Oscar ended up staying at his grandparents' house through Sunday night and his grandpa even dropped him off at daycare for us.  When The Wife picked him up after work yesterday, he was all smiles.  He was even super happy once he got home.  Of course, he didn't want to be put down... but he was smiling and laughing all evening.  Bedtime wasn't as rough as we had thought it would be, but he did wake up about thirty minutes later, only to fall back asleep pretty much instantly once I picked him up and he let out a burp.  The middle of the night was a completely different story.  When Oscar woke up for his 2am bottle, it went very smoothly... and he was back asleep in about twenty minutes.  Unfortunately, a little before 4am, he was up again because his butt had exploded into his diaper.  There's no other way to say it.  It was really bad.  After a new diaper and new pajamas and about an hour of rocking and holding him (which must be why they say nothing good happens after 2am), he fell back asleep for the last couple of hours of the morning.

Court for Oscar is on Thursday.  We are relatively certain that the judge will begin the arrangements for him to be moved to his grandparents' house full-time.  They already have everything done, as they were a kinship placement previously, so, in theory, that should mean that all we need to get done is some paperwork for Oscar to make the move.  We will know more on Thursday, but we would really like to see him make the transition to be with them full-time for the holidays, so he isn't being carted around town between different houses.

Potty training for Leonard is still going strong.  He's really good about his number ones... but the twosies get him almost every time.  Sunday went the same as Saturday, with a completely successful day.  Yesterday at daycare, he had one accident, which is several less than any day last week.  We are tentatively calling it a success for now.

Potty Training is a Go

We decided that Leonard was ready for the real potty training and that we were ready to go to underwear and not look back.  He had told us a few times in the week leading up to our decision that he had to go potty... one way or another.  Daycare has told us on multiple occasions that they would be willing to help and do whatever we needed to get him out of diapers.  Apparently, that means sending him to the bathroom every fifteen minutes... which isn't really potty training at all.  He has had a few accidents at daycare, but those are somewhat understandable in the beginning of this process.   You may notice on the sheets below that he was sent to the bathroom 13 times... and that was with leaving over an hour early.  Today, he went three times.  On his own.  He even took a nap for over two hours and woke up dry.  Pretty sure daycare may be a little trigger happy on sending him to go to the bathroom.

Side Note:  They wrote that he "had a very good day".  How could he have possibly had a very good day when he obviously spent the majority of it walking to and from the bathroom?

Baby Free... It's the Way to Be

Oscar has been with his dad and grandparents since about 5:45pm yesterday.  And our house has been mostly silent for that time.  There was no crying last night... there was no bottle to be had at 2am... and most importantly, no one was up and ready to start the day at 7am.  Well... technically Leonard and Penny were awake, but I went in and told them to be quiet and they listened.  I suppose that's one of the big difference between babies and little kids... the ability to follow directions.

Leonard and Penny came home from daycare yesterday, ate some dinner, and then played outside for about two hours.  Penny even made friends with the little girl that lives two doors down.  Once again, today is unseasonably warm outside, so the kids played out there for a good majority of the morning.  We fully intend on having them spend the evening out there as well.  Our ultimate goal is a couple of very tired children, that will insure some sleeping in for tomorrow morning.

Monthly Meeting #4

We had our meeting on Monday evening.  Kate's last day at the agency was last Friday, so her replacement, Lisa, came to the house.  Marty came too, obviously.  His last day will be this Friday, but his replacement (whom we met last week at visits), Gloria, was absent from the meeting.  He did assure us that she would be available if we needed anything after he has left.  Elaine was unable to make the meeting... big shocker there.

We didn't discuss Oscar so much, just because Elaine wasn't there and we were mostly covering things with Leonard and Penny.  There is a slight chance that they could be leaving us in December, but it's still hard to say at this point.  Their parents still aren't working their caseplans and Marty was asked by the court to make a recommendation.  He told us that his recommendation was that he "can't make a recommendation at this time".  From what we know about the case, there has been little progress by either of the parents to get the kids back.  We are both surprised and completely un-surprised by that.  Neither The Wife or myself could imagine not doing everything that was asked to get our kids back, yet these people who have two kids that they seemingly adore at visits, can't get their act together enough to not have them in fostercare anymore.  Court is set for December 11th, so we have at least another month with the kids... after that, your guess is as good as mine.

Overnight

I talked to Elaine... finally.  She said that it was pretty much up to our discretion on how much Oscar's paternal grandparents get to see him.  He was already supposed to go there from daycare on Friday for dinner... but now he gets to have a sleepover!!  I called his grandparents to tell them and they're super excited.  I told them that The Wife and I had already discussed it and we wanted him to be able to stay there the night before Thanksgiving as well, then it will be easier to have him for the holiday.  We're beyond excited for him and them.  Hopefully they'll have him full-time shortly after Thanksgiving, since they have already cleared the background checks for both our state and the state that they live in.  Either way, it's going to be a great holiday season for Oscar and his family.

An Unexpected Turn

Pictures went really well yesterday.  Oscar's dad, grandma, grandpa and aunt were there.  They also brought along his grandma and grandpa's adopted twins, who are about to turn four years old... meaning Oscar has an aunt and uncle that are a little over three years older than him.  From the beginning, when we got the original call to take Oscar in July (sadly, we had to say no at the time), we were told that he was a mixed race baby... the races being caucasian and latino.  So when I got there yesterday, I was fully expecting a latino family to get out of the car.  Like... to the extent that I will randomly say things to Oscar in Spanish, just because we knew that someone in his family spoke the language.  As of yesterday, we now know that no one speaks Spanish as a first language... because they are not latino at all... they're black.  Everyone was super sweet and wanted to take their turn to hold him, even one of the twins.  His grandparents bought him some new teething chew things and a new outfit for the pictures.  They took a few pictures of everyone, some of just the kids, some of just the little kids, and then they did some all girls and all boys pictures.

Leonard and Penny were taking a nap when I left, so The Wife stayed home with them.  As Oscar and I were leaving to come back home from the pictures, I asked his grandma if she'd take a picture of Oscar and his dad, so I could show the kids and The Wife.  She took it and then sent it to me in a text message.  When I got home, I showed The Wife the picture and she thinks that Oscar looks like his dad... I don't really see it.  Then again, I'm really bad at seeing resemblances like that.  I showed the picture to the kids also and they didn't really comment other than a slight "aw" from Penny.  A few hours later, as I was getting Oscar ready for bed, Penny sat down next to me on the floor and was looking at him.  She turned to me and said, "So he's black?"... I guess it just took her that long to put it together with the picture she had seen.  Then she just said, "That's just how God made him"... oh the sweet innocence and reasoning of a four year old.

He's Not a Dog

Those are actual words that I just had to say to Leonard as he threw Oscar's toy toward him and said "fetch".  Clearly this is a child with little to no experience with babies... but perhaps some with puppies.  Oscar has been laying on the floor being entertained by Leonard for about 45 minutes.  The fetching incident was just a brief lapse in judgement by a two year old.

Insensitive

We have come to the conclusion, over the last three and a half months, that Leonard feels no pain.  He is constantly falling down and causing bodily harm to himself.  Occasionally, he'll even run full speed into a wall... just because he doesn't stop.  He ran past me a few minutes ago, caught his leg on the ottoman, and went flying through the air in sort of a flip.  After he hit the ground with a thud, he looked up at me and laughed.  I think there have been maybe three times that he has cried due to an injury, but at this point, I am willing to attribute that to being scared more than hurt.  Maybe he just has a higher threshold for pain than anyone... ever?  Who knows really.  We're going to go to the park today or tomorrow... he'll probably fall off the top of a slide and then get up and run back up it to go again.

Not Our Family. Just A Family.

Ok... his family... but it's funnier to say "a family".  Oscar is going to get a family portrait taken today with his dad's family.  They didn't even know that he existed until a couple of days after he came to us, which was about three and a half months after he came into care and almost seven months after he was born.  I called Oscar's grandma back last night and let her know that I never heard from Elaine on whether or not it was ok for them to take him, so I would just come meet them for the picture.  We didn't have anything planned for our day anyway, so no big deal.  Grandma even bought him a new outfit for the picture.  They have gone from not knowing about Oscar at all to wanting him to come live with them and see him all of the time in a matter of about two weeks.  We think things are looking pretty good for his future with them.

Visits and a Call

All of the kids had visits today.  And everyone even showed up this week.

No real news from the visits that I know of at this point.  I did learn that Leonard and Penny had ravioli and sandwiches for lunch.  Both from their mom.  I feel as though one of those two things is inaccurate to some extent.  The only mention of food that came from their dad was some milk... which we all know cannot possibly be true.  You can't go from $40-50 of terrible food to just milk.  I really don't think he has it in him.

Oscar's great grandma and mom came to the visit today.  Mom was something.  She sure seemed to know a lot about Oscar, even though he has been in care longer than he was out of it.  She referred to the way he is, in reference to eating, sleeping, etc., and all I could think was "how could you possibly know that?".  I can assure everyone that this baby is not anywhere near the same baby that he was even two weeks ago, let alone seven months ago.

Elaine is leaving in two weeks for her maternity leave.  We're skeptical as to if she will ever return.  Of course, if she does come back, there's a chance we would never know, because she doesn't do the whole "updating us on anything ever" thing.

Oscar's paternal grandparents called me today to ask if he could come with them for a family portrait tomorrow afternoon.  I'm in the process of checking on this with Elaine, but obviously she is nowhere to be found... going on three hours now.  She was ok with him going with them next week for a family dinner, so it will probably be fine for tomorrow also, but we don't want to risk it without permission.  It's hard to say how involved his dad is or is going to be, but his grandparents seem willing and able to take care of him, whenever they can get things sorted out between the agency and the state.  It's nice to have someone connected to one of our placements that can (and seemingly will) do something about making a better place for their child or, in this case, grandchild.

An Email

I got an email from Oscar's grandma today.  They are having a family dinner next Friday night so the entire family can meet him.  She seemed super nice and said that they were very excited to have their first grandchild.  Through her email address, we can tell that she works at a local hospital, so that at least gives us hope that Oscar will have a well-established, loving, responsible family to go back to when is time with us is over.  Yes, I know working at a hospital doesn't necessarily mean those things, but since she at least has a job, I'm hopeful... that's more effort than his mom has made since he came into care almost four months ago.  I gave her my phone number so she could call and set up a time and make the arrangements for next week, so hopefully she'll call soon.

Halloween

The kids had a good time trick or treating.  Penny told me that they hadn't ever done that before, but that she really liked it.  Leonard would be too young to remember even if they had done it.  We walked up the street a little ways, with Oscar watching everything from his stroller, and stopped at the houses on the way back toward home.  The Wife texted and told me to drop Oscar by and she would feed him and put him to bed.  We stopped by the house, dropped the baby off, and went back on our way so Leonard and Penny could stop at some more houses.  All in all, I think we were out for about 45 minutes, but the kids took in quite a haul for that amount of time.  Everyone thought that they were very cute in their costumes and Leonard only tripped over his cape four or five times.

Good Signs

Elaine emailed me earlier today.  Oscar's grandparents want to have him over for a family dinner next Friday.  I called her back to talk about it and she said that they would like to be a relative placement for him, but they live in the next state over (not really that far), so our agency will have to work things out with their state.

I also learned that they have been at both of the visits that he has had with his dad and very much want to be a part of Oscar's life.  We're very happy for him and hope that things really get set in motion soon, so he can be raised by his own family.  It turns out that Oscar's mom isn't doing a whole lot in the way of working her caseplan, other than showing up for visits from time to time, so the best situation, as far as The Wife and I are concerned, is for him to go live with his dad and/or his dad's family.

He's Gone Mobile

Today at daycare, Oscar started crawling.  Of course, it's just army crawling on his elbows... but the kid has gone mobile.  He isn't sitting up on his own yet, but hopefully once he does, he will be much happier, since he'll be able to see everything going on around him.  He is also working on getting at least one tooth.  Last night was a rough one.  Oscar was not ready to sleep at any point.  I think the longest streak of consecutive sleep was about two hours.  The rest was alternating between screaming and just wanting to play.

We took all of the kids to the zoo in their costumes, for the annual Halloween event.  They got a little bit of candy and it turned out to be nice weather for the zoo.  Oscar was dressed as a lion and just hung out in the stroller for most of the trip, while Raggedy Ann (Penny) and Batman (Leonard) walked along.  Part of the rough night was because Oscar fell asleep while we were walking around the zoo, then slept all the way home in the car.  We came home less than two hours before bedtime, so he really just wasn't ready after a super late afternoon nap.  Tonight seems to be going better, but it's also not even 9pm... so it could still go either way.

The Boyz

Leonard and Oscar are off to a great start in their friendship... nevermind that Oscar is seven months old and has no real opinion on the matter.  They sit next to each other in the car and just laugh at each other.  We have no idea what is going through either of their heads, but it keeps Leonard from talking incessantly and it keeps Oscar happy, so it works for us.

Tonight when we got home, I gave the doorway jumper a second shot.  Last night, I put Oscar in it and he just fell over asleep.  Tonight, he was a little more awake and liked it for a while.  Leonard stood over by him and talked to him and was just kind of nearby for a few minutes and Oscar was loving life.  Then Leonard walked away to talk to me and it all went downhill.  The way Oscar screamed and cried, you would think he had fallen out of the thing entirely.  Once I lifted him out, he was good again... I guess he just didn't want to be left alone.. which is kind of his thing.

Leonard was very concerned with
why Oscar was so upset

Two Out of Three

Leonard and Penny's parents both showed up for visits today, no big shock, as they have not missed nor even tried to reschedule a single visit.  Oscar's mom, however, was a no show.  This isn't the first time that she has missed a visit and surely won't be the last time.  His great grandma was there and she spent the full two hours with him.  She is a super nice lady, but is just too old to be able to take him in and care for him.  The older two had a regular visit with each parent... not a ton of food this week, but still more than they need in the span of two hours.  Maybe Marty has mentioned that the amount of food has been ridiculous, so they cut back... but somehow we doubt that the trend will continue.  Marty will be gone in a week and the new person probably won't realize that their dad didn't just bring his groceries inside with him, but that the idea is that they will eat everything he brought.  That will be something to put an immediate stop to on our part, because I'm still not carting bags and bags of food back and forth.

We'll see what the fall-out of the visit is in a few hours when we get home, but according to their mom, they had a good visit without incident from either of the kids (tantrums, etc).  Oscar is a baby, so I'm pretty sure he's just happy to have someone hold him... and he was in a super happy mood the entire time and even postponed his nap to spend time with great grandma.

Oscar

Oscar got his blogname from "The Office".  He's half Latino and half Caucasian and, to be honest, that was the first television character that came to mind that fit anywhere near that description.

He's a baby.  There isn't a ton to say about him at this point.  He just turned seven months old a couple of days ago and he would really like to be able to crawl.  He isn't sitting up on his own yet, but we're pretty sure that's coming soon.  His preference is to be able to see everything that's going on around him and laying on the floor is not working in his favor.

The first day he was at our house was rough... because all he did was cry.  He is a much happier baby now and his daycare thinks that it was just the change to our house.  His previous foster home had some tense moments at the end and that is one of the reasons that he was moved to our home.  He coos and makes baby noises and is happy most of the time now.  We had thought that maybe it was a mistake to take in a baby, especially as a third child in our care, but, thanks to his turnaround, it has been fun to have him.  We don't know a lot about what's going on with his case, but it looks like there isn't another court date set until the end of January, so we'll get to have him for his first Christmas.

Things Oscar likes:
Baths
Eating
Being outside
Looking outside
Fresh, clean diapers
His feet

Things Oscar doesn't like:
Not being fed in a timely manner
Not being able to use his hands as chew toys
Being strapped into a carseat

Penny

Penny's blogname came from "The Big Bang Theory".  It's really one of the best shows on television and it was the only thing we had to watch during the summer television break.  Plus, I needed two names that would go together, since our first placement was two kids.

Since coming to live at our house, Penny has started going to daycare, begun gymnastics classes, and had a birthday.  She is a super smart kid... especially for her age.  The Wife taught her how to spell and write her name over the course of about two weeks.  Most of the time, Penny is a very sweet little girl who likes to take care of her little brother.  Other times, she is too much of a parent to her brother and gets told to leave things alone or not to bring them up again, by us.  And even other times, she throws tantrums like a two year old... kicking, screaming and hitting.  The tantrums generally come when something doesn't go her way, as with most kids, but she really commits to the tantrums.  We definitely can't say she's phoning in the effort.

In a lot of ways, Penny is more of a kid after being with us over three months than she was when she arrived.  While she's the older sister, she doesn't always need to be protective of her brother and that is what we have tried to convey to her.... we have it under control.

Things Penny likes:

Daycare

Gymnastics

Her brother

The Kid

Being given responsibility (cleaning, helping out around the house)

Books

Cartoons

Things Penny doesn't like:

Correcting of her behavior

Losing cartoons for the night

Cheese (but only sometimes)

Leonard

Leonard's blogname, like Penny's, came from "The Big Bang Theory".  That was the first pair of names that I thought of when I started the blog, plus they came to our house on a Thursday, which happens to be the night that the show airs.

Since coming to live at our house, Leonard has started going to daycare, along with his sister.  Leonard, like Penny, is super smart also.  In the last couple of weeks, he has started spelling his name with the foam letters that they play with in the tub.  Leonard used to cry quite a bit, at bedtime, at bathtime, at other random times, but that has really stopped of late.  In the last five weeks or so, I can't recall a single time that he cried at bedtime or woke up in the night crying.  

Leonard has matured quite a bit since coming to our house.  When he arrived, he acted pretty much helpless.  He wouldn't take his clothes off, put his clothes on, put his shoes on, or anything that was a matter of self-care.

Things Leonard likes:

Daycare

His sister

Baseball & football

Slippers
Footie PJs

Cartoons
Dirt

Things Leonard doesn't like:

Correcting of his behavior

Going to sleep
Being told to hurry... no matter the situation

Kate

I really have no idea where she got her blogname.  I think it was just the first thing that came to mind when I was writing the first blog she appeared in.

She's leaving too.  Her last day is next Friday.  She sent out a nice email to all of the families that she works with and let us know that we would be in good hands, no matter who we were assigned to after she's gone.  I think that's just something people say.  It's not like she can say, "sucks to be you, good luck".  Kate has been really fun to talk to and even helped us in getting a baby placed with us.  She shares our love of everything Ikea and even told us that we were providing a very good foster home for all of the kids.  She has been very helpful all along the way and seems like someone that we would maybe even be friends with, if it hadn't been more of a working relationship with her.  Just like with Marty, we wish her the best of luck... but we still don't have to like it.

Marty

Marty got his blogname from "Madagascar".  We learned early on that he lived in Madagascar for a while, so he got the name from the zebra in the movie.

He's leaving the agency.  We found out the other day that he had about two weeks left and then Leonard and Penny would be assigned a new caseworker.  We couldn't believe that Marty was leaving.  We also can't imagine anyone being able to fully replace him.  The kids love him and they look forward to going to his office for the visits with their parents.  Obviously, we wish him the best and, from reading other foster blogs, we know this is the kind of thing that happens quite often within the social services field... but that doesn't mean we have to like it.

Elaine

Oscar's caseworker gets her blogname from "Seinfeld".  Much like the show, she is about nothing.

He has been at our house for nine days now and the first time either of us had ever seen her was last night.  She took Oscar to meet his dad for the first time after daycare and then dropped him off at the house after the visit.  She was supposed to leave the agency at 6:30pm and bring Oscar home.  Somehow, it took her 35 minutes to drive 3.8 miles.  She said that Oscar's dad wanted to talk to her about future visits and things, but we're pretty sure that she could have said, "give me a call at the office tomorrow because his foster family is expecting him home".

In addition to the lack of meeting her in person, when The Wife asked her about coming to the house and talking about the case and such, Elaine passed.  Currently, we believe that the one meeting per month with the child and family are being accounted for by her taking him to visits with his parents.

For now, I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt in the situation.  Oscar was pulled from the previous foster home, not by her, but by the family's FSC worker, Kate (who happens to be ours also... for now... we'll get to that later).  Elaine was not involved in the decision, but thanked us for being able to take him so quickly.  Hopefully things will get better and we will be able to work together to get Oscar back to his family.

The Cider Mill, Revisited

Technically, our visit was for the pumpkin patch, but it was to the same place as we went a couple of weeks ago.  The Kid wasn't with us on the last trip, plus we needed some pumpkins for Halloween.  The apple cider donuts also deserved a second round.  The kids were all very excited for the giant slide and just the general idea of the pumpkin patch.  It's a real shame that the aroma of rotting pumpkins had overtaken the actual field where they were supposed to be found.  The Kid, Leonard and Penny attempted to find some pumpkins to take home, but in the end, we had to buy the pumpkins that were up at the front entrance.  The rest of them were either mushy or super green and weird.

We came home and the popular opinion was that I should carve the pumpkin to look like a dog.  I got as close as I could.  Pictures to come.

2am

I just don't see 2am roll around anymore.  Sure I used to, back in the day.  Nowadays, it sounds pretty awful to be out that late.  Well, Saturday night I was out almost that late.  At the hospital.  Oscar didn't sleep much (if any) Friday night, due to some congestion and constant coughing and sneezing.  He was scheduled to sleep in our room for the weekend, since The Kid was over and we weren't going to have him in there with her so he could wake her up in the middle of the night.  Like I said, Friday night was rough and Oscar and I ended up sleeping in the living room.  It was either he sleeps in our room hacking and coughing away and neither I nor The Wife gets any sleep or the alternative, one of us gets to sleep while the other attempts to make the baby sleep.  Saturday night was more of the same.  He made it about four hours into his evening slumber before he woke up coughing.  Or rather, before the coughing woke him up.  We came down to the living room and as I attempted to feed him, he starting coughing again.  The cough has been so bad that it really sounds like he's going to suffocate.  I rounded up some things, threw them in the diaper bag, told The Wife what was going on and then headed to the children's hospital that is near our house.  The sticker that I was given said 11:25pm for our check-in time.  It was actually a lot faster than I thought it was going to be, but at that time of night, things still feel like they're dragging along.  I did learn a lot about a new blender from an infomercial that was on in the room we were assigned to, but that was pretty much all that came out of our visit.  They did a chest x-ray and ruled out bronchitis and pneumonia.  The doctor said that it was most likely a viral infection and that there really wasn't anything that we could do about it other than to wait it out.  Awesome news.  Wait... no... it's terrible.  They told me that if it gets worse, bring him back and they recommended using the nose sucker bulb thing and sent us on our way.  My first reaction was, "do you really think we haven't thought of that?", but I just thanked them and walked away.

We made it home around 1:30am and by the time we were settled in our places back on the couch, it was a little after 2am.  Oscar slept until about 3:30am, woke up, drank a good sized bottle and fell back asleep immediately.  He wasn't congested or anything the rest of the night, so we were able to sleep until a few minutes after 8am this morning... it was glorious.

The Day That Dora Exploded

That day was yesterday.  And it was all over our dining room and backyard.  

Penny's birthday party was a success. We were told that it was the best birthday she has ever had, on multiple occasions.  The Dora decorations were pretty expansive, but the thing that pushed it over the top was, most likely, the giant Dora bounce house in the backyard.  Neither one of the kids knew about the bounce house and the company came to set it up during naptime, so it was a surprise when they woke up.

Along with the gifts that we got her, everyone else who came to the party brought a gift for her as well.  We got her a matching game, Fantastic Gymnastics Dora, and a LeapPad.  Because her birthday falls in October, she still has another full school year (in addition to the current one) before she can start kindergarten.  The LeapPad was a little bit more money, but it has been clear to us that someone in her life has worked with her on several educational things and we wanted to be sure that trend would continue after she has left our home.  While the LeapPad being the educational gift, the Dora gymnastics thing is a pretty fun toy.  She does back bends and handstands and such.  With Penny loving her gymnastics class on Saturdays, that was an easy pick for a gift.

  
Saturday ended up being a pretty go, go, go kind of day, but the kids did really well with it and even Oscar maintained a happy demeanor for our guests.  At the end of it all, with the baby in bed, Leonard, Penny and The Kid settled in for some quality time with Scooby Doo.

Baby Update

Oscar is doing well in our home.  In talking to people at his daycare, we have learned that he has been a completely different baby for the last three days.  

For the last three months that he has been in care, it has been more chaos than control.  Sometimes he slept, sometimes he didn't.  Sometimes he wanted a bottle, sometimes he wanted baby food.  His former foster parents told the daycare that he liked sleeping on his stomach, which is against both the state regulations for foster homes and the regulations that the daycare must follow.  When the daycare told them that putting a baby (that was only a few months old) on his stomach to sleep was against the rules, their response was, "well, good luck with getting him to sleep then".  From what I can tell, that was the general attitude toward daycare also.  If it wasn't the way they did it at home, then there was no way that any other approach was going to work.

His teacher told me last night when I picked him up that he has been happy and laughing and smiling a lot more in the last few days.  More specifically, since Wednesday morning, the first time he woke up at our house.  As I said before, Tuesday was a rough day on The Wife, being at home with him for the first several hours of his arrival.  He would sleep for twenty minutes, wake up, be happy for five or ten minutes, then just be pissed off and inconsolable for the entire time until he fell asleep again.  Apparently that was every day for the people at daycare.  He wouldn't eat and then he would insist on eating.  He wouldn't sleep at all or he would only sleep for a few minutes.  At our house, we have a schedule that we have to stick to, otherwise the whole process breaks down.  We learned that the first few weeks with Leonard and Penny... we played fast and loose with the schedule (specifically napping) and we paid dearly for it with tantrums, crying and general bad times.  I know that it has only been a few days, but I really feel like we are already making a difference in his little life.

4 & 3

Today is Penny's birthday.  She's 4.

Today is the 19th of October.  They've been with us 3 months.

It's both a happy day and kind of a depressing day.  Luckily, the kids have no concept of time, so they don't realize how long it has been since they came to our house.  Tomorrow is the big party... pictures to come of that.  Visits were today, as normal.  Normal in every way... with the addition of cake and cupcakes, of course.  They still had the ridiculous amount of food (grapes, bananas, milk, vegetables, pretzels, fast food), but Dad brought them cupcakes and Mom brought a cake.  We're super excited for the end of the day sugar crash.

The gifts were... something.  Dad brought Penny something, but we don't know what, because he took it back to his house with him.  Mom brought her socks, some beanbags (which she asked for), two outfits, a coloring book, some sort of pencil/folder set that she's not really old enough for, a sun catcher making kit that she may be old enough for, and toothpaste.  Luckily for Leonard, he was also showered with gifts for his sister's birthday.  He got a shirt, a coloring book, a Thomas the Tank toy, socks, toothpaste, and a toothbrush... for ages 5-7.  So at least he can use the toothbrush in 2 1/2 years.

The longer that this goes on, the further out of touch with reality the parents seem.  Toothpaste for a birthday?  Come on... who does that?  Also the "we know you're two and (now) four, but here's some icing to eat at 11am" approach is questionable at best.  There are times that we wish they could go back home and be with their families and then there are times like this when we realize that they seem to be in much better hands with us.

*Edited for content:  Since writing this, I have been informed that the gift that their dad took home was a Dora height measuring thing.

The Cider Mill

A couple of weekends ago, we took Leonard and Penny to the cider mill that is about thirty minutes from the house.  They had a good time watching the apples being washed and seeing the apple donuts being cooked. After we stood in line for about fifteen minutes, we got some apple cider, apple donuts and a caramel apple, then we sat down to enjoy our apple-y goodness.  After snacks, we walked to the other side of the property and the kids got to play on some hay bales and other family-friendly activities.  One of the tractors from the hayride came around and we jumped on with the kids.  At about the halfway point, they stopped and we got to get off of the ride.  We had the choice of walking over so the kids could go down the giant slide that was down the back of hill in the field or we could wonder by the pumpkin patch that was also nearby.  All in all, we had a good time and the kids really enjoyed the day.

Watching the apples being washed

The end of the slide was dirt...
if you couldn't tell

The first time down the slide, Penny lost
control, Leonard needed  a co-pilot

Just What Every Kid Needs

Who doesn't need a robe?  You wake up in the morning, put on your slippers and robe, then come downstairs for breakfast.  Or you get cold at night while you're watching cartoons.  The main idea here is that we like the house cold, so the kids would obviously need some super cute robes to keep them warm.

ALL THE THINGS!!!

We have so much baby stuff right now, it's ridiculous.  Here is the list of what our new little friend, Oscar, brought to our house yesterday:

Clothes - So many, it's hard to quantify... but he will not be needing any until he is at least nearing a year old

Diapers - Enough to last us through the end of the month easily

Wipes - Enough to last us through the end of the year... or at least close to it

Blankets - Two or three, nothing outrageous

Pack & Play - We didn't open it, but it seems to be in good shape

Clothes - There are just so many, it has to be on the list twice

Play Mat - We have one, but hey... two never hurt anyone

Bottles - Approximately twelve

Formula - Eight cans... we assume this is due to WIC requiring that you get them all at the same time

Baby Food - Jarred fruits and vegetables, rice cereal, and oatmeal

Car Seat - We have five... we're good

Diaper Bags - Yes... with an "s".  There were two, conveniently, we will send one to daycare for parental visits

Bathtub - Again... we have one and definitely don't need two

Toys - Stuffed and otherwise

The first day was rough on The Wife, as babies who take 40 minute naps and then wake up pissed can be a little grating on anyone.  The first night was not bad at all.  We were guessing that he would be up somewhere between five times and every hour on the hour.  We put him in the crib at about 7:45pm and he cried for about five minutes, then slept until 1:45am.  I went in, gave him a bottle, changed his diaper and put him back in bed.  This time, he cried for about three minutes, babbled to himself for a minute and was asleep that fast.  That time, he slept until I turned a light on to get him ready for daycare at 6:50am this morning.  We had no idea what to expect on his first night in a new house and around new people, but clearly, he was indifferent to where he was... because he just wanted to sleep.

He's Here... or There

Our new little one has arrived at the house with The Wife.  I'm at work.  So basically, it's killing me to sit here and do anything even remotely close to work.  Turns out, the last foster home that he was in sent every single thing they had for him... five trashbags full to be exact.  The clothes go all the way up to 12 months and there has been at least one pair of 2T pants in there.  He even has a tiny jean jacket and a couple of sweater vests.  He has not yet received his blog-worthy name, but I'm sure he will in no time.  He is almost seven months old, but The Wife said he's little.  I JUST WANT TO GO HOME AND SEE THE BABY!!!

He's Coming...

Kate called me earlier this morning and informed me that she had a baby that needed a placement.  She told me his name and I immediately recognized it.  The first call we got, back in July, was for a three month old baby, but we didn't have a crib yet and we had just gotten back from the furniture buying extravaganza, so the room was not set up in the least.  Well... this call was for a six month old... with the same name... because it's the same baby.  He was placed in a home back in July, but due to some unforeseen circumstances arising at his current foster home, he needs to be permanently moved.  Nothing happened to him, it's just that things have changed at that home, so Kate called us first.  I am waiting for a phone call from his current foster home to see when we can go pick him up tomorrow.  I couldn't believe it was the same baby when she told me, but I guess it must be some sort of fate that he comes to live with us.