An Hour with Paris...the adventure continues...

Paris

I am not sure how to daily function with Paris.  She is such a joyful little mess.  She smiles most of the time and is a happy little hurricane.  If I could put her in the backyard all day she would be happy and would stay out of trouble.  She would swing and swing and chase dogs and ride her bike, but I can't be out there with her all day.  What I really want is for her to not always be in trouble and yet I have to stand beside her all day for that to happen.


      Let's chronicle the last hour of my life. Wake up and come to the gate (Praise the Lord for the gate screwed into the door frame).  She wants to go potty.  Seems reasonable. Send her into the potty with instructions on how to take off her pull up and put it in the diaper pail (we do this EVERY morning), go potty, wipe, wash hands...etc.  I run, literally to the kitchen to get the baby's bottle.  This takes NO time.  I return to the bathroom to find the entire roll of toilet paper all over the bathroom, her pull up on the floor and the diaper drawer emptied of ALL of the diapers we store there.  I sit the bottle down and begin, in a calm voice that is hard to come by, to tell her how to clean up the room by herself herself.  She does slowly.  It takes way more time than it did to mess it up.  We get hands washed and panties on.  I hold her hand and lead her with me lest she get lost and in trouble.  Keep in mind, I have a 4 year old,  our foster baby, and 3 other kids who need things too.

     We give the baby her bottle and head to the kitchen where I take out 2 containers of cereal, a thing of milk and get 2 sippy cups. NO WE DO NOT use regular cups.  Do not ask questions like that.  I put a small amount of cereal in each cup, fill the sippy's with water and hand them to each girl AT THE BAR.  Kylie is waiting and coloring. I then pour my own cereal......FIRST FAIL.....I did not unlock the fridge, return the milk to the fridge and re-lock it, nor did I lock the mechanism that locks the water and ice on the fridge (2nd praise of the day for the inventor of locks on fridges for the water and ice).  I walk in the dining room in full view of the bar to get my emails SECOND FAIL....checking emails.  Paris darts around the counter and before my rear hits the chair she is trying to pour the milk in the sippy cup that she has removed the lid from.  I run to grab it!  In the mean time, another child is calling.  The fridge has been unlocked with the child safety locks that take 2 hands that Paris can unlock herself, BUT it takes time, the milk has been returned and she is put back at the bar with her cereal.  I go to calling child.  I return in less than a minute to find Paris missing and water on the floor.  This is never a good thing.  Kylie is still sitting eating her cereal oblivious to the battle.  I realize she has gotten more water since I refused to allow her to pour milk.  Remember the earlier fail to re-lock the water/ice mechanism?  No time to clean up water. I call Paris only to find her throwing cereal in the baby's bed.  I make her climb in, throw it out, get out, pick it up, take it to the trash and face the corner by the trash can where I can see her while I find my soggy cereal, throw it out, up-stop the kitchen sink, put away various dishes, take out a load of laundry, move a load from the washer to the dryer and start another one, I then put away breakfast (there will not be breakfast for me this morning and I have lost my appetite anyway) and LOCK the pantry! Paris has left time out 3 times causing me to re-start the timer each time.  She only has to stand there for 3 minutes.  At least I got all of the above done in the 3 to 5 minutes the timer was going.  I then take her with me to my bathroom to talk about what has happened.  I then sit her on the potty while I take a shower so I will be able to see her.  I am now dressed and she is beside me. I check the house for sharp objects (not even kidding you), check all the locked things: fridge, pantry, various closets and then check for markers and sharpies.  All seems to be secure.  Now I am worn out and we have yet to begin school.  Fortunately the other kids are folding and putting away laundry.  Is it naptime yet?  Nope it's about 8:30.  What to do?

     We can talk about the effects of crack/cocaine on the brain of a developing baby, we can talk about ADHD and the link to those drugs, we can talk about temperament, we can talk about food and links to those challenges  and well we can talk about the rising costs of groceries and the fact the the salvia plant is now considered an illegal drug in Texas and I have it growing in my yard... if you want....but right now I am a mom with a child that challenges me and yet I know that I know, that I know that God knew just exactly what we would face and that he would walk us through it all.  I am happy to be a part of HIS journey.  Thanks for listening to yet another rambling post.  If anyone wonders why I don't get out much....please read this post.

* Don't even mention Dr. Karyn Purvis to me after my time out comment!  Just don't....