Teenagers?

D is "only" 11. And two months ago, he was 10! But sometimes I think he is already a teenager. He has the eye roll down pat, along with the constant sarcasm. He answers yes and no questions with the opposite answer, then looks at you like you're an idiot when you are totally confused by what he actually means. He thinks I'm ridiculous because I do not understand the hair of African American people and all of the things they do to it to keep it under control. I try to tell him "Dude, I've never been black before!" but he still looks at me like I'm an idiot.

And then there is the teasing. Oh, how he makes fun of and teases me - he makes fun of me when I talk baby talk to Y, he makes fun of me when I drive with two hands on the steering wheel (oh the horrors!), etc. I am sure that it is good-natured for the most part. But there is a part of me that questions if he sees me as an authority figure or as more of a peer. His mom is only 1 year older than me, so that makes me feel good - not like she is like 40 and I am now in the same role! But I know I look younger than I am, plus I'm short. His last foster mom was 53 years old. I'm still coming to terms with how I am supposed to handle this, if I should nip it in the bud or what. I don't want to be a no-fun foster mom but I also don't want to be looked at as a peer. The things he says don't really hurt my feelings at this point, and as long as he does what I ask him to, which he does, then I guess maybe I should just wait and see how it goes.

We stopped at the gas station today for him to pick up a drink before he went to his sports camp, and he bought me a pop too! He used his own money and I didn't even ask him to. So that was nice.

Going to the pediatrician today with baby Y. His snot is green now and he has a rasping cough. He's not coughing a ton, but it's enough that it bothers me. It's kind of hard to be objective because this is someone else's kid, you know what I mean? I feel terrible if I let his face be too messy or if his clothes are disgusting, or just whatever. I think that makes me a little bit overprotective. I think if it was my own kid this wouldn't be quite so hard. I'd feel really, really bad if anything ever happened to him and it was my fault!

I think he's getting away from having a morning nap. We just have some quiet cuddle time around 9-9:30 and I give him his bottle, but he is not really interested in going down. He just cries, and cries and cries. He is asleep in his car seat now; he fell asleep on his way home from his visit. Poor little guy! Tomorrow will be the first day I have him all day with no visit. I'll be interested to see how his schedule works out with nap times and all that.

Well he is waking up! That was a very short nap.