Week 17 diary - page two of two

His night-time routine has settled down and he's managing to get to sleep any time between 8-8.30 pm waking at around 6.30 am, so not too bad! He has a couple of toys he sleeps with - a Bob the Builder toy along with an old beanie toy that he'd bought with him from his foster carers. He used to have an old Bob, but unfortunately didn't bring it with him from his foster carers.

To start with, he didn't notice it wasn't there, and we thought we'd got away with it. Erring on the side of caution, I thought I'd look out for a new one just in case. Luckily I spotted one in Asda, but unfortunately it was one of those which makes the sound of whatever that particular Bob is holding - for this particular Bob it was a saw - a very loud saw!!

I kept it in our bedroom to use in case of emergency, and sure enough, we had one. One night he started asking for his Bob the Builder toy as he was going to bed. I told him that I'd find it and bring it up to him but it might take me some time - thankfully he fell for it!

As soon as I'd got Jamie to sleep, it was like emergency ward 10 in our living room doing surgery on this Bob the Builder toy to get this flaming box out of him. Poor Bob - he was split open from the neck down to his nether regions. He had a hefty waistline before surgery commenced but by the time I'd finished, he had lost a few inches and looked a bit underweight. I crept in Jamie's room and put new Bob by his bed, and do you know, he's never noticed it's different from his original one - thank goodness!!

Of course, he's 3, so he has some fantastic tantrums. Mind you, these have all been confined to home at the moment - goodness knows what it will be like when we're out and about and he decides to have one! He does all the high-pitched screaming and foot stamping too! He also does what I call "E-crying", which is just like he's crying "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" on and on and on in a really whingey way!

Along with that he also goes through phases where some days he will go out of his way to do things we specifically say are dangerous - like running the hot taps, touching the oven, dishwasher, washing machine and so on. We've found that once he does one of these things, then its almost like he thinks that he's blotted his copybook so he may as well do all the others too!

Jamie had been used to going to Mums and Tots groups with his foster carers, but now he's 3 its hard to find a group where I can still go with him. I feel torn between dragging him along to toddler groups which are for younger children just so at least I will be there, or making that leap to playschool and hoping he won't think I'm abandoning him!

Although we have lots of friends with children, I think that he really needs regular company of others his age, especially as he'll be off to school in just over a year. I've tried a couple of local toddler groups, but it's not interesting for him and he's just interacting with children a lot younger because all children his age are at playgroups or pre-school.

Mind you, I don't know how you "new mums" feel out there, but isn't walking into a toddler group the most lonely experience in the world? Everyone seems in their own little group, not wanting to talk to you! I spent one morning sitting by this group of mothers who were discussing childbirth and actually hoped they didn't want to talk to me! Luckily they didn't!! Anyway, Tim and I will have a think about it and discuss it with Susan our social worker, and get a feel for what she thinks. He's definitely eager to learn and loves to draw - I taught him how to draw kisses and now he draws them on every card and envelope we send out! Luckily we don't have to write to the bank manager all that often!

Well, we've got our first night out planned soon - just us, without Jamie. It's just so we can go to an adoption support group meeting and good old Nan is coming over to babysit for two hours. Goodness knows how he'll get on and I'm sure we'll be a couple of nervous wrecks too! We'll let you know how it goes!