So, Husband is on Day 2 of that day shift week I was telling you about, and my Dad is staying with the Baby Bug. It’s not going very well.
Buggy NE-VER cries. Like ever. When I get home from work yesterday, she is sitting on the couch wailing and my Dad is next to her watching Moonshiners. Not comforting her; nothing. Basically ignoring her while she screams. I wish I had a picture of the look of relief on her face when she sees me.
Dad shows up today at 8am, and the Bug takes one look at him and decides this day is a bust. Automatic tears. She is clinging to me for dear life and literally gasping for breath when I put her down on the ground so I can brush my teeth. Love my Dad, but he is about as nurturing as a prison guard. His first order of business is turning on the TV. Yes! Doomsday Preppers. I suggest turning on Bubble Guppies for Bugs so she will be entertained and possibly fall asleep for a nap. Not to mention distracted, so I can leave for work, which I’m already 20 minutes late for. My Dad declares that she’s spoiled. I don’t know many 11-month-olds, but I don’t imagine many of them enjoy Doomsday Preppers marathons. I guess that makes them spoiled?
My heart is breaking as I leave my poor little Buggy miserable on the couch with her Grandpa, whose efforts at reassuring me that she’d be fine are, “Welp. She can’t cry forever.” Awesome.
This week can’t end quickly enough.
30ish 
So… we’re moving ahead with our adoption plan for a 5-11 year old. This post right here is the reason I honestly don’t want my family involved. I know that it’s probably heartless of me to “deprive” them of a “grandchild” but I’ve already heard crap about adoption from them. And they don’t relate well to little ones either.
How was she the rest of the week?
Congrats, Becca! That’s awesome. I don’t know much about the adoption process, but I’ve heard it’s lengthy. How long will it take for you to bring home your son or daughter?
To answer your question, it did get better. A little. The second day she cried for 45 minutes when I left (better than hours like the first day), took a LONG nap, and then powered through until I got home to rescue her. And my dad has actually gotten a little better with her. Like actually holds her now instead of just staring at her. That said, I haven’t left her with him since… Haha.
Since we’re going through foster care, it should take about 6-12 months before we have a child in our home. I think we’re both leaning towards a girl, if not siblings. From there, it’ll be another 6 months once they arrive to finalize the adoption. If we wanted aged 3 or younger, it would likely be many years. And private adoptions can take even longer and cost $20K and up.
Poor little Bug. I’ve always heard that it’s pretty much impossible to spoil a child under 1 (or thereabouts) bc you’re still building up their self-esteem and feelings of security for them to use later in life. My mom once babysat a friends formula-few baby and forgot to add the formula, so he got a bottle of water. Really?