Once the Dust Settled

After what we heard was a crazy courtroom and then a fairly calm planning meeting, it looks like Leonard and Penny will be with us through the fall.  The next court date is in December, but we don't really know if that means that they could go back sooner, will go back in December, or could be here longer.  Either way though, we know they'll be here for a few months at least.  Looks like we may be planning a 4th birthday party for little miss come October!

The Problem with Medicaid...

Is that NO ONE takes it.


Just trying to make a dental appointment for Penny took me about an hour and a half and 19 phone calls this morning.  I finally found one though.  Even using the list that was provided to us by the agency didn't help.  Each office I called said that they either didn't take Medicaid, didn't take kids, or didn't have any openings until October.  At this point, we don't even know if they'll still be with us when October gets here.  But as I said, I found one and Penny's first ever dentist visit is scheduled for next Friday morning.


And now for my Occam's Razor assessment... perhaps this is the reason that kids in bad situations don't often have the care that they need?  Often times the parents are the ones taking the blame, but it doesn't seem like the easiest thing to handle to me.

Court, Planning, & Therapy?

The big day is here.  First court hearing and the first planning meeting for the kids.  I'm not going to be able to make it to either, since they will be taking place 20 minutes from my job and I only get an hour for lunch, so The Wife will be representing both of us.  We should get to find out approximately how long Leonard and Penny will be staying with us.  T-minus three hours and counting...


Also, Suzanne, the therapist from the agency is coming over this evening to talk to us and the kids... just to see how things are going so far.  Last night, our case worker (we think that's her job, but we really don't know) came over just to say hi and see how everything was.  She was super impressed with how well everything was going and said to let her know if we needed anything else.  She also expressed some interest in moving in so she could have the Ikea bedroom... maybe she was kidding?

Pictures, Part 2

I finally got the rest of those pictures in focus.  It may have been that I didn't have time or it may have been that I completely spaced it off.  But either way... here is the bedroom... THANK YOU IKEA!!!

As I wrote in a previous post, you'll notice that the two beds are separated.  The were right up against each other for a couple of nights and since then, The Wife and I have been slowly moving them apart.  We're at about 18 inches so far without the kids saying anything about it at all.  Another ten feet or so and the bed will be right up against the wall where we intended the toddler bed to be all along.

Two and a Half Hours

I told you that I'd post... it was WAY more than the 15 minutes I expected him to make it.  The kids slept in until about 9:30 today, or roughly two hours past the latest they've slept since they've been with us.  Leonard even wore his big kid underwear for two and a half hours this morning... then the bottom dropped out.  Literally.  The underwear have now been relocated to the sink for soaking.

The first time-out of their time with us also took place today.  Leonard yelled at Penny once, so I asked him to please stop yelling.  Leonard yelled at Penny a second time, so I told him that if he didn't use his inside voice, he'd be spending some time not playing.  So on the third yell, he got a lovely trip for one to the island of the bottom step.  That was a few hours ago and all has been well up to now.  Fifteen minutes to naptime, so we'll see how that all goes this time 'round...

First Saturday Without the Nanny

First off... we do NOT have an actual nanny.  The Kid won't be back until next Friday, so Leonard and Penny were on their own for some entertainment today.  They play together surprisingly well for 2 and 3 year old siblings, so that took up the morning session of our Saturday.  After lunch and a nap, which may have extended past the two and a half hour mark, we left the house for some quick, later afternoon errands.  We went to the library down the street, got some new library cards, and each of the kids picked out a couple of books to read over the next week or so.  After some kiddie pool time and some dinner and baths, our evening with the kids was basically complete.  They both went to bed just as easily as the last couple of nights... however unsuspecting that their beds are getting further and further apart every day (as we move them away from each other).

Tomorrow we're gonna give real underwear a go for the little guy.  I'll be sure to post about 15 minutes into our day saying how long he lasted.

Visits, Bedtime & The London Games

Well... the visitations went amazingly.  About a thousand times better than either of us could have imagined.  The kids got to see both of their parents, for an hour each, said their goodbyes, turned to The Wife and said, "Let's go home!".  Not a single tear was shed.  We weren't sure if the visitation was going to be a positive or negative event, I suppose now we can make the call that it was a positive one.  They'll see them again next week.


Bedtime has also been much improved the last two nights over the previous several.  Leonard cried every time he was going to sleep, naptime or bedtime.  Suddenly he's over it.  Maybe he has gotten more comfortable here?  Or perhaps he finally realized that we aren't going in their room to get him when he screams?  Or the third option could be that Penny told him to get over it and just go to sleep because she's tired?  It's probably a combination of the first and second... but the third wouldn't surprise me.  Off the topic of bedtime, but on the topic of crying... he hasn't been crying at daycare at drop off either for two days.


THE OLYMPICS ARE FINALLY HERE.  I've seriously been waiting for this for about two years.  Laying here watching the ridiculous and over-the-top opening ceremony and just wondering... is this really necessary?  We recorded it so we didn't have to actually spend four and a half hours watching it, but we're 45 minutes in and I'm already considering fast-forwarding until something more interesting is happening.  Either way though... the games are here.  The next 17 days will be glorious... as I intend to watch as many hours of the Olympics as humanly possible.

This Could Go Either Way...

The first parental visitation is today.  The Wife will be taking the kids to the agency.  Could be a rough afternoon for everyone involved.  Hopefully it will be more of a good thing than a bad thing... we'll see I suppose.

Pictures, Part 1

The playroom.  Over-flowing with fun for all ages.  I suppose you could say we were overly zealous when we decided to start doing foster care.   We prefer to think of it as prepared.  More pictures of the kids' bedroom to come... once I get some pictures that are in focus.

A Thesaurus Full of Tears

Wow... we have a 2 year old.


Yesterday in a nutshell...


Dropped off at daycare - he BAWLED.


We moved a bed in their room - he SOBBED.


It was bathtime (normally enjoyed) - he WAILED.


Told he'd be sleeping in a different bed NEXT to his sister - he WEEPED.


Told that I couldn't read his book to him if he was crying - SILENCE.


And oh yes... he cried on and off at daycare.


Good news to report though... as of 6:50am, both kids were still in their own beds and woke up as happy as could be.  I walked in and told them to have a good day and I left for work.  Apparently he held it together until the wife pulled up to daycare today, then the waterworks came on.  His sister then piped up with, "I hope it's nap time for them, he needs one!"


Hopefully more to report later tonight.


According to my stats on my blog, there are people reading this... but until I see a comment, I will continue to believe that I am writing in order to be able to reflect on it at some future date.

First Day of Daycare = Success?

A little late on this post, but with the first day of daycare yesterday, the evening hours got away from us.


Both kids were super excited on the way to daycare Monday morning.  I explained in the car that they would get to meet all kinds of other kids and get breakfast, lunch, and a couple of snacks while they were there.  And then I told them that, after work, I would be back to pick them up.  The last thing I wanted them to feel was abandoned.  I told Leonard goodbye and he went with his new teacher to see the room and all of the things that they could do.  I went into the older kids’ room (the main area) to go through some paperwork and such.  I saw Penny off to the side already playing with a little boy.  She’s super out-going and kind; so, in my head it went something like, “Hi… my name is Penny.  Let’s play.”  I told her goodbye, she gave me a hug, and then I was off to work.


I got a phone call mid-morning saying that everything was ok and they just wanted to let us know that they were doing well.  So we established that we had chosen an awesome daycare.


I went home after work and picked up the wife, so we could go get the kids together.  When we walked in, Penny was a little teary.  It turns out that she got upset when people started showing up to get the other kids and we hadn’t come yet.  She saw us and what little tears were there, stopped instantly.  The little guy was a different story.  As I walked into the room he was in, he was sobbing… nearly hysterically.  Just because.  He had a picture that he drew in one hand and a mostly thawed icepack in the other.  I assumed that he was hurt.  Nope… he was just entertained by the icepack for whatever reason 2 year olds are entertained by anything.  Once we were there, he seemed to calm down also.  I forgot to mention that this was the first time that the two of them have been apart in his entire life.


We took them out for a celebratory (and rare) dinner at McDonald’s.  Everyone was smiles and laughs for the rest of the night.


It does seem, though, that 10 hours at daycare makes for some super talkative kids through the evening hours.

Day 4

Well... we made it through the first weekend and all is well.


Today was another big day of playing for Leonard and Penny... oh to be 2 and 3 years old.  We're afraid they're gonna be HUGELY disappointed when they find out that our lives are not a revolving door of kids to play with every day.  Speaking of that, The Kid went back to her mom's house today and as she was leaving, Penny went to the door and yelled, "Come back any time!!!"  Of course she'll be back in less than two weeks to stay for our summer week with her... but I'm sure we'll get to that.


Tomorrow is the first day of daycare for the kids.  Ever.  If the transition to our house is any indication of how it's going to go, we'll be just fine.  But they are kids... so you never know.  Hopefully the selling point of, "hey, you get to go play with kids for the entire day and then I'm going to pick you up" will be a good enough explanation for them.  Updates to come on that one.


Both kids like to say how they don't nap and aren't ever tired, but today, Penny passed out on the couch watching "An American Tail" and Leonard fell asleep in the middle of talking to me about what we were going to buy at the store this evening.  We did get some quality baseball game watching in before he crashed.    We both got to hear how much Penny likes our house and their room here and the toys that we have... so that really reinforced that we've done a good job preparing for the moment.


Only my second blog entry ever... so I will just attach a cute picture of The Kid reading to Leonard and Penny and call it good for the night.

The Waiting Is Over...

We took the classes.  We moved to another state.  We did the first aid training.  We even bought clothes in every size and drove approximately 13 hours to Ikea and back to furnish a room.

And then we waited.

And then we waited some more.

It really seemed like forever.  It ended up being a day shy of 4 months from the time we stepped foot into the first class to the time we got the first phone call.  We officially became foster parents two days ago.

Leonard and Penny came to our house Thursday evening.  They had been at a four hour respite house for a few hours prior to that.  We don't know how long they'll be with us, but so far so good.  Just a couple of meltdowns over the course of two very active days.  Not too bad for a 2 year old and his almost 4 year old sister.

The last two days have been spent hanging out with us, my daughter, our niece, and attending a 2 year old's birthday party with a bunch of people they've never met.  The Kid has been great with the little ones.  She's about to be 9, but she handles those kids like a seasoned professional.  She goes back to her mom's house tomorrow evening, so after about 6 o'clock, we'll be on our own to manage the situation.