One of the things that ICBF emphasized was the schedule that the kids were on. "The get up at A. They shower at B. They eat breakfast at C. John takes a nap from D-E. They eat lunch at F. They play from G-H. Sometimes John takes another nap. They eat dinner at I. They go to bed at J." Anyone who knows us is laughing right now. I realize that it's very important for us to keep as much the same for them as possible. But really, they are experiencing the most dramatic change in their lives right now. Does it really matter if they go to bed at 8 or 8:30? I think not. Besides, we put them to bed at the prescribed time and they take forever to go to sleep.
But we have managed to get ourselves into a routine. It starts with waking up... a good place to start. Then we wake everyone else up and hobble downstairs to have breakfast. After breakfast, Ken and I take turns showering. Diana also like to shower in the morning. Yuli showers with me every other day and John showers with Ken every other day. After everyone is set for the day (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours, seriously) we either go to the park or go do some errands (shopping or adoption paperwork). We come home and have lunch. Then we let the kids play quietly in one room while John takes a nap. That usually involves the four big kids playing video games while Yuli and I color. Diana loves playing video games on Leapster Explorer and also loves taking pictures and videos on it. She spends part of her time on it and part of her time coloring with Yuli and I.
When John wakes up, we pack snacks and go to the park again. It's a lot of fun there and the kids mostly get along. When we come back, if there's time, we do the evening showers (Connor, Rylan and Cody) before dinner. After dinner is bedtime. I kid you not, it takes about an hour after dinner to get everyone herded and into pajamas with teeth brushed. It then takes about another hour for Ken to get the three new kids to sleep. Since John will only make do with Ken, Ken goes in that room with John, Yuli and Diana to get them all to sleep. I spend some time with the big boys and then write my blog while I wait on Ken and the big boys read. It seems to be working out.
I've had a request to know about the girls' hair. Thankfully, Diana has a clue about what I should be doing. Also, thankfully, I've been able to do a little bit at a time... say, get my feet wet. Their foster mom did beautiful hairstyles on them before they came to us. Another opportunity to be thankful is that the braids can stay in for a while. When Diana saw the bag of hair doodads that I had purchased and brought with me, she insisted that I cut the ribbons out of her hair. Aye! No! Anyway, she just washes her hair with the braids in. Then she wanted to take the back out and do it differently. So I figured out how to comb through it and put simple braids in. The back of Yuli's is out and curly. So I washed through it while I had her in the shower with me and combed it out. Her braids are staying in nicely but I'm going to have to take the ribbons out to wash the front of it, I think. Diana's braids are starting to get fuzzy so I'm going to have to redo them. Our first meeting as a family is Tuesday morning so I will definitely have to it before then. I don't want them to have second thoughts that I can't take care of them. I know that seems silly but it has occurred to me... more than once. So nothing exciting yet but I am grateful for baby steps.
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