Don’t you know that every word I write is ESSENTIAL and IMPORTANT and NECESSARY? Don’t you know that if you miss something I say that your life will lack meaning, focus and joy??  Don’t you know if you skip long rambling posts you will miss life-changing information like this???????

*****

Bubba: Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Way. HEY! Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Oh what fun. HEY! Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells.

Callie: I’m going to kill him.

Bubba: Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Oh what fun! HEY! Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. HEY!

Me: Bubba, can’t you sing a different song?

Bubba: I don’t like this song. What is this song?

Me: It is Kanye.

Bubba: I don’t like it. I like Wheels on the Bus. Wheels on the Bus. Jingle Bells. Beep Beep Beep. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells.

*****

Bubba: Mom. I have penis. Daddy has penis. You don’t have penis. You…..are wearing pink socks.

No changes to the case at this time.

Next hearing will be a permanency hearing, which has to take place around/before the one year mark of being in care. They will review whether the case goal of reunification is still appropriate and to review how the children are doing. This will take place about two months from now.

Just to give you some idea of how this case is going…there is another case that is following the same court schedule as us. At court date #2, Mom got visits extended to two supervised per week. At court date #3, she got visits extended to two supervised and one four hour unsupervised per week. Today, she got visits extended to weekend unsupervised visits, and a counselor was assigned to work with both the mother and children to help prepare them from the transition from foster care to living with their Mom again.

Bubba and Snowbaby still receive one hour of supervised visitation each week.

They have been in foster care for eight months.

Thirteen things that happened during a rainy day

1. I had to send something fedex, go to one therapist appointment and one psychiatrist appointment.

2. I got wet trying to get in and out of the buildings. I didn’t like it.

3. I talked to the doctor who said I didn’t need IV antibiotics, just regular antibiotics.

4. I got irritated because it was pouring so hard.

5. I really didn’t want to have to go into the daycare to pick up Bubba…

6. because I knew I would end up soaking wet…

7. because I didn’t have an umbrella.

8. I parked, and ran in as quickly as I can.

9. I splashed water all over my jeans.

10. I grabbed Bubba’s hand and said, “Listen. I know I tell you not to run in the parking lot, but today we are going to run. We are going to run real fast. Real fast in the rain!”

11. Bubba’s face lit up. “Really, Mommy!!! Ok ONE TWO FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN. GO” And we ran through the door, into the pouring rain. Mud splashed all over our legs. Water soaked our clothes and plastered our hair to our heads. Bubba laughed and smiled like it was the best time of his life.

12. I smiled too and laughed too.

13. “Mom..you are my best buddy,” he said. “You and Kitchen Bitchin are my best buddies.”

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*****

If you’ve been reading for awhile, you know that when the kids first got placed with me, I went through a major money crisis. One of the main contributing factors was that I had no savings and no real credit cards. I had four credit cards. One with a $600 limit. Two with a $300 limit. And one was for Office Depot.

Obviously this didn’t help too much.

In August, I decided to really take control of both my finances and my credit. I joined an online forum of people who are committed to rebuilding their credit. I pulled my credit report and was surprised by some of the crap that was on there..things that never should have been on there. Things that should have fallen off but hadn’t. Things that were reporting incorrectly.

I started sending out letters and disputing information online. Erroneous things started disappearing. I was approved for a Target card.

And then this morning, I received word from my credit union that I had been approved for a $5000 limit Mastercard.

I’m thrilled. THRILLED! Seriously, if you don’t have great credit, you can work to repair it. I have improved my score by over 60 points in just two months and I’m not even close to being done with getting the crap off of it.

*****

Bubba: Dad. Dad. Dad. Its not birthday. Not yet.

Geo: (to me) What did he say?

Me: He said it’s not his birthday yet. That’s right Bubba. You have to wait for trick or treat to be over.

Bubba: Dad. Dad. Dad. Yesterday. Yesterday. Today. Soon. I dress as driver. I go trick or treat.

Geo: Oh yeah, that’s cool.

Bubba: Dad. I say. TRICK OR TREAT. HEY LADY GIVE ME CANDY BOAT TRUCK. THANK YOU PLEASE. Then she give me 5 6 7 8 9 10 candy. Then I say PLEASE LADY TRICK OR TREAT.

I have a shocking confession to make!

Bubba is a shoplifter.

It all started at a yard sale. Bubba wanted a truck, so he just picked it up and stuck it in his pocket.

I had to take it back.

Then we were at Big Lots. Bubba picked up a little etch-a-sketch, the kind that go on a keyring, and was carrying it around. Right before we were ready to leave, I told him to put it back. He said ok. We walk out into the parking lot and I go to grab his hand and..he’s got the etch-a-sketch.

We had to take it back in the store.

This weekend we were in Old Navy. Snowbaby was riding in the stroller and I had our clothes stacked up on the back. I found this really cute tshirt that had a race car on it and I was thinking about getting it for Bubba. He wanted to see it so I handed it to him. Later, after we checked out and had gone to the food court for some pretzels, I went to take Snowbaby out of the stroller and what do I see behind her? The race car tshirt!

“Bubba! Why did you do that??!!!”

“You buy for me Mommy!”

“No, I didn’t!! I didn’t pay for this!”

“I pay for it Mommy. It cost 5 6 7 8 9 10 blue”

We had to take it back.

My child is a juvenile delinquent.

TV: …and one of you will be eliminated..

Bug: Haha, Bubba, you are going to be eliminated.

Bubba: I don’t want to be eliminated. I want to be a Bubba.

Bubba: That my car, baby!

Snowbaby: No. My car.

Bubba: No baby! That Bubba’s car. That not yous car.

Snowbaby: No. My car!

Bubba: O.M.G. BABY!! O.M.G.! O.M.G.!

Why yes, I do have three pre/teen age girls living here. Why do you ask?

Before I go any further…SERIOUSLY CUBS! Start playing some baseball. I can’t stay up to 1 am to watch you lose! (Especially when I have to get up at 4 am with the baby since she is sick.) PLEASE WIN!

Thanks.

Bubba is in a special education classroom for most of his school day. The class has less than ten children in it, all with various levels of special needs. Because he has improved so much, he has started going into the regular education class which is much larger.

Apparently in this class, the big thing is “best buddies.”

Bubba came home this week talking all about his best buddy. If I did something to make him mad, he would yell “Mommy! You are not my best buddy!” If Snowbaby took off her shoes in the car, he would turn to her and inform her that since she took off her shoes, she was no longer his best buddy.

You can also become Bubba’s best buddy by buying him candy, giving him some milk, or helping him with his shoes.

Apparently though, us who live in the house are not his only best buddies. Bubba has a best buddy at school, too.

“You do?” I asked. “What is their name?”

“Bitchin. Bitchin Bitchin.”

“What? That is their name?”

“Yeah! Bitchin is my best buddy!”

I’m not sure if Bubba is just mispronouncing Bitchin’s name or if Bitchin has some rebel parents. I’ve tried to suggest that the kid’s name is Bridget or Kristen or Justin or Tristan but Bubba insists it is “Bitchin!”

So there you have it. Bubba has a bitchin best buddy.

As you can probably tell from reading here, Bubba’s talking has gone through the roof. He spoke about 10 words when I first got him. He didn’t know his name or how old he was. Now he speaks in complete sentences. He knows all his body parts, he knows his name and the names of everyone in the house. He knows that names of places in the house, like “pantry” and “laundry room.” He talks all the time and he tells stories.

Lately he has started asking to do things a lot, but when he asks he says things like, “Mommy. Can Bug and I Bubba go outside?” “Mom, Bug says I Bubba is mean.”

Last night I tried to correct it.

“Mom, can I Bubba go play on the wagon?”

“You should say, “Can I go play on the wagon?”

“Can you play on wagon?”

“No, can I play on wagon?”

“Can you play on wagon?”

“No, you call yourself I. You are I.”

“No! I Bubba.”

I guess we’ll need to keep working. 

Assignment: Write a letter to a government official explaining whether you think Puerto Rico should become the 51st state.

Bug’s response:

Dear George Bush,

I think Puerto Rico should becom a state because it would be cool because us kids would get to study more states. Also, if you got my letter you would just throw it away because you don’t care about nothing. Anyway, I think it should be a state.

-Bug