One of Those Days...

It is one of those days... where GB's attention span maxes out at 30 seconds. She got a hold of what I thought was a juice box- and was really ice tea. She is moving at warp speed and her brain is either off or on bypass. Caffeine does it every time.We have been home from church for 4 hours and I feel like I'm stuck in quick sand. As fast as I stop her from one thing, she is into four more. She is so unable to sit still, 3 minutes in the time out chair broke it. She is so loud you can hear her from any room in the house- and we have a BIG house. She has had her manic laugh for 2 hours and counting. It will be better when my husband is back- tag team is the only thing that works when she is like this.

I hear my mother's voice in my head, saying "Patience is a virtue."  Maybe God is trying to get me to work on my patience. I also plan on buying a lot of 100% juice boxes for church and sending the ice tea home with people whose kids can drink it.

What to Do When It's Cold

 

GB and Ellie Dressed to the Nines

Today the temperature hit a high of 16 degrees. It was difficult to get Ellie outside to pee. We spent 30 minutes trying to teach Ellie and GB to play  follow the leader. They started to get the idea, but GB lost focus.  They went to cuddle in front of the TV. I was laying in front of the fire, working on an article, when GB came over to show me their fashion show. GB was having a blast and Ellie didn't seem to mind. They went through 4 or 5 outfits and GB started to spiral out of control. I told them they had a photo session and then the show was over. GB bought into this. A short cuddle to settle back down, and now they are both ready to eat. I am longing for weather that will let them go out and run for an hour- I need it.

CSE- Short and Sweet

We brought Ellie to the CSE. She was very well behaved and very well received. As usual, the classroom teacher was useless. Everything I was concerned about was something she as seen in lots of kids over the last 25 years. She said, in general her class was not treating each other well. Didn't seem like she felt responsible for trying to change the atmosphere of her classroom. Surprisingly, the social worker was much more cooperative and is going to start working with GB and some of her classmates in small groups. Everybody (except for the classroom teacher) was interested in the FASD material I emailed before the meeting and David Boulding's lawyer brief on FASD I brought to the meeting. The OT and speech are going to try to teach GB coping strategies. I am going to spend time sitting in the 2nd grade inclusion class before the next meeting. Then I will decide if we need to go back to a 1-1 aide. GB came into school Wednesday and told all her classmates that she was being adopted. I think that is a good sign.

Ellie and I went home and Ellie ran after squirrels for 5 minutes. I had thought Ellie and I would work on boundaries, but it was 16 degrees out, so Ellie wanted to go back  in. We worked on extending our stay(we are at 4 minutes now), so that I would have an excuse to give Ellie some treats.
Friendly's tonight and then a nice warm  bed. I don't like the cold anymore than Ellie does.

Can't Have It All

GB came home after daycare, bouncing. She wound Ellie up. She was unable to get involved with any activity for more than a moment. She finally decided to have a tea party, and with relief I worked on dinner and the kitchen. The tea party seemed to have her involved. I even made a cup of tea for myself. Several minutes later, our two Maine Coons and Ellie were having a free for all. Apparently, GB had put dog treats in her tea cups and dishes and had invited the animals to the party. Ellie was the first one I got under control, then Gadget, then Sasha. That just left GB with an out-of-control laugh. It took some time to pull her back. During dinner, she spilled her drink three different times. Before dinner was over, she managed to turn over her dinner plates and spill the dogs water. I gave up on the night, she took her medicine and I helped with pajamas. We climbed into bed and read some fairy tales and ended with "Good Night, Moon". Her and Ellie were in by 7:15, and after some more reading, they were asleep. The night was much more tiring, then the last two nights. Yet we still enjoyed our books in bed.

Just Us

Last night was a good night. GB and I were the only people home. We had chicken soup and french bread, and made rice krispie treats for dessert. The rest of my crew would turn their noses up at that! We trained with Ellie for 15 minutes, playing find GB. Then GB, Ellie, Gadget and I curled up in the family room and watched Wizards of Waverly Place- a show GB is too frightened of to watch unless she is surrounded by protection. She went to bed easily.

This morning she woke up at 5:30 to find unexpected  snow.  Two hours later, it is still snowing and she is wound. There are no delays, so I expect them to keep the kids two hours and send them before the white starts. I would love to know who makes these crazy decisions.

After GB get on the bus, MK and I are going to get fingerprinting, the next step on the road to adoption. It is slowly creeping forward. We are 3  letters of recommendation, two physicals, and an updated home study away from a court date. I feel like the tortoise. We still haven't heard from the birth mother- it has been 20 months and counting.