Foster Further

...an organized mind. Planning, finding patterns, predicting outcomes, maintaining focus long enough to follow through creatively--I am suddenly seeing mental skills I've never observed in Jane before. This week Jane began lining up her dolls when playing with them. She played school with them for the very first time in her life, ever.  In the sandbox area Jane has begun putting on tea parties. Each container (all identically holding mud, but some decorated with leaves while others have stones or twigs) is a different food. There are even condiments such as salt and paper and sprinkles. She does an elaborate explanation for me while inviting me to sit down and partake. It's so earnest and intentional and creative and REAL to her. She's enthralled. She began writing "storybooks" which consist of multiple pages with pictures and scribbled lines that she tells me are the words of her story. She tells me what she plans to write before she makes a book. Her stories hav...

Spring is really here. The sun is shining, flowers are blooming, my children are outside playing in the dirt every second of the day. I'm getting yard projects crossed off my list, we're having fires outside just because we don't want to come back in the house. Everyone is going to bed with sore muscles and clear minds. And Jane, like a shy flower, is blossoming at last! A few weeks ago she began earnestly "helping" around the house. It's only things that a 4-yr-old can do but she does it all on her own without prompting and is so deeply proud of herself that it's absolutely endearing. I hug her and kiss the top of her head and thank her genuinely. She beams. It's lovely. I love it when she has her own idea instead of copying someone else. I love it when she focuses and completes a task. I love having something to genuinely praise her for. The day she organized all the shoes on the porch into neat pairs nearly made me cry with happiness--finally, a...

I hung up the phone, put my face in my hands, leaned against the kitchen countertop and wept. Waves of emotion rolled over me and flooded my hands, then one tissue after another. I could not stop crying. Relief, joy, surprise, but mainly just relief to be finally getting some good news about something, anything. Gus stood there awkwardly patting my shoulder, totally unsure what to do. Jane came into the kitchen, her internal antenna finely-tuned for drama, bringing her downstairs from where she'd been playing in her bedroom. I tried to pull it together for her sake but could not. Gus tried to explain for me, "Mom is happy. She's crying because Seth got into...a...school. A really good school." A damn good school. His "reach" school already calling to scoop him up in an early admission offer. He hasn't even applied anywhere else. Heck, he hadn't even finished his application for this school! He hadn't submitted his final essay or sent any re...