All day visit January 23, 2011

1/23/11

Yesterday Mika dropped “O” off at our house at about 9:30 and we had her until 5:30! It was awesome. We were exhausted at the end of the day, but it was a really good visit. Blaine had a gig and had to be gone from about noon until 4. She wanted to play in the backyard much of the day with the dogs and push her baby stroller. She also asked to pick and eat a carrot each time we went outside. Instead of pulling up all of our carrots, I decided a snap pea was a better choice each time. She calls them "snaps". She told Blaine when he got home, "I eat snaps!" We followed the schedule that she's used to at her foster home, which we love...snacktime at 10:00 or so, playtime, lunch at 12:30, quiet time from 1-3, play, snacktime 3:30, play, and then I took her home at 5:30 for dinner/bath/storytime.

A few “O” quotes/stories of the day: "This is Joni and Blaine's house? My house too?" ; When Blaine was putting her in the carseat to go to the park, he was saying, "I like playing with you “O”!" and she said, "I love you!". He responded with "I love you, too" and then we exchanged looks of surprise and excitement as we both got into the car. I was a bit jealous she told him first, though. When she pretends to talk on the phone, she'll put her finger to her mouth and tell you "shh! I'm talking!" The 2nd time we went to the park at the end of the day, she said "I'm tired" and pretended to fall asleep while swinging in the swing. Blaine and I then started a game of "you better not smile!" or "don't you dare smile!" and she would try to suppress the smile and start laughing. This went back and forth for awhile. There are a few pictures of this attached. During quiet time, I read her a few kids books on "Good Manners" (these I bought for my students, but Mika uses the terms "bad manners" and "good manners" to identify bad/good behaviors, so it's perfect!) After reading one, she said, "“O” has good manners!" During part of quiet time (which she wanted me to be in there on the floor with her) I leaned on the bed draped over her legs. She reached her hand out to me asking for my hand. I placed it on her stomach and she proceeded to gently pat and rub my hand.

-joni