Day Before Thanksgiving


Had a good day of skill building in light of moving the family towards independence. Brought Tika the Az. Republic which he devoured page by page while the girls and I cleaned the bathrooms. Typical! Actually, it was a good morning and it was very encouraging to see Tika really putting effort into the paper. The 3 girls were very industrious in cleaning. It was a timely activity. They had not yet used the shower spray function so were quite surprised when I used it to rinse down the shower. Their tub doesn't have a plug so I"m guessing they were using a lot of running water with their bathing. They were intrigued with feeling how the shower sprayed and seemed to think it would be too hot. They appear unaccustomed to hot water, as they wash their dishes with cold water also. Kamala jumped into cleaning when we moved into cleaning her bathroom, and again they were very energetic about it once they got direction. I had them gather up some of the dirty clothes and such and explained what the clothes hamper was for. Funny moment in married lives, as Kamala had to pick up after Tika and kind of "tsk-tsked" over his clothes. Some things span cultures, I guess. There were a lot of mini-lessons within the lesson of cleaning a bathroom, and they did well. We also checked on their grocery stock....they are out of food except rice and the canned/boxed goods that they don't eat as yet. I made a grocery list, but Tika said it was not necessary to go shopping since their food card would be available soon. I respect that immensely. When I arrived at 10 am they were just sitting down to a meal of about a cup of rice each and a few ounces of steamed veggies, with a spicy broth. They graciously served me a bowl and gave me a spoon, since they eat with their fingers. I tried to graciously refuse but that didn't work. They still have bread and crackers as well. They hadn't opened up the apple juice that was in the fridge from last week, so we opened that and they all had a taste. I also checked all the preserves and such from Frankie just to make sure that they'd be refrigerated once opened, and the store- bought sauces. Did find one item that needed to go into the fridge. They popped open a jar of Frankie's peppers. I think they'll like them. They didn't know how to open some of the containers that have seals under the lids or around the lids, so we opened up those and put them in the fridge. They asked about the dishwasher but we didn't do much with it since dishwasher soap is a luxury and they wash each dish as soon as they are through eating. Health alert.....if you have concern over catching any contagions, which they'll be exposed to in great amounts once they start school, be very careful about eating/drinking. I let the water run for several minutes on full hot and couldn't get anything but lukewarm water. They use cold to quickly wash off each dish then use a used towel to dry then put them back in the cabinet, still wet. The dishwasher could be a great help in this area eventually but they use the same few dishes over and over. I also emphasized a LOT about hand-washing and showed them a full 20 second scrub. They hadn't made much of a dent in the handsoap, and had run out of TP but didn't know how to replace the roll or even where it was in the closet.

Tika and Kamala had an appointment at noon with the case manager so I took the girls and got extra copies of their house key made for them. We went by Cortez and I picked up two student handbooks which also contain a full academic "day timer" so that was cool. Per the resettlement handbook, the kids needed winter clothes and appropriate school clothes so we made a trip to Payless and Target. I will not need to be reimbursed. They might have enough clothes to go 4 days without wearing the same thing. They have adequate shoes and socks as well. We talked about finding clearance marked items to save money.

From my stock of used flash cards and educational resources, they now have two boxes of basic word flash cards, one pack of multiplication flash cards, a dry-erase kit with handwriting/manuscript and flash cards for money. Tika seems like a good teacher toward Kamala. These would be good resources to use if you have time just to hang out with them or to take the girls out for a soda or such. Kamala kind of gets run over by the girls doing the cards first, so needs some extra encouragement. A friend of theirs walked them to the library and they have a table full of books and dvd's.

Helen, Tika made a point of telling me he was going to check the mail, and sure enough came back with a notice of some importance! Good job!

RE: the envelope with money and receipts. I asked Tika if he had it and that I needed it, he said yes but didn't go get it. Their baggie that started out with a few dollars in quarters has lots more coinage so he's gotten change at some point for something.

Well, this was a very detailed email so hope you found it interesting. I hope everyone understands our shopping trip, with the weather turning and all. Carol, they are looking forward to your dinner tomorrow and to Saturday with Frankie and Emery.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Carla

Team:
This is to remind you that we will be meeting on Sunday Nov. 30 at 5:00 pm at Trinity in room 203. This will be a brief meeting 15 to 20 minutes.
There is not a formal agenda for this meeting. The purpose is to check in and let each other know how the mentoring is progressing with our family. What areas are lacking, what needs to be reinforced, how can self-sufficiency be encouraged? What can be planned for the next week or next 2 weeks?
Please have these in mind when you come.
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication.
Kathy