About a month ago, Amy told me that she was excited for the next holiday. I asked her if she meant Labor Day. She said, “No. The first day of school!” She started school this past Monday and loves it. Sarah starts school tomorrow, but she dressed in her uniform for Amy’s first day because she is eager to start school too. This is Sarah’s first year wanting to wear a jumper and skort, probably because they are plaid.
Sarah and I had a fun week doing things just two of us. We went to the Children’s Museum. We got groceries. We made a bus out of her bed. That is something she has been requesting forever. Every time we see a real bus she says, “Can we make a bus just like that when we get home?” I always say yes, if we use our imaginations and maybe her bed. I brought up a room screen to be the door because it can fold and unfold. We used our kitchen step stool as the bus stairs. A gummy bracelet taped to the bed post served as a pull-cord to request a stop, and stuffed animals acted as passengers. We colored a sheet of paper red to signify the color of the bus, and I wrote out labels for Port Authority and 61B. Sarah and I ran to catch the bus, sometimes making it and sometimes missing it. We went to a pretend 61B cafe and had real smoothies made with cucumber, honeydew melon, and coconut milk. When Amy joined the bus play (it has continued on multiple days), I brought in all of their stuffed animals so passenger play could also serve as a sorting mechanism for what to keep and what to donate. In the past Sarah has usually wanted to keep everything, but she seemed more open this year to giving away some items. I was surprised by some choices but won’t fight them. We also filled a spare first aid kit with paper bandaids and bottles of medicine. I love how the girls readily make or accept paper versions of just about anything. This morning Amy made a paper bag cat puppet in a matter of minutes, with a quick, easy creativity that knocked my socks off, as her art work often does.
Sarah and I made banana pineapple bread. Normally I don’t like help in the kitchen but when I framed it as an activity we were doing together from start to finish then it felt entirely different. It was fun and easy. She is also much more capable of truly helping than she used to be. Speaking of which, for the past couple of weeks around dinner time she often volunteered to set the table and asked if there was anything else she could do.
Usually the girls protest and yell when their phone turns or tv turns are done. This week I said that they needed to earn their next day’s turns by being easy/not yelling/thanking me when their turns were done. It took a little bit of coaching, but it seems to be working. I love hearing, “thanks mom!” when they are done.
Imagine you are sleeping and you realize your pet is in the crook of your knees or at the bottom of your bed. Now imagine that you realize it isn’t your pet, but your daughter! That is Sarah’s sleeping area of choice for some of each night, on top of our covers, most often snuggled into the crook of Carl’s knees. It is so ridiculously adorable.
Yesterday we were inspired by reading the book Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes, to have macaroni and cheese for lunch, chocolate cake for dessert, and to teach the girls to play parcheesi. Carl taught the girls the game and I did the cooking. The cake is seriously one of the best cakes I’ve ever had. I used a recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie. I highly recommend her recipes in general. They are vegan, easy, and delicious. For the frosting I found a recipe for buttercream frosting and just adapted it to be dairy-free. I also made it pink with food coloring. Then Amy used chocolate chips to make a cat face and Sarah added sprinkles to be whiskers.
My epiphany for the week came after berating myself for not being as good a teacher as I want to be. I realized that I often erroneously confuse room for improvement with not being good enough. Those are not the same thing!!
Much love to all of you. May you realize that you are good enough to do whatever it is you dream of, even if you are always aspiring to greater heights.
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