Things I'm Looking Forward to About Fostering

1. Having a child in the house full-time: If there is nothing else on this list, this one is more than enough to make all of the difficult things on my list from yesterday worth it!

2. The smell of a baby: There's nothing like the sweet smell of a baby's skin, clean diapers, and Baby Magic.  I know that I will be tempted to hold that baby All. Day. Long. and soak in that sweet baby smell!

3. A child's laughter: I absolutely cannot get enough of hearing a baby or child laugh.  I know that there will be LOTS of fun and laughter in my home, and I can't wait to hear that sweet, sweet sound every day!

4. Dealing with challenging kids: It may seem weird for this to be on this list, instead of yesterday's "What Will Be Hard" list.  However, I have always been drawn to the more challenging kids, the ones that need a little bit (or a lot) of extra attention and/or patience.  From the kids at the day care where I worked who cried more than some or the one who was scared to walk, to my kiddos in therapy who I couldn't figure out what to do with at first or what their motivating factors were.  I have much more patience than many people for these challenges, and I think this is one of the greatest things I can offer to a child coming from a hard place.  Once I figure out what makes a child tick, how to calm him, and once he has successes (sometimes ones that I would never have guessed would happen), the reward of fulfillment is so great!

5. Helping a child learn and develop: This is what I do for a living, so I'm really excited about teaching a child - reading books to him, teaching him new words and ideas, how to walk and climb, and so many other things.  I'm excited about providing stimulation to that little growing brain, probably leaps and bounds beyond the stimulation he was getting in his previous environment, and watching that little one soak it all up!

6. The opportunity to slow down: #6 on yesterday's list was "having to slow down."  But as much as I think this will be hard, I also think that it will be nice to have an excuse to stay home and enjoy the little things.

7. Providing stability, security, and safety: Things that these kiddos have likely not experienced at an appropriate level before, if at all.  I am excited about being able to be a safe haven for children, and helping them transition to a life that's better than what they had before, wherever that end point may be. 

8. Having a child's things be part of my clutter: I said my house is usually cluttered.  Right now I am looking at a stack of coupons, a computer bag, a stapler, a bag of board games that never got unpacked, a stack of CD's, and some papers that need to be shredded.  I'm looking forward to having an exersaucer, stacks of diapers, a diaper bag, and baby rattles and toys being a part of this clutter.  (Actually, as I was looking around to make this list, I realized there are already some kid things infiltrating the clutter - a kid's rocking chair, a car seat, a bag of baby toys and a bottle of bubbles.)

9. Motivation to keep the house presentable: I typically only do a really good de-cluttering when I know someone is coming over.  There are many times when I would be completely embarrassed to have someone walk in the door unannounced.  Knowing that anyone could come by at any time (on top of knowing that I could get a call for a child at any time) will be motivation to keep things at least presentable most of the time, and I'm kind of looking forward to that. 

11. Having an album full of pictures of kids I have loved in my home: Even though I won't be able to post pictures, you can bet big money that I will still be taking lots of pictures and keeping the memories in an album. 

12. Hopefully permanently adding a child to my family one day: As long as this single parenting thing is not a complete disaster, that is what I would like to do, although that is not even close to the only reason that I want to foster. 

13. Rocking kids to sleep: 'Nuff said. 

**Edited to add - I had this one in my head when I was writing but forgot to add it**
14. Crafts: I'm always planning some fun crafts-y project when my nephew or goddaughter come over.  I'm excited about not having to pick just ONE Christmas craft because that's all I have time for.  I'm excited about glitter and construction paper and glue.  I'm excited about hanging the finished products on the fridge.  If you've ever thought about getting stock in Pinterest, now would be the time to do it!