About four this morning I woke up to the most awful crying. It was heart wrenching. He sounded so scared and when I picked him up he cried harder until he heard my voice. Then he hushed a little and I walked him around the room talking to him and he snuggled against me. I guess at first he thought he was back at Stephanie's house and that it was Stephanie picking him up. I never heard him cry like that in his whole life. It makes me wonder what she has done to him. Every time I tried to put him back in his bed he would cry and finally at about six or six-thirty we both fell asleep with him on my chest.
When he lived here before he was fine with playing by himself in his room for a few minutes while we did something (like wash the dishes or laundry) but now if we get out of his eyesight he starts crying until we come back and pick him up.
Last night he when I gave him a bath he acted like he hadn't had a bath in forever (and smelled like it too) and mom said when they picked him up his clothes he was wearing were filthy. She asked Stephanie if he had just ate and she said "No, he's just a boy." which basically means "No, I just don't clean him up." I'm ok with letting kids get dirty but don't just let them sit in the filth! Mom took the shirt off that he was wearing and was going to take it to show DHS how filthy they keep him but Stephanie snatched it away from her.
The bumps he has all over him have gotten bigger and redder so we're going to take him to the doctor either today or tomorrow to find out just what they are.
We're pouring on the love with Nathan and he's beginning to smile a little more. We're going to show him the best we can what it's like to be loved unconditionally every minute of the day. Pretty soon he's going to start noticing the difference between us and his mother.