Frequent Flier

As many people have commented, Skip has traveled all over the world in his less than two years on the planet. Internationally, he's been to China and Jamaica, but he's also been to Texas (a few times), Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon.

Everyone asks why Skip is so lucky that he gets to go on all the fun trips (usually with Tori). The answer is that, at least for now, he flies for free! He turns two in July and then all the free trips will end. We just booked a week-long trip to visit Tori's mom in Washington state right before he turns two so that we can take advantage of this perk one last time.

This is a photo of Skip wearing his Southwest Airlines wings on his flight home from Washington, D.C. last month.

Tangled

Zadie's hair was washed and combed when she went to bed. Then she woke up with this crazy hairball growing from her scalp. Maybe she had a bad dream and did lots of twists and turns.

My hair used to get crazy tangled when I was a kid and I remember my mom just cutting out large masses of hair sometimes. I think Zadie inherited the same problem because her hair is always a tangled mess and we have to spray mass amounts of de-tangler on it.

Snoozing Siblings

Every night before we go to bed, Tori goes into the kids' room, turns on the space heater, and checks on them. Sometimes she whispers for me to come check something out and this night (about a month ago) we had to laugh about the way Skip was sleeping. He loves to sleep with his hands behind his neck, especially when he sleeps in the car. Seems pretty unnatural to me.

I love this picture because it totally captures the nighttime scene in their room. Zadie loves to have a million stuffed animals in her bed -- I can see Pippi Longstocking, Elmo, and the Wocket in My Pocket Dr. Seuss animal. I also love her little quilt. Tori got it at one of those prop sales that movie studios have and we're always trying to convince Zadie how cute it is but she is always trying to take it off and use one of our other quilts.

The Skip scene is not quite as accurate because I'm sure Tori put his little blanket on him before she took the picture -- he will never sleep with a blanket on and so we have to dress him in layers. And he has a favorite teddy bear and "green dude" that he likes to sleep with that aren't in his bed for some reason.

Anyway, it's just cute to me how their beds are like one foot away from each other and how they get to go to bed chattering away with each other every night. Oftentimes Skip won't stop talking and Zadie gets frustrated and asks us to make him quiet because she just wants to sleep, but most of the time they're pretty cute together.

Rainy Days in L.A.

It's actually been a very rainy winter this year and so last week during one of the big rains we lit one of those romantic insta-logs (I made that word up) and Tori cozied up with the kids to read them a book before bed. This is probably the second or third time we've ever used the fireplace, which of course we were very excited about when we moved in.

President's Day Weekend w/Grams

Miracle of miracles, I finally figured out how to get the photos off our new camera. This serves me right for always making such fun of Linda for not knowing how to do the same and for enthusiastically taking photos that go into the "black void."

These are photos from President's Day Weekend, when my parents were out of town and we all took over their home. Linda was in charge of my nephew Gavin while his parents were out of town and so we had four kiddos (Zadie, Skip, Charlie, and Gavin) and managed to have a great weekend despite the weird rainy weather.

It's waaaayyyyy more fun to have a bunch of kids at my parents house than at our dumporama. Check out all the fun stuff for kids to do -- they can play on the deck on the mini "roller coaster," go in the jacuzzi, etc.

Our Little Swimmers

We've had some great trips to my parents' house recently, which unfortunately I haven't been documenting because I'm having a problem with our new camera and can't figure out how to get them onto the computer. I've resorted to reading the actual manual.

Anyway, this is a video we took of the kids jumping into the jacuzzi. Even though the weather was actually pretty cold and rainy, we can still have fun in the jacuzzi.

Skipper is kind of bonkers about jumping in the water and sometimes he doesn't give us any warning, so it's a good thing it's a small space and we can scoop him up really quickly. Zadie is a bit more cautious, but she still loves doing the big jumps. Her jumps are more like painful line drives, unfortunately.

Jumping in Jacuzzi from Kate K. on Vimeo.

Charlie Report

It's now been three weeks since Charlie left and we are feeling good about the direction things have taken. Although the process of saying goodbye was very emotional, we've communicated regularly with his sister (who is taking care of him) and we feel at ease with everything.

At first we didn't hear anything for five days and we were worried about how things were going and how he was adjusting. But then Tori realized she hadn't checked the right email account and actually the sister had written us the very next day!! Although his sister will definitely have some challenges in terms of raising the two children she now has with limited resources, we are confident that she is a good-hearted person and is committed to keeping us a part of his life. She actually asked us to be his godparents, which is really very sweet.

We Skyped with Charlie this past weekend and it was really great to see him doing so well. He looks exactly the same and is still very chubby. He smiled a lot at us and was very happy. We're scheduled to meet up with them this Saturday at a national park, so that will be fun.

The Kids Are Away

This past week has been a really big week in terms of the emotions of Charlie's departure and the fact that this was Peace Corps' 50th anniversary week and I had tons of big events that I've been working on for a long time. To help with the crazy week, and as a wonderful birthday present (yesterday was my birthday), my parents are hosting Skip and Zadie from this past Wednesday until Monday.

It's been a GREAT present and Tori and I have appreciated the opportunity to re-charge so much. This definitely ranks up there with one of the best birthday presents ever. Last night Tori and I went out to a great sushi dinner and tonight we're going out for Sichuan food with some friends.

I just hope my parents aren't going to be too worn out from this week and never want to do it again. Yikes! Sounds like things are going well, but of course I'm sure they'll be breathing a sigh of relief when the kiddos drive off into the sunset tomorrow.

Here is an excerpt from an email my dad shared:

Skip has really tickled me on this trip. In the evenings we get in the jacuzzi with the kids. Skip dives in with belly busters. He can't swim a lick but that doesn't dampen his enthusiasm. Denise sits on one side of the jacuzzi and I sit on the other. He "swims" back and forth between us. He stands on a step in the jacuzzi like he's getting ready to jump in a pool. Then he throws his arms forward and does a belly buster towards the other side. He thinks he's swimming but he's under water and we have to pull him up. Sometimes it's hard to find him under all the bubbles. No matter how long I leave him under, he comes out spitting out water and smiling, ready to "swim" to the other side. He "swam" about 100 laps last night. He is fearless. He's also crazy about his Granddaddy Hal. He likes to play rough and the rougher we play the more he laughs. I'm trying to teach him it's not nice to hit.

Zadie is faithful in doing her chores - feeding the dog twice/day, getting the mail, etc. She's very serious about her chores. I cannot believe her vocabulary. She's like Kate was at that age. She'll argue about any and everything and she's articulate. Even Skip is talking. He's like a parrot - he repeats what we say. When he wakes up he talks to himself with moans and hums that sound like Uncle Arthur when he slept. After 15-20 minutes of those noises he finally starts to chant "OUT". That means we better come get him. They're fun.

Goodbye to Charlie

We've been expecting a decision about Charlie soon and his court date was this past Monday (2/28). Tori called Charlie's appointed lawyer that afternoon and she told us that the judge had ordered him placed with his older sister, Christina.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this situation has gone through many twists and turns and I have mixed feelings about what happened. On the one hand, obviously there is a real feeling of sadness about losing Charlie and the actual experience of handing Charlie over to the social worker and waving goodbye was terrible and emotional. I'm most concerned about his own transition in a new place since he has a particular way he likes things and he's not the kind of baby that rolls with the punches. The thought of him crying in a new place as he tries to adjust makes me really sad.

On the other hand, our approach as foster parents is that whatever is meant to be is to be. I'm afraid that might sound callous in this situation, but it's not only a coping strategy, but also the true reality of the fact that we don't have any control over anything and so you just have to believe things will end up for the best. And, though it's certainly been emotional, I can sense some of the reasons why it may not have been meant for us to raise Charlie.

In any case, there are feelings of loss and sadness but there are also feelings of resolution and a sense of purpose for what we've been able to provide for Charlie. As family members have been so kind to point out, we really feel like we were able to provide very loving care for a baby who had relatively high needs in terms of constant attention. And in that respect it's really meaningful to be able to send him to his bio sister's home now that he has grown into a more happy baby and is full of smiles and coos.

I definitely don't feel bitter about the process because we knew exactly what we signed up for as foster parents and I think we were able to do something very important and meaningful. And the good news is that we've spoken with Christina and she is very open to keeping up a relationship with our family, especially because Skip and Charlie are half-biological brothers.

So I just wish Charlie all the blessings of a great life and I hope we get to see it.