Elise Has an Ear Infection

Elise developed a fever after her vomiting and diarrhea issue last week. I assumed the fever was related to whatever stomach bug she'd caught. The fever didn't go away after the puking and pooping stopped, though, so I was starting to think that maybe the fever was a separate illness. I had planned to take her to the doctor's office today if she was still feeling under the weather. Then yesterday her fever spiked up to 102.5 (under her arm) and even with Tylenol it only came down to 101.7. I took her to urgent care.

Ear infection. Maybe a bit of a sinus infection and/or upper respiratory infection, too. Poor Elisey. She was miserable and now I see why. She was so fussy and whiny and yesterday she kept saying, "Mommy, my brain hurts."

A few doses of antibiotics later, she's back to her old wacky self.

Sweet Six Teeth

Clark's 6th tooth has finally arrived! God, I love gap-toothed baby grins. Adorable.

I learned a few months ago that kids' teeth don't start squishing in close to each other and losing those gaps between each of the teeth until they're about 3 years old. Isn't that weird? What's up with that, evolution? Anyhow, it's nice to not have to floss baby teeth. So I'm not complaining.

Also, Clark's latest favorite thing to eat is mandarin oranges. He LOVES them. I tried giving him some grapefruit, thinking that he might like that kind of citrus, too. Nope. Too sour, I guess. More for me!

About the Size of a Cocker Spaniel

I weighed all of the kids today at the vet's office. They have a scale for weighing big dogs there and the kids all took a turn getting their weights measured. I don't remember the exact weights, but it was roughly this:

Henry: 38 lbs
Elise: 28 lbs
Georgia: 33 lbs
Clark: almost 24 lbs

I put these weights plus the heights that I recently measured into a growth chart calculator and this is what I got:

Henry: 85th % for weight, 98th % for height
Elise: 42nd % for weight, 43rd % for height
Georgia: 91st % for weight, 87th % for height
Clark: 72nd % for weight, 83% for height

I Hate Sleep Training

I usually put Clark to sleep at night by bouncing him in his reclining bouncy chair. This works really well, but it's probably a bad habit because eventually he's going to outgrow that chair. I decided last night that he needs to start getting used to laying down in his pack&play when it's time to go to bed.

The start of any new sleep training move is always the worst. The baby resists and resists and resists. Many tears are shed. Baby tears AND mommy tears. At least, that's how it works in my house.

We started putting Clark to bed last night around 8:00 and he didn't finally lay down to sleep until almost 11:00. Husband and I were taking 10 minute shifts, back and forth, for what felt like an eternity. It was awful. And Clark was stubborn! He was literally sleeping sitting up. He refused to lie down. Clark would sit there with his eyes closed, wobbling from side to side, his head rolling around on his chest. He fought it until the bitter end.

And tonight wasn't much better. A little bit. But not much.

Good thing I'm just as stubborn as he is. You want to sleep sitting up? Be my guest, silly baby. Be my guest.

Go Clarky; Airplane Attack

* Clark can take 3 or 4 steps now before he falls down. He's learning fast! And he's so proud of himself. Big smiles and giggles every time he walks. It's adorable.

* Today I took Elise and Clark to an airport. We watched some planes taking off and landing, which Elise was totally excited about. At one point, a small plane was taxiing down the runway, then it turned toward the window that we were looking out of and started coming toward us. This surprised Elise. She saw the plane and yelled, "HOLY GOD!"

I have no idea where she heard that phrase. But it was pretty funny when she said it. Crazy baby.

Need Sleep

Elise woke up at 12:44 last night puking and diarrhea-ing. It lasted off and on all night. I can't even count how many times I scooped her up and ran with her into the bathroom. I changed her bedding twice and her pajamas three times. I'm sure I got a few hours of sleep in there somewhere, but it feels like I only slept for about 3 minutes. And then today was full of bad luck and various misadventures, including me crying in public (more out of utter exhaustion than anything else).

Elise is doing fine, though. Had her last puke in the kitchen this morning and now she's back to her old self. I, however, will probably take weeks to fully recover from this. Weeks.

Happy 11 Months!

Clark is 11 months old today! I can't believe it! Sweet little chubby cubby... I love you so much!

To celebrate, Clark decided that today was the day that he'd finally learn to climb. He's been thinking about it for a while now. Eyeing the couch. The dining room chairs. The side of his pack 'n play. He put a real effort into it this evening and finally climbed up onto Georgia's toddler bed.

So here we are again. I have a baby that's just strong enough to be dangerous. Almost walking. Able to climb. Time to put the phone number for the urgent care clinic on speed dial and hope for the best.

Georgia is Better; Hiding

* Georgia's leg is better. Don't know what that was all about. Glad it's over with, though.

* Henry, Elise, and Georgia all love to hide under blankets. They often pull their blankets off their beds and either run around the bedrooms with blankets over their heads or they'll all huddle on the floor underneath one blanket. What's funny about it, though, is that they always refer to the activity as "going hiding," like it's some big adventure. Here's a super common conversation in our house:

Henry: "Elise! Wanna go hiding?"
Elise: "Yes! Georgia! Let's go hiding!"
Georgia: "I'm going hiding! Mommy! I'm going hiding now."
Elise: "Mommy! We'll be right back. We going hiding."
Me: "Okay. Have fun hiding."

And then they throw a blanket over their heads.

I built them a blanket tent with a sheet and two chairs from the dining room the other day. It was literally too much excitement for them to handle. I had to take it down before someone got crushed by a knocked-over chair.

Baby Lumps

Georgia's left leg got hurt somehow. This morning her ankle was all swollen and warm. She had what looked like a bug bite that got scratched until it bled that was located central to the swelling, so Husband and I assumed that it must have something to do with the reaction her body was having. She could walk, didn't act like it hurt at all. But it was weird, so we called a nurse.

The nurse said to try Benadryl first, which we did, and it seems to have helped. Or at least the swelling is mostly down. But you know me, I assume the worst. So I'm keeping the scratch covered with a band aid, just in case of MRSA or something crazy. Just in case.

Being a mother has made me totally paranoid about sicknesses and injuries.

Height

I measured the kids' heights recently.

Henry= 42 inches
Elise= 35.5 inches
Georgia= 37 inches
Clark= 30.5 inches

That means that Henry should technically be wearing size 5T, although his little butt is so skinny, there's no way he fits into size 5T pants. He is a big 3 year old. Tall. But I swear, he has the butt of a 6 month old.

Elise is starting to transition out of 2T clothes and into 3T.

Georgia is about to start outgrowing her 3T clothes and start moving into 4T. She's one of the biggest 2 year olds in her day care class. At least Elise will be able to wear some of her old clothes. Save me a little money.

And Clark is wearing 18 month clothes. I think his growth is starting to slow down, though, because he was 30.5 inches a month ago, so that means that he hasn't grown much lately. He's too busy learning how to walk and he forgot about growing taller, I guess.

Where Do Lemurs Come From?

Today Elise saw a toy baseball inside the lemur enclosure at the zoo.

"Mommy! A lemur egg!"

Parenting: I'm Doing Something Right

Today Elise was blowing bubbles outside with Clark. Fun, fun, giggles, smiles, giggles... then DISASTER. Elise knocked over her bottle of bubble solution and somehow every last drop poured out onto the ground. Elise had a yelling, crying, flopping hissy fit. I said "I'm so sorry" about a million times. Also, "I understand. I wanted to blow more bubbles, too." And, "If there was anything I could do to fix it, I would." And so on and so forth.

After a few minutes she calmed down and we went back inside of Georgia and Henry's speech therapist's office. She sat down next to me in a chair and said, "Mommy. I'm sorry I got mad."  I hugged her and said, "Thank you. That was very nice of you to apologize."

But here's how I felt on the inside:

Henry In Preschool

Henry has started preschool! Not just day care, but actual preschool, where they prepare kids for kindergarten. Usually you have to be 4 years old to enroll in preschool, but because of Henry's speech delays he was eligible to start preschool at 3 years old.

Husband and I both took Henry to school on his first day. I was a little nervous for him. No mommy tears, though, because he's already been going to day care and I know that this preschool program will be a million times better for him. But it was a new school, new teacher, new classmates... I thought about him all day long and worried that he was having a good time.

No need to worry, though! He was smiling when I picked him up. I think that the 8 BILLION toy cars and trucks that they have in their classroom put him at ease. Every day when I take him to school, Elise asks to stay and play. I generally linger a few minutes, but Henry's always fine when I leave and happy when I pick him up. Every day has been a good day. And his teacher has already commented on what a sweet boy he is and that he has such a nice disposition.

I'm so glad that it was a smooth transition for Henry to big kid school.

Butt Biter

When Clark stands up he is just as tall as the underside of my butt. I know this because he pulled himself up on my pant leg and then tilted up his little chin and took a great big bite of my ass. It hurt. He may be learning how to walk, but luckily I already know how to run.

Baby Steps! Baby Steps!

Clark took his first step! Tonight I stood him up on his feet, he took one step and kept his balance, then he tried to take another step and fell down.

My little Babu is walking! I can't believe it.

Zip Lip

Tonight Elise kept asking me to do something over and over and over again, but I couldn't because I was busy. Her chatter was driving me bonkers, so finally I showed her how to zip her lips. It was something new, so she found it interesting and I found it to be a suitable momentary distraction.

After my instruction, Elise happily drew her fingers across her mouth and pressed her lips together. She stood there and stared at me, stony-faced, for a few seconds. Then she drew her fingers across her mouth in the opposite direction, unzipping her lips.

"HA! HA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Then she zipped her lips back up again and stared at me.

She is so weird.

Waiting for the Tooth

No post last night. Clark was Grumpy McGrumpersons. Tooth #6 is working it's way through his tiny little baby gums and he was having a pretty rough time. Thank god we don't remember our teething experiences. Poor little Bubba.

Also, Clark has started throwing what appear to be baby temper tantrums. Screaming, flopping, slapping cry-fests. Usually about food or milk. I'm cutting him some slack because of the whole teething thing, plus he's started standing unassisted (I have to set him on his feet, but he can keep his balance) and so I think his little brain is gearing up to learn how to walk. Sometimes kids get really grumpy and weird right before they hit milestones, so maybe that's contributing to his moodiness.

Of course, his moodiness is contributing to MY moodiness. It's a vicious cycle.

Oh, Nice Diaper Bag!

I get a lot of compliments on my diaper bag. It's not actually a diaper bag, though, it's a small piece of luggage. Seriously. Last time I had to get a new diaper bag, I looked and looked for something big enough to carry all of the diapers, pull-ups, wipes, changes of clothes, books, and snacks that four toddlers require. I couldn't find anything big enough. Even the bags that looked big on the outside weren't very big on the inside. So, I ended up looking at carry-on sized pieces of luggage and I found something I liked. And it was totally reasonably priced. I swear, call something a baby-(fill in the blank) and it costs twice as much. Screw you, diaper bags! I bought something I can still use even after my babies are potty trained. Take that, capitalist baby machine!... or baby capitalist machine!... or capitalist machine regarding babies! Whatever. You know what I mean.

Cat Update

There's no telling what's wrong with my old lady cat, Beanie. She's either in the throes of kidney failure or she just has a crummy infection that's making her dehydrated and throwing all of her kidney values off. It's proooobably the latter, because she seems to be getting better. She's eating now, although she still isn't eating quite as much as she usually does, and she doesn't seem all lethargic and moody anymore. I have to take her back to the vet in a month and get her blood work done again, to see if her kidney values have improved. Fingers crossed.

Elephants are Hilarious

Today I read Clark a book that talked about different kinds of animals. He's little, you know, so I read it over and over and over again. Every time, he thought the elephant was hilarious. Don't know why. He just turned into a jiggling ball of giggles whenever he saw the elephant.

Scootin'

Clark has started walking behind one of his push toys. Mommy tears! Why? Because that means he's almost not a baby anymore. He's teetering on the edge of toddlerhood. Mommy tears!!!!!!

Desires, Poo Poo Pants

* Clark has three favorite foods now: cottage cheese, yogurt, and Buddy Fruits (any flavor). Buddy Fruits are these little squeezable packages of pureed fruit that I keep in my diaper bag in case Clark needs a snack or a supplement to a restaurant meal, since his diet is still kind of limited. Clark knows what the packaging of Buddy Fruits looks like and he LOSES his SHIT when he sees one. Bonkers. Screaming. Until the fruit is being squeezed into his mouth, he's inconsolable. To a lesser degree, he's like that with yogurt and the tub of cottage cheese. I have to carefully coordinate the presentation of Clark's meals lately, making sure to give him his food in the order of least desirable to most desirable, otherwise he won't eat things like broccoli or carrots or bread.

* Riding home from grocery shopping with the kids today, they were all in the back of the van talking to each other. Mostly it was like this:

Henry: "A digger!"

Georgia: "Momma! A digger! A digger, Henry?"

Henry: "Yeah, a digger. Elise! I see a digger!"

Elise: "Oooh. Where the digger?"

Blah blah blah. Silly baby talk. Then:

Elise: "Hey! Daddy poo poos in his pants!"

And the kids all explode with laughter. For, like, two minutes they just laughed and laughed.

This Is My Entire Day... With Double the Kids

More Cat Drama

My old lady cat, Beanie, is sick again. She hasn't eaten for over two days, she's vomiting, and she has diarrhea. Clark and Georgia and I took Beanie to the vet's office this morning (that was my whole morning-- a 10 month old, a two year old, and a geriatric cat that's leaking out both ends of her furry body). No telling what the problem is. The vet took blood and urine samples and sent me home with a bunch of medicines to give her while we await the test results.

It seems like Beanie and Sausage are in a race to see who can drain us of our savings first. Not sure who's winning at this point. Cats, man! Cats!

I Can't Even Hold My Eyes Open

Crazy day. But I'm too tired to talk about it. Clark has been a lousy sleeper lately. I can barely function... ZZZZZZZZZZ...

Bummer

Husband and I met over 20 years ago in a 7th grade English class. Because 7th graders are assholes (at least, I'm assuming that to be the reason), the teacher made an assigned seating chart.You know, so kids couldn't sit next to their friends. Little did he know, he sat me next to my future husband. (Awwwww.)

As the teacher rotated the seats around throughout the year, Husband and I actually got seated next to each other more than once. Husband talked to me about guns and weapons and military vehicles. Not in a hyper-masculine way. Just in a hey-I-think-this-is-cool-so-maybe-you-will-too kind of way. Whatever the motivation, it worked. I ended up having his babies.

That teacher never had any children of his own, but without him, Elise and Clark might not be here.

The CIRCLE of LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE...

Anywho, our old 7th grade teacher committed suicide a few days ago. Bummer.

Hair Dresser's Adoption Story

I often end up talking to strangers about their adoption stories or their experiences as foster parents or foster children. No kidding, it happens A LOT.

Recently, I went to a new hair dresser for a hair cut and in the course of the conversation she ended up telling me that she was adopted from foster care. She had an interesting story. She seemed kind of sad. Most of the people that I talk to don't seem sad, but she did.

The hair dresser had lived in a foster home that had a lot of other children. She really liked her foster parents but they weren't interested in ever adopting, so she was waiting to be matched with adoptive parents. She lived in the foster home until she was five years old. While she was there, she became very close to a little boy that was about her age. The foster parents pushed for them to be adopted together.

The girl and her friend did get adopted into the same family. There was an older sister in the family who had been adopted several years before; she didn't like the two new kids. The hair dresser was old enough to remember the whole adoption experience. She said she felt scared and unhappy for a long time. She missed her foster family. As an adult, her brother (the friend from the foster home) is still the person she's closest with. It sounded like they have a special bond.

The happy part of her story is that she got to grow up with her friend and that her foster family had cared enough about them both to keep them together. I'm sure there's so much more to her story than what she told me-- I hope she can find a way not to be sad forever.

I Heart Mr Rogers

I introduced Elise to Fred Rogers today. My local library has some Mr Rogers' Neighborhood dvds and I ripped a few of them a long time ago, when we first started fostering. I let Elise watch one of the dvds this afternoon while I was making dinner. She really liked it.

I love Fred Rogers. There aren't many people that I haven't personally met that I can truly say that I love. But I love Fred Rogers. He's an amazing person.

“Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.” 

― Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

Flo Rida

There's actually a rapper with that name. Flo Rida. As in Flow Rider. He's from Florida, so the name has two meanings, I guess. But "Flo Rida" ???  I believe you're supposed to be thinking about the flow of his lyrics, but all I can think about is a lady who has her period. Her flow. Riding it out. Flo Rida.

Welcome back, bloody blood.

It's been about 10 1/2 months since Clark was born. It only took 6 months to get my period back after Elise. Clearly, this time my uterus was like "What the fuck was THAT?! 9 lbs 5 oz? I am CLOSED FOR BUSINESS. Will reopen after some remodeling. Thank you, Mgmt."

Welcome to my grand re-opening.

Here's the weirdest part. Before I had Elise, I didn't really get period cramps. Not much. Not like some ladies. Then after I had Elise, I definitely got them. You know, those TWO periods that I had before I was pregnant again. But whatever, I was getting cramps. I had read that can happen, that your period can be completely different than what you're used to after you have a baby. But this time, ZERO cramps. Zero. So Elise flipped the period cramp switch on her way out, then Clark flipped it back when it was his turn to shimmy past. Awesome.

Well, getting my period makes me hungry. So I'm going to go ride my flow with a post-dinner bowl of spaghetti and a tall cold one ("one" being a huge glass of chocolate milk). Laterz, my homeslices.

Creativity with Monsters

Usually when I ask the kids what something is named, they simply label the item. For example, "Elise, what is your doll named?" "Doll." "That's what it is, but does it have a name? You're a girl but your name is Elise. Does the doll have a name? Like Elise or Annie or Maraca or Twinkle?" "Doll."

Today we went to a kiddie play place arcade thingy and when we cashed in our tickets, the big kids each got to pick out a toy monster. I asked them if their monsters have names. Georgia named hers Dinosaur because I guess it looked like a dinosaur a little bit. But I was impressed that she didn't just spit back the word "monster." Elise named hers Pink because one of the colors on the toy she picked is pink. And Henry named his Truck, presumably because his favorite thing in the world right now is trucks.

Pretty cool that all of their little baby brains took a leap forward today.

Top Three Good Things About Today

1. Cooking with (lots of) fresh basil from our CSA haul this week. God, I love basil. Clark had some basil today, too. This morning I made eggs scrambled with tomatoes, basil, onion, and garlic. It's one of Husband's new favorite things to eat. The big kids like it okay and Clark tried it and gobbled it up. Like father like son.

2. Preparing lunch while Henry sat at the kitchen table and quietly colored with crayons. I don't get a lot of quiet time with the kids, especially with Henry or Georgia. It was really nice.

3. Meeting up with the kids' GAL and her having nothing remarkable to report about their mother, their sisters, or the case in general. Finally. Calm.

Every Range of Emotion

Henry and Elise (but mostly Henry) are obsessed with things that go-- cars, trucks, trains, helicopters, construction equipment, you name it. Lately monster trucks have taken the spotlight.

Tonight, catering to their fanaticism, I was showing the kids videos on youtube of different monster truck events. I found the "Robosaurus," which is this huge contraption that is made to look like a giant dinosaur and it breathes fire and picks up cars and crunches them. Kind of cool, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing.

Henry got scared while we were watching Robosaurus. He sat on the couch with a blanket over his head, peeking out of a crack he had made near his eye and squeaking at the especially dramatic parts. Georgia was barely watching and seemed totally unimpressed. Elise watched for a long time with a quizzical expression and then finally said, "Um... he looks like a kangaroo."

Nom Nom Nom

Clark has had lots of new foods lately. Beets, pasta, bread, blueberries, black beans, eggs, tofu... I can't remember everything. He pretty much just eats whatever now. Except for stuff like peanut butter and honey and those things that you're supposed to wait on until the baby is older.

We're starting his sumo wrestler diet early...

Ain't Ya Daddy

Update on the Susannah daddy thing. Remember how there was some new guy claiming that he's Susannah's biological father? He showed up in court at a hearing recently claiming as much. Well, turns out that it's physically impossible. He should have done his math. He was off by a couple of years. Seriously. So her biological father is still legally "unknown" and this new guy won't be disrupting the TPR process.

Whew!

Teddy Tuckins

Jesus H Christ. Elise sleeps with these three teddy bears-- a big white bear named Mama Bear, a little white one named Achoo, and a little red one she refers to as Other Baby Bear. Well, for the past two weeks, it has not been enough to just sleep with the bears in her bed. The bears have to be tucked in at the same time that she is being tucked in. The bears have to be tucked in a very, very, VERY particular way. So particular that I never get it right. EVER. And she has a goddamn meltdown about it nearly every day. Sometimes twice a day because there is both nap time and bedtime, after all. I line them up and tuck the blanket under their chins. Wrong. I pile them together and wrap the blanket around them. Wrong. I do EXACTLY whatever nonsensical thing Elise tells me to do to tuck in the teddy bears and it's still wrong, wrong. wrong. I even suggested that maybe we're having so much trouble making the teddy bears happy because the teddy bears don't actually want to be tucked in-- they'd probably rather just sleep on top of the covers. WRONG!

Dear God, let Elise outgrow this phase quickly.

Clarky Want a Cracker

Clark is the most amazing mimic. Keeping in mind that at his age he simply isn't capable of imitating every letter sound, he does a bang up job of copying the words he hears. He nearly always gets the correct number of syllables, and he approximates the word sounds to the best of his ability. "It's raining" becomes "Eee dah-nan" and "teddy bear" becomes "dee dee bah." Okay... that looks dumb written out, but it's impressive in person. He doesn't say these things spontaneously yet, but he can copy rather well.

Clark is starting to babble with lots of different sounds in a row, not just the same ma-ma-ma-ma sound over and over again. And sometimes when he's eating it really sounds like he shouts "more!" I can't wait to talk to him the way I can talk to Elise.

Henry and Georgia are doing very well with their speech therapy, too. Henry's vocabulary seems to be expanding every single day-- new word after new word and longer and more complex sentences. I still can't understand everything he says, but he's working really hard and making lots of progress. Georgia is doing really well, too. She does this cute thing lately where when she means to say, "I'm scared" she says "I scary!" She usually says it while she's hopping around, waving her arms, and trying to claw her way up our legs to be picked up-- so she really is being kind of scary.

First Aid Kit

As foster parents, we're required to have a first aid kit in our house. There's no requirement as to what's IN the first aid kit... any one of those pre-packaged kits will do. The one we have is mostly band-aids and antibacterial cream.

I recently found what seems to be a decent list of "first aid essentials" and I made sure that we have everything on the list at home.

- hand sanitizer (we have bottles of it stationed all over our house)
- blanket (of course we have blankets, but I guess it couldn't hurt to put one in the car, just in case of someone going into shock or whatever)
- bottled water (again, obviously we have water in our house, but I had to put some in the car)
- instant cold compress to help control swelling
- bandages, sterile gauze, adhesive tape, scissors
- tweezers
- calamine lotion
- alcohol wipes
- oral antihistamine
- acetaminophen or ibuprofen (we have both for adults and both for children)
- thermometer
- antibiotic ointment

I don't have all of this stuff in the car/diaper bag... but I have a lot of it. And we definitely use hand sanitizer, band-aids, and antibiotic ointment on a very VERY regular basis.

Finally!

Clark has been crawling mostly on his hands and knees for the past couple of days instead of army crawling. Finally! I thought he might be one of those babies who never quite does the complete crawling thing before he learns to walk. He finally figured it out, though. He looks ADORABLE when he crawls because he kind of tucks his pelvis under and it makes his butt look so tiny.

What Do Koalas Eat?

Elise: Mommy? What do koalas eat?

Me: They like to eat a special kind of plant called eucalyptus.

E: Lulu biscuits?

M: No. A plant. Eucalyptus.

E: Oooooooooh. EU-lulu biscuits. Koalas eat eululu buscuits.  .... That's funny, Mommy.

What to Do with My Two Year Old

Keeping Elisey smartypants busy is sometimes a daunting task. She gets into everything and if she's bored she can get very naughty. Very naughty.

Aside from reading tons of books, making art projects, watching occasional TV, building with blocks, putting together puzzles, and playing kiddie video games, here are a few of the activities I've engaged Elise with lately:

* Treasure Hunt: Elise had to earn the fruit for her lunch the other day by following a series of clues. The clues were age-appropriate, such as, "Go to the place where Henry sleeps. Look under his pillow." Each clue lead her to the location where I had hidden the next card with a clue on it, until at last she discovered the fruit stashed in the cargo pocket of my shorts.

* Necklace: Elise threaded some of Georgia's hair beads onto a string to make a necklace.

* Animal Science Notebook: Inspired by the TV show Go Diego Go!, we started a notebook with pictures and facts about animals that we've seen in the wild. First we take a picture of the animal and then we have the picture printed. We look up facts about the animal and write some of them down, such as where the animal lives and what it eats. Elise and I then put the picture and the facts on a page in her notebook. The first animal, for example, was a white-tailed deer that we saw on a recent vacation. Among the facts that we wrote down were that it has a white underside to its tail, it eats grass, and its afraid of wolves.

Cheese!

We went to a portrait studio in the mall recently and got a big group photo done with Susannah, Henry, Georgia, Eve, Allison, and all of the foster parents and foster siblings. The picture turned out really nice-- our crazy, big, mismatched, mishmashed extended family. I love it. And Case Manager is totally thrilled with it. She told me that she's never had another group of foster parents get biological siblings together to do something like that.

No matter what happens at the TPR hearing, I know that our group picture will always be very special to everyone involved in this case. I'm so glad that we did it.

Cat News, Uh-oh, Daddy?

* Sausage doesn't have cancer! Probably. They can't rule it out completely, but there are no obvious signs per his recent tests. Yay! So he probably has irritable bowel disease, which makes his tummy very sensitive and requires us to change his diet to some very expensive cat food. I'm so happy, though. So happy.

* Today Clark dropped a toy and on his own he said "uh-oh!" Awesome, Clarky! He did it about 3 more times, so it wasn't a fluke. My little smarty pants. I'm just hoping that it isn't some kind of unfortunate foreshadowing that his first real word (where he has given actual meaning to a specific sound) is "uh-oh."

* The kids' mom has decided that she thinks she knows who Susannah's biological father is. Despite the fact that the kids have been in foster care for over 18 months, despite the fact that Case Manager has asked her repeatedly for the names of any potential fathers, and despite saying in court that she doesn't know who the father is, NOW she thinks she knows, right before the TPR hearing is scheduled. Unbelievable. I'm going to be SO upset if this delays the hearing.

Crazy Days

These last few days have been crazycakes. We took the kids to visit our families over the weekend, which is always wonderful and fun and also a tremendous amount of work. Also, while we were out of town there was a flurry of emails bouncing around from Case Manager, Guardian Ad Litem, and the attorney for the State (all of which I was cc'd on) regarding the kids' mom and some very bad decisions that she's been making lately. Drama, drama, drama! She's in a bad place right now and definitely not able to take care of small children. I really hope that the judge can see that during the upcoming TPR hearing.

Between the road trip with four toddlers, the babymama drama, some set backs that we've encountered with the house, and the trouble with my cat, I'm completely and utterly exhausted. I've got nothing. I'm a zombie. 

Tooth #5

Clark's 5th tooth has popped through! Clark the shark!

Cat Update

Sausage either has irritable bowel disease or lymphoma. Waiting on some test results.

Shit Day

Today sucked. Elise was a monster all day long, just whining and throwing fits and being defiant. She bit Clark's finger so hard that over 5 hours later he still has a mark. I can't believe she didn't break the skin.

On top of that, my sick boy cat (Sausage) is sick again. He has to go to the vet tomorrow and get an x-ray of his abdomen. Maybe and ultrasound, too. And depending on what they find, who knows what else.

So, as much as today sucked, tomorrow will probably be even worse. But I'm in such an awful mood that I can't even properly mentally prepare myself for it. I dropped a peach slice on the floor tonight while I was getting dinner ready and I totally overreacted and yelled, "Aaaaaah, GODDDDDDDDDDDDD!" Which then made Elise and Henry and Georgia all start asking, "What happen?" "What you mad of?""What happen Mommy?" And I was like, "Life! Life happened! Grrrrrr!" The kids were totally confused. "Life happen Mommy? You okay? You life happen?" You'll understand eventually, kids.

Status Updates

* Clark's newest food: broccoli. He seemed to like it.

* Elise's newest saying: pee pee teepee. That's my fault. I was capitalizing on her poo poo igloo, so I told her to tell her daddy "pee pee teepee." Now she won't stop saying it.

* Repairs in the boys' bedroom: done! Everything has been painted, patched, and organized. Whew! Next room in the house that we'll work on is the girls' bedroom.

* Crappiest thing to happen lately: someone tried to burglarize my car. Someone opened up my car and rifled through everything in the middle of the night a few days ago.  Ha, ha, Sucker! All I keep in my car is baby wipes, a phone charger, and some Weird Al Yankovic cassette tapes. Nothing was taken. Apparently the criminal isn't into musical parodies set to polka music. Or maybe the criminal just doesn't have a cassette player anymore. Anyhow, some of our neighbors did get stuff taken from their cars. I heard someone saying, "... iPod, my iPhone..." to the cops.

Clarky the Giant

Clark had his 9 month check up today. He was 30.5 inches long (98th percentile) and weighed 22 lbs 8 oz (85th percentile). He's thinning out a bit, but he's no teensy weensy.

I still can't figure out how the hugeness happened. I'll tell you what, though-- he's going to be carrying ME before long, as he's destroying my back with all of his sweet baby chubbiness. I hope Santa brings him a wagon for Christmas. One big enough for me to curl into the fetal position while I ride in it, so that Clark can tote me around until I recover from the pregnancy and the first year of his life.

Baby Allison

This weekend I got to see baby Allison for the first time. Allison is Henry and Georgia's new baby sister, you'll remember. Henry and Georgia get to see Allison every week during visitation with their mom, but Husband, Elise, Clark, and I hadn't met her before. She's so little and cute! And so much hair! Holy cow, so much hair. Soft hair, like fluffy lamb's wool.

Not that this means anything... but she looks NOTHING like her sisters. Georgia, Eve, and Allison all have the same father, as far as we know. Georgia and Eve definitely resemble each other but Allison looks very different than they do. At least right now she does. Maybe we'll see more of a resemblance as she grows. Georgia and Eve looked alike as soon as Eve was born, but Allison has very different features-- her nose and her mouth aren't the same shape as Georgia's and Eve's.

Allison is precious. New babies are so scrunched-up and helpless looking. I'd almost forgotten what babies are like before they start moving around and getting interesting. They just sit there, waiting for hugs and kisses. I'm glad we all got to see baby Allison while she is still a teeny weeny.

I Swear To Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth...

I got a subpoena today commanding me to appear and testify at the TPR hearing next month. I knew it was coming. Still, it's weird to have a strange guy knock on your door in the middle of the day, have him identify himself as an "officer of the court," and then hand you an order to appear somewhere on a certain day and time. A fine how-do-you-do while four kids are screaming at you that they want their lunch and don't care if the Queen of England is knocking at the door, they're hungry goddammit (at least that's what I think they were trying to say).

The TPR hearing should be interesting. The kids' mom keeps making really poor decisions. Really poor. But they aren't the kind of things that are definitely going to make a judge say "this is just too much." It's obvious to everyone who is actively involved in the case (the foster parents, the case manager, the supervisors at the visitation center where the kids have weekly visits with their mom, etc.) that the kids' mom just isn't capable of adequately parenting her children. Not even one child, let alone five. I just hope that the attorney can put together a strong enough case and show concrete evidence to back up what everyone else's gut feelings are telling them.

House

When Husband and I bought our house over 7 years ago, we had no thoughts of children (singular or plural) or which school district the house would be located in. In fact, I can't believe we still live in this city at all. But here we are, and now that we have two small children and maybe the opportunity to adopt two more, all I think about is having enough space for our growing family and making sure that the kids go to good schools.

Husband and I want to move eventually so that we can be closer to our parents and siblings. We tried selling our house, but that didn't work out... so it's time for plan B. Set the house on fire.

Just kidding. We have four cats and if all four cats managed to miraculously survive the fire, that might raise some suspicions. That's probably not the only good reason for not setting my house on fire, but it's the only one I can think of right now.

So instead of committing arson, it's time to light a fire under my own butt and get this house fixed up as quickly as possible.Then we can rent it out, or maybe try to sell it again at a higher price (depending on the market). We have SO much work to do. Holy cow.

Husband and I tried to figure out where to start (aside from small obvious repairs that we can easily see as we walk around the house) and we decided to get a wood destroying organism inspection and make sure that the structure of the house is sound. The inspection came back pretty good. No termites! Yay! We need to replace a little bit of wood around some windows because of water damage, but nothing too crazy.

Even though it's probably totally do-able to fix those windows, we are definitely hiring a handyman. Husband and I replaced an entire window by ourselves once, and holy shit, I am never, ever, ever, ever doing that again. It is worth whatever it costs to pay someone else to deal with that crap on my behalf. I'm not talking about a pane of glass, I mean we replaced the whole window and it took us all day, about 5 trips to the home repairs supply store, and many hurt feelings. So we'll just hire a handyman.

After that, we need to replace our kitchen cabinets, about half of the flooring in the house, paint all of the walls... But I'm in it to win it. We're going to do this. It will look awesome and then right when my house is beautiful and highly functional, I will pack up all of my stuff and move far, far away.

Fill 'er Up!

Today around 11am Elise said, "Mommy? I not full. I empty. I want peanut butter jelly."

Clark Is Taking a Stand

Today Clark pulled up on Georgia's toddler bed. He was holding on to the foot-board, smiling at me. And then he just lets go and drops his hands to his sides. And stands there. And stands there. And stands there. Then he casually raises a hand and holds on again. So nonchalant. Well played, Clark.

Stuff-- Whatever I Can Think Of

* Elise and Henry were playing together last night, pretending that a box was a boat and then that it was a bed. Now that Henry's speech has improved, they can really talk to each other now. They were playing games and using their imagination-- it was pretty awesome.

* Even Georgia's speech is getting better, now that she's in speech therapy, too. Georgia and Henry have simpler conversations than Elise and Henry do, but they still talk to each other. For example, tonight Henry went running across the house and Georgia yelled, "Stop running!" Henry replied, "I want running!" and Georgia smiled, shook her finger, and said, "No!" Stuff like that.

* Clark thinks that Henry is the bees knees. Henry will jump and run around, make faces, dance, and yell in order to entertain Clark. And Clark just eats it up. He laughs and laughs and follows Henry around, waiting for more. Henry likes making the baby laugh.

* Clark had strawberry a few days ago. I sliced it up and put it in one of those little mesh bag thingies with a handle-- you know, the thing that lets babies kind of strain their own food through the mesh while they hold onto the handle and chew on the bag. It's called a "fresh food feeder." Anyway, Clark bit into the strawberry and the tartness of the juice made him wrinkle his nose, shake his head no, and do a wiggly little dance in his seat, all at the same time. But he went back for more.

Henry Can Hear! (And Other News)

Henry had his post-op checkup with his ear/nose/throat doctor today. It went well. His ears looked good and he passed his hearing test! He can officially hear "within normal limits" in both ears! Yay!

Other news:
* Elise had a fever today. 102.5 under her arm. Yikes! Tylenol helped reduce it, though, so I think we just have to ride this out. Georgia was sick about a week ago and she had a mild fever, so maybe it hit Elise harder than Georgia.

* Clark does a lot of crawling on his hands and knees now. He only flattens down to an army crawl when he really wants to move fast.

* Clark loves standing up and scooting around the edge of furniture. He even moved from one piece of furniture to another today. He didn't really do any unsupported steps in order to move to the other piece of furniture, but it was a big stretch for his little arms to grab onto that next piece. Good job, little guy!

Keeping Busy

We've been busy lately-- doing home repairs, contract work to earn a little bit of extra money, and gearing up for the TPR hearing next month. Today seems like a blur. All I can clearly remember is doing Georgia's hair this morning and Elise talking about poo-poo igloos all day long.

Psycho Elisey

The other day Elise walked up to Georgia and said, "I have a present for you." Then she grabbed Georgia's stomach with one hand and squeezed until Georgia cried out in pain.

Yikes!

Two Notes for Today

#1) Clark's 4th tooth has arrived!

#2) Elise's fun new saying: poo-poo igloo.

Elisey-isms

As Elise's vocabulary grows and grows she makes the cutest mistakes.

tennis shoes = antenna shoes

ponytails = pointy tails

And instead of calling Dora the Explorer's monkey friend Boots, she calls him "Poops."

First Big Booboo

Clark got his first major owie today. He was pulling up on something and fell and hit his chin on the way down, scraping up the inside of his lip with his two bottom teeth, and then biting into his upper gums. Lots of blood. It sucked. My poor Bubba.

Other Clark news:

* He can sit himself up now. If you lay him down on the floor, he can get himself into a sitting position. He's been doing this for a few days.

* Today he was in a crawling position on his hands and knees and then raised his knees up off the floor so that only his hands and feet were on the ground. Like two sides of a triangle. Or, if you know your yoga moves, like downward dog.

* Clark had peaches the other day. Unimpressed.

* Clark says "Daddy" now. It's unmistakable. Daddy.

The Sweetest Babies

I have the sweetest babies ever.

Because Henry has trouble recalling words, he was referred to a neurologist. The neurologist ordered an EEG.

Henry, Elise, Clark, and I all went to the neurologist's office for the test. To perform the test, a nurse first put little globs of goo all around Henry's head. On top of the goo, she put dots of waxy stuff. Then little wires were stuck into the wax. There was no pain or even discomfort, but Henry was a little bit anxious about a strange lady feeling all over his head and Elise could sense his stress. She took his hand and said, "It okay. It no hurt. They not hurt you. It okay. I here. I right here, Henry. It okay."

Aaack. So cute.

Henry had to sit still for about 20 minutes while the little wires worked their magic, so the nurse turned on a TV for him to watch. Henry asked that Elise sit next to him, so she climbed onto the reclining exam table and laid back in the seat with him, his arm around her shoulder and their heads resting against each other for 20 minutes straight. 

I love those guys.

Clark Explosion

Clark must have had a growth spurt last night. All of a sudden none of his 12 month onesies or 12 month jammies fit him anymore. I was phasing him into 18 month clothes because some of his outfits were starting to get a little bit tight. But today there was just no stuffing him into anything that was size 12 month that had to span the length of his torso. My big baby.

Today some random guy in a shopping center parking lot remarked "Ohhhh, BIG boy!" as I got Clark out of the car. Yes. Yes he is.

Clark has been getting up on his hands and knees a lot now. If he wants to crawl fast, he flattens out and army crawls. But he's taken a few tentative "steps" on his hands and knees over the past couple of days.

What else? Oh, Clark had cheese for the first time a few days ago. Not a fan. He'll eat it, but not happily. As soon as he sees me holding the cheese, he starts shaking his head "no." He shakes his head until I actually shove the cheese into his mouth, then he makes a stink face while he eats it. Every bite. But he hasn't spit the cheese out or refused to open his mouth to eat it. He just makes a big show of how much he dislikes it.

Off the Market

Ugh. We've officially taken our house off the market. We got an offer on it a little while ago but the bank wouldn't accept it and blah blah blah. It's been a long, crappy experience.

Our plan now is to fix up the house a bit and then see if we can rent it out in a year or so. We've been working on the boys' bedroom first because it seemed like the easiest place to start for some reason. We've been going through all of the toys and the clothes and the boxes of stuff in the closet. We also painted the closet door this weekend. Little stuff, but stuff that needs to get done.

I'm so disappointed that we won't be able to move anytime soon. 

Okay... Elise is in her room right now whining, "I hurt my noggin! I hurt my noggin!" Better go check it out...

Spiders and Trains

Henry's scribblings are really starting to look like... something. They look more deliberate. Lots of circles and straight lines. He always says he's drawing either a spider or a train. The spiders actually kind of look like spiders-- circles with lines radiating out of the sides. The spider may have six legs or twenty legs, but it's always the same basic shape. There are often eyes in the middle of the big circle, too. I love that Henry has found another way to communicate. My little artist!

Drunkello

Today I made Elise a sock puppet from a mismatched sock. Nothing fancy. Some buttons for eyes and a little bit of cotton stuffed in the toe to give the nose some shape.

"What his name?"

"I don't know Elise. You name him. What's his name?"

"Um... Drunkello."

Okay. Drunkello it is.

Clark Updates

Clark is 9 months old. Wowzers. That happened so fast.

He weighs 23 lbs now. Clark's weight gain is not only slowing down, but he's not at the tippy top of the growth charts anymore. He's around the 84th percentile for weight. Still my chubby cubby, though. Old ladies are always pinching his thighs and his cheeks, saying things like, "Gimme some of that sugar," or "Look at you, big boy!" or "Oh, I LOVE big babies!" He's a granny magnet.

Clark FINALLY got up on his hands and knees today. Two times I caught him like that, rocking his body back and forth.

Also, he's constantly shaking his head back and forth as if to say "no no no" lately. Clark will do it in imitation of someone, but he also does it spontaneously. He is especially fond of shaking his head if he sees someone coming at him with a tissue to wipe his nose or a paper towel to wipe his mouth. Clever baby.

Firecracker Firecracker Boom Boom Boom

Who would have guessed that my sweet little Elisey, conceived 3 years ago today on the Fourth of July, would be afraid of fireworks?

Happy 4th!

Busy...

... it's that time of year where I'm doing some contract work. Super busy...

Back To Sleep Training

I have been terrible at sleep training Clark. Terrible. He stays in our bed all night long. He wakes up every two hours or so. He's almost 9 months old! He should be sleeping through the night in his own bed. Ugh.

Okay. Time to put my foot down. My goal is no nursing at night because then he'll sleep longer. But I have to start small. No nursing between 11pm and 3am. That's my current short-term goal. Clark will wake up and cry and cry, but I WILL NOT nurse him. Then eventually he will get the picture and start sleeping longer. Stop using my boob as a pacifier. Once I get him sleeping for longer stretches, then I'll start putting him back into his bassinet. Yes. That is my plan. I will be strong. I will get through this. Clark and I will both be happier for it.

Less sleep now = more sleep later. Less sleep now = more sleep later. Less sleep now = more sleep later...

It's Birthday Every Day

All three of the big kids are obsessed with birthdays lately. They constantly sing the birthday song and announce, "It my birthday!" about 5 times a day. By my estimate Henry is roughly 127 years old now and the girls are in their late 80s.

Tooth, Yogurt, Big Frog

1. Hello, toofie #3! Clark's third tooth has FINALLY totally broken through the gum. Babies look so different when they start getting lots of teeth. I'm sure he'll look as cute as ever. But he won't look quite so baby-ish. *sigh*

2. Clark had yogurt today for lunch. He gave a huge stink face after the first bite, but he opened up for a second bite anyway. By the third bite he was fine.

3. Elise woke up around 3am last night yelling, "Mommy! Mommy! I want Mommy!" I went into her room and asked her what was wrong. She was sitting up in bed. "Help, Mommy! There a big frog in my bed!" Another dream. Poor Elisey.

Toodle Bug Toodles Around

My Clarky toodle bug is pulling up and scooting around the edges of furniture now. He still isn't fully crawling, but he's ready to try to start walking. Silly boy.

Also, he LOVES looking at himself in the mirror and he's starting kissing his reflection. He does those open-mouthed baby kisses and leaves smudges all over my full length mirror at about knee-height.

Notes for Today

1. Clark ate about 6 Cheerios today. He was feeling left out while Elise had her afternoon snack, so I gave him a few pieces of cereal. He sucked and sucked on each one, not sure what to do with it once it was in his mouth. But he seemed happy each time I fed him the next piece.

2. I think Clark's third tooth has finally started to break through the gum. Barely. This is, like, the slowest growing tooth in history. Poor little guy.

3. Clark has started imitating. If you smack your lips at him, he smacks his lips back. Very silly and cute.

4. Tonight Elise said, "Old MacDonald had a farm and on the farm was Baby Clarky!" So I said, "What does a Baby Clark say?" and she said, "Oink oink!" then giggled like crazy.

Mango; Potty Toots

1. Clark had mango for the first time today. He totally loved it. He took a bite and then smiled real big and started doing a little happy dance with his feet. Adorable. It made him so happy, I just might feed him mango every day for the rest of his life.

2. Elise is making progress with her potty poo poo issue. Through an elaborate system of rewards (which include stickers, cookies, and promises of an ice cream celebration) she is finally comfortable enough to not only sit on the potty when she has to poop, but also fart into the potty. She just isn't quite ready to go all the way. Not sure what her hangup is, and I don't think she knows, either. Tonight she was even trying to coax her buns into doing the deed. "Buns! Listen to Mommy! Go poo poo in the potty!"

Ear Tubes , Finally!

Henry has finally had his ear tube surgery! Yayayayayayayay!!!!!!

The surgery went well, tubes are in, adenoids are out. By the time the anesthesia wore off about 4 hours after the surgery, Henry was feeling a-okay. Riding around the living room on his tricycle and asking to go outside and play. It was like nothing had happened to him that morning.

I swear, though, he's already talking more, talking better, and being more responsive when people talk to him. So exciting. So exciting.

Hair Abuse

Our case manager that helps us maintain our foster care license was over the other day. She usually comes by when the kids are in school, so this was the first time that she met Henry and Georgia. The licensing case manager (LCM) has hair like Georgia's so when she said, "You're doing a good job with her hair," I felt really happy and relieved. It's taken me quite some time to figure out how to maintain and style Georiga's beautiful kinky curly hair and it was nice to get some positive feedback.

LCM then told me about how she has another foster family that she works with that is comprised of white foster parents and biracial foster kids. Someone called in an ABUSE report on the foster family because the kids' hair was looking messy. The foster parents just didn't know how to take care of their hair and instead of offering to help or giving the family some advice, someone called in an abuse report. Yowza!

Maintaining Georgia's hair really does have a lot of steps and there are a lot of things that you need to know in order to get the best result. I still haven't figured out the exact right products and procedures for keeping her hair at its best. As of right now, here is what I do for Georgia's hair every Saturday night and Sunday morning:

1. Saturday night before dinner I take Georgia's old hair style out. Then I put olive oil (from the kitchen) all over her hair and scalp and let it sit on her head through dinner time until her after-dinner bath.

2. I wash her hair with a natural shampoo that doesn't have sulfates and doesn't leave a buildup on the hair. I use Dr. Bronner's soap. I love that stuff.

3. Then I condition Georgia's hair. I let the conditioner sit in her hair while I wash Henry and Elise and then I rinse the conditioner out of her hair as the very last thing before we pull the bath tub plug.

4. I gently pat the excess water out of Georgia's hair (no rough towel drying!), then apply a leave-in conditioner all through her hair.

5. Next, I spray her hair with (a lot) of detangler and gently comb her hair with a wide-toothed comb.

6. I rub coconut oil all through her hair (it's called oil but it's very waxy) and comb her hair again.

7. Then I section Georgia's hair into about 10 little puffs and comb out each section and put cloth ponytail holders down the entire length of each section of hair. This process is called "banding" and it helps straighten her hair slightly for styling the next morning. Georgia sleeps Saturday night with her hair sectioned and banded.

8. Sunday morning after breakfast the process starts over again. Take out the ponytail holders. Leave-in conditioner. Detangler. Combing. Coconut oil. Combing.

9. Then I style. I don't do anything fancy, believe me, but the styling process takes about an hour and a half. And hopefully her hairstyle will last until the following Saturday evening.

And that's what you have to do if you want to NOT abuse your foster daughter around here.

Why Why Why

Elise woke up last night yelling, "Why? Why? Why?"

I went into her room to see what was wrong. "Elise? Are you okay?"

"Henry push me! Into a table! Why? Why Henry push me?!"

I told her she was dreaming and that it didn't really happen. Henry didn't push her. She was just thinking about it. Henry was still in bed.

As she woke up a little bit more, she calmed down. Oh, it was so sad though. Why? Why? Why? So sad.

Georgia Can Hear

Georgia had a hearing test done recently with an audiologist. She has a little bit of hearing trouble with the ear that had the ear tube fall out right after her surgery, but she hears well enough out of that ear and perfectly out of the other ear. The audiologist said that her hearing is definitely good enough that it shouldn't negatively impact her speech and language development.

The hearing tests were kind of cool. First the audiologist put this little device in each of her ears and checked for fluid behind her eardrums. Then she put another device in each ear that made noises and then checked for a response from the nerves in her ears to see if she was hearing the noises. That device made a graph on a computer screen and we could see that Georgia had trouble with certain frequencies in her left ear.

After that, we went to a special room inside of a room that had speakers on opposite walls. The audiologist watched through a window as she played different noises at different volumes from one speaker and then the other. The audiologist was checking to see if Georgia looked at the appropriate speaker when the sound was played. Georgia looked immediately at the right-side speaker every single time she should have. With the left speaker she'd usually look over eventually, but if the noise was quieter or lower in tone then there was more of a delay before her brain registered the noise and she looked at the speaker.

Overall, though, Georgia's hearing is not impaired to the point that there's anything we can do about it. The audiologist said there was a little bit of fluid in her left ear and that the fluid probably comes and goes, making her hearing better some days than others. Hopefully as she gets older she'll outgrow the issues creating fluid in her ears.

Totally Bananas

Clark ate his first not-mashed-up banana today. Just chomped it out of the peel like any normal person. Sort of like any normal person.

I was grocery shopping and Clark reached behind his seat in the cart and grabbed the bunch of bananas I had just put there. Okay, fine. But after a few minutes he had split the peel open on one of the bananas, so I took the whole bunch away from him to avoid a mess.

Clark started scream-crying. Like, seriously for real losing his shit. Tears pouring down his face, strangers staring at me like I must have just punched him in the nose or something, scream-crying. So I hurried to a register and had the cashier weigh the bananas ASAP, and as soon as she rung them up I gave Clark his banana back.

He went into a FEEDING FRENZY. The cashier was watching and laughing and then the cashier next to us noticed and started watching and laughing, too. He was just biting and biting and breathing all fast... I was on stand-by ready to perform the baby Heimlich. I still have no idea how he managed to avoid choking. He was inhaling that banana.

Then when the banana was gone, not another tear. He sighed contentedly and that was that. My boy wanted a BANANA. Pronto!

Now I know to keep the bananas out of arm's reach next time.

Potty Training

Henry asked to not wear a pull-up to bed tonight. We'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed.

Elise is doing well with her potty training, too. Still wont poop on the potty. But during the day at home she only wears undies. We put a diaper on her for bedtime, naps, and usually when we go out in public. She wore her undies every time we went out in public today and she did just fine. I'm thinking that it's time for Elise to start only wearing diapers/pull-ups at sleepy times. Again, fingers crossed.

Even though we're pretty laid back about potty training, it's a stressful time in toddlerhood. A shitty time. Pun intended.

Clarkz Skillz

Clark has started crawling on his elbows now, and he really gets his little legs going. I don't think it will be too much longer before he gets his chubby cubby belly up off the floor. He's started pulling up on things, too.

Clark enjoys percussion. He just loves to take two toys and bang them together. And if he only has one toy, then he hits it on the floor or the table or whatever is close by. Guess I better start saving up for a drum set now.

You Need a What?

Elise: "Mommy? I need a hang glider."

Me: "What?"

Elise: "Mommy. I NEED a hang glider!"

Me: "You need a hang glider, huh?"

(Then the ol' Bugs Bunny switcheroo...)

Elise: "I need a hang glider?"

Me: "That's what you just said. You need a hang glider."

Elise: "Mommy? Why I need a hang glider?"

Me: "I don't know. You tell me. Why do you need a hang glider?"

Elise: "Mommy! I don't need a hang glider! Ha ha ha ha. Mommy!"

Clark's Bad Attitude

Clark has been kind of fussy lately. I think BOTH of his top front teeth are trying to come through. Poor Bubba.

He likes playing this game where I yell back at him whenever he starts to yell. Just, "Aaaaaaah!" I try to start as soon as he starts, and then he tries to fake me out. As far as baby games go, it's pretty fun. That often gets him to stop fussing and start laughing. For a little while, anyway.

Happy Father's Day!

We had a very nice Father's Day. It included a go-cart ride for all of the kiddies. Well, not Clark. All of the big kids. And Husband has a new video game. Go-carts and video games-- my husband is simply the tallest kid in the house.

CSA

Our family has joined a CSA (click here for a link). Do you know about this sort of thing? CSA stands for "community supported agriculture" and basically it's one way to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and herbs from a local farm. You pay a certain amount of money at the beginning of each season in which you want to participate, and then every week (or every other week, depending on what you pay) you get a bag of fresh produce from the farm's crop. It's a little bit of a risk, because if something happens and the farm isn't very productive you simply get less produce for your money. But if the farm does well, then you get more.

This is the extent of my inclination to gamble, by the way. I don't play the lottery or fantasize about hitting it big in Vegas. A few extra tomatoes in my produce bag, though? I'll take that risk.

Tonight I used some of the pretty little purple onions from this week's CSA haul in our fajita dinner. I don't know if it's just a different kind of onion than I'm used to, but the onions seemed so delicate and easy to cut through. They smelled really good, too. Yay for local, organic veggies!

Elise and Clark Notes

* Clark had cherries for the first time today. He had wheat cereal added to his diet, too, starting about a week ago. Clark is at that magical age where he'll eat anything I put on his spoon.

* Clark is still army crawling. No belly-off-the-floor crawling yet.

* Elise is obsessed with eating dried figs lately. She super loves them.

* When we read the kids books we always tell them who the author is. Elise recognizes certain books or styles of books and will tell you who wrote them. In particular, she knows Dr. Seuss, Sandra Boynton, Anna Dewdney (the Llama Llama books) although she calls her Annie Doodie, Laura Numeroff (the If You Give A Mouse a Cookie books) although she calls her Lorla Nooner-off, and Eric Carl who is known as Eric Carlo for some reason.

* Today at breakfast Elise told me, "I having a rough morning, Mommy. The vacuum cleaner scared me." I'm sure she's heard us say something like that before, but sometimes the things she picks up and repeats (and then uses in the proper context) blow my mind.

Potty Talk

Tonight Elise was playing with her toy phone and having a pretend conversation. She picked up the receiver and said (complete with pauses during which time the other person was supposedly responding), "Hello?... What you doing?... Poopin'?... Okay, bye."

Why are little kids obsessed with poop? When my youngest sister was about to start kindergarten, my other sister and I asked Baby Sister, "Are you nervous?" Baby Sister said, "No. I'll be friends with the teacher." That's cool. So we asked her what she would say to the teacher to make her a friend. Baby Sister said, "I'll ask her if she eats poop sandwiches."

Henry's Surgery

Henry's ear tube and adenoid surgery is scheduled! For the end of THIS month! I'm so excited. I can't wait until it is behind us and he can recover and then start to hear well. I really hope his speech improves.

TPR Update

The hearing to decide if the kids' mom will have her parental rights terminated as to Henry has been pushed back by about a month. From mid-July to mid-August. So, as I said before, MAYBE he'll have some permanency (adoption or reunification with his mother) by the end of this year. Maybe.

Another Elisey Saying

Today Elise was calling her milk "cowboy juice." Don't know where that came from. Silly girl.

Farm Fresh

We took the kids to a farmer's market this weekend and got them some fresh blueberries. Blueberries are hands-down Elise's favorite fruit and they might be Henry's, too (although bananas are a mighty close second). I wasn't expecting there to be much of a difference between store-bought blueberries and blueberries from the farmer's market, but there was. The blueberries from the farmer's market really did taste very fresh and there were almost no tart ones at all. What a tasty treat!

Milk

Clark officially talked to me for the first time today! He signed for milk when he actually did want me to nurse him. Yay! Communication! Baby sign language is so cool. I never taught any of the kids more than a few of the most important signs, but man oh man does it make my life easier and my babies less frustrated.

Pictures

Elise got her first "professional" pictures taken at 3 months, so I get the kids' photos done every year at the 3 month mark (i.e. 3 months, year and 3 months, 2 years and 3 months). Elise got her 2 year old pictures done today. She smiled all cute and took some really good pictures... then acted like a lunatic in the waiting room while I was picking out photos. And Clark screamed like an angry pterodactyl the whole time. Ugh. Thanks kids.

The Sweetest Babies

They all have their moments, of course, but my kids are so sweet to each other most of the time. Examples:

1. When Clark cries, Henry often walks over, rubs his head softly and says, "It okay. It okay."

2. Today Georgia was trying to climb into her car seat herself and she was having trouble. I was silently watching and letting her struggle with it (gotta give her a chance to figure it out on her own, you know?) and then Elise pipes up, "Keep trying Georgia! Keep trying!"

Baby Fat

Clark's chubby little thighs are amazing. Delicious. That's the only word I can think of to describe them. They're smooth and soft and warm and... delicious.

If I were a cannibal, I would only eat babies.

Happy 8 Months, Clarkypoo!

Clark turned 8 months old yesterday. My chubby cubby! My sweet little Shorty Talls! Clark is the best baby on the planet. He almost never fusses. He's smiley and happy and cute. I'm short and grumpy and Clark is big and joyful and so outgoing. He's my opposite. I love him. He's perfect.

Allison Update

Henry and Georgia's new baby sister, Allison, has been placed into foster care. She's living in the same foster home as the other baby sister, Eve. I'm glad that they're together.

I heard from someone who heard from someone (we'll see how reliable this information turns out to be) that the kids' mom might get custody of the new baby within the month. If that's true, that means that the judge is ignoring some important evidence that would lead most people to believe that is a bad idea. Also, if the court is willing to let their mom have custody of Allison, I can't imagine why she couldn't have custody of Eve and Georgia, too. (Henry is a slightly different situation and there is more than one argument for why he should not be placed in his mother's care.)

I'm trying not to get overly concerned about what MIGHT happen. Got to just wait and see how this month plays out.

Apricots, Diarrhea

* Clark had his first apricots today. He took a bite, yelled angrily (I'm pretty sure he was trying to say, "What the what, lady? That looks like carrots but it is NOT carrots that you just fed me."), and then ate it all up.

* Around 11:30 last night Elise woke up in a puddle of diarrhea. Super sick Elisey baby. I had to shower her off and she was shaking and cold. It was awful. She was talking crazy talk.

"Where's the yellow?"

"What yellow?"

"Where's the yellow, Mommy? Where's the YELLOW?"

"I don't know. What yellow?"

"Georgia's at school?"

"No, honey. It's nighttime. Georgia's in bed. Sleeping."

"In her room?"

"Yes."

"Her teacher in her room? In her bed?"

"Um. No. Just Georgia. Just Georgia in her bed. It's nighttime. No teachers. No school."

"Butterflies are in bed?"

"Yes, Elise. The butterflies are sleeping."

"Butterflies have wings. And antennas. And the butterflies make cocoons."

"Yes."

"I need peanut butter..."

She was fine this morning. Poor baby. She was so sick last night. Crying and upset. We got her cleaned up, gave her some peanut butter crackers and water, and she went back to sleep. Maybe she just ate something funny. Or maybe it was all that disgusting dirty butt bathtub water that she's always trying to drink finally catching up with her. Who knows. We'll see if any of the other kids catch it.

Confession of a Foster Mom

I totally internet stalk my foster kids' parents. Facebook, MySpace, whatever. Henry and Georgia's mom is online, Bo's mom is online, Dolly and Ethan's parents are online. I get to see how my former foster kids are doing because of course everyone posts about their kids. Also, it's sometimes surprising what people will reveal about themselves.

Carrots, Crawling

Clark started eating carrots two days ago. No big deal. No reaction to the new taste. He ate his first spoonful as if he's been eating carrots his whole life.

Also, Clark is getting better at crawling. He still army crawls with his tummy flat on the ground, but now he's started getting his knees up under his hips and his little bottom way up in the air. It's just a matter of time before he figures out that he should push his chest off of the ground by using his arms.

Elise never army crawled and neither did Georgia, so there's a small part of me that wonders if what Clark's doing is okay. He does have strength in his arms, though, so I don't think he's too weak to support his own weight. I think he's just taking a different route on his way to crawling. The hyper-masculine "ARMY CRAWL" route.