Easter Egg Hunt

This morning was the Easter Egg Hunt at church.

Precious thought the eggs were really cool!

BB even found a stuffed bunny!

The Easter Bunny came, and Precious was happy to sit on his lap.

BB wanted nothing to do with him, but talked constantly about him!

It was a nice morning.

Spring Break

March is the month of Spring Break.  First Sweets had over two weeks of Spring Break which ended Monday.  May and Buddy have a week and a day which started Monday.  Get the picture?

I really wanted to do something special for the kids, but the only way to make it work was to take a long weekend.  After talking with a friend, who is also a foster and adoptive parent (of 11 no less), we devised a plan.  I would leave my two little ones with her and take three of her kids that line up in age and gender with my three older ones to Disneyland.  Sound like a plan to you?

Hotel room for seven reserved; discount tickets found; coordination with school for each child to miss one day either before or after spring break; vacation scheduled at work; lots of snacks purchased and packed.  Then the weekend before, the stomach virus hits Precious followed by BB.  Oh, no!  Did I forget to mention that my friend just accepted a newborn infant as a foster placement?

All last week was touch and go.  The hotel had a 48 hour cancellation policy.  I called 48 hours in advance and explained the situation and the manager agreed to let me cancel 24 hours in advance with no fees if necessary.  (When I did finally checkout, it was with the manager I talked to on the phone that night.  He remembered and said he was glad the kids felt well enough to come.  I will so go back to this hotel again!)  As it turned out, by Thursday both little ones were on the mend, and we decided to go ahead with the plans.

Friday we left and drove to Disneyland.  We arrived after 11pm at the hotel.  We spent three days park hopping between Disneyland and California Adventure.  It was really nice.  The kids all had fun.  No major meltdowns, although there were definitely tired kids.  Tuesday we checked out and drove home.

BB and Precious did really well too.  They enjoyed their time at my friend's and each had a playmate close to their age as well. 

When I returned to work on Wednesday, I heard many comments about taking six kids to Disney on my own.  Many involved the words "crazy" or "nuts".  That's okay.  I enjoyed it and so did all the kids!  In my mind, that's a successful Spring Break.

Training

I attended an all day training session today to fulfill my hours for my foster care license.  They call it the Spring Training Blitz here, where hundreds come to get their required training hours in a single day.  There were seven morning trainings to choose from and seven afternoon training sessions.

In the morning I went to a session on motivation.  The trainer was excellent and really knew her stuff.  She was a child and family therapist.  Unfortunately, she spent almost the entire time talking about developmental stages and what happens when kids experience trauma or are otherwise interrupted during those stages.  She shared many reasons why kids lack motivation, but she didn't really get into how to help them become motivated other than to say that they need to learn what they missed during each developmental stage. 

A couple take aways from this class:

• Kids can't process working to change more than three things at a time.
• The more you externally motivate, the less a child develops internal motivation.

The afternoon session that I attended discussed keeping children safe in the digital world.  Topics covered included internet safety, password strength and security, monitoring software for both computers and smart phones, and rules regarding electronic devices.  I thought this training presented some really good information.  I signed up for an email which will outline how to set the privacy settings on social media. 

This day was made possible by my fabulous friend, also a foster and adoptive parent, who watched all of my children along with her brood.  We all met for an outdoor barbeque to end the day.

Rough Week

It's been a long week.  Here's what I can remember in bullet form:

• Tasha continued to jump our 6' block fence - had to return her to the shelter
• Precious ended up in urgent care - ear infection
• My parents joined us for dinner before leaving town for vacation
• Agonized over which school Buddy will attend next year - he's happy with decision
• Registered May and Buddy for school next year
• Three doctor's appointments - left work early three days
• Sweet's dad agreed to take her to choir - he didn't
• Buddy had field day - I joined him for lunch
• Joint meeting with BB's OT provider and behavior therapist - sensory issues

I'm tired and pretty sure I probably missed something.  I thought things would get simpler when my school was over.  I'm still waiting for that to happen!

Proof

Precious' social security card came in the mail today.  I went to vital records and picked up her certified birth certificate about a month ago, and then went to the social security administration a couple weeks ago.  I now have BOTH legal documents!  This is when it truly feels like the adoption is complete to me.  She is 100% part of my family!

Acolyte in Training

Sweets and Buddy were the acolytes for our traditional church service this morning.  They light the candles on the alter in the front of the church at the start of the service. 

We arrived early to get their white robes and purple stoles on.  BB was taking it all in and said he wanted one too.  The acolyte garments are stored in the choir room closet with the choir robes, and the (old) little white children's choir robes were right beside them.  So, in an effort to avoid a fit, I threw a little white robe on BB's head and marched him out the door after the big kids.  Next stop - back of church.

BB sat on a chair right be side Buddy and Sweets waiting for the service to begin.  I sat beside him holding Precious, who I was planning to keep with me in service instead of taking her to the nursery since she has been sick.  The time came and the music of the prelude started.  Buddy and Sweets lined up behind the back pew and had their candle lighters lit.  BB walked over right behind them.  He looked at me; I looked at him and waved him to come back to the chairs.

I knew what was coming next as Buddy and Sweets started to process down the aisle between the pews!  I almost shoved Precious at the usher who had been watching this entire scene thinking it was so cute.  I quickly moved over and swooped up BB - he only made it past two pews (I think there were lots of grins!).  Luckily he didn't scream and I held him up and whispered in his ear with the play-by-play as his brother and sister finished their job.  Then BB softly said, "out the door," after the big kids disappeared behind the choir loft through the side doors.

He happily got down and went out the back door with me and Precious to find them.  Then he went willingly to the nursery without his robe, since the other two had taken their's off to go to Sunday School.  Overally, it was a successful part of the morning!

Poor Baby

Precious is sick.  Took her to urgent care tonight after running a fever off and on for three days.  Today junk started discharging from her eyes.  Unbelieveably, she was still in happy spirits most of the time, until the middle of the night.  I just wasn't ready for another long night.

She has an ear infection, and she had lots of wax buildup deep in both ears.  After medication, she is happy again!  Precious has been a very healthy baby.  I think this may be the first time on antibiotics.

Despite not feeling well and an ear infection, Precious now walks across the room on her own!  Imagine what she will be like when her ear clears up!  I bet she'll run across the room!