Today the caseworker is coming at 9:00.
Sheila wakes with a headache. Erik takes Everett duty, and then transitionshim to Sheila at about 7:45 so he can take the car into the auto mechanic.
Sheila takes over watching Everett with a pain free head and realizes what time it is.
Oh my gosh, is it that time! The county caseworker is going to be here in about an hour. HHmmm. It will be the first time we meet her. Supposedly she is just coming over to have us sign some papers. But what if it is more? I should have asked more questions. What if she thinks WE are the cause of the delay? What if she thinks we are poor parents because the house isn't spotless? OH, NO! The basement is a wreck with all the stuff we used to set Erik up. We have Christmas boxes strewn about the house. The laundry piles are in disarray. What if she wants to see the place? What if she writes down every safety hazard that she finds? All of the floors need cleaning. I am sure there are tons of insect body parts in plain sight waiting to horrify the caseworker. O my gosh, what if she sees the BATHROOM? [GASP] What if she sees the tub?
Everett is cranky, ready for his nap. Sheila gives him a bottle, and puts him down for his nap.
Okay, start with the bedroom, make the bed, I'll take a shower when I am done. Check the office. I put away Everett's keyboard because the cord might be viewed as a choking hazard. Let's move these chairs here. Hhmm. That kind of looks better. Okay, the living room. Let's take these toys downstairs. I'll leave a variety here, but in the toy box, in case she wants to see what he plays with on this level in comparison to the others. (pause, okay, I know that my inner thought process is out of control when I think that she is going to notate what he plays with by what level of the house he is on.) So, I drag some toys downstairs. [GASP] I forgot how bad the basement looks.
Frenzied cleaning. I take empty boxes to the trash area on the patio. I drag all the pillows Erik used to the right places. I find the missing phone. I put away all the Christmas candy we were given because I don't want her to think that we feed Everett candy all the time. I ORGANIZE the piled laundry. stars . . . . (Thankfully the kitchen is clean with several loaves of banana bread lying across the counters)
Erik is back home. I ask him to do a couple of things. EVERETT IS UP! His nap only lasted 30 minutes! Erik investigates. Everett pooped during his nap again. Erik takes care of Everett and dresses him in a private school uniform (okay, it was really a white colored long sleeved onesie and khakis, but it looked like a uniform). Sheila goes straight for the bleach cleanser and oversprays the tub. She cleans the tub. She takes a lightning fast bath. Just as she is getting dressed putting together her game plan of how she will dry and style her hair while putting on make-up---the doorbell rings. The caseworker is here, and she is EARLY!
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Everett charmed the nice caseworker. He was able to show off his cat chasing skills. The caseworker gathered more information about Everett to add to what was in his file. She went through a binder of information for us. We signed a couple of documents. She gushed over Everett, and then left after about an hour never going more than 7 feet past the front door. . . . But, boy, were we ready if she had ventured further!
