Emma

The battle continues. Given the opportunity Emma will sneak off to other rooms and try to find anything edible, this includes John's prunes!

She snuck off when Sarah was watching the kids and got into Sarah's bedroom.  Another night when I was out grocery shopping and John was in charge she snuck into the master bedroom and found a stash there.

I found evidence of her thievery in her room.

A pattern has surfaced, if mom isn't watching she can sneak off. She is good.  She is very quiet.  She uses excuses; going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water to leave the room.  She might even just wait for a distraction to sneak out.  The thing is I notice.  I watch her go get water and make sure she does only that. 

Talking with Emma I realize that she has always taken from everyone.  She admits that she has done it since she came.  This isn't something new.  She takes from my mom, Easter candy, Halloween candy, Christmas candy, John's office, Sarah's stash, my private stash.  We have been working hard at clearing up our stashes but we seem to have too many.

I noticed that when the stashes started disappearing she started destroying other stuff.  She was taking feminine products from the bathroom and tearing them apart in her room.  Now she gets searched before she goes into her room.  When she can't find candy in Sarah's room she takes other items and throw them away.  She admitted this.  There is no consequence that will prevent this behavior.  The feeling of power she gets from doing it is just too strong.

Since I am the only one in the house who is able to keep her in my line of sight she is only allowed out of her alarmed room when I am able to watch her.  My computer is in the family room so she does come out often.  But when I need to cook dinner and can't watch her she goes to her room until I am finished.  At one point she was tossing all her books and lost them for a day.  She hasn't tossed them since and is currently reading the Junie B. Jones series.

When I say alarmed room I do not mean locked room.  I buy my alarms at Walmart.  These alarms have two options, one beep or a long continuous siren when the door is opened.  The alarm is set to one beep.  If she really needs to come out she can, however we will all be aware of it.

When I explained the new rules to her she was fine with it.  She seems content with having to be in my line of sight at all times. I wonder how long we will have to maintain this level of vigilance.  Looking at her old paperwork I realize that she came with this issue.  She has perfected her sneakiness over many years.  I don't think that it will be an issue that will go away any time soon.

One benefit is she is finally eating!  She now has seconds and eats appropriate amounts of food.  She continues to eat the lunch that I provide for her.  I believe that we will do that until the end of the school year.

I am planning on doing some of the play therapy with her that I did when she first came.  I hope that since we are being very vigilant on preventing her stealing that we can move forward in other areas.  We also have started doing weekly family meetings to talk about our week.  Honestly, we are doing about the same things that the kids have done in therapy.  I have contemplated therapy but have been so frustrated with finding someone who actually understands the issues.  At this time I am rereading my attachment/ODD/trauma books and plugging away.  If anyone has a good book to suggest please let me know.

Snow Storm of 2014

I know that snow is not a big deal for many folks who live further north, for South Carolina snow is a big deal.  The kids missed two days of school and had a 2 hour delay today.  I think that there is a 2 hour delay tomorrow as well.  Guess I should look it up!

We made snow ice cream which the kids loved.  In spite of the fact that I tried to stock up on milk we got so low that John had to go on a milk run....then we had enough to make the ice cream.

The trick to snow in South Carolina is to stay at home.  Even if you know how to drive in it, many of the others on the road don't! 

This has been a strange winter here, temperatures in the seventies and then snow all in one week. 

How is the weather in your neck of the woods?

Tomorrow ..... more on Emma, Michelle, Anthony and the foster situation.  Life is never boring around here.

30 Minutes

Today the foster kids had court.  All parties were in agreement that the kids should go home so we had everything packed and the kids prepared. Normally I go to court hearings but I just didn't feel the need to do so in this case.  I received periodic updates from the kids mom, she was getting very nervous.  Naturally they were the last case heard.  Last text I received from her was that they were on their way to get the kids. 


The social worker told me that she would call me with the outcome, she didn't.  When the parents showed up they said that the SW told them to tell me that it was OK for them to take the kids.  I did since I knew that they had finished the plan and we actually have maintained a great level of communication.  However, I would have appreciated a phone call from the social worker. 


After the kids left I asked my husband how long he thought it would be before we got another call. 


30 minutes later I get a call from their social worker and I tell her that the kids are already gone.  She said she wasn't calling about them....then silence.  I knew then that they were calling for a placement.  Yes, temporary placement for two kids.  Only 3 days.  They have a probable cause hearing in three days and are supposed to go to grandmas at that time.


They brought over two little girls, young 1 and 2 year olds.  The girls spent the first 30 minutes glued to the hip.  Then Jason brought in the toddler toys.  After that they were all over the place.  Most of the evening they were playing and giggling with the other kids.  Such a beautiful sound.  It is amazing how quickly they fit right in. 


I have one play pen and one crib.  Since this is supposed to be for only 3 days (and I feel that it will be true) I didn't want to set up the crib.  I quickly borrowed a play pen from another foster parent, bought some diapers and whole milk.  We are set for 3 days.


So, the answer to how long it would be before we got another call......30 minutes.

Stay Calm

Emma has been moved to Larissa's closet. 


Turned out the FROG was not a safe place for her since there is storage on both sides for her to get into.  I was sitting there trying to determine where to put her when Larissa came up and offered her room for Emma.  She said that she wanted to share with Michelle.


Hmmm, interesting development.  We have been working hard on the relationship between Michelle and Larissa.  There have been some good moments.  They have been playing well for longer periods of time.  When I see them playing together I have been praising them and making them aware of how it feels to be getting along.

Larissa decided that she was going to be a cosmetologist and Michelle was her first Victim....her client. That was a great day, they played together for hours. 

I see growth in Michelle.  As we clamped down on lying she has even started telling the truth much more often.  Funny, we started our lying campaign because of my concern for her lying and Emma got caught up in the net and a bigger concern came to the front.

Unfortunately, Michelle can also be a bully.  Her new thing is biting.  Not good. 


So we made the move.  I have some reservations.  I also have hope.  I am willing to give it a try. To change a behavior you have to replace it with an appropriate behavior that you want.  The plan is that the more time they spend together playing well, the less time Michelle bullies.


Emma is in her new room with a door alarm.


She is not happy but nothing seems to make her happy at this time (unless it is sneaking food).


Today I handed her a freshly laundered stack of folded clothing.  For half an hour she screamed that she didn't want to put them away.  Calmly, I told her that she didn't have to put them away.  She could sleep with them, I really didn't care.  When we got tired of hearing her screaming that she didn't want to put them away I calmly went in and took them out.  She wasn't too happy with that either.  She screamed about her clothing getting taken away for a while then started banging the cabinet doors.


Calmly I went in with a screw gun and removed the doors.  I noticed that she was tearing up her bedding.  I pointed out that under all that bedding was a wood base.  I told her that it was her bed and she was free to tear it up all she wanted; however, I would not be replacing it.  Her choice.


Thankfully it was then dinner time and she was happy to come and eat.  Not having an opportunity to graze has made a difference in her meal eating habits, she ate seconds!  She has never eaten seconds before.

There has been a side benefit to all this, I have been doing some decluttering.  Things got moved that have been sitting around for years.  I have also been setting up my painting area in the garage.  

Now I am off to search for more toys, clothing and shoes that belong to my foster kids.  They have court today and looks like they may go home.

Really!? 2

The battle continues.  Yesterday John and I went to Bible study.  Sarah was watching the kids.  She put them to bed and forgot to set the alarm.  Emma took that opportunity to sneak up to Sarah's bedroom and take some of her candy and perfume.  We can't find the perfume.  Next time we leave Emma will be in her room alarmed. 


We also have a problem with Emma being in the FROG.  She has found the storage areas to the side and is getting into everything.  We spent hours stripping the room but removing storage is too big of a job.  We were discussing where to put her when Larissa said that she wants to share with Michelle and Emma can have her closet.  Hmmmm.......


Good and bad.  Good in that we have been working hard on building the relationship between Michelle and Larissa.  They have actually started playing together.  When they do this I make a point of praising them for it.  We have also talked about how they feel when they are playing well versus when they are fighting.  I have seen an increase in good play but not sure if it is enough to put them together because.......


Michelle is still dealing with her jealousy and anger.  Her new thing is to bite.  She is 8 and has started to bite.  Today when she got frustrated she didn't bite, she decided to kick.  Larissa doesn't do well with aggression.


I do need to move Emma so I am letting them try it for now.  I will closely monitor it and if changes need to be made I will do it.  I do hope that they are able to work it out and room together.  I am hoping that without Emma in the picture they will do well.


In the meantime, something needs to be done with Sarah's bedroom.  She has a lock and needs to start locking her room.  She also needs to put her stash somewhere else.


So frustrating right now.  When I look at my posts that all seem so depressing.  Right now for some reason we seem to be in a major battle.  Hopefully better things are ahead.

Sometimes Parenting Sucks

Have you ever had one of those parenting moments where you knew that you had to make a hard decision and really didn't like it?  You know that you really don't have a choice and it sure sucks.

Last weekend I decided to take the kids roller skating.  I hadn't taken all of them skating before and was trying to get out of a rut.  You can skate from 10:30 to 12:30 for $4/person including skates and a playground they have on site.  Emma was on restriction so I loaded up the other 3 older kids and Sarah.  We got around the corner and had a problem.

Michelle had left her backpack in the car.  She pulled out an item that I had taken away from her, it belongs to John and is not hers.  I had taken it from her before and told her to leave it alone.  Apparently she had taken it and had hid it in her backpack.  Why would she pull it out at the moment?  I really don't know but I literally pulled over and stopped.  I REALLY wanted to take her skating but I knew at that moment that I couldn't.

Ack, I really do not like those parenting moments.  My kids have such behaviors that if I had ignored it and let it go it would be a behavior that would escalate.  I get tired of always having to be "on" with my parenting.  I pulled out my phone and called John, he immediately said to just bring her home.  I knew that I had to and I did, but it was hard.  Her consequence for taking the item was the loss of skating.  It hurt both of us!

I have scheduled February 1st as out next skating date.  I hope that better choices are made so that all the kids can go.

I can tell that this is an area where we have been neglectful.  The kids have in-line skates but they really struggled to stay up at the rink.

I went and paid $4 and put on some skates myself just so I could show Anthony and Larissa how to skate.....and to hold hands.

Luckily I didn't fall and break anything!

We had a great time, hopefully next Saturday you can see pictures of all the kids sporting skates.

Status

I have been busy.  I have had to reorganize my entire kitchen.  On Monday I searched Emma's room and realized that in spite of constant supervision she was able to sneak two bananas, one bag of chips and candy from Sarah's bedroom!  She is good.


All fruit is now in the pantry.  No snacks are sitting outside of the pantry.  Even bread (which she loves) is now in the pantry.  Our pantry is small and stuffed.  I also went out and bought an alarm to put on the pantry door.


I also bought a lunch box and thermos. Emma now takes lunch every day to school.  All her meals are provided by me, her mom.


Emma is slowly getting used to the idea of eating what I provide.  The first day I told her that she would sit and eat her dinner until it was gone she had a huge fit.  I guess she has learned that I mean business because she has gotten better about eating.  Not being able to do her late night raids has forced her to eat at meal times. 


I called and talked to Emma's teacher.  I wanted her to be aware of what was happening at home.  I have noticed that she is picking at her lips and fingernails.  Her teacher said that she noticed that she was more jittery and quieter in class.  She also said that the first day Emma brought her lunch box she ate everything.  I was surprised by that.  She said that Emma rarely ate her lunch provided by the school so she was surprised to see her eat.  I didn't mention the snack issue, that she eats snacks and skips meals.


Emma was very happy with her Princess lunch box and seems very happy to take lunch.  I am glad that she is actually eating what I prepare. 


She has gotten so used to sneaking food and is very good at it so I am going to have to continue our vigilance in the kitchen.  I feel that this is an issue that I will have to monitor for a long time.  I expect that her need for control may change to something else.  Oh, how I pray for healing.

Homeschooling

Benefits of homeschooling.......reading to grandma.

Fight for Control

The cracks started to show.  Emma was eating less and less at meals and more and more snacks started disappearing.  I knew that we had a food sneaking issue but I didn't realize the severity of the problem. 


Friday I sat Emma down at the dinner table and told her that she would eat her dinner because there would be no late night snack raid to the kitchen.  She screamed.  Really?  The food wasn't bad, it was food she had eaten before.  She threw some of it on the floor.  She was caught and was given more.  I really don't like forcing a child to eat but this had gotten out of hand.  With her ADHD medication her doctor has complained about her lack of weight gain.  The crying and carrying on about eating a meal gave me a clue that this was something more.


Emma does not have the typical eating problem of hoarding and such.  She has not been denied food in her past.  Food has become her control point and it was so very sneaky.  Just eating a little less and a little less while taking a little more and more at night.  She was successful until she went a little too far and it got caught in my radar.  What was an annoyance suddenly became a glaring problem.


Over the last week I have been really working on stopping the late night kitchen raids.  As I have clamped down, the crying and tantrums have returned.  Thankfully they don't go on for hours like they used to, but they do go on long enough for everyone in the house to be annoyed.


Emma stayed two nights in the garage while I worked on her room.  The last night she got into my paints, thousands of toys and she gets into my stuff.  I expected it.  She is banned from the garage.


All my pictures and a lot of craft stuff was in the FROG.  The kids helped me to strip the room.  It was the fastest strip job we have ever done.  Now I have messes all over the rest of the house.


Saturday night Emma was in the FROG.  She went down to the bathroom and I went up to check her room.  She is slick, we have all been watching her yet she was able to sneak food up.  When she walked up I was holding it in my hand.  Whew, the cracks got blown apart, she went into a full rage.  Kicking, screaming, yelling at me, tearing up her stuff rage.  She started pulling at her bedding so I removed the mattress topper.  She had one book in the room and she ripped it up, it went in the trash. 


Seeing that rage made me realize how sneaky she was with her control issue.  Every time she snuck a cookie she felt the power.  Every time she took something from my stash at my desk she felt a rush of power.  Whenever she snuck into grandma's room and took her candy she felt empowered.  We didn't even realize that this was going on.  She was stealing the control and we had no clue.


But, now I know.  Now I have her door alarmed and her room is isolated.  I am working on rearranging food and snacks within the house.  My desk stash will be secured. 


I have told her not to purchase extras at school.  I will call the cafeteria and make that request.  I can not control the classroom and I will not even attempt that.  other kids may give her their snacks and such.  The only way to defuse that moment of control is to tell her that isn't my area of control, it belongs to her teacher.  So whatever her teacher does and says in the classroom is the rule there.


Now I wait.  I am looking for the next area where she will try to take control.  I am on to her ways now and she is a bright one. 


So go the dance. If she only knew that giving that control up to me would not be so bad.  If she only trusted me with the power and could just be a kid.  If only.....

Really!?

Sometimes you get tired of fighting the battles.  Sometimes you let little things slide.  Sometimes you don't notice when little things change. Let me tell you, in our house that is a very bad thing to do!




We are still dealing with the eating/snack thing here.  I provide a snack for school because if I don't the teacher will.  I don't feel that it is the teachers place to provide for my kids so I do even though I am against the snack thing.  Emma is still trying to go from snack to snack so I don't allow her to have snacks after school.  The other day I was running late in meal preparation so I let her have a banana.  Bad idea, she decided that she would skip dinner.




I had noticed that the amount she was eating for dinner was getting smaller and smaller.  Then I realized that the snack container was about empty.....too empty. 


A quick check of Emma's bed shows what she has been up to in the middle of the night.....foraging.  She had a lot of wrappers stuffed in her bed.  In my day we got rid of the evidence, my kids don't seem to know to do that.  I guess that is a good thing but......really!? 


You don't raid the pantry for days and leave it all in your bed and not expect that there will not be a consequence.  Emma spoke the truth about nightly raids and figured that since she told the truth there shouldn't be a consequence.  I am glad that she told the truth but unfortunately there is a consequence for the sneaking.


I guess I could take partial responsibility, I haven't been using the door alarms.  But, that is easily correctable.  For a few days Emma is in the play room/garage while I work on making the FROG back into a bedroom.  It got filled with craft/sewing supplies when Jason moved back home.  The door from the FROG to the rest of the upstairs will be blocked.  The door coming out of the FROG to the downstairs will be alarmed.  Problem will be solved.....after I spend hours reorganizing two spaces.


Really?!  It is necessary to revisit old behaviors?  Emma apparently thinks so.

Tired

I am tired this morning.  Actually I am tired many mornings.  Why?  Because I have one child who likes to get up early.  This morning it was 4:45 am.  Not only does she like to get up early, but she doesn't like to be up all alone.  Actually, I say 4:45 because that was when I realized that all the kids upstairs were awake thanks to Emma.


This has been an ongoing issue.  We have tried many things.  At one point we told her that she could go downstairs and watch TV quietly.  That didn't work out because she raided the kitchen, my moms stash, my husbands secret stash and mine.  So for a while I would get up with her at her extreme early hour.  However, I am not an extreme early riser and wasn't too nice.  Finally I permanently moved Larissa downstairs and told Emma to stay in her room and read.  Of course most days she doesn't do that, she wakes everyone upstairs and they tear up the house until I decide that I can't ignore it anymore.  They do stay upstairs for the most part, we have gotten that far.


She does sleep.  I try to make her stay up until bedtime but often she tries to fall asleep on the couch.  On those occasions when I send her up to bed early, she will scream when woken by her sister when she goes to bed.  The child who wakes everyone in the morning can't stand to be woken up herself.  She doesn't understand why I don't have much compassion when it comes to her being woken up.


This is an issue that we have been dealing with for over 2 years now.  We had hoped that as she aged she would begin to respect the other kids and learn to read or play quietly.  So far it is not happening. 


This morning she is in the garage.  Now, the garage does have a couch, carpet and heating....plus a lot of toys.  It may become her sleeping area.  I don't know, this has frustrated me so much.  No consequence has worked.  Now I just want her separated from the others so that they can sleep.  I don't have many options for bedrooms downstairs.  Anyone out there have any suggestions?  I am tired and open to new ideas.

Motivation

For this year I decided to do something for myself. I signed up for a small painting class. I have never taken a painting class and wanted to learn faces. I signed up last week for a faces class for $35 by Jane Davenport    (http://janedavenport.com/ )

I am enjoying the class and taking some time for myself.

I noticed that Anthony was always looking at my sketch pad with envy.  One thing that has challenged us has been finding the motivator for him.  Suddenly it dawned on me that this could be his motivator.  He wants to watch the videos I have been watching.  Right now he is not finishing his homework before bedtime.  He will literally sit there.  I have told him that if he completes his homework on time then he can work on faces with me after dinner.  Today I bought him his own sketch pad and pencils.  He is drooling.  I hope that this motivates him to but forth an effort.  If it doesn't then I am not sure what we are dealing with.

Is anyone else taking the time to do something for themselves this year?

Changes

I spoke with DSS for quite a while about   C having the procedure and transitioning on the same day.  C is terrified of the doctor.  The last time I took him he had tantrums the entire time we were there.  I can't imagine how he would be with getting an IV.  It is not going to be a simple procedure for him.  We are concerned about his transitioning home so adding the procedure would be too much for him.  The social worker finally agreed so we are moving the date to February after he has been home a few weeks.  We have been requesting testing for him the entire time he has been in our care and it hasn't happened.  Some suspect autism but I suspect more of a sensory issue. DSS is still working on getting him tested and will require it in the orders when they go home. 


Anthony has had a medication change.  He is now on an anxiety medication.  We will see if it helps.


Larissa got blood work done on Thursday and her levels still aren't high enough so her medication has been increased.  Her seizures have decreased however, they are still there.


Even I had a medication change.  After my fingernails turned yellow and I got some blood work done it has been determined that my thyroid medication is too high.  One benefit is I lost 5 lbs last month.  After admitting that I haven't taken the cholesterol medication for a year that was checked as well and I don't have to take it!  So there was a spot of good news.  I really hope to get in the pool this summer and get some exercise and lose some weight.


Our house has been going through some 24 hour virus thing.  Everyone so far has had it except for John and Sarah.  I was out yesterday and the house is a mess.  There really isn't time for mom to get sick.


After the kids go to bed I will write about what I am up to and how I am trying to motivate Anthony.

Spoke Too Soon!

Yes, this is foster care, I spoke too soon.  Yesterday the kids social worker was supposed to come in the morning for a visit.  She didn't show up so I called her in the afternoon to see when she planned on coming.  Ooops, she forgot but would come today.  I then asked if we were still a go for Monday.  The long pause told me no.  She said that a lawyer couldn't make it and the date was changed to the 27th.


I asked if the kids mom knew, no.  I asked about the procedure that the 5 year old C is supposed to have on the 27th.  It is a simple procedure, he is tongue tied.  Normally it is taken care of in the office when they are babies.  However, since he is 5 they are doing it as an outpatient procedure.  He will be put to sleep so that means an IV and all.  I am not sure about the pain level afterwards but I am sure there will be some, my tongue is pretty sensitive.  They want me to do the procedure and then have him go home that afternoon after court.


Uh, no. I said that this is the kid that I am worried about transitioning and doing a procedure and then sending him home in the pain the same day is a bad idea in my book.  Then they said that they could send him home later in the week.  Uh, that is not fair.  They said that the procedure needs to be done.  I agree and I think that mom is fully capable of getting it done in February.  After all, she is his mom and seems fully capable of doing this herself.  She was going to have to do it if they had gone home on Monday.  C is 5, I don't think that a few extra weeks to get this done will do any harm.  She said that we will discuss it today when she comes.


We will discuss it and I am going to tell her that I am changing the date.  I refuse to do it on the date that they go home.  If they have a problem then they can fire me.  I have had C in my home long enough to know that it would not go well for him.  He is a type of kid who is very fearful, the hospital experience will be hard for him.  Transitioning home will be hard for him.  You can't combine the two.

Next Monday

Next Monday our foster kids have a court date.  The kids parents have worked their plan.  This is unusual for us but we are happy for the kids.  We think that reunification is the best outcome, when the parents are able to do what they need to do.  Of course, we also believe that there are times when reunification is not in the best interest of the child.


We have supported these parents as soon as we saw that they were actively working their plan.  I friended their mom on facebook and kept the lines of communication open.  I encouraged her when she was feeling down.  We invited them to our home for Christmas.  We don't invite all of our foster kids parents to our home. 


We are now actively talking about reunification and how to make the best transition for the kids.  I have shared with her the changes in the kids.  There have been a lot, all of them good.  One child was very developmentally behind, he is making great strides and needs to be encouraged to continue on his independence. 


I haven't talked much about these kids.  I think that it is because we have always felt that this would be a short term placement.  We worked hard to get them caught up and meet their needs.  We also worked with the parents so that the kids can continue to grow once they get home.


Our house is going to be very quiet next Monday.  Having 3 and 5 year old kids in the home sure has made for a lot of extra activity.  I think that Larissa will miss the kids the most since she is home all day with them.  I know that my homeschooling will get a lot easier!


A lot of people ask how can we love them and then let them go.  The thing is, these kids aren't ours.  We are their foster parents, we aren't their forever parents.  However, we will miss these kids.  Hopefully we will keep in contact with their parents and can offer long term support.  If not, that is fine as well.  We will have done what we signed up for, to give these kids a home to feel loved in while their parents do what they need to do.


However, although we recognize our role as adults I don't think that our kids understand it as well as we do.  We have 4 kids in our home who have come from hard places and are dealing with a lot of different issues.  I don't think that a constant stream of kids in and out is good for them over the long term.  Even though we have told them from the beginning that these kids will go home, they have grown attached.  This is why we are updating our adoption homestudy and trying to go the adoption route.  We will do one more adoption and then that will complete our family.  We are allowed 5 under the age of 18, we have 4.  This means that we can adopt one more time.


Adoptions has asked us to stop taking foster placements so that they can find us an adoptive placement.  This will be hard!  Getting an adoptive placement can take a long time and I know that DSS will be calling us for placements. 


Life should be pretty interesting in 2014 at our household.

Room in a Closet......Again

Larissa sleeps in a spare bed in our bedroom. On December 31st I assumed she was asleep when I whispered to John that I wondered when she would be ready to move to her own bedroom. From the little bed across the room came the answer, "Never, I am going to always sleep in here!"

Larissa is like a yo-yo.  She is downstairs, upstairs and downstairs.  I think that the time she has been happiest outside of our bedroom has been last year when she decided to move into the closet outside of our bedroom.

She enjoyed her little room but decided to move upstairs when the girls moved to the master bedroom and then the new foster kid came.  However, she slowly started coming back to our bedroom.  We put the twin bed back into our bedroom at some point and she has stayed.

Her closet last year.

When she left the closet I converted it back to our coat, shoe and whatever closet. (Yes, a mess, I know).  My husband talked to Larissa and asked her if she wanted to move back to the closet.  She said yes.....and she wanted the bed high with a theme of Monster High.

This time I decided to completely change the room and we plan on keeping it whenever she decides to move out again.  Spare bedroom!?

Her dollhouse fit just right. The closet is not quite wide enough for a mattress so there are three mattress pads on the bed area.  It is quite comfortable.

Sarah helped her put up Monster High vinyl decorations. Quick, easy and removable.

Larissa is delighted.

Her Monster High doll stuff is under the bed and her clothing is in the cabinets.

Last night she slept in her new bedroom.

Anyone else have a bedroom in a converted closet?