Mommy's Little Helper

Okay, question of the day: What is it that suddenly makes an almost-three-year-old boy hate pockets and refuse to wear pants with pockets?! Yes, I just had to laugh. And then we changed his pants.

Well, yesterday was our first grocery shopping trip. It really wasn't all that eventful. It's just that Mommy felt quite apprehensive about the whole thing. So, they both started off in the cart. Then, as it started filling up, Jack wanted out. He thought it was fun to "push" the cart. Mommy thought it was a great opportunity to teach him "stop" and "go" (especially stop!) Pretty soon, Beth wanted out, too. Well, sure enough, just when we got to the furthest corner of the store, Jack had to go. Quick as a flash, Mommy put Jack in the seat, grabbed Beth's hand and raced to the restroom...only to discover it was closed for cleaning! Agh! (Okay, so plan B was to tear open the unpaid-for package of pull-ups if we didn't make it.) Just then, the cleaning boy poked his head out and asked if we needed to use the restroom. I thought it was pretty obvious, but oh well. And we made it! Phew! After that, we hurried to get our last 3 items and check out. All in all, it was better than expected.

On the way home, we stopped in at the church office to see Bonnie and Kay. They were delighted to have us visit and scrambled to find treats for the kids. They did very well (still mostly shy), and said "thank you" and "please." We didn't stay long since Jack's naptime was way overdue and they needed a little snack. During Jack's nap, our neighbors Don and Pat stopped by with cookies to welcome the kids. We had a nice chat while Beth played quietly. The rest of the evening was fairly routine. We let them fall asleep in the living room and then moved them to their room. Seemed to work pretty well. Fewer tears anyway.

Today was a stay-at-home day. Janet, our social worker from Holt, stopped by to meet Beth and Jack and make sure we were all doing okay. She is so encouraging and helpful with her knowledge and experience! She suggested trying to dress Jack more warmly at night--maybe he's waking up because he's cold? So tonight he gets to wear footie pajamas! Very cute, too!

After Jack laid down for his nap, Mommy and Beth did some cooking together. Actually, we were preparing tomatoes to make sauce to can. Beth wore one of Mommy's aprons and loaded the basket to blanch the tomatoes. She was also in charge of the timer. After all the tomatoes had been blanched and were cooling in the water bath, she moved over to the sink and started to peel tomatoes with Mommy. What a great helper she was!

This evening, we decided to practice staying with Daddy when Mommy is gone. (Eventually, I will be subbing about one day a week again.) So, I put on my walking shoes and jacket and headed out the door. Ooo eee what a racket they made! I could hear Jack clear past the next door neighbor's house! And that's with doors and windows closed! I returned after about 25 minutes to find both kids perched, one on each of Daddy's knees. Jack was still sniffling, but Beth was calm. I came into the living room and they didn't even notice me until I said something. We'll keep increasing the time each day to try to ease them into it. We think that perhaps they had never experienced their foster mother leaving them and so it is hard for them them to deal with Mommy leaving.

Well, bedtime was in the living room. It was much calmer. We are still hoping they will sleep through the night though!