Monday

Brianna was late and missed her ride with Dad to school.
Dad can't be late for work, so it fell on me to hustle her around.
We connected with the bus just in time but I was frazzled.
Christina didn't understand my instructions to get the twins ready for school while I was bus chasing....
Missy was doing okay. Slow as usual, but she was in the car first.

~Then there was JAMES!

Let's just say he'll be doing some work for me this afternoon to make up for my lost time. He was pushing buttons big time and unfortunately he succeeded. I need to regroup and get a plan before he comes home. I won't put up with that again tomorrow morning. I know it's hard to go from few expectations on account of sickness to getting back in the saddle, but we can make it harder than it needs to be for sure.

The little Buddy is very entertaining. He can really cruise on his hands and knees, and he has been learning to pull himself up to stand beside the furniture. Yesterday he started letting go of the coffee table, putting his hands in the air and cheering for himself to take the step to the couch. He's so proud when he does it without falling. He wouldn't stand on his feet to walk with me at first. He would either plop down, or lift his feet in the air. Now he knows to put one foot in front of the other when I say, "walk".

The little guy understands "no" and responds very well.  He makes a little fish face when you say "kiss". He says "mmmm" when he sees food. He says "mama". That's the extent of his vocabulary.

His schedule is a mess. He's lively in the evening and tired in the morning. That said, I believe he has a mommy who really loves him and has some good parenting skills.

****

James did some work for me after school without a complaint. He realizes he took away from my time during our busiest moment of the day and he needed to help me.  Missy on the other hand came home from school tired and not inclined to listen at all. The solution to that was simple. She's having a nap.

I'm not happy to find out that our private agency has their finger in this... This means they get paid for our placement even though they had nothing to do with it. Does that mean I have to deal with TWO social workers simultaneously again? I just want to work with the local one. I guess we hadn't cut ties quick enough.

We are still in the "shelter care" stage of the placement.

Baby bumped his head more times than I can count today. Learning to balance on ones feet is a pretty tough job. Gonna have to get him a helmet :-)