Yours, Mine, Ours and Then Some: Riley

There's a boy at Sean's school, Riley. He is very small for his age, has significant speech delays and his teeth are rotten. He's a sad little waif. The kids at school are not very nice to him and he doesn't have many friends. Sean said he wanted to have Riley over to his house to play. I left a note in the sign in book at the school asking if Riley could come and play. (You'd think I'd learn not to do these things) Riley came to play a couple of times. I didn't know when I left the note that Riley is in DCFS custody. He lives with his grandfather. One day when I was driving Riley told Sean his mom was in jail and Sean told him that was OK, his Jenny was in jail too. Listening to a conversation like that between children just makes you sad.

Riley's grandfather Jim, called and asked if we would watch Riley two nights a week for four weeks while he took the required foster care classes so he could adopt Riley. I told him we would. DCFS then had to vet us. Seriously, just to watch him for four weeks, they did criminal background checks and sent a social worker to our house to do a walk through. I relayed the conversation between Sean and Riley about jail and Jim said his daughter (Riley's mother) was in jail for fishing without a license. That made me chuckle, sometimes it takes a little denial to get you through the day.

I have to keep reminding Sean to be kind to Riley. Sean complains that Riley counts wrong, Riley reads wrong, Riley talks wrong. Riley is seven but he is smaller than Sean and he can't count and he can't read and he can barely talk Jim said until this past year Riley he couldn't understand anything Riley said, it was gibberish. It's sad. I look at Sean and think you could be Riley! No one has taken the time to reach Riley anything. Thank goodness for the Montessori school.

Last night Don bought crunchy tacos and Riley couldn't eat them because his teeth are all rotten and he can't chew anything crunchy. Don taught Riley to ride a bike yesterday. Despite the fact that Riley is so far behind he is smart. I gave Sean and Riley each a Hershey bar. Sean threw his wrapper on the floor, Riley threw his in the trash. A few minutes later Riley looked at Sean and said "you threw your wrapper on the floor." Sean said "no I didn't that's your wrapper, I traded them." Riley stared at the wrapper for a second, then picked it up walked over to the trash can pulled the wrapper he had thrown in the trash out of the trash and asked Sean "is this one yours?" Sean said "yes." Riley threw it on the floor, threw the one in his hand in the trash and then yelled at Sean "you can't trade." Sean got up picked up the candy wrapper and threw it away. Riley is smarter than Sean thinks.

Riley came running in my room yelling "I can't find the mote, I can't find the mote." I asked him what he needed a mote for were they building a castle. Riley starts making hand motions saying mote, mote. Ah, he couldn't find the remote.

Saturday we took Sean and Ethan to the lake. While we were there Jim called and asked if we could watch Riley because he had a date. I told him we were at the lake and he drove Riley all the way to Huntsville. Must have been some date. Sometimes Riley wears on my patience but mostly I just feel so bad for him. He is always tired at school because he doesn't go to bed until late. Jim drops him off at school at 7 a.m. and stays there until six. Whenever I cook a meal Riley gobbles it down. Jim is always offering to "take Sean off our hands for a couple of hours." I know he wants to do something for us because we watch Riley for him but honestly, I don't want him watching Sean. We did let him take him to Kangaroo Zoo for a couple of hours but that's about all I'm comfortable with. No one has a problem leaving their kid with me but I sure don't like leaving my kid with anyone. I think it's residual anxiety from when I had to leave Sean with Jennie and Ryan. I just don't want to leave him with at all.

Riley, Sean and Ethan at the Oaks in Huntsville. They were LOUD even for an outdoor restaurant. I sure miss having Ethan as our neighbor. His laugh always made me laugh and when he comes to play it makes me miss him all over again.