Friday night, as I was getting ready to do some weekend respite care for a toddler, I got a call from a number with no name attached to it. It was a local area code, so I picked it up. It turned out to be one of the workers who transports Princess to and from her Daddy visits. She said, "You're supposed to get to see Princess this weekend, what time do you want her?" My jaw just about hit the floor. I had known that Princess had been asking to see us and that her social worker wanted to work that out, but this was the first I had heard of arrangements actually being made. So we made plans for her to come by for two hours on Saturday morning, before we got the little girl we were doing respite for.
Princess seems to be doing great! She was shy at first, but quickly warmed up. What surprised me most was how she talked. When she lived with us she always had several characteristic goofy phrases that she would use frequently with uproarious laughter. Things like telling everybody (even strangers!), "You're awkward!" or responding to a surprise with, "I'm gonna bust my head open!" We had all been discussing what we expected her to say when she saw us, but to our surprise she didn't say any of her trademark phrases. (At least, except for telling me to "Come on, old granny!"...) And while of course she ran around and was loud and wanted me to pick her up to hug her, she didn't have a meltdown when Esther sat in my lap. It's hard to tell from just two hours, but to me, she seems more settled than she was when she lived with us. That's what I would hope for, now that she is back with her mom and doesn't have all that uncertainty hanging over her head about who she's going to be with when and whether she might get separated forever from someone she loves. It's what I was picturing for her...but it was SO nice to actually see that in her! I'm still rejoicing. :-) I was also pleased how happy Esther was to see her. After the kids left, Esther spent the better part of the first month talking about how much she missed Little Guy (not to mention ACTING like Little Guy...I got SO tired of listening to baby talk!) and talking about how glad she was that Princess was gone. Obviously, having a child "sharing" her position in the family was stressful for her! But I suspected she missed her "sissy" and playmate too, and was happy that, while initially disappointed that Little Guy wasn't coming too, Esther looked forward to the visit and had a great time playing while Princess was here. Poor Esther--she lives to play pretend, and Mommy is just not into it! I found it interesting that one of the things they played was that they were "twin sisters forever." And of course they took care of lots of babies. That usually works its way into their play somewhere. :-) Princess mentioned that Little Guy misses Daniel a lot and talks about him. And she has started kindergarten, but wasn't interested in talking about it.
Apparently we are supposed to get more visits in the future. :-) I don't know when they'll be, but I'm sure when we get the call we'll find a way to make time.
And then Princess left and we had an hour and a half to finish babyproofing the house before our 14-month-old arrived. She was cute, but kind of cranky. The fact that she's cutting her first molar probably had a lot to do with that. She woke up very unhappy only an hour after I had gotten her to bed, but (somewhat to my surprise) she then made it through the rest of the night and was in a better mood this morning. Daniel was not a great fan of hers, as he is very sensitive to crying. I think it brings back bad memories for him. Esther tended to be very controlling of Baby Girl's play, and I had to keep telling her that babies don't WANT to be picked up and moved when they're enjoying investigating something...but she (Esther) had a great time. She told me this morning that if we have our own baby girl she wants us to name it the same name as this baby (she already has said, more than once, that if we have a baby boy in the future we should give it Little Guy's name). And she told me on the way home from church that it's hard when you have a baby and you like the baby but they have to leave after a short time. I think she has decided now that she likes girls as well as boys. :-) After Little Guy left she was determined that she only wanted a baby brother.
So it's been a busy weekend, but good.
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