Improvement

After wondering Sunday if I could do this, Monday went perfectly fine. Of, course it helps that Steve was home and backing me up, but those kids were really good. I was able to get the house back in order.

They are learning that I require them to put away one mess before they start another.
They are learning to stay in their seats during a meal.
They are learning that fruit and vegetables are sweet and yummy.
They are learning that they must eat what they have before they ask for more.
They are learning to ask for what they want instead of yelling and whining and demanding.
They are learning that wild behavior is not acceptable.
They are learning that....
Pouting garners no attention.
Screaming and banging your head means you will get time-out, not what you want.
Scrapping with each other means you don't get to play anymore.
You need to take your dirty clothes to the laundry and not just spread them all over the house.
If you ask for water,  dumping it on the floor because you don't want to drink it will earn you more water and time out until you do drink it.
If you say "Need to go potty" you MUST go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet, if nothing else. It is not an excuse to get away from time-out.

Andrew's final words before he left for home were these:

"Wow. You can really see the difference. They are so much calmer. They are actually really cute when they are not acting like little devils!"

It's true. Every day they are little calmer.

This morning the kiddos are on their way to a visit. Once again grandma has cut the visit short. Instead of the two hours allotted them, she is only taking an hour.

James is being a trooper. Happy. Working hard. Learning to play baseball. He's kept his pants dry for three days.

Missy has had a tantrum every day and is trying to get away with everything.  Yesterday she came home and found that I was not there and refuse to put her school stuff away and hang her coat. She refused to help put away the towels. She had a tantrum because she found her pink Lego mixed in with James' blue and white ones. Christina called me out of desperation and I told her to not try and deal with her, to just send her outside till I get home. Fifteen minutes later she refused to acknowledge us and stayed hidden somewhere around the barn. When she finally showed up I got her through her chores and gave her little jobs to do but her heart was not with me. I asked her if she wanted to make mom proud of her work or mad and she just said she didn't know. It came obvious she was trying to get a rise out of me. The joke was on her. I had to leave and her dad  put her to bed early.

Andrew is on his way home. He seems a lot better. He still has a ways to go, but I think he's going to do fine. He has been given kinship care of his adopted brother's child. The transition should happen really soon. He probably got more than he bargained for coming here. He is now familiar with kids transitioning into care from their birth families, anyway.

And for a bit of laughter: Little D was being screened by the CHET screener yesterday ( to see if he is on target developmentally.) The lady asked him to stand on one foot.

He did.

HERS!!

He went over and stood on one of her feet.

All three were hilarious. They did NONE of the expected. They answered everything with the most unusual response. Technically they were absolutely correct every time, just not what you would have thought. So funny.