No hearing in January.  We met the attorney at the courthouse and the judge (daddy of a little boy who was in your daddy’s preschool class, Hon. Tim Volkman, Probate) told us that he would delay the hearing as mommy was asking for custody and guardianship terminated and that date was set.  We go again March 2. He explained that after our response to her allegations he may be able to make a decision but he explained that its likely the issue will have to go to trial. $$$$, dang. This is the worst kind of work; dragging myself back through the past and ignoring what went well to report what lousy ineffective and nasty things occurred that might help the judge see that you are better living with us.  I am not sure if the responsibility lies with Mommy to prove that we are unfit or to prove why and how that she is now best suited for taking on the parenting of you two, or if I need to line up all the hard things about your mommy and prove her unfit again.  Or maybe its both. And in all of this what does your daddy get to influence?  Their divorce hearing is in April, and that complicates things for Mom as she finds herself struggling, alone and in a battle with him and so me.  Her resentment, anger and loneliness gives her incentive for this battle.  She has made it her family against ours.  It was inevitable, I suppose but trying and ugly.

This week we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. On the way you watched the GPS tracking the bay and the highway around it.  You wondered why the dunes weren’t on the map.  What about the birds and the cars?  You planned to get home and make a gooder map.  And when we got to Monterey you told me, “Hey, I just remembered that Caroline tired out in Monterey.  And she had a party. Remember, Grandma?” (retired!) But instead of map making, you started a bath and dumped your sea animals into the tub and played for an hour, then we had fish for dinner. Liza skinned her knee and talked about her boo-boo until bed time, showing Grandpa, Daddy who came by for dinner over and over and first thing this morning (yes, 5 am) showed me again. I think it still hurts.  Liza has a little cold, too and falls to the floor in tantrums three or four times a day this week.  She is talking so clearly these days-grandpa, grandma and seahorse along with everything else.  Totally understandable. She drew her first face, and exclaimed, “It’s Ellie.” Today she will go to Aubrey’s, you back to school after MLK day holiday, and me to work writing -documenting mommy’s mistakes. love gma