- 3/27/2007 10:00:00 PMDay 5 - TuesdayThis morning I decided to make a double batch of pancakes for breakfast and topping them with the real maple syrup that I received from a coworker as part of a syrup-for-egg trade. Yuri was awake early again and asked for some juice. I poured him a glass of some kind of red juice. It was probably raspberry, cherry or strawberry something or other.
I got him started on cracking the eggs into a mixing bowl and stirring them with a whisk. As I began to add the ingredients, he watched very closely to see what was going to come of this creation. I don't know if he knew what it was (the pancake batter). He watched me pour the batter into the pan and flip the pan cakes. He had no interest in licking the whisk or the spatula I used to stir the batter. He didn't ask about or motion for any of the fresh hot pancakes either. He asked Peggy for a glass of juice. She wasn't aware that he already had one.
I set the table and placed the large plate of hot pancakes in the center along with real butter and pure syrup. We prayed and dug in. Yuri took 3 pancakes. I poured the syrup on my plate and all over my pancakes and let him taste it with his finger... No good! He didn't want anything to do with maple syrup. Peggy got up and returned with the cheap stuff - maple flavored corn syrup. Yuri tasted it and was convinced it was the same as the pure stuff - No Good! Wow! That surprised me.
I asked him if he wanted any butter - NO!
Ok
So Yuri ate 3 dry pancakes for breakfast this morning. After breakfast he said to me, "Popcorn popcorn". I told him "no". We had some popcorn the other night while we watched the storms in the northern sky. That was a nice evening. I just didn't feel like making or eating any more popcorn along with my very sweet pancakes. He asked again, "popcorn"!. I said again, "no". I don't know how many times this went on but it was quite a few. "Popcorn". "No".
Yuri went up stairs and began working on Jamie's bank. Jamie has a steel bank with a combination lock on the front. Yuri pulled on the door and began to crank on the combination dial until it just opened up. I guess the trick is to turn the knob slowly until you hear and feel the door open a little bit. Then you turn the knob the other way until it opens. So much for requiring the combination.
The social worker from Catholic Family Services is coming today. She has to pick up some paper work and observe our family in action. When all is done, we will be licensed as a temporary foster home. It seems kind of pointless now as Yuri is already here and the temporary part only lasts as long as his visit. Should we ever decide to become a permanent foster home, most of the paperwork is complete and only a further in depth analysis of our family life will be required. Ouch!
The paperwork we filled out had questions like, "Describe the husband's relationship with his parents" and "Describe your parenting style". We put in answers like, "normal". During a past meeting with the social worker she asked me about the parenting style question. At that time I told her, "freestyle". I'm not sure exactly what kind of an answer she was looking for. Perhaps I should have said, "Judeo-Christian style".
The social worker was scheduled to come at 9:00 AM. Peggy said she would call me after the visit and tell me how things went.
When I came home from work today, Peggy looked drained. She said, "today was not a good day". Apparently Yuri had been the refrigerator about 150 times today. Peggy did end up making 2 bags of popcorn. Besides the popcorn, it was difficult exactly pinpoint what Yuri ate. Some of the candy that was laid out on the counter was missing. Yuri found a Hershey's chocolate bar in the fridge and had repeatedly asked for it.
For supper tonight we had ham, stuffing and more string green beans. During supper last night, Yuri confessed that he actually liked green beans so I looked forward to the moment of truth. He put on quite a show. Peggy gave him a very small scoop of beans (approximately 1 large table spoon). That is not much. He ate each small piece one at a time and acted like a person who was trying to swallow aspirin for the first time - it tastes bad if you keep it in your mouth for too long and it doesn't go down easy. With each bean fragment came a large drink followed by a long exhale of air as if he was exhausted from the effort.
I tapped on his plate next to his beans and said, "Beans. Now."
"Ok. ok.", replied Yuri.
Then he used his butter knife to begin cutting each bean fragment into something smaller. By this time my patients was very thin. I had already taken his cup from him, now I took this butter knife too along with his napkin. "Beans. Now." I said in a firm voice.
Peggy cautioned me about being too firm and moving to quickly. She said, "we don't know if he came from any kind of abusive situation so please be careful on how you move - nothing to abrupt." I believe she is correct about that however I know what manipulation looks like. I've seen it up close from my own children for 18 years and I was not about to start tolerating it now.
