We were notified on Wednesday, April 25 at 2:05 pm that we were officially licensed! The call came from a lady who has years of experience being a foster parent and is now our foster parent mentor. Jesse actually did a loud “wooohooo!” on the phone to her when she called. By that time I was pretty sure I knew what the call was about.
Side note: We have to be very careful about sharing any personal information about “our” kids. We are allowed to share only very general facts and absolutely no pictures. Which is really a bummer because our first two little boys are just as cute as can be… you’ll have to take our word for it!
We had been told to expect a call for our first placement very soon after we are licensed. And they weren’t kidding! We got a call just a few hours later and were asked to accept a little boy who was twenty months old. He was adorable! He had the best little smile and laugh. We were able to love on him less than twenty four hours before he was cleared to go back home.
We felt very good about how handled our first little one. At first he was completely silent, obviously scared to death, when he arrived at our house just after midnight. He got more and more comfortable as the next day went on. We kept him entertained and laughing, we fed him three super healthy meals which he gobbled right up, and held him close all day. His care manager came to pick him up just after dinner.
Funny story about our dinner with him… We fed him peas with dinner that night. Apparently he didn’t like peas. After trying one he started handing them to Jesse one by one. At first we thought he was being nice and sharing so Jesse kept saying thank you. Then we realized that he planned on handing us all them since he didn’t want them. When we just took the peas away he said thank you. So cute!
Even before our first little boy had left our house, we got a call to accept our second placement who was to arrive later that same day. A couple of hours later we welcomed another little boy who is two and a half years old. He is expected to stay with us for several months, but we never know for sure. We are loving each day that we get to spend with him. We definitely underestimated the amount of energy required to take care of this little man, so we are still working on figuring out how our new routine will go.
This little one loves to eat! So far we’ve only found one food that he doesn’t like… cucumbers. I had a bunch on his plate at lunch the other day. He kept going back and trying them, forgetting that he didn’t want them… and making a yucky face each time. He tried them at least four times so I know he really didn’t like them. The other surprising thing is how much he loves broccoli, he keeps asking for more when we have it. I love how easy he is to feed since he is more than willing to eat whatever we are eating. He is also super helpful too. He has made himself in charge of throwing away little pieces of trash while I’m cooking and loves to close every kitchen cabinet, pantry, fridge, or other door when we are finished with it.
Funny story about this little one… We are very amused by how much he loves to imitate every little thing we do. Since we’ve been spending more time outside now than we used to, I’ve been blowing my allergy nose more often. After watching me do that, he now loves to blow his nose too. He will go to the table, grab a kleenex, rub his nose, look at it and say “oooh, essussing!” (disgusting), and then run to the kitchen and throw it away. I guess I must make an essussing face when I blow my nose.
We are loving having him here, for sure!
