Preschool Graduation!

Preschool graduation was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. All the kids had little caps and gowns, and they sang this little rhyme. Buttercup looked so cute in her cap and gown, however, she was not into the ceremony. She was the one who wouldn't smile and refused to throw her hat. It was a kick.

They also all said what they  wanted to be when they grew up- there were doctors, policemen, teachers, and Buttercups answer "uhmmm a grownup!?!"

And the Oscar goes to:

Roman fixed up a bike we had, repainted it yellow, and we added pink streamers to it. We are learning to bike all over town. every sidewalk ramp is scary- and when things get wiggly Buttercup takes their feet off the pedals and swings them around which just makes everything wigglier.



On the way home from the park, Buttercup was going up a sidewalk ramp and in slow motion, the bike tipped over and she stood up- no scrapes or injuries of any kind. She then grabbed her knee and proceeded to hop and limp around. SO much so that another mom pulled over and asked us if we needed a lift.



To that mom: Thank you how considerate!
To my kid: Come on, brush it off and get back on the bike!

PreK Bad Day

Things buttercup cried over this morning: 

1. The "boy shorts" I chose because her rainbow skirt is dirty
2. The socks I chose (I gave her a choice, she chose secret choice #3- not choosing)
3. The sock that fell on the ground- how are you supposed to put one sock on if the other is on the floor????
4. The book I read at breakfast (I gave her a choice, she chose secret choice #3- not choosing)
5. The apricot in her bowl
6. The toothpaste cap- it wouldn't open, but no way can anyone else do it!
7. brushing teeth
8. Not wanting to put on shoes (I gave her a choice, she chose secret choice #3- not choosing)
9. Not wanting roman to put on her shoes for her (again secret choice #3)
10. Putting lotion on her face (again, secret choice #3)
11. Getting in the car

Roman wins patient parent of the day- because when all the women in the house are crabby- Roman Rises.

Flags, Paddles, no Potty

Happy Memorial day! 
We were planning some very patriotic festivities - visiting Fort Snelling for the parade and the costumes etc. But since it was 100 degrees we decided to go to the memorial day parade in Mahtomedi, and go out in the kayak.



Roman and I woke up early to get everything ready- 9:15 is early for a parade! this was the first time we put our 13 ft boat on top of our rav4- it looked proportionally normal, much less clown car-esque when it was on top of the Yaris. Buttercup and I did our best with red, white, and blue, and Roman had a giant eagle face on his shirt.



We walked down to the parade, without water in the heat, and had a good time naming the dogs that went by and waving our tiny flags. Buttercups favorite part was the marching band- so thanks to all the high school kids waking up early on their day off school.

Later, we went to the lake, it was Buttercups 2nd time in a kayak, she wanted to paddle almost the whole time. She has nice big muscles and a lot of stamina. We saw a few turtles, baby fish swimming under the kayak, and we watched a bird catch a fish. There were a lot of paddle splash wars- to combat the heat.

My favorite part of the day was when we were trying to leave the busy boat launch. as soon as we got out SOMEBODY had to go potty. She and I went down to the water and I was explaining how to squat down and be discrete and pee. Of course, it didn't end quite that ladylike. we were standing in ankle deep water, she was screaming "I haaaave to gooooo pooootttyyyy" as she trickled into the lake. Multiple boats were waiting their turn in the launch- we had quite the audience- and I was just laughing hysterically. Then Buttercup screamed as I squshed her legs in the water to rinse off. All in all, a hilarious interaction at the lake.

Huckleberry Finn

There's been a growing number of neighborhood kids appearing in our yard. I was watching Buttercup and Isaiah play while mowing the grass with a manual mower. ALL the kids came running up and wanted to try it.



Everyone got a chance, I only had to do the section around the tree roots! Turns out classic literature has some life 'hacks' in it after all.

GO SPORTS!

Through the foster program, we got to go to a Saints game for foster night!



We drove there through the rain, thinking it would clear up, Buttercup wore her adventure boots and my raincoat just in case. There was face painting (pink with glitter), a balloon sword, and a little party in the outfield with food and crafts, and ice cream.

In preparation for the game, we watched The Sandlot and started playing catch. I got some velcro mitts and Buttercup is pretty good when she's looking at the ball- we will keep practicing.



The game ended up getting rained out- but we got tickets for another day. while roman exchanged tickets, Buttercup and I had great fun splashing in all the puddles. It was a great night, and we didn't even get to watch baseball- Maybe we can watch baseball next time!

Stickers are Gold

A few days into Buttercups placement, we started using a weekly sticker chart. It's seriously been worth its weight in gold. I didn't think I'd ever use one in my house to give stickers for behaviors/things that are normal to do like eating breakfast, completing tasks on your own, or making good choices, but these are odd circumstances and Buttercup already knows exactly how it works from her time in Shelter.

I had a lot of fun setting up our chart and outlining the goals we were aiming for. Currently, we are looking for nice words and listening ears. through this, and other behavior modification techniques, the phrases "I hate ____" and "____is ugly" have been replaced with "I don't want that right now" and " I don't like that today". Note: "I hate chocolate" and " I hate cheese" have been spoken in our home. I KNOW that's not true since those are some of my main tools of bribery!

This system has acted as a way to gain Buttercups trust, she is active in the decision if she gets a sticker or not by trying to remember if she walked to school, or roman carried her etc. On Saturdays, we go to the dollar store and she can pick whatever prizes she wants based on the number of stickers. Its ALWAYS exciting!



Buttercup is really good at making decisions. I went to the dollar store thinking that it was going to end horribly with both of us leaving angry. She has gotten to pick three things the last few weeks, so we carry a basket and when she picks out four things, I say "uh oh, we have four things, which one are you going to put back" she looks and thinks,  you can see the wheels turning and then politely puts one thing back (almost where we found it!). Some decisions are quick, others take a lot of time but its fun to watch her figure it out.



This week we changed some of the goals on the sticker chart- which she found exciting since stickers were SOOO easy to earn before. we will see how this continues.

Jake Ender: Fairy God Uncle

Buttercup has some interesting this she likes to say when we see bunnies outside. It all started on a walk to the park, where we saw a bunny, she froze, and I said: "go get it!"

She went on to say that she was going to "get that bunny!" and "eat his ears" and "drink his blood". We were caught off guard so we were giving her quite a laugh. she kept going to the point where we both thought - wow shes got some anger issues with bunnies- where did she learn that? as I'm looking for images to post.... probably from loony tunes!

She now says similar things about ducks- and the common saying is that she wants to drink their blood- but why? Its all boiled down to "if you catch the bunny (or duck) we can certainly cook it up"

Heres hoping she is as unsuccessful as Elmer Fudd.


We had dinner at Jakes coffee shop earlier this week- Jake made a grilled cheese with a secret ingredient- Bunny Ears!!! dreams really do come true. She said the ears tasted like Jerky.

Pink freak out

Before we met Buttercup, I spent some time cleaning the house and collecting age appropriate things for her room. In the process, I walked into the room, saw the green alligator quilt, and thought to myself "she's going to walk in here and say 'this is a boys room!'" and not want to stay.



Off to target, I went debating with myself the whole time: do I have to have pink things? but it doesn't matter, girls don't have to have pink it's 2018, I don't like pink, do I really have to get pink things? Shes already a tiny person with opinions and likes/dislikes. How can I  make it girlier without pink?



Oh yeah! Purple exists!

I ended up getting a few purple things.

She didn't end up saying it was a boys room, but the purple things match her blanket from home- ill count it as a win. Also, now our house is covered in sequins (yuck), and her favorite color is, you guessed it :

Spicy with Chocolate

I picked up Buttercup from her shelter home- it was much like the scene in Annie when they are in the office at the orphanage and the kids are peaking through the door. Everybody knew Buttercup was leaving, and a few hollered out the window at me from the 2nd floor "Are you gonna be Buttercups family?" it was all quite exciting.



She came with on bag of things, leggings, a few long sleeves, and a blanket. I had been at the store earlier when one of the workers from the shelter called to see when I was coming. I was asking him what she likes, and what kind of clothes she may need, and all of his reactions were on the spectrum of surprise that I was even at the store picking up things for her. It was really nice to have someone to give us a few tips and strategies for comforting Buttercup during this time of transition.

we had a whirlwind of a day, first we went home and put all of our things away, all of the things I got here were met with "I hate that" or "That's Ugly" which, if you have a kid with zero control, the only option is to have a strong opinion, about 20 minutes later it turned into "That's my favorite"

Next, we picked Roman up and went to Mahtomedi for a wienie roast with my cousins and their kids (including a fellow 4 yr old) walking down to the fire Buttercup got very quiet, put her hood on and didn't want to talk to anyone. Cora ran down, determined to be her BFF, and they ended up sitting in the tent and acclimating to all these new people- as well as being in the woods.



As she came out of her shell she learned how fun it is to crack peanuts, cook hot dogs, and eat smores. Also, she decided that root beer tastes like "Spicy with chocolate"- if you think about it, shes pretty right about that!



We went on an adventure in the woods- balancing on logs, finding puffballs, and carrying sticks back to the fire. Everybody had a blast, and everybody was ready for bed! What a great first day!

Apprehensively Excited

Everything is always up in the air, even if there's a plan.

Several possible placements have come and gone since I've last written. In all the research and training we have done and gone through- no one said that waiting would be the most difficult part. Well, here I am telling you: Waiting is the hardest part so far! Knowing cases are being assigned, and there are kids out there, its tough to just sit and wait for a social worker to decide your house is the best place for a kid in need.

After cricket, and the speed at which we needed to find a preschool, or she would be placed elsewhere it's easier to be apprehensive, than excited when we hear about a new placement possibility. As a planner and a do-er, this is really hard!



This week we got a call about a little girl, we will call her Buttercup (after the green power puff girl) who is 4. We had one short visit with her and her social worker. It went well enough to have a second visit. It seems that since she's old enough to know whats going on the emphasis is on her comfort level with us, and her surroundings, which is totally opposite of how Jellybean just got dropped off by a stork.



We will see!

The build up, The Scramble, and The Let Down

Its been a draining week at the Fiamovi house. There was a very short roller coaster of a timeline that we rode, and ultimately didn't end up as Cricket's foster parents.

Thursday
We learned Cricket existed, and asked to be referred to her social worker

Friday
4:45pm: Crickets social worker called to ask more about us and set up a "Trial Overnight" right before the government work week ends
4:50pm: I contacted Cricket's current foster home to set up the overnight for Super Bowl Sunday
6:00pm: I discovered that Cricket didn't have a spot at the preschool we previously used because she was younger than Jellybean- commence panic! not being able to accept a placement because of preschool would not feel great



Saturday
Not wanting to panic until Monday, when preschools are open,  I diligently sat down and emailed every government approved preschool within 10 miles of our house, and my work. now just to wait.....

We went to get a bed railing since cricket usually sleeps in a crib and we don't have one. We of course also started looking at clothes and toys thinking about how excited we were to start a new adventure with a new kid and wondering how different it would be from having Jellybean, and how we miss Jellybean too.

Sunday- Monday
Pick up Cricket, experiment with toys to figure out what she likes and doesn't like. We felt relieved because she was such an easy kid, we stayed up talking about how she looked like me as a kid, and how much fun it is going to be to have a girl in the house- and how much quieter it is.

Preschool watch: a most of my responses were "no we don't have space" there were two that stood out to me because they read more like "WOMAN! are you crazy!??? there's a 2 year waiting list"  (both written by men) which wasn't the best vibe to get while i spent the day bonding with Cricket. One, I know its a long shot, and Two I mentioned that the placement was a foster child and there's no way I could have planned for this day or child two years ago thankyouverymuch.

Tuesday
Roman emailed the schools that had not responded to us yet- now we were getting desperate because we knew that the Social worker would have to move on if we didn't hear anything soon

4:50pm We find a spot at a preschool, and immediately text the social worker that we can take her!
Roman and I spent the rest of the night being excited and planning the short term future!
Wednesday
I got a call while I was at work. The social worker felt so bad- she had found another home for Cricket minutes before we texted her about finding a preschool.  So, Cricket wont be living with us. what a bummer.

Back to the waiting game- we have been waiting to hear about three other placements for a few weeks maybe one of those will finally come through- and now we have a better idea of which preschools have openings near us, there were multiple, just late respond-ers

Trial Overnight

For most, it was Superbowl Sunday, but for us, it was a day we had a trial overnight with a new possible placement. We will call her Cricket here. She will be two in the spring and is very quiet and shy with big ol' eyes that see the world as a deer in the headlights.

She was quiet the whole ride home and was just fine meeting the dogs, She doesn't seem to like them in her face, unfortunately, they are all three the same size. Much to Roman's delight, she walked in and picked out a car to play with. He had been agonizing about how to play with a girl and if he would have to have a tea party- guess all that worrying was for naught. Although, I think he'd be good company at a tea party. Cricket really bonded with Roman, there were lots of cheerful squeaks and giggles to most things he did, and she watched a movie in his lap with her hand in his beard the whole time. so cute.


Bedtime was fairly easy for trying to put a stranger to bed in a strange room. Cricket normally sleeps in a crib, but with the railing we got, and all the quilts, she didn't even try to escape. She slept great! Both of us, on the other hand, stayed awake flinching at every unusual sound waiting for her to wake up crying. she coughed quite a bit but slept all the way through the night without a peep.



In the morning we dropped Roman off at work and headed to the zoo. She was really content with just walking around and was only mesmerized by certain things- the waterfall in the conservatory, frogs, and the tropical fish. We did get lucky enough to see the polar bear up close and personal. He was trying to break the barrel.

After lunch and nap, we drove to drop her back off with her social worker. The worker was running late so I didn't get to interrogate her with all my questions of what happens next, I guess we will have to see!