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Well little Michael turned out to be my nerve saver, until Mandy left. His worker brought him to the house. I opened my front door, and all I saw was these two fat cheeks. He had a head full of black hair, and two big black eyes. The worker walked over and sat in my chair with Michael in her arms. He wasn't able to walk yet, even though he was seventeen months old. I went over and sat on the floor in front of the chair, Michael came right to me. I sat him on my lap and talked with the worker. A very nice young lady, her mane was Maryellen. We sat and talked about the case plan and about what this little guy had been through. She said he was a good eater and the center had fattened him up with rice and beans. The whole time we were talking Michael sat on my lap and just cuddled up in my arms. It came time for the worker to leave and she held out her arms to hold him and say well by. He started to cry and didn't want to go to her. She made the remark,” wow he's already started to bond with you. He’s going do just great, he can feel that he can trust you already." And he could trust me; my heart had already sucked in this kid. Michael weighed thirty-two pounds, could not walk, and would not let me put him down. When the girls came home from school I walked out to meet them with Michael glued to my hip. Amy held out her hands to hold him, all he could say was "UH_UA". For the rest of the day and evening, I carried little Michael all over. I even had to cook dinner holding him on my hip.
When night came Michael and I sat in the old rocker and rocked together. At this point I was almost glad Mark didn't enjoy rocking together any longer. I laid Michael in his crib after he fell asleep. The next morning everyone was up and running around, everyone except Michael. I snuck into his room and he was just laying there in his crib. Not crying to get up, not even talking to himself in his bed. I would later learn he was never taken out of his bed, he would spent all his time lying in his crib waiting for the older kids to bring him in something to eat. I got him up out of bed and put him in the highchair. He couldn't feed himself with the spoon so I fed him his breakfast. All the kids just loved him; he seemed to give the place a fresh break.