[marsha4]

Well, who says fostering doesn't bring surprises. After having the awful experience yesterday, that former foster children said we yelled at them and got angry a lot at them, we were told we might get a placement of 2 toddlers in our home in a day or two. I'm guessing they weren't able to substantiate anything-- they said the investigation will be ruled "invalidated". So, we're down, then we're up again.
Any ideas what the routine needs to be for 2 and 3 year olds? We've always taken a little bit older kiddos. DH will be home for the summer with them This should be a learning experience.

[NaeNae26]

I am so happy that everything turned out great for you. I would help with ideas, but I have not had children this age. Good Luck!

[Malificient]

Marsha4, This should be interesting for you and dh...... particularly if he'll be the one providing alot of the day to day caretaking during the summer. I'll provide a very typical schedule or routine for kids in this age bracket, naturally, all kids are so very different, the key thing to rememer is that ya gotta be flexible and that no matter how determined or disciplined you may be some times sticking to a schedule can be hairy at best, .... but here goes. In the morning they wake up, feed them breakfast, cold cereal, waffles, oatmeal, eggs and toast, etc. Bring them to the bathroom to wash face and brush teeth, strip them out of their pj's and get them dressed. Have kids help pick up bedroom and toys and make their beds. The early am. is a good time to go to the park or for a long walk, put the kids in a jogging stroller and head out for some am. air and exercise. return from walk and/or park and give them a am snack (fruit, crackers juice, etc) and allow for some am tv. (educational of couse/ cartoons at a minimum) have hubby take care of household picking up, dishes, laundry at this time. * might be a great time to take dinner out of the icebox to thaw, also.* kids at this age generally only take 1 nap a day. You may want to do a craft with the kids, coloring, read a book to them, etc. it should be late am, time for lunch (sandwiches pb&j , soup, fruit, veggies, etc) after lunch wash their faces and sticky hands and it's time for quiet time, bring kids to their room, encourage 15 -20 min. of soft music in the background, calms them little people down, snuggle with them talk with them, and time for a nap. Now might be a wonderful time for dh and/or yourself to catch a few winks also. If not, make the most out of this free time and relax. As a rule of thumb they should sleep 1 - 2 hrs. Don't let them sleep longer than that, alot of kids won't be tired and ready for bed if they sleep that long in the afternoon. When they get up, or you wake them up, it's time to head outdoors to enjoy the warm weather, I recommend having a swingset in the back yard, sand box, etc. let them go outside and play for an hr. if the sun is really hot, fill up a kiddie wading pool and let them jump in. heck, if the neighbors aren't peeking over the shrub, i'd jump in there with them,,,,,,, by now, you've got the hang of it, and know what it's like to be running with and after toddlers, your probably pretty xhausted, as you should be, if your doing it all right, ha, ha! It's now time for the other parent )mom to come home, as she walks thru the front door, run up and give her a huge hug and kiss, tell her how much you LOVE her and appreciate her, then say" honey, there all yours......" it's time for you to flip on the tv. kick up your feet, crack open a cold one, afterall you've earned it........ hope this helps malificient, aka. karen

[missw005]

Karen, girl, you just crack me up!!!!!!

Seriously, though, marsha4, karen's hit the nail on the head. I DO have that age group and that's pretty much our daily routine. It does REALLY help to keep them on it as much as possible.
For us it's a basically 7 to 7 schedule. The boys usually wake up at 7 or a little earlier, and go to bed between 7-7:30. They might look at books, talk quietly, or play with flashlights for a little bit, but I guarantee you 9 times out of 10 they're asleep by 8.
Then it IS time to crack a cold one... or dish up some ice cream......and relax as much as you can (while folding laundry and writing the grocery list and looking up local activities to do in the paper and....)

Congrats, Marsha4! I think you and DH will have a BLAST!!!

Sandy

[Kate1129]

I am very glad the "case" was invalidated!

Schedule is important!!! Be sure to make one and try your darnest to keep to it! That way they know what to expect!

[marsha4]

we ended up not getting the kiddos, they went to a foster home a little closer to their siblings.