Adjustments

When I decided to look into fostering I looked for blogs like this to read about other people's experience. I found many that started and never continued. Now I know why. When do I have time to blog now that I'm a parent?
We've had little man for 2 1/2 weeks and it's been great. He's a wonderful child and very well adjusted to his situation and our home. He's not had a single temper tantrum, let alone even cried. We rarely have to ask him twice to do something or stop doing something. I often joke that he's a little practice "robot" that they give to new foster parents that have never had a child in the home so that they can adjust. Ha! He's so well mannered. I can't believe it. I do realize that he may be afraid to make us mad, so we are keeping an eye on that, but I really do think he's just a good kid in general.
It is still difficult at times, but just for all the normal reasons. We get free day care from 7:30 to 5:30 M-F if we need it but even then those 3 hours he is home before going to bed, wow, they consume you!
He hasn't cried for his mom. Once in a while he'll say that his mom lets him do whatever he wants and I empathetically say, "I know". Because that's what my parenting books tell me to say. If I haven't mentioned them before, Love and Logic and Screamfree Parenting are the books we go by and the techniques work like magic. I bet the reason we've not had too many problems is because we started right off the bat with the techinques they teach.
Back to being a mom...

We Got Him!

On Wednesday they asked us if we would take Little Man. We said yes and got him on Friday! Now it's Monday and everything is going great! More later...

Anybody There?

I don't have any news. Husband and I are both done with our first year of training. Just waiting for the call that they have a child for us. I heard that Little Man might come back around because his kin is maybe moving away. But, they need someone who can take him and his older brother both. We're just not ready for that. I could be talked into it but I don't think Husband could and I don't think it's wise for me to try and do that.
Well, ya, like I said, no news. But I thought, just in case anyone was wondering...

Hurry Up and Wait

Yesterday was our last homestudy session. There were 3 in total, lasting 2 hours each. The only thing we had to do was get plug covers and make sure chemicals and medicine was either out of reach or locked up.
When they left they said we were pre-certified which means we are legally able to foster, so now we just wait for the call. We still have some training to do. Here's where we're at now:

To be pre-certified:
12 hour CORE training Husband and I both done
15 hours of "other training". Our county has several training opportunities for these hours such as reading books and newsletters, attending potlucks and other miscellaneous parenting classes. Lealyn done. Ant needs about 5.
Homestudy Done
1st aid and CPR certification Ant and Lealyn both done


Then you need 20 hrs of training your first year totalling 47 hours. I need 5. Husband needs 25.

I learned yesterday that Husband is really concerned and scared. But he's not showing any signs of wanting to back out. He just worries about having a child and getting attached and having to give them back. That's an understandable fear for sure. I'm not worried about that too much myself. Maybe I'm not being realistic. But I"m focusing more on the experience we will have. I'm just so eager to help that I don't care if it's not forever. I look forward to what's to come. It will all work out and it will all be beautiful.

I don't think we are getting the little man. I feel sad. I wasn't excited about being rushed, but I did have my heart set on this little boy and so that will take some getting over. Everyone talks about what a great kid he is. We just had our 2nd home study session and they made it sound like his kin situation is working out better than they thought it would. That's good, I hope, for him.
I ordered two parenting books yesterday and will hopefully learn alot there. I'm going garage saleing again tomorrow and hope to get some more good stuff for the kids room
I had an idea for Husband and I to start talking about how we would have done things if we had had a kid that day. Like yesterday, it was crazy, we were both super busy with work. How would a kid have worked into the mix? I know things will have a way of working themselves out, but it woudn't hurt to think about those things now so that they don't come as such a shock when the real thing hits.

Getting Ready

Well, Husband and I made the official decision to become foster parents the other day. We had always said we would wait until after the CORE training to officially decide and about 3 days after training I realized we hadn't discussed the finality of it. So I asked him what he thought and he said, "Let's do it!"
So I went garage saleing yesterday and now we have 16 books, a puppet, a stuffed animal and 2 bouncy balls! It's going to be fun getting this room ready!

CORE complete!

We just got home from Denver where we took our CORE foster parent training. It was 12hours and it's supposed to cover the basics to get you ready for fostering. CORE training is offered almost everywhere and I don't exactly recommend taking it at the Lowry Family Center in Denver. The trainers were kind and passionate people but I really don't feel as prepared after the training as I thought I would. They covered many "emotional" basics which I am grateful for. But, they really strayed too far away from the course material and did not cover enough of the factual, step by step information. Maybe they've been doing this a long time and they have learned that the emotional stuff is much more valuable and the other stuff you will figure out when it actually happens and/or when you read your manual.
Thankfully I did walk away with a manual (full of typos and misspellings) that I can read and get up to speed on my own. But I do feel that those trainers need to get back on track. They told way too many personal stories, which got us behind and then they even cut the class an hour early. I wrote them an honest evaluation and left it at that.
On a more postive note, the people there for the training were really diverse and it was interesting to hear why they were getting into fostering. I was happy to hear that all ages of kids were "wanted", even teenagers and kids with special needs! There was one single lady there that only wanted kids aged 16-18! Wow! And one guy who had already been placed with a deaf girl. It really was inspiring and I was quite relieved to see that not everyone wanted the same easy age group we did.
Now to wait and see if we hear anything about little man this week...