Celebrating 3, Part 1

Today is my daughter’s third birthday. I cannot believe that time is moving so quickly. Wasn’t it just yesterday that she was a bald, compliant, and confused nine-month-old joining our family? It feels like yesterday. She is one of the great joys in my life. She is bright and funny, silly and naughty. She’s my toddler and I couldn’t love her any more. Her actual birthday this year was on a Tuesday. It was an interesting day that, unfortunately, did not revolve around her. It started off as a pretty normal Tuesday. We got dressed and went to Gymboree Play … Continue reading →

Transitioning Out of ECI

Jessie will be three on November 16. I can’t believe that she’s so big. I still remember the day she joined our family when she was nine months like it was yesterday. Where did the time go? Can we stop it? Jessie has been getting therapy through Early Childhood Intervention since she came to us. I don’t know why she wasn’t enrolled in her previous foster home. Jessie has gotten occupational therapy since her initial evaluation. ECI added speech therapy when Jessie turned two. I had been asking for it before then. Today was Jessie’s last visit with ECI. Her … Continue reading →

Pizza

Jessie has become obsessed with pizza. I don’t know when it happened; I think it was at Wesley’s fifth birthday party. Wesley lives down the street. His sister Charleigh is a few weeks older than Jessie and their cousin’s birthday is the day after Jess’s. Wesley’s birthday was fun with friends and toys and a bounce house. Jessie chose her own outfit, which was much too hot for the day, and ended up running around in a diaper when I thought she’d pass out from heat. Thankfully she allowed me to dress her in the cooler outfit I brought for … Continue reading →

Hairdo

When I was a little girl I had very long hair. I loved my hair, but I couldn’t stand to have it touch my neck. Every day my mom would brush my hair and put it up in ponytails or braids. I think I was 12 before I would wear my hair down. Even when I would wear my hair loose, I would pin back the front. When Jessie joined our family my mom asked me if she had hair. I told mom that for a blonde baby, she had a lot of hair, but compared to the other baby … Continue reading →

The Nightgown

When we were getting everything ready for Jessie to have her tonsils and adenoids removed Grammy and Poppa sent a package to cheer her up during her recovery. The package included the cutest book about if whales have wings. (Jessie will tell you that no, they don’t.) The package also contained an adorable nightgown. I don’t wear nightgowns. I don’t like nightgowns. Nightgowns are weird. They get twisty at night, are really uncomfortable, and aren’t cute. Jammies are cute. Even a shirt is cute. Nightgowns are annoying. Since I’m a little biased against nightgowns, I didn’t show this adorable nightie … Continue reading →

Toddler’s Low Voice

Jessie absolutely cracks me up. Her vocabulary is growing every day. She’s adding new spoken words along with new signs. I love talking with her. Her two newest are bless you and sorry. Anytime anyone sneezes, she’s right there to say, “Bless you.” I have been trying to teach Jessie to say she’s sorry when she does something wrong, and now she says it all the time. It’s really cute. Jessie has two different Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) therapists who come to the house. One is for development and the other is for speech. She just finished a cycle of … Continue reading →

No Trantrums

My toddler is such a little helper. We’ve had a new baby in the house for the last month and Jessie is such a mommy. She is the best big sister. She is so gentle with Baby E. She is loving and genuinely concerned. Jessie loves her dolls and stuffed animals. She is always playing with her babies. Since Baby E has been in the house, she mimics how I am with Baby E with her babies. It’s really cute. I guess she couldn’t really remember how it was with the last infant to do the same things. Even though … Continue reading →

Delaying Pre-School

When I was in second and third grades I was in a program called Mentally Gifted Minors or MGM. It was a great program. The program met on a different campus on certain days. Those students in the program rode the bus to the other school on those days. MGM was self-led study. It was very enjoyable and I learned a lot. My sister’s children all went to a Montessori school for pre-school and some for kindergarten as well. They all had very good experiences and did well in school. I was interested in Montessori for Jessie. Jessie is going … Continue reading →

Raising a Reader

My parents are avid readers and so are my siblings. I always have a book with me. I love to read. I have many books for Jessie and the foster placements. We make it a point to read every day. Some months ago my moms’ group held a luncheon presentation about A Mom’s Role in Her Child’s Literacy Apprenticeship. I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything I could to raise a reader, so I was very interested in this presentation. The speaker was Anne van Kleeck, who was a University of Texas at Dallas professor specializing in … Continue reading →

Dressing Up

Our second placement loved to play dress-up. We bought a case of dress-up clothes so she could do just that. The case holds skirts, shoes, sleeves, and a veil. The case is a pretty pink with a carry handle. She was interested in dressing up much younger than Jessie. Dressing oneself is one of the markers that ECI in our area uses to assess a child’s development. Jessie does not put on her own clothes. She has, however, been taking them off for months. We never know what part of each day will have her running out to us without … Continue reading →