Patience! (Kim)

Oh the places you'll go, the things you'll learn and the crazy you'll feel all while doing foster care!  I know it doesn't rhyme, but it totally makes sense to me.
Life at our house is so crazy right now with 10 kids, 5 of which are between the ages of 3 to 5.  I keep looking at them and thinking to myself, have you completely lost your mind?  Some moments I think I have or I am getting very close.  The two boys we have right now are so adorable, but man they have some anger issues, and it is very draining.

It doesn't matter how long you have done foster care you will always learn something new from every child.  With these two boys I am learning a lot of patience, I always thought of myself as a patient person, but I guess I still have more to learn in the patience department.

Yesterday I went in the boys room and picked up the Lego's that had gotten spread all over the room from the kids playing and put them back in the bin. (let me just say I hate picking up Lego's they are so little and are a pain.) Just a short while later *Peter got upset with me and went into the room and threw the Lego's all over the room again.  Oh I was not a very happy mamma!  But I calmly walked in the room and told Peter that after he took a nap he would have to pick up the mess.  When he woke up he came out and asked for a Popsicle, I then reminded him of the mess he had to clean up.  He decided to sit and sulk for a bit, and I told him that was fine, but until the mess was clean he couldn't have his Popsicle.  One of my older daughters then got out some M&M's and Peter ran over and asked for some, I quickly reminded him of his mess, I said "Peter, run in and clean it up and then you can have some M&M's and a Popsicle."  He still wouldn't budge, but after a few minutes of thinking it over in his head I guess he decided it was worth cleaning up the mess.  He came back to me and said "Mom, I cleaned it all up."  He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him too!  I had him show me what he had done, and I praised him for it, but reminded him that it is not okay to throw things around just because we are mad.  I then gave him a big hug and his treats. We are making progress, slowly but surely!