We made it. Our week off from school and we all survived.
Actually, just a few weeks ago I would have never guessed that when left alone with the Duo anyone would be able to get anything done.
This morning I baked 100 cupcakes. Not only are those done, but I think we have everything prepped for our party for our friend tomorrow. The kids are super psyched as they love birthdays even though they don't know the guest of honor or anyone that will be there. It is a 90th birthday party so they will be by far the youngest guests there.
Six weeks in and we have some great (and not so great) routine. I'm not thrilled that Sissy finds the need to get up every day before 7 AM. Really child, sleep in a bit, will ya? However she is now dressing herself. This morning she chose a cute peach dress... her sister's. She did change without argument when asked, but I did let her wear her little shiny black dress shoes all day (why on Earth she chooses to wear them baffles me). Both girls respect now that there are their toys and then we have things that are ours. A few things that we call ours we let them play with, but because they have many pieces or they argue over them we only pull them out to play with for a little bit at a time. Mr. Potato Head is one of those items. We respect those boundaries and we even now respect the boundaries over whose books are whose. Now I just need to reorganize our bookshelf from the first few weeks when we didn't respect those boundaries.
Other fantastic routines are those around bedtime and nap time. We don't argue about it (much). Today Sissy actually requested a nap after lunch. Bug fell asleep at the table, but then failed to nap (that kid is a trip!).
We are starting to be able to fall into some normal family routines and not be afraid of the reactions the girls have. This afternoon before Squirrel got home Sissy announced that she was going to ask Squirrel if we could go have tacos for dinner. Sounded alright to me! I left it be and quietly asked Squirrel if that was alright if Sissy asked her. About a half hour later Sissy trotted off and asked so we all packed up and went for tacos. She doesn't normally ask for anything specific so I think going out for tacos is something special to her. Our luck was that tonight was also Art Walk downtown so we went to see the drummers again and this time he let the girls try the drums. Bug tried, Sissy was too shy. We also went into one of the large churches. The girls have no concept of what a church is and were calling them castles. They thought it was beautiful. We will probably take them to some services so they get an understanding of what it is. What a difference in a month. Tonight we let them both walk most of the way. A few times we picked up Bug so that we could move faster, but we weren't fearful of either of them darting into traffic or finding it funny to try to get away. We were able to stand back and watch Bug as she stared in amazement at the buskers playing on the sidewalk. Such a mighty little two year old holding her own as everyone walked around her standing there in the middle. We even saw one of Sissy's classmates downtown who gave her a big hug. That was pretty awesome considering we only have been to school for one week.
The rest of the weekend will be a busy one. Tomorrow is the big party! I think the girls will be fine, and if not there is a playground that they can play on and it is only a few blocks from home. After that party is one next door... Birthday's galore! One for a 90 year old and then one for 45. It will be a big day and very unlikely that naps will happen. We did invite their Big Sister and her foster mom to the party... they won't know anyone, but the way these three really go on and on about birthday parties it may do them good to go to some that are not their own and they can play together.
Sunday we will either go swimming or to the Children's Museum. It is a 60% chance of thunderstorms so the museum is the backup plan. We really want to see what these two think of swimming. We don't know if they have had any exposure. The museum is always great and we have a year pass so we really should make use of it. It will be interesting to see what they think of the museum now that their behavior is generally less manic.
Wow, six weeks. Doesn't seem that long.
Oh! Almost forgot. Squirrel did some work on checking on WIC for the girls. Apparently if the girls have benefits until we change where the girls are with the WIC office the bioparents may still be cashing in on the benefits. We are going to make some changes to where that government cheese goes. We aren't desperate for the food assistance, but it doesn't hurt considering we are paying for a good chunk of this summer's day care out of our pockets. Of course the hours are during normal business hours that you have to show up at the office with the right items in your hands, but I think we are getting better at the navigation of these offices. Squirrel's plan is to take the items that they request in the office with her, but to have our entire file system for the girls waiting in her truck for when they request some weird obscure item. They told her all she needs is the placement letter and their health cards... I'll let you know later what they really need because nothing has been that simple.
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