Mother's day weekend, etc.
I forgot to mention in my last blog another thing that I have learned - how incredibly difficult it is to find a quality pediatrician (in our area, at least) that accepts Medicaid. C had been coughing, especially at night, and he was pretty miserable. And we are not allowed to give him over the counter medication without "permission" (from whom? I have no idea, but apparently it's difficult to get). So the solution? Take him to the doctor (any other taxpayers somewhat concerned that there are thousands of foster kids on Medicaid and this appears to be the norm??). I called at least three different offices (which I tried to somewhat research ahead of time) and the answer was always "No, we don't accept Medicaid". I know Medicaid pays terribly little. When I lived in a different state and worked in medical billing, Medicaid/Medicare would often pay 1/3 or less of what we charged for a service. Other insurance companies paid closer to 1/2 or 2/3, some even more than that. So anyway, just one more frustration. Their caseworker got me the name of a pediatrician that is on the opposite side of town from us...and now C is no longer really coughing. Of course.
Saturday we were planning on going to my parent's house in another state for Mother's Day (as mentioned previously). Friday we finally got permission to take the kids out of state. Saturday they had a visit with their mother until 3, and then my husband was going to bring them over to my folks' house and we were going to eat and everything. Well he sent me a text at 4:10 and they were still not at our house yet! Finally they show up after 4:30 and apparently their transport worker (that takes them to and from visits, and I think stays at visits with them) had decided to take them to go get their hair cut, and to take them out to ice cream (right before dinner). And he didn't bother to CALL US and 1. tell us that they were going to be an HOUR late or 2. make sure that we didn't have any plans!! Oh I was so irritated. I called the transport hotline and complained about the guy. I just think it's totally unacceptable for us to not know where they are. We are responsible for these kids, and we want to know where they are at all times! So anyway after all that work to get permission to leave the state, they didn't actually get to because we just really didn't have enough time. UGH. They were disappointed because they've never been to Iowa before! :)
I bought the boys some foam picture frames that are 4X6 and have magnets on the backs, and little foam sticky things (letters, animals, shapes) to decorate the frames with. I got pictures of each of the boys printed to put in the frames, and they gave them to their mom for mother's day. We had taken the pictures when they stayed with us one weekend (before they were placed with us) and we took them to the lake. Sunday morning I also made cupcakes, then the boys decorated them and took them to their mom. I bought these awesome boxes that hold cupcakes perfectly without letting them tip over. Their transport worker that took them to their visit on Sunday said that their mom really liked everything, and all 12 of the (huge!) cupcakes got eaten. :) So that's good!
I got their morning/evening charts made, and I hung up a magnetic markerboard/corkboard in each of their rooms. I'm going to get their chore charts made up today. We are going to pay them for each chore that they do, then if they want to make more money then we will have extra things they can do for money. We're also going to have them save 1/3, spend 1/3, and give 1/3. I think for the giving we are going to have them give 1/3 of their 1/3 to the church, then let them pick where they want to give the rest. I think it would be really cool to take them to Open Door Mission or someplace like that to serve. I don't have any idea what their home life was/is like, but I want them to know that if you go somewhere and get free food or free clothes or whatever, someone else had to give money (or the products) for you to get that - it's not like it just magically appeared.
So far the morning/night chart is going pretty well. Y LOVES it. Usually it takes them forever to get them into their pajamas, teeth brushed, etc. at night. Last night Y probably did all of the things on his list in less than 4 minutes. It took C a little longer. He just gets really distracted. I had given each of them a pencil to keep in their rooms to mark on their chart when they complete a task...and about 10 minutes after the bedtime tasks were started, both pencils were missing. Doh! Should've tied them on and attached them to the board somehow.
I think we are going to look into Learning RX for C especially. He is obviously a smart kid, he just has a hard time focusing on stuff (at least at home, I assume he's the same way at school). So...we'll see. Yet another thing we'll probably have to get permission for!
Taking a page out of one of my friend's books, it is now time for Not Me Monday!
I most certainly did NOT tell my husband that the boys' older brother "looks like a little punk with that earring in his ear". No, I, as a person with no less than 10 ear piercings, would never say such a thing. I believe that children should be able to express themselves with the clothing that they wear. On the same token, I did NOT tell Y that he looked like a "hobo" in the particular jacket he chose to wear to school, and I most certainly did not make him change said jacket into one that I felt looked more presentable.
When Y woke up this morning at 6:30 saying that he was hearing noises in his room, I did not send him back to bed. No, I am a kind and compassionate person, and I would never be so thoughtless.
The cupcakes I made for the boys' mom did NOT overflow in my oven on Sunday morning. No, I am a very good cook, and very good at reading directions. I most certainly did not look at the instructions on the back of the cake box and think "Well, it says it makes 24 cupcakes, but these are awfully big cupcake cups...I think we can probably get away with 12". Then, when the overflowing disaster did NOT occur, I did NOT allow the cupcakes to finish baking and then simply clean the baked cake off of the sides of the cups. No, it's very important for things to look nice and be done correctly. It was a Mother's Day gift, after all!
I most certainly did not breath a sigh of relief last night when the boys watched TV for an hour. It did not give me a much-needed chance to wash dishes and clean the kitchen. No, I am much more organized and ahead of the game than that. TV rots kids' brains!!
:)
Saturday we were planning on going to my parent's house in another state for Mother's Day (as mentioned previously). Friday we finally got permission to take the kids out of state. Saturday they had a visit with their mother until 3, and then my husband was going to bring them over to my folks' house and we were going to eat and everything. Well he sent me a text at 4:10 and they were still not at our house yet! Finally they show up after 4:30 and apparently their transport worker (that takes them to and from visits, and I think stays at visits with them) had decided to take them to go get their hair cut, and to take them out to ice cream (right before dinner). And he didn't bother to CALL US and 1. tell us that they were going to be an HOUR late or 2. make sure that we didn't have any plans!! Oh I was so irritated. I called the transport hotline and complained about the guy. I just think it's totally unacceptable for us to not know where they are. We are responsible for these kids, and we want to know where they are at all times! So anyway after all that work to get permission to leave the state, they didn't actually get to because we just really didn't have enough time. UGH. They were disappointed because they've never been to Iowa before! :)
I bought the boys some foam picture frames that are 4X6 and have magnets on the backs, and little foam sticky things (letters, animals, shapes) to decorate the frames with. I got pictures of each of the boys printed to put in the frames, and they gave them to their mom for mother's day. We had taken the pictures when they stayed with us one weekend (before they were placed with us) and we took them to the lake. Sunday morning I also made cupcakes, then the boys decorated them and took them to their mom. I bought these awesome boxes that hold cupcakes perfectly without letting them tip over. Their transport worker that took them to their visit on Sunday said that their mom really liked everything, and all 12 of the (huge!) cupcakes got eaten. :) So that's good!
I got their morning/evening charts made, and I hung up a magnetic markerboard/corkboard in each of their rooms. I'm going to get their chore charts made up today. We are going to pay them for each chore that they do, then if they want to make more money then we will have extra things they can do for money. We're also going to have them save 1/3, spend 1/3, and give 1/3. I think for the giving we are going to have them give 1/3 of their 1/3 to the church, then let them pick where they want to give the rest. I think it would be really cool to take them to Open Door Mission or someplace like that to serve. I don't have any idea what their home life was/is like, but I want them to know that if you go somewhere and get free food or free clothes or whatever, someone else had to give money (or the products) for you to get that - it's not like it just magically appeared.
So far the morning/night chart is going pretty well. Y LOVES it. Usually it takes them forever to get them into their pajamas, teeth brushed, etc. at night. Last night Y probably did all of the things on his list in less than 4 minutes. It took C a little longer. He just gets really distracted. I had given each of them a pencil to keep in their rooms to mark on their chart when they complete a task...and about 10 minutes after the bedtime tasks were started, both pencils were missing. Doh! Should've tied them on and attached them to the board somehow.
I think we are going to look into Learning RX for C especially. He is obviously a smart kid, he just has a hard time focusing on stuff (at least at home, I assume he's the same way at school). So...we'll see. Yet another thing we'll probably have to get permission for!
Taking a page out of one of my friend's books, it is now time for Not Me Monday!
I most certainly did NOT tell my husband that the boys' older brother "looks like a little punk with that earring in his ear". No, I, as a person with no less than 10 ear piercings, would never say such a thing. I believe that children should be able to express themselves with the clothing that they wear. On the same token, I did NOT tell Y that he looked like a "hobo" in the particular jacket he chose to wear to school, and I most certainly did not make him change said jacket into one that I felt looked more presentable.
When Y woke up this morning at 6:30 saying that he was hearing noises in his room, I did not send him back to bed. No, I am a kind and compassionate person, and I would never be so thoughtless.
The cupcakes I made for the boys' mom did NOT overflow in my oven on Sunday morning. No, I am a very good cook, and very good at reading directions. I most certainly did not look at the instructions on the back of the cake box and think "Well, it says it makes 24 cupcakes, but these are awfully big cupcake cups...I think we can probably get away with 12". Then, when the overflowing disaster did NOT occur, I did NOT allow the cupcakes to finish baking and then simply clean the baked cake off of the sides of the cups. No, it's very important for things to look nice and be done correctly. It was a Mother's Day gift, after all!
I most certainly did not breath a sigh of relief last night when the boys watched TV for an hour. It did not give me a much-needed chance to wash dishes and clean the kitchen. No, I am much more organized and ahead of the game than that. TV rots kids' brains!!
:)
That last part was hilarious!! Hey, I'm excited about the LearningRx thing. Let me know if you have any questions about it :) I'm enjoying reading your blogs. Bryan and I also get very frustrated at some of the situations you have to put up with. I'm sure it's probably the norm but it just seems a little ridiculous and lacking in commen sense. It's quite the sysytem.
ReplyDeleteHere they don't have people to transport to and from visits. Foster parents have to do it all!!
ReplyDeleteKeep this up! I love reading what you have to say about your experience, and it's even cooler that we get to interact with C and Y. Checking each day for more words of wisdom!
ReplyDelete