Yeah. What She Said: A Milestone Moment

If you don't already follow The Other Mother (my better half for the past Twenty years) you have to at least check out her post here about a milestone with our foster son, James. You know, the one who'd run away on us or not speak to us...the one who after five months of solid togetherness is starting to relax. The one who might be here til he ages out of the system in 9 years...

The other reason you should read her post is that I am too tired to do my own post...spent the evening with the three littles while she took James to his first football game at the league's Football Jamboree. He looked so handsome and grownup in his game uniform! 

During dinner, the oldest little had a complete scary instant meltdown because his sliced hotdogs were placed on top of his macaroni, not next to it. 

Regardless, of why -he imploded.  Then totally freaked when he was sent to sit in time out for five minutes on the edge of the raised brick hearth of our fireplace. Time out is centrally located in the hub of our family...I asked the middle little if oldest was always like this in time out and he told me what usually happens in time out. Time out at their bio-home is very, very different from our style of time out.  Different enough to make me feel sick.

Wow.

So I sat with him while he was still raging and reassured him what we do and don't do at our house.  I re-explained that time out was a chance for him to get all of his big feelings out and then pull himself together and come back and join us at the table. Finishing dinner was up to him.  He didn't have to eat it, but that was what was for dinner. He is a smart guy and if he was really hungry he could figure out how to get the hot dogs off the macaroni. He did join us and ate his dinner and laughed at how easy it was to move the hotdogs to the side of the plate.  He stayed close for the evening.  Several times he stood in front of me, head and shoulders down, with arms slightly up in the air in a "please pick me up" gesture and he'd just melt into my shoulder.  A rough day for the oldest little. I need to come up with names for the three littles....

Tomorrow we pick up Bobby from camp and we are heading to a state park to enjoy the lake with 7/8ths of our crew. Alex is working.

I'm off to bed.