Learning Language in Toddler Time

Language development is one of the most intriguing things I can think of.  I remember as a young child sitting in history class, maybe in sixth or seventh grade listening to my teacher teach on some ancient civilization.  I remember it because of the un-thought out question that I had.  The statement was made that the civilization did not have a written language.  Before the teacher could explain further my hand sprung up and I was called on to ask “if they did not write things down, how did they communicate?”  Yes I very un-thought out question.  Being able to communicate is the the same thing as being able to write.

Read more here: http://www.oaksacorns.com/baby-puzzle/learning-language-in-toddler-time

Leaving Kiddos with Sitters for the Weekend

Going off to work is one thing, going on a date night is another, but a whole weekend… Friday night, Saturday night, how many of you parents are cringing as you think of the idea.  You know all of your family routines.  You know the cries and the times of day that they just need to snuggle.  You know what a day, weekend looks like with your family.  And you know how much effort you put into keeping it all together.  Maybe you have a grandparents that want to help and are looking forward to “a lengthy time” with the kiddos.  Maybe you have a sibling who loves to help out and has a super awesome idea for a whole weekend trip or maybe you have awesome friends who step in and do you a huge favor.  Whatever the case is you know that the responsible adults who are helping are giving a whole lot of energy.

How do you get ready?  What do you need to do?

Read more here … http://www.oaksacorns.com/baby-puzzle/getting-ready-to-leave-your-kiddos-for-the-weekend 

Planning a Toddler’s Birthday Party- Watch to the End to Hear an Honest Confession – Episode 5

 

http://www.oaksacorns.com/baby-puzzle/planning-a-toddlers-birthday-party

 

Today we take a look at party planning for a toddler.  The child party making scene is an interesting one to me.  Theme of the Party.  Children’s games.  Party favors.  Invitations.  Family.  Friends.  All of these things are included and will detailed the planning process.  Thank for watching.

4 Steps to Take to be a Stay-at-Home Parent – Episode 2

In this episode I talk about the steps we have taken so far to being a single income family and for me to be a stay-at-home dad.  Cheryl and I are goal setters and planners.  Additionally we believe heavily in the family unit.  We are placing the value of family ahead of career in order to give our children more time for the things we think are important.  It has been a 10 month process.  If you are looking at having a parent stay at home.  Think about what you want it to look like.  What will change.  How will the family need to change.  How will the family benefit from this change.  What might be your stumbling blocks.  We concentrated a lot on budget and finances.  We are excited to be able to teach our children values, morals and responsibilities.

Spring is Springing

Yesterday at 3:30 I officially entered my “spring break” from work.  Later this evening Spring will officially begin.  With time off of work comes the “I will do it on break list” (kinda like New Years resolutions but in March). One of the things that I have placed on this list is to be more dedicated to keeping our baby puzzle blog updated.  No big updates today, but there should be a few coming down the pike in the next as we meet with both state workers, our living agency, and a potion attorney all in the next six days.  In the mean time I have uploaded two short videos to You Tube.  Thanks for you support and thanks for reading

1. B-Rad’s video
2. Little Nat’s video
3. Bonus: LR’s video

Groundhog Day 2016

Today is Groundhog Day.  I cannot go a single Groundhog Day without thinking about Bill Murrey and his desperate to escape living through a day that repeats it’s self without end.  He tried so very hard to get it right, then he tried so very hard to get it wrong and still he would wake to hear Sonny and Cher sing their love ballad.  

Well if you didn’t hear on the news, the groundhog did not see his shadow which tradition and lore tells us it will be an early spring.  Why is that tradition?  Why do we except it as fact?  How in the world does one relate to the other?  I have heard and read sever different explanation, but at the end I still wonder why?  Why except things as fact just because that is how they have been?

As we posted, LR’s bio-parent’s rights were severed.  Cheryl and I have contacted our licensing agency and an adoption attorney.  From the best we can tell it will be about 4 weeks (so around the beginning of March) before our home is an “approved” adoptive home.  It will then be about sixty to ninety days before the adoption date can be set (so somewhere in the start to mid May).

I can say with certainty that I am naive about the process that we were to go to for the adoption.  It feels like the more paperwork we fill out the more we are asked to fill out.  It feels like the closer to the end we walk the further away the date gets.  I don’t believe that my own genius is anywhere close to the comic genius of Mr. Murray, but at the same time it feels a little like I imagined as a young adult that the character it Groundhog Day was experiencing.  

Today we recived an email from our licensing agency with changed to the licensing requirements.  Lots of changes have been happening to AZ foster care system ever since we have been involved. With the changes we see at least two areas that will most likely need to change to maintain our licenses.  For me the safety and well being of the children is the most important thing.  However the changes seem less about a practical application and more about changing things just so it is different.  Why continue to throw hoops and hurdles.  We are trying our hardest.  The changes were supposed to give more support to the families and the children.  The largest change I have seen has been a change it leadership reporting, very little to assist the children.  Why do we settle for things to stay the same just because they are tradition or lore?  Why can’t improvements be made at the practical level?  We don’t need more hoops, we needs more supports.

Thank you for reading.  I will post an update as we hear back from our adoptive lawyer and when we meet our new case worker.  Happy Groundhog Day.

What Would You Do?

About two weeks ago our new placement kiddos were assigned a new case aid and parent aid.  These workers are responsible for dropping off and picking up the placement and for monitoring parent/child interaction.  They also work with the parent(s) on a slew of skills needed for parenting.  They play an important role in successful re-unification.

We have had a few interactions (phone calls and texts) with the case aid.  She is a bit short however we are understanding.  The situation (and reason for the post’s title) lies in interactions with our daycare workers.  On Monday it was reported to them that every time the kiddo’s are picked up the younger smells.  Yesterday the case aid came during a meal time.  The daycare worker tried to give the case aid a piece of toast (not jellied toast, just bread that had been toasted).  The kiddo started to freak out because when the worker refused.  She finally let him take back his food and made a comment to our daycare worker that she was just going to get him into the car and take the food away.  Then this morning when dropping our two infants off we were told by our the infant worker (a third worker reporting) that the case aid is very rude to her.

We love our daycare and also believe that the kiddo’s deserve a chance to be with their parents.  Cheryl and I do not want our daycare to become disillusioned of us because of poor treatment of others.  We also do not want a case aid who is short with us for reporting poor, unprofessional behavior.  I personally am leaning towards ignoring the reported problems until the lack of professional behavior is directed at me or Cheryl.  The problem that I have with that plan is the poor treatment of hard workers.  Also, my fear that the poor treatment is also present to the kiddos when we are not around.

What would you do?

Update Following Court

Very quick update.

Today we had a court date scheduled for LR.  This was a pre-trial conference and we were told by the DCS worker and the GAL that there would be requesting a change in the case plan.  Instead of the proposed agenda we found a new judge.  The judge continued all of the agenda items because they are retiring soon and since there would be a new judge for the remaining parts of the case they pushed all of the items to August.    So in a short statement, the update that I alluded to before actually did not occur.

On another note “LR” stands for “little roo” like “kangaroo”.  Thanks for reading and the large amounts of continued support we receive.

Decoding and an Update

I am going to start using “nicknames” for our kiddos so I do not have to refer to them as “the kiddo from October” or the “oldest kiddo” or the “youngest kiddo”.  It is a concept that another blogger her at wordpress uses and is easy enough to follow.  So

“oldest kiddo brother” = “OKB”

“younest kiddo sister” = “YKS”

“kiddo from October” = “LR” (my own nickname for her)

Tonight our worker for LR will be visiting.  Cheryl and I always get nerves when someone from DCS comes to our home and not for any other reason other than the unknown.  We have heard lots of whispers about a case plan being changed.  We may hear more about this tonight.  As I said in my last post, LR’s court date is coming up this Friday.

Monday OKB and YKS had their first visit.  Some times in the past we have noticed other placements would struggle after the visit, but the kiddos seemed to do well.  Their case worker dropped off lots of things that belong to OKB and YKS.  It is hard to see the state by which they are delivered.  Maybe it is just one of my sticking points or that we have had other placements go home, but no one’s belongings should travel in a trash bag.  We were fortunate to find an organization in the valley that provides new bags (along with a bunch of other things) for kiddos in the system.  I think one of the largest problems people have is just not knowing about the many services that the community will step up with.

Well that is it for now.  Lots of things coming in the near future.  Thanks for reading.

Mid-July Updates

Earlier this month we updated that one of our foster kiddos was going home with a great aunt.  We have since heard from his family, letting us know he is doing well.  The family he has gone to live with will care for him and knowing that he has a simi-permanent home is satisfying even though it is still a bit heart breaking, not getting to see him grow and develop.

On to our own home, on the tenth of July we welcomed into our home a brother-sister set of foster kiddos.  The brother is two months shy of three and the sister will turn one on Saturday.  Transition and adjustment takes time.  We (Cheryl and I) are used to other kiddos.  I fun thing is getting to know new little ones.  Even in the face of struggle we get a few giggles and smiles.  The brother-sister duo has a court date two Fridays from now so possibly there will be an update coming.

The sole remaining kiddo from October is also still with us.  Yes that means we have an 11month old, 14 month old and an almost three year old.  The veteran kiddo is doing well.  We have seen her first steps, although she is not anywhere near a full time walker.  She says lots of baby talk and what I swear is “hi”.  At the end of meal time she signs “all done”.  She loves to climb things and is a big time dare devil.  She also has a court date this coming Friday so there will most likely be updates coming from that as well.

There is never a dull moment in our home.  I will try to do a better job of posting on a regular basis.  Thanks for taking your time to read and support us.