Wow, this has been a crazy week!
Monday–We had the meeting with D’s grandmother, her social worker, and our social worker. The meeting was at our house. Peter went outside to practice riding his bike and we set D up with some toys on the floor of the living room. D’s behavior was quite different with his grandmother around than it is when he is with us. He was whiny, clingy, and had a screaming tantrum when he was told he couldn’t go outside. At times, he made it difficult for us to have our meeting. We set the date for him to move in with us–Friday, October 1st. After the meeting, D’s grandmother left him with us for the rest of the afternoon and dinner (he was lucky–Monday night is our pizza night because the pizza place we like has a special on Monday nights). He ate a piece of pizza and drank two cups of Ovaltine. He drinks chocolate milk at his grandmother’s house, so even though it’s not a particularly healthy choice, we figured that if he drank Ovaltine, he would at least get some extra nutrients.
Tuesday–It was the back-to-school barbeque at the school where I work, so I had to stay until 5:30 (normally I leave about 12:15; I could have left and come back, but it’s a 35 minute drive each way between home and work, so it’s not worth it). Peter was supposed to go to his first Beaver meeting at 6:30, but it was cancelled because one of the leaders couldn’t make it and they didn’t want to have the first meeting of the year without all the leaders. We didn’t see D on Tuesday.
Wednesday–I picked up D after work, shortly after 1 pm, and then came home to get Peter from the neighbor who was watching him. We all played outside for a while, then came inside and hung out. I spoon-fed D and Peter applesauce (alternating bites between them) like I did on Sunday morning, because I wanted D to continue to eat applesauce. I left with D at 4:30 to drop him off at his house before going to the first session of my religious education course (I teach for a Catholic school board and they require teachers to take this course within the first two years of employment). It was a fairly short visit with D, but we felt it was important to do it since he hadn’t seen us the day before. We’re supposed to be working towards him spending more time with us than with his grandmother before he moves in, though we’re obviously not there yet. Because I hadn’t had any dinner yet (I didn’t get lunch until 1:30 and then I left at 4:30), I grabbed a sandwich at McDonald’s and ate it in the van so I wouldn’t be late for my class. It was the most unsatisfying meal I’ve had since the last time I ate at McDonald’s. I figured that spending four hours in class without eating well and after working and running around all over town would not be a pleasant use of my time, but I enjoyed it. The course sounds like it will be interesting. Rather than being just about how to teach religion (which is what I was expecting), we’ll be learning about scripture, church history, sacraments, ethics and morality, and faith formation (both our own and our students’). I’m hoping to learn a lot from it. The downside was that I didn’t get home until 10 pm, and by the time I found some more food, packed Peter’s lunch for the next day, and unwound a bit, I didn’t end up getting to sleep until after midnight.
Thursday–I picked D up after work. Peter was at school, so I didn’t have to rush home to get him from the neighbor’s. I brought D to the mall near our house and went to the library to pick up a couple books I had on hold (books to read to Peter; I don’t have time to read anything for myself right now). I let D play for a half-hour with the wooden train set and the wooden beads on wires they had in the children’s section. We walked to the grocery store in the mall and bought a couple things, then we came home. D had a snack of corn Chex and some applesauce (which he ate himself). We played for a little while until it was time to walk to Peter’s bus stop. After we got Peter, we all played for a while longer. Don came home and we went to Peter’s school’s back-to-school pizza night. We met Peter’s teacher and he showed us around his classroom. We wandered through the hallways. The pizza was supposed to be there at 5:30, but it wasn’t. We were about to give up and go when the pizza finally came, after 6 o’clock. We ate in the very noisy gym and then drove D home.
Today (Friday)–I picked up D after work again and came home to get Peter from the neighbor’s. All the kids played outside. Our adoption worker had suggested that we start moving some of D’s things to our house, so D’s grandmother is starting to go through his toys, sorting out things she’s going to get rid of, things to send to our house, and a few things to keep for when he visits her in the future. She gave me his big Power Wheel truck to bring here. D, Peter, and two neighbor boys had a blast driving it around (sharing it was a bit difficult for the other boys, though D didn’t have a problem with it, which I had worried he might). Then we came inside. I tried feeding D oatmeal the way we did applesauce (alternating bites between him and Peter), but he wouldn’t try it. He kept pointing to Peter and saying Peter’s name, so I ended up feeding the whole bowl of oatmeal to Peter (who had agreed in advance to this project). I’ll try again in the morning, when he’ll be hungrier. We had breaded fish, mashed potatoes, and corn for dinner. We thought D might go for the fish because he could dip it in ketchup, and we’ve previously served mashed potatoes and corn so we were hoping he’d be more receptive to it with continuing exposure. No dice. He dipped his finger in the ketchup and licked it off, and he ate a crumb of Peter’s chocolate cupcake. That was it. He readily grabbed his silverware and stirred his food all around into a big mashed potato-fish-corn mess, but none went into his mouth. We played hardball and ate chocolate cupcakes in front of him for dessert. We explained that he could have one if he ate two bites of dinner and Don even warmed up his plate in the microwave. Even though D wanted a cupcake, he didn’t want it enough to eat any dinner, so he didn’t get one. After dinner, we read some books, then got the boys ready for bed. I went in the basement and found a set of Peter’s old pajamas because most of D’s clothes are too small (his pajamas especially). It was nice to see him wearing something that we provided. He was very tired and had some tears because he missed his grandmother, but Don soothed him and he went to sleep easily.
Last weekend, D spent one night here. This weekend, he’ll spend two nights in a row (so he’ll be with us all day tomorrow). Next weekend, he’ll spend three nights (his grandmother will come pick him up Monday morning because I don’t have time to drop him off before work). We’ll probably do some overnights during the week as well, again relying on his grandmother to pick him up in the mornings. It will be a relief when he moves in with us so we don’t have to keep up all this driving around to pick him up and take him home–his grandmother lives on the opposite side of town from us.
Being so busy this week, there is now a huge pile of dishes (though I got some done today), heaps of laundry, stacks of papers that I need to deal with, and I don’t even remember the last time I did a real grocery shopping trip. I’m hoping to get caught up this weekend. I also have to do my lesson plans for next week. I only have two more weeks left of work; it’s a strange feeling. Two more weeks of juggling everything, and then a whole new chapter in my life.
Leave a comment