We turned the children’s schedule around today, and made life very much easier for ourselves.
The advice given by every parent we know - and oddly not followed by the foster carer - was to bath the children before bedtime. We did it. They fell asleep instantly. Of course falling asleep was aided somewhat by having walked into town earlier, and having a story read to them while they lay in bed.
It’s the little things now that are standing out as things they have never done - like having fun in the bath, having their hair blow dried, and having a story every night. While reading from a huge book we were given by friends, I recalled an episode of Quantum Leap many moons ago, where Sam Beckett told stories of things yet to happen to children - and realised that our girls don’t know of Star Wars, Buck Rodgers, or anything like that. All the fiction we know and love is new to them.
An email from a close friend reminded me that Captain Hook will be quite the scary proposition he is intended to be.
This evening I made W laugh. While sat on the couch fielding phone calls from friends and family, I turned and said “this still feels very odd you know - we have three little girls upstairs who call us Mum and Dad…”