Oh goodness, it is almost 6 am… why so late I am going to be la… no not today. Today there is no work. I remember now. Court. No cries from the baby monitor and Cheryl still lays sleeping. Before heading into the bathroom I wake her up and tell her it is six. Time to get up and face the day.
After a few minutes of tending to myself I look again, no fussy sounds from the monitor. Cheryl is up and getting ready now as I start the normal routine, but today is not normal. I make a bottle for our little guy. Make sure the dining area is ready for our little lady and still the monitor has no peeps.
Well it is already late so I will get him up. Into Amory’s room I go to the sight of a sleeping baby. I turn on the corner light and get his outfit for the day. Still, a sleeping baby. He can sleep for a few more minutes. Walk back into the front room and Cheryl is on my “kitchen prepping” heels. She has everything set.
“Should I get him up”, I ask as Cheryl walks past me an into Arianna’s room. She is on her way to get Arianna dressed and ready for the day. “Yes” is the answer spoken without words
Back in Little Man’s room to a sleeping baby. Rub his back gently and wake him up. His eyes are heavy and groggy, but open. Laid down on the changing table with a stuffed Nemo. Diaper changed. Turquoise bottoms and matching monster truck top. Socks and then his J’s are next. Up and out to the front room for a smaller than usual bottle.
Little Man grabs his bottle and shoves it in. Not enough time. He drinks like there is no tomorrow. About two-thirds of the way through, the bottle is pulled out with one arm, proudly. Drip, drip, drip he smiles up at me while spilling the remaining milk. Time to go.
Strapped into the car seat. Ups a daisy, ups a little baby. Yes one arm and the next. Then buckled a crossed and through the legs. All tight and ready to go to daycare. Ah… our day friends – Zoe and Becca and Susan.
We drive to daycare and off the two little ones get dropped. “Zoe, today might be their last day with you.” … “What, why?” so much love and care from the regulars at daycare. She has seen many more regulars come and go and even though she doesn’t say it, I almost feel like she understands it better than even Cheryl I understand it. Oh little man crawls and plays and then starts to fuss. I put out both of my hands and he uses them to stand up. We walk (with me holding both hands) first one way across the room and then the other. “Say bye bye” we ask him as we leave and Amory waves proudly with his perfect little hands.
We leave and before we know it, time to head to court. Juvenile court in Phoenix is close to downtown (maybe four miles as the crow flies). We make our way there and arrive more than a half hour early to a packed parking lot. We get inside passed security and find out that the hearing will be on the second floor, third room so up we head. We sit down right outside the court room with about fifteen minutes to spare and see the kiddo’s mom. Cheryl had made a photo book for the kids and gave it to their mom at that time.
A little while later the case worker arrives and briefly talks to us and then to the children’s mom and then heads into the court room. Close to a fifteen minutes after the scheduled start of the hearing we are called in. Cheryl and I choose to sit in about the same area we had in previous hearings. It is certainly interesting to see what Hollywood images of a court room is and then what we sat in. Same basic ideas, but a much smaller space. Guess I have seen My Cousin Vinny a few too many times. The proceedings occur, lots of things were discussed and decisions made.
Outside of the court room we go. “Six, will six work for you?” I asked the kiddos mom. “Sure,” he hesitated. How are we going to get all of their things packed? How are we going to get them home in time to spend some time? How are we going to communicate with the people we need to communicate with? Who needs to be called and in what order? My mind raced with all of these questions as we made our way out to an almost empty parking lot. We had just six hours.
Cheryl’s mom was the first person we called. “They are going home.” Then the daycare, “we will pick them up right after nap time”. Then Cheryl’s dad and sister and brother and case aid. Oh goodness so many people who need to know what’s up. We finally got home with the phone tree called and start packing. What do they need? What should we pack? Into one suite case we put a weeks’ worth of diapers for Amory along with two weeks or tops, bottoms, coats, shoes and a few other things, all of which I think of as Amory’s things. Into a second suite case goes the same type of things for Arianna. And into a third suite case a whole bunch of their very favorite toys. I remember reading another blog or posting somewhere about how when children were transferred their things were transferred in trash bags. A few weeks before we had been told to expect a transfer and had made the decision to transfer giving our own luggage. We packed a box of things for the daycare as well. As we are finishing packing Becky pulls in.
Off to daycare we go. We drop off a few items that we want the daycare to have and up we pick Amory. Zoe and Becca both get a good chance to say a goodbye. “Cheryl, you bring us more when you are ready,” Zoe suggests. Then we went into the two year olds room we go to pick up Arianna. She proudly hollers “bye” loud enough for all of the daycare to hear.
Back home we drive. We played the many different ways we have loved to play the past 282 days together. Becky got to say good bye. Coco and Marley and Curley got to say goodbye. Jerry and Martha got to say goodbye. About three hours of memories. We took them to their mom and too we said goodbye.
Our puzzle and journey does not end here although we do not know what will be next. Cheryl and I know we are forever changed because of these two little ones. Six hours was not used to exit them from our lives; they will always live within us.
The Baby Puzzle 