mom gets a few hours to herself

Tim took the kids to the indoor playland so I've had a few hours to nap and catch up on email.

We have two more days left and we are so looking forward to going home. Of course the kids will stay here. Our guide says that we should not worry about the children while we are gone because the are going to the home they know and it will be generally very comfortable for them.

I think he's right and we'll have a tougher time after being accoustomed to the noise and action. I know there are things that we need to get done, too. We need to set up the bunk beds for the boys. I want to do some picture hanging and decorating in Emilia's room. I also need to go through the clothes I've accumulated from resale, rummage shopping and hand me downs.

Emilia is about a 7/8 - on target from the information we initally received. She has a good shape/proportion and is usually a good eater.

Maciej is about a 5/6. The caretakers said that he is a picky eater, but we haven't seen that. He might have just been sick of the same ole, same old food that was served. Really I've just noticed that he's a slow eater. Not a bad habit in our fast food nation. He is rather thin, but overcame a head cold he had earlier during our visit. The psychologist encouraged us to give him medicine and vitamins. I guess I didn't realize it was ok to do so because US schools are so strict about who can dole out medicine that I held back a little. I had baby aspirin and children's motrin, but thoughtlessly bought Theraflu which has acetominphin (not good for kids with a fever I think.) We didn't have internet access initally so I couldn't check for sure. Communicating with the pharmacist was not easy after the psychologist gave me the message to use whatever I had at my disposal. I gave Maciej the benedryl I had for myself, hoping the anti-histamine would help. He didn't have a fever or at least that is what the thermometer said (I think he understood to hold it under his tounge.) Something worked and his nose stopped running and he was more energetic. I also doled out vitamin C and a children's daily to everyone at breakfast, too.

Michal is on the smaller side, about 4/5. Some of the clothes sent with them had 3T on the tags. They fit him in the waist but not length, so that seems like a good sign. He has been the pickiest eater, but mostly he's just playing games to see what he can get away with. We've seen him devour just about anything we serve, but on the next day, he'll act as though we've offered him a plate of mud. He is ultra strong, the first week I had bruises from his tantrum meltdowns. We were at an round about traffic intersection and he didn't want to hold mom's hand. Man alive - he wailed me, kicking my thighs and somehow he nailed my hips so it was difficult to lay on my side at night. We are catching the meltdown pattern faster, so I only have one bruise on my right knee, but that could be from anything at this point.