Snowbound Part I
We are living in an area that was affected by the snow storms this week, so school was canceled for the entire week. It has had its ups and downs, and I am here to tell you about them.
Sunday Night
Snow began to fall, and it slowly began to accumulate. About every hour our kiddo wanted to go outside and look at the snow. Though it was just a dusting at this point, they were so excited to see snow for the first time. They didn’t want to go to bed that night because they wanted to stay up and watch the snow, but after some coxing, they went to bed.
Monday
Our foster child woke up and we immediately put on layers to go outside. Overnight, we had accumulated about 4 inches. We took a few pictures and attempted to throw some snowballs, but the snow was very powdery. Then we came inside for the all-important post-snow tradition of drinking hot chocolate.
We did not set a lot of boundaries or establish much of a routine. We let our kiddo eat two bowls of sugary cereal, drink two mugs of hot chocolate, watch lots of TV, and leave the train set all over the living room the entire day. And, we had a fun day. We introduced them to Taco, Gato, Cabra, Queso, Pizza (Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese Pizza) and Sushi Go, and we probably spent about 2 hours in the afternoon playing games.1
However, at dinner, I feel like we were all getting a little frustrated with each other. Our kiddo didn’t want to eat the dinner I made even though I asked them ahead of time if they liked what I was planning on making. They kept reaching for apple slices as Joshua was trying to cut the apple with a knife. And they kept as asking the same questions over and over without giving us time to discuss and decide what we wanted to do. I’m sure they were frustrated because they thought we weren’t listening, and we just needed a minute to think.
That evening, we cleaned up the living room, and I think making the house more orderly helped bring down the tension (at least that’s what it did for me).
Tuesday
Joshua went into work for a half day, so I got up and helped him clear off his car and get ready to go. After all the snow on Monday, we ended up with about 6 inches.
Once our kiddo was up, they also wanted to go outside. I showed them how to make a snow angel, but they were not interested. They wanted to make a snowman, but the snow wasn’t great packing snow. So, our kiddo decided they wanted to spend most of the time clearing off my car.
When we got inside, I decided that we needed a schedule. It didn’t need to be super rigid, but I needed more structure. I decided this when our kiddo asked me for the 100th time if they could watch more TV. If they had a designated time to watch TV, then maybe it would (theoretically) reduce these questions. The schedule has evolved throughout the week, but here is the basic concept.
We tried to go to the library because we needed to get out of the house, and when we had gone the week prior, we arrived 2 minutes after it closed. However, even though the website said it was open, it was not. So, we stopped at an El Salvadorian bakery that is close to our home. Our kiddo was really excited that the cashier spoke to us in Spanish.
When we got home, our kiddo’s case worker checked in to see how we were doing. They seem like they are handling all of this change really well. Though snow had definitely lost some of it’s magic by then.
We have given each child who has stayed with us a notebook with lines for writing in and a blank notebook for drawing in. We also have some animal stickers for our kiddos to decorate their journals with. Most kids have used 3-5 stickers, but our current kiddo most LOVE stickers because they used every single sticker that we had. They have also showed their sticker book to every single person they’ve had zoom calls with this week, so I would say the stickers were put to good use. We have ordered more stickers on Amazon for our future kiddos.
For dinner, we were planning on having leftovers of the meal that our kiddo had not liked the night before, so I pulled out a can of black beans for them to have with rice. This has been an easy go-to protein replacement for our kiddos.
Wednesday
Early in the day, we got confirmation that we would indeed be snowbound for the entire week. We followed our schedule for most of the day. Our kiddo asked if they could watch some drawing tutorials and draw some pictures, so they spent much of the morning doing that. Then I remembered that I had a paint set that someone had given me when we first started fostering. So, they painted for a while as well.
Our kiddo got to check in with the counselor from the agency, and she was able to arrange times for them to talk with their family.
I made tacos for dinner, and they were a huge hit. I didn’t have a packet of taco seasoning like I thought I did, so I seasoned the tacos with seasonings I had on hand. I was nervous that our kiddo wouldn’t like it because I accidentally made it a bit spicy, but it was by far his favorite meal.
Originally, this post was going to be about the whole week, but I have realized that this post was getting too long. Here is the first part of the week, and I will publish part two early next week.
I’ve been thinking about your family all week. You all are adapting to the unexpected so well!
Good to know that your kid played sushi go! I wondered about playing games that are in English and explaining the details of how to play it. Unless it was super simple stuff like checkers ..