May 26

As is to be expected, hair washing (especially after writing about easy success) was not so easy last Sunday! I implemented what I thought was our new formula, and perhaps you heard the screaming from wherever you were. This past Thursday it was time for washing Sarah’s hair again. She screamed and protested loudly and repeatedly at the mere suggestion. I felt frustrated and so very tired of this whole scenario. Eventually she agreed to yet another time frame before we started the bath, but with the provision that when the timer went off she wouldn’t scream. True to her word, when the timer chimed she stopped what she was doing and got in the tub, without my even saying anything. I got the same agreement from her about not screaming when it was time to wash her hair and she again kept her word. So maybe that is an added piece of the ever-shifting puzzle.

Last night with their amazing sitter A, the girls made Kitty Bingo. They have now been awake for an hour and have yet to even come downstairs for breakfast. They have been playing Kitty Bingo this whole time! At one point Amy ran downstairs to tell me that they had gotten bingo at the exact same time and that there is nothing better than a tied game of Kitty Bingo. Long ago, in our earlier Sarah-Rise sessions, we used to loosely track how long Sarah could attend to an interactive activity. It used to be that ten minutes was an achievement. I realize that with anything I can always remind myself of how things used to be and thus be in awe of where we are now, because nothing has ever been a given with Sarah. Yet, at the same time, I also have an assumption that she can do anything; it just might take a long time to get there. Of course she will learn to swim. It might take years to learn, but she’ll get there. 

Yesterday Carl got out the girls’ bikes. It took Amy a little time to get back into her groove of how to ride, but then she really got it and was doing laps around our small block. Amy is riding a bike with pedals and no training wheels. In the past, Sarah had no interest in learning to ride her balance bike, but yesterday Carl could see a change in her and predicts that she will learn to ride a bike with pedals and no training wheels.

Both girls are getting more capable with getting their own food ready, especially for breakfast or snacks. Amy often reminds me that she doesn’t need my help with various things. Sometimes this is exciting and wonderful. Sometimes I feel like I am essentially messing up every other minute, which doesn’t feel great. This is new territory for us, see-sawing between independence and dependence without sign posts or warnings. I know this is how it goes as kids grow, but that doesn’t make it much easier.