Page 37 of Proslo

“Cool,” Akoni said once more.

“What’s my room like, Mommy?”

“It’s a surprise,” I told her. “And so is yours,” I added for Maui’s benefit.

“As long as there’s lots of toys," he replied pragmatically.

“The playroom is full of them,” I promised.

“You’ll love your rooms and the toys,” Akoni promised him. “I helped Mom pick them out.”

“I may have added a few too, with Kaia’s help,” Proslo admitted and I laughed, knowing we both were definitely going to have to rein in our impulse to spoil them.

“Is it Christmas again?” Mo-mo asked.

“No, honey,” I answered.

Akoni smiled. “It’s even better, because it’s all from Mom and Dad. Santa will come later this year though. Remember? The Mylos have Space Santa. We saw it on TV. Everybody did.”

“Space Santa!” the twins shouted, getting amused glances from nearby diners.

“Shh, inside voices,” I said. “Now, let’s finish our pie and go back to the hotel. There’s time for you to watch a movie before bed if you don’t dawdle.”

“Yay!” They cheered and began enthusiastically eating once more.

Proslo beamed at me from across the table. We totally had this.

24

PROSLO

The young had all been on their best behavior the entire vacation. The introduction to foster parenting course Betty and I completed while the children slept at night had let us know that this was common. Children either remained withdrawn and possibly even defiant, or tried to be what they thought we’d see as perfect. One reaction was to try to go ahead and get the rejection over with, while the other was a desperate attempt to get us to want to keep them. In either case, our job was the same - to wait for the children to feel emotionally secure and settled.

The first cracks appeared our first night home.

“But I want to sleep with Maui!” Mo-mo screamed as she was led from the bathroom to her room for bed.

“No! It’s my room and no girls except Mommy allowed!” Maui shouted from his own room, where I was trying to read him a bedtime story.

“Come on, you can say goodnight to him,” Betty said placatingly. “If he doesn’t want you in his room, you have to stay out. Just like he does with yours.”

“I’m not saying goodnight because I’m going to watch TV!” Mo-mo now insisted, flouncing past Maui's open door towards the living room.

Betty took a deep breath. Akoni came to her rescue.

“Oh no you’re not!” he scolded his little sister. He took her by the hand. “You’re acting like a grouch. You don’t want to grow green fur and have to go live in a trash can do you?” He led her past Betty and I could now hear them in Mo-mo’s bedroom.

“No,” she whined.

“Then don’t let the grouchiness get you.”

“How?” she demanded.

“Well, it’s trying to keep the sleepies away so you stay super duper tired and grouchy, so you gotta get in bed and let Mom read you a story and then go to sleep.”

She must have climbed into her bed as Akoni reappeared in a moment.

“She’s ready now, Mom.”