Foster Further

I'm talking to Theo about something serious when one of the little three kids comes up and says, "Mama, I found an eyeball." Didn't even look at them, just held out my hand and something hard and round dropped into it. Put it in my pocket and continued the conversation. Later I took the item out and it was a marble as, I think, I'd probably expected vaguely in the back of my mind since they've been playing with marbles lately. But then I had to think: how far gone into the world of parenting and farming have I gone that a kid saying, "I found an eyeball" prompted me to hold out my hand without a glance? I mean, the other day I'm feeding the cats when Gus warns me, "Don't step backwards or you'll step on a bird leg." Sure enough, the cats had left behind a little gift from their last hunting excursion. Didn't bother me. Totally forgot to clean it up. Later it was gone and I don't know where it went. Nor do I care. Sometim...

This blog has had a very narrow focus--mainly issues with Jane, birth family, and social workers--and so I thought I'd take a moment to write a bit about the other two in our Three Little Musketeers trio. First, Kate is almost three. Her birthday is next month. She is teaching me why the term " threenager " was coined. Oh my, is she ever. All my boys had more difficult threes than twos (I don't know where Terrible Twos came from) but it's about stubbornness and big-opinion-but-deficient-vocabulary scenarios. Kate, on the other hand, has as much attitude and emotional fluctuation as my actual teenagers. I mean, thank god all this attitude is in a body that only comes to my waist, and also that she has the attention span of a toddler so she genuinely forgets why she was being pissy, because, wow, that girl can bring it. And I keep having this moment where I realize that Jane came to us just two months into her three year old year. Poor thing. If she was dealing ...

Kate has begun doing this, "watch me" routine that's adorable. First, she does something naturally on her own. Then, you can see her realizing that that thing was new, interesting, fun to do...something captivating. So, she comes to find me and says, "watch me ___" and then does it. Yesterday she was mooing (like a cow). Kate: "Watch me moo....MOOO!" (giggles in delight) Today she came up to me and said, "watch me run!" and then ran, looking down at her feet as she went the way toddlers do when they're enthralled with their new ability to go fast. After she ran she said, "watch me AHH!" and then she ran while fake-screaming, "AHHHH!" She pronounces watch: 'wot' Yesterday James was hungry. He followed me into the kitchen and then, in his best Coach voice (as Theo describes his loud, problem-solver tone) he announced: "Mama! I find hungry samwich!" He proceeded to open the cupboard doors ...