We are now officially, by all definitions - parents. We've had the kids since Saturday, and each night I tell myself that I'm going to come here and write down my feelings of the day, and each night I fall asleep before I ever get to the screen. I haven't watched a second of television since Saturday that hasn't been programmed for someone over the age of 8.
Saturday was an incredible experience. We started out early, at lunch at our favorite mexican food restaurant along the way, and got to the foster mom's house right at 2 pm. The kids had thrown a "going away party" for Dalton and Bailey. I had made cookies for all the kids. I didn't want to show up empty handed. Lori sat and asked the foster mom as many questions as we could sqeeze in and I played with the kids. I had written on our photo album that I liked to do magic tricks. The kids JUMPED on that! Luckily, I was able to do a couple things with a quarter. They caught me off guard though - I'm going to have to pull out all the stops when we go back to visit.
Leaving there was sad for me. We were happy - but it was a sad moment. There were a couple of older girls that kind of "looked after" Bailey that were the sweetest girls around. I only met them a couple of times for a total of 15 minutes, but I miss them. I was super-impressed by one of the girls who was very sad that Bailey was leaving - but she wouldn't let Bailey see her cry. I did though. Broke my heart in a million pieces.
We were prepared on the car ride back. We had a Finding Nemo DVD ready to go and it worked wonderfully with the long car ride back. Getting to the house was very exciting. The kids LOVED their rooms. Dalton freaked (in a good way) over his Hot Wheels track. Honestly, Bailey enjoyed playing with Dalton's stuff more than playing with her own. She likes it fine - but Dalton was SO excited, you couldn't help but want to help him play. Saturday, everything was fine and we settled in pretty well.......until bedtime. Bailey was very sad. We had to call the foster mom to say goodnight. Then, she decided she wanted to go back and we had a real hard time getting her to go to sleep. We succeeded though. Like I said - Amazing, life changing day.
Day two was Sunday and we started trying to get into a routine. Did a pretty good job of it. We discovered quickly that our "outside toys" really stunk. So, armed with a gift card from my office, we set out to supply the kids with more entertainment. We got Dalton a better/bigger track for his Hot Wheels cars. We got Bailey a cheap Cinderella computer. And - we got a soccer ball and goal and a ring toss game for outside. The kids LOVED the soccer ball. Ring toss, too, but the soccer ball is where it was at! We were doing fine until Bailey decided she wasn't going to pick up her shoes and she decided to tell me so in a disrespectful way. Time-out time. She did NOT want to go. 20 minutes of a screaming, fighting FIT. Finally, Lori hit on the magic question - "Are you ready for me to start the clock?" Somehow, a switch went off and she became a different child in 2 seconds. She was sweet the rest of the day, including bedtime.
Today was a LOT better day all around. the kids understood our schedule and helped out a bunch. We went after lunch to the park and fed the ducks, played at the playground, and got a sno-cone. We even took the dog......
Oh. The dog. That's been a bit of an issue. The dog LOVES the kids. Constant attention. But, she doesn't know the difference between a stuffed animal and a dog toy. She's been taking stuffed animals. Dalton didn't like it, tried to retrieve an animal and got a little bit in the process. Should have learned, right? Wrong. Tried to hug the dog by picking her up by the neck. Bit again. Well....nipped. But it scared him. Terrified us. He was fine in seconds. The dog was out from under the bed in minutes. We on the other hand were wrecks about it for a couple of hours. I don't think the kids have learned yet and I fully expect it to happen again once or twice this week. The dog actually goes in and sleeps with Dalton for half of the night. The kids just don't know how to handle a dog yet.
We had another meltdown with Bailey today after the ducks. She was tired, but the same type of meltdown over nothing. We were patient and persistent though and when Lori asked the magic question, she was fine. Then again, tonight, she did it again. Screaming at the top of her lungs for 15 minutes about a problem that is unsolvable. For the third time, she turned it off like a switch, sat in time out for 4 minutes, and pretended like she has always been the sweetest girl inTexas.
Tonight has been a mountain of paperwork for school tomorrow. We aren't even sure we have all of it from the case worker and / or the foster family. But, we're going up there to deal with what we have to deal with.
So - now that I'm falling asleep, have sore knees, and smell like Hot Wheels and Barbie dolls, how do I feel about things? First - my wife has been AWESOME at this. I really have been proud of her reaction to the day and the positive attitude towards the day to come. More than I ever expected. I am SO SO proud of my little man, Dalton. He wants to please us SO bad. Some of his tactics are transparent, but SO heartbreakingly cute. He wants to keep his little sister out of trouble and will do anything he can to fix her problems. He's been no trouble at all at bathtime, bedtime, etc. They're both BIG eaters and aren't picky at all. We are so lucky in that department.
But.....more later. Daddy has to go to bed.
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