Comments about Frankie

I have had more than one person tell me that, as endearing as Frankie seems to be, there is no way they could live with them.

And I absolutely must reply to them because I cannot take the credit that is being offered to me. It all goes to Hubby.

He is a special education teacher, and I gotta say, he's a good one.

He spends more time with Frankie than I do. This is a marked change from the previous kids. Every now and then I felt like foster care was considered, by him, to be my hobby in which he fully supported me. That was never true, but when I was tired and overwhelmed it felt true.

Now though it is different. He and Frankie have really bonded. Hubby has this "Mister Rogers"* voice that I didn't really know he had. Frankie comes bounding in, talking loudly and not stopping, and Hubby says in a gentle, slow, quiet voice. "That's interesting. Where did you learn that?" (Or something else appropriate). After about two responses from Hubby, Frankie is sitting down, actually listening to Hubby and having a conversation.

Late in the evening when I know my husband is getting tired -- and I am just plain checking out -- he will turn on a recorded comedy routine. Frankie will laugh and ask questions. Hubby will pause it and say things like, "Nobody can understand that character. That is what makes the sketch funny. The funny thing is seeing how everybody else tries to figure out what to do."

I don't want any of you to think that I am not interacting with Frankie. I am, just not nearly as much as Hubby is.

And Hubby isn't a saint either. Wednesday evening he went spent four hours with all three boys, getting two of them to meetings, getting fast food dinner, and buying us a new microwave. When he got back he mouthed, "I need a break." So I gave him one.

With kids like Frankie, you need a team.

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Before Mister Rogers died I heard an interview with him on NPR. Mister Rogers said, enunciating every word perfectly, "People say that I speak slowly. I don't think that I do. Does it seem to you that I speak slowly?" The interviewer just laughed, as I was doing.