We've been out to visit our James once a week every week since he left. His first week there I'm told he slept horribly, and often went to the door crying. He missed us.
Our first visit: James was so happy to see us! Both him and Darrell had had a very moody week that first week of him being gone. That first visit we went on a Saturday, all of us, and spent the whole day out there with him. The boys, neither one of them napped while we were there, and both stayed in a great mood! Surely that means they were excited to see each other.
Second visit: We went, all of us, on a Saturday again. It was a very lonnnng day. Boys were happy to see each other again, but they were restless. The weather was gloomy and we ended up spending the whole day out places trying to find things to do to keep us busy. The foster family James is staying with went out while we had him, and they were delayed returning to the house because of tornado warnings. We ended up leaving James with the caseworker at the caseworkers home so that we could get headed back. (Our caseworker is awesome! Who else gets involved enough with the kids to watch them in their home?!) Darrell fell asleep in the car before we dropped James off. Later Darrell looked over at James' car seat and asked where James was? And that he wanted James....
Third visit: This Saturday we were out of town, so Darrell and I went out to visit James Friday while Jared was still working. This visit... James was happy to see me again, gave me a big long hug. I took the boys out to lunch, and we went to a couple different parks to play. James is a year old, he jabbers a lot. But this time? He didn't. He smiled a few times while we were out, but he stayed silent. When we got back to the house, he leapt from my arms to go to the babysitter.
(The "babysitter" is a young lady who is pretty much a second foster mom at this home. She is constantly helping out there, rarely a day goes by she's not around. This time the foster mom was attending a ceremony that some of the other kids were in, so the babysitter is the one who let us in when we got back to the house.)
So anyway... James leapt from my arms to go to the babysitter. Once inside he started walking around and jabbering just like his old self. James was back in his environment. I learned he's been hungry all the time again, eating like he used to. Learned he's been sleeping good for them again. He.... James has settled back in! They didn't say that, but that's what those things add up to. It only took 3 weeks, and he prefers someone else over me. I'm glad he's well taken care of there. I'm glad he's doing ok. I.... He wasn't supposed to be back long enough to settle in.
Forth visit will be this week. We have plans to be out of town again this next weekend; hoping to visit with him, all of us this time, tomorrow night or the night after.
Fifth visit? Hoping fifth visit is us bringing him home!
