I said I would be back, although I really didn’t plan on waiting this long to come back.
Life has been a little hectic and quite honestly, it’s a little challenging to blog right now. Not because there is a shortage of stories and information to share, but because I have to be careful about what I share regarding my foster children. Obviously, I can’t post pictures. I can’t give out their names. I can’t share details. So let me share the latest.
Things have been going well. Very well in fact! Of the six foster children we’ve had, these two have been the easiest. Not that any of them were terribly difficult, but challenges and foster children just go hand-in-hand. Heck, challenges and children in general just go hand-in-hand 🙂
Little Bit came to us at 5-month of age. She was a bit behind developmentally and I had never seen a baby spit up as much as she did. After a change of formula the spit-up is greatly reduced. Not that it’s stopped altogether, but it there a definite improvement. We’ve spent a lot of time holding her upright, giving her a lot of attention and plenty of floor time. It appears to have paid off as she is not only on target developmentally now, but is ahead in some areas. Good stuff!!!!
Big Sis also came to us with some struggles, primarily in speech. We have seen some definite improvement with her as well, although she will likely need some speech therapy this school year.
She and Naomi have hit it off quite well, which is both good and bad. They enjoy playing dress-up, playing with Barbie, singing, dancing, playing video games and swimming. Swimming has been her biggest achievement to date. She was scared the first time she got in the pool, but can now swim across the pool with ease. She is also able to jump in, turn around and swim back to the side. We’ve working a bit on diving down to get boys off the bottom of the pool and treading water. Both are still a challenge for her, but she is really starting to get floating on her back. We still make her wear a life vest in the pool when she’s playing with the girls, but when we’re in with her, we take it off and let her practice her new-found swimming skills.
Like I said, having children around is not without challenges. Probably the biggest challenge is getting the middle two to not leave others out when playing and getting Naomi to be less bossy. Naomi has really enjoyed having an older sister role, but there is a learning curve and she has struggled a bit on that curve.
Both Lili and Naomi have been very helpful with the girls and the baby is quite fond of both of them.
Sadly, we don’t know if they’ll be with us much longer. On Friday, there will be a hearing to determine placement. Only one of their parents was charged this time (sad to say this wasn’t the first time the parents have had their children removed). As a result, they have requested that the children be returned to the non-offending parent or given to grandma. Honestly, we don’t know what to expect, but are trying to prepare for the call that we need to pack up their things so CPS can remove them from our care and turn them over to parent or grandma.
Foster care certainly isn’t easy. On one hand, you want them to be together with family On the other hand, you question whether or not family is the best choice for them.
Until then, we’ll continue to love them, provide them stability and enjoy our time together, however long that might be.
Stay tuned for updates.
