Our First Meeting

Hermano called last night. He wanted us to know he was on the way to the hospital. He’s been having trouble with his knee (he was wearing a brace the whole time he was with us for Christmas) and last night when he was taking a dog for a walk, the dog tripped him and he really messed up his knee. I spoke with him today and it seems he might need surgery. He’s in a great deal of pain. He’s on crutches and in a straight cast right now, so he missed school today and might miss more school next week. I hope the doctors can make him a little more comfortable until he has surgery, if that’s what he needs.

Primero has to go into respite tonight, he is not allowed to be home alone, as he was permitted in the past. I’m going out for a few hours and while I’m still ok with him staying home alone, the county is “leery” and doesn’t trust him. So, they’ve reverted back to treating him like he just came into care, rather than allowing the freedom of making our own choices as before. Primero has taken it in stride, I think it’s been harder on me to deal with the changes, mostly because nothing was explained to us. It’s not like we were given notification that the rules have changed, it’s just because I’m cautious and I ask about things – if I hadn’t mentioned Primero wanting to go with his friends to the mall this afternoon, he would have gone because I had given him permission. Luckily, I thought to bring it up to his case worker. The same for him being in respite. I said I was fine with him spending a few hours home alone, but the county didn’t like that idea, so into respite he goes. This means I’m running to two foster homes for the kids, since there aren’t too many homes that take in teens, toddlers and babies. Hopefully we can get this all hashed out with the new county case worker next week and at least know what we can and cannot do. I’m so worried about making a mistake, it makes me anxious to do anything. Primero and I are both hoping the adoption will go through sooner rather than later so we can be done with all of this. 

Saturday marks the year anniversary of Primero and I meeting and having him spend the weekend with me. It’s crazy to think that was just a year ago! I’ve gotten so used to having Primero in my life and in my home that it seems like he was always there. It’s hard to believe it will only be a year the end of February that he moved in. He wants to do something special, and I promised him we would. It’s nice to celebrate things like that and I’m glad he wants to recognize it’s a special day for us. We’ll keep working on this whole family thing.