Foster update

Youngest foster baby, his parents came out on Mother’s Day to see him.  He is growing so fast. Such a laid back baby! He took his time to move around but I wasn’t worried because of his easy going behavior. However, in the last two weeks he has started moving to the point where he is pulling to a standing position. That meant a few late nights because he wanted to get around and explore. He is also cutting his first tooth. Court is in two weeks, please pray that they get heard. This baby should have been home long ago.

Little man is our challenge. He is receiving Babynet and speech services. We are still waiting on an OT evaluation for his sensory seeking issues. He has been approved for 12 hours a week for a personal care attendant. As he grows we are concerned that perhaps some of his issues are medical related. He is milk intolerant and in spite of removing all milk products he still has gut issues. Some days he is just a super hyper 2 year old and other days he wakes up crying and is a challenge all day long. We have referrals. Still not talking. Don’t know why. Interesting how people have opinions on why. First thought that many have is autism but he does not have autism. Then some think because he doesn’t have to talk and we do it for him. Umm, no. Actually if you spend time with him you would see that he wants so badly to talk. He fibbers a lot. We even had someone say it was because we had too many kids! I find that insulting. So, he actually has more people to communicate with. He copies Benjamin and if you met him you would know he talks A LOT. I had a teenager recently tell me that Benjamin has a bigger vocabulary then him. We talk, we eat dinner together and talk. He is immersed in talking. It is so frustrating for him. Apraxia (?) was mentioned today but then dismissed. We just aren’t sure. Speech lady thinks it is a combination of we spoil him and he doesn’t have to talk. Yes, it annoys me. Babynet provider doesn’t think either of those are the reason.

Newest kid is fitting right in. He had a visit today and was finally able to get his Christmas gifts. He was so happy.  We had bought him some wrestling figures and he has a bike but my kids have so much and he had so little. His social worker called me. She said she has never seen him so happy and he looks so much healthier. He has lost some weight and his hair is no longer shaved every two weeks. I think swimming every day and being able to eat as many servings of food that he needs help.  He does call me mom and have me Mother’s Day cards. John calls him the bridge (between Emma 12 and Benjamin 5) and believes we will adopt him. His Sw says he is always anxious to get him after visits. Is he honeymooning? I don’t know. He has had a few anger issues but nothing we haven’t dealt with in Anthony. His anger issue got him moved from his last home but from what I hear of it I can understand why. Knowing what we know about the case anger is a normal expression. We are trying to find a therapist.

Disclaimer, this is written on a phone, in the dark, in bed with fat fingers. Excuse any typos!

Extravaganza

If you follow me on instagram then you have already seen these pictures.

Sunday I got Larissa up bright and early so we could be in Columbia by 8 so that they could practice for their Extravaganza that was happening at 4pm.

The theme was Super Heroes

Little ones practices from 8-12, took a break and then practiced a little before the show at 4. I have to say that Benjamin held up rather well. The show ended around 6:30.

The pictures came out rather blurry. I think it was the lighting and distance.

They give out ribbons, honorable mentions, top three places and at the end they announce their model of the year.

Benjamin placed in the top three in two categories and honorable mention in the third. Larissa got a ribbon in runway and honorable mention in the other two. She smiled but I could tell she wasn't too happy. She really does have a very good walk. I think that years of dancing has helped with that.

At the very end they announced the top model, Larissa! She didn't come out. They announced again and at the third call she finally came out.... crying.

She cried, I cried and the owner cried. The owner said that Larissa is the youngest winner of the model of the year. 

Larissa said that in the back she couldn't hear. Then they said to open up the way and everyone opened up an opening all the way to her, that was when she heard her name called. She was shocked.

We are proud of both kids. Benjamin is a charmer and even did well on his commercial in spite of mic problems that he tried to resolve without getting flustered. Larissa has so many challenges in life and has cried many tears over bullying, it was so nice to see her cry tears of joy. 

It was such a positive experience. One lady came up to Larissa and said that she was so upset when she didn't place in runway, she thought it was rigged but then she was so excited when she won. Several folks wanted pictures with her. One agent came up to me and told me that she took pictures of Benjamin and Larissa for a local film they are doing, she didn't realize that they were siblings.

They tell us we need to go to Dallas in June. We hadn't auditioned to go and part of the reason was money, it isn't cheap. I told them we hadn't auditioned to go, they said that she automatically gets in for being model of the year. Well, guess we are going to go for it. Larissa and I will head to Dallas the end of June to attend the Dallas Model and Talent Expo. It shall be interesting, We shall be broke!

Placement Challenges

When you receive a new child into your home you expect certain challenges. It is hard to get information about the child if the parent is mad and isn't willing to cooperate with DSS. We have had challenges with getting medical information, school information, mental health information, behavior information, pretty much anything about the child information.  However, you would think that if you are receiving a child from another foster home and the child has been in care for a while you should be able to get all that information.... nope.

Newest placement had a melt down at school. I asked the social worker what services he was receiving since all we could tell from his school records was speech. I could tell he was struggling in class and that was the basis of his meltdown. The social worker said well I just know his grades were getting better. I asked the school to contact special services to see what they could find.  Oh, he has an IEP and should be spending a good part of his day with special services.

How did I know to contact special services? Because I received another child from another foster home who had an IEP and no one told us. The school had to contact special services to get the information. For some reason when the school records transfer that information doesn't. Seems kind of like critical information to me!

I am working on medical forms for my kids for the adoption paperwork and I realize that the new kid has been with us almost a month. I requested a therapist right away because of anger issues and then a second time after the school incident, no sign of a therapist. I also have no idea who he saw for a doctor. I need to call tomorrow to get his medicaid information and probably look at transferring him to a local doctor. Then I need to ask for his dental information. Actually all my kids need a dental appointment. I wonder how little man will do with that!

Oh, and new placement asked us to adopt him.

Left Hanging

I realize that I have been so busy that I have probably left folks hanging in many different areas. I honestly couldn't tell you what so please if you need an update on something that I started discussing then just left you hanging let me know!I guess that is a sign of senility or extremely busy life!

Happy Easter

Slowly I am getting back into painting, I saw this cute guy on Pinterest.

I will be honest, I get tired of all these obligations to do all these different activities and buy all these things for the kids. It seems to be non-stop. I did but the kids candy and even some stuffed animals but I didn't buy new baskets. I scrounged around the house and used what we had and even some shoe boxes. It just seems like every holiday brings big expectations for the kids but the reason for the holiday becomes lost.

Anyone do the Easter bunny? We don't, I told the kids long ago that there is not a big bunny walking around hiding eggs, what a strange concept. 

This year I was totally in a bah humbug mood. After 30 years of doing eggs as a parent I had no interest. Thankfully, I have a friend who needed eggs to make some deviled eggs so she came over and had them decorate them for her.

We also took a bit of time to see how many kids could fit on my lap......

Jason and Kassi came over today after church and I didn't take many pictures. I was just enjoying my time with everyone.

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Anyone have any interesting traditions? 

The Tour

Benjamin often goes around town with his police uniform on. Last week he was offered a tour of the police station and a chance to drive in a police car. Naturally we had to deliver donuts.

Police truck

An officer put him in the front seat in a seat belt and off they went. Another officer standing next to me said that they would just go around the parking lot. 15 minutes later he said maybe not. Benjamin was so thrilled, they went all over town. 

Something so simple sure made Benjamin so happy. He is obsessed. He now has an orange outfit so he can be a criminal too. Handcuff are all over our house and he has quite a weapon arsenal. He wants me to build him a jail!

Anyone have a child obsessed with something right now?

Braces Off

Started our day with braces........

Braces off, she looks so different to me! I never saw her without her underbite.

We timed her appointment so we could do lunch afterwards.

I told her that she couldn't eat her sushi unless she used her chopsticks.

Finally, I had to feed her.

Soon Emma gets her braces off and we won't be going into Columbia for orthodontist appointments anymore. I just wish that they were all paid for! I have payments on two of them until June and one in December. Thankfully Anthony's braces are paid off. The orthodontist offers interest free payments, that is the only way we could afford 4 pairs of braces at the same time.