Not a lot of new information. The kids' caseworker, Marty, is going to do his best to convince the parents that it is in the best interest of the kids to have flu shots. Neither he, nor our FSC, Kate, thought that getting permission to dress Leonard and Penny up for Halloween would be an issue. Just to be safe, Marty's going to check.
While Penny is always outgoing and personable when new people come around, Leonard has generally been quite the opposite. He prefers to either sit on the stairs just out of sight or spontaneously burst into tears for no apparent reason. Tonight he alternated between sitting on the couch next to The Wife and running around the house with his sister. Marty and Kate were both pleasantly surprised to see how much he has changed in the last month since we had a meeting.
Penny informed them that she had started gymnastics last week and they both looked shocked. We just thought that she needed an activity, so that was the one we picked. We wanted her to be able to be active and socialize, so gymnastics seemed like a good fit. Penny ran upstairs and brought down her leotard to show them. She was super proud of it.
Eventually we got to talking about the excessive amounts of stuff they send home with us every week from visits. Marty mentioned that he had noticed a lot of things being sent with us and wanted to know if he should say anything about it. In less than two months, we have received numerous things that we need, as well as many that no one needs. Their mom bought them each a pair of shoes, in addition to the shoes that she sent. And then she sent about 30 pairs of socks for each kid, many of which were brand new in bags. She has also provided us enough clothes for the cooler months that, between that and what we already had, Penny will never be seen in the same outfit twice. We have gotten a kid-size suitcase of toys from their dad as well. Originally, he provided a lot of the clothes that were sent after they got to our house. We also seem to end up with a small supply of groceries for the weekends. It started as a bunch of junk food... cookies, popcorn, etc. Since then, it has made the transition to healthier options like blueberries and broccoli and/or carrots with ranch. Those things all seem to come from their dad. Their mom brings them lunch every week during their visit. All but once it has been fast food. The other time, it was sandwiches and fruit that she had made and brought with her. We were hopeful after that one that the non-fast food trend would continue... that didn't work out though. Marty sort of gave us the eye roll when we were talking about the fast food and everything, like he wished that he could do something about it, but couldn't. The upside is that since we don't eat out, that's the only fast food that they're getting. Generally, the food all ends up getting thrown away, just because we have meals planned out a week in advance and the kids are at daycare for breakfast and lunch during the week. Occasionally, we've used it as a side dish to their regular dinner, but how many things do blueberries really go with?
We talked about how they were doing with daycare and sleeping and everything else, but like I said, nothing super new to report. Marty still thinks they'll be with us for a long time and even with the mention of Leonard's birthday in April, he didn't seem real concerned that they would be anywhere but with us.
I'm sure there was more and it will occur to me in the middle of the night that I left something out, but that will just leave me something to write tomorrow.
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