What Two Weeks With Junebug Has Taught Me

I saw the kids' CASA at court yesterday. She asked how Junebug was doing. I said, "Boy, I am learning a lot!"

This CASA is incredibly supportive of our little family and has known us for over a year now. "What? You've learned that four kids is a LOT?"

No.

This is what I've learned:
That despite their beginning, Sunshine and Speed have this deep and constant ability to be kind and compassionate. That even when they are pouting in a corner and Junebug climbs on Speed to get a hug, they don't push her away, they don't say anything rude, they just give her big hugs and say: Junebug! You're squishing us!

That I love more than anything taking the time to sit back and watch them with her. And to watch her with them...she is already picking up on their pretend play "stories" and rolling along with them.

That the contrast of cases, Junebug's against the Three's, is sometimes really hard to accept.

That all this time, I have sheltered the kiddos from so much to help them heal, but they have accepted this major change as if they knew how to deal with change all along.

And then yes, dear CASA, I've learned that four is tough, that four takes a lot of time to load and unload, that the fourth eats us out of house and home, that things I could stay on top of with three, like laundry and dishes, are harder with four, and that bedtime will never be the same again till she leaves.