This has been one of the craziest weeks I can remember.
Sarah has yet to attend school for a full week since school started at the end of August. This week she missed two days in full and one partially. I kept her home on Monday because, though her covid test was negative, she was quite congested. She took two long naps, which is not unusual for her on a weekend or day off, but did make it seem like I made the right decision to keep her home. The naps seem to have fueled her for a wonderful afternoon. She absolutely rocked her virtual piano lesson, including playing a new piece before her teacher could even talk it through with her. Then in swimming she moved up to Turtle 2! She had been a Turtle 1 for three years and five months. It’s not like Monday’s lesson was THE lesson to make the difference, but it was still monumental. I was all teary when her teacher told me she was moving up.
She went to school on Tuesday, didn’t nap at all when she came home, and had tons of energy while playing with Gregory.
Wednesday seemed fine until Sarah was getting dressed and she suddenly wasn’t feeling well in her customary way of belly/phlegm/headache. What is so difficult with those bouts of not feeling well is that sometimes they wipe her out for a day and other times she moves past them within an hour. I almost kept her home but she really wanted to go on the bus. But I wasn’t surprised to get a call from her teacher saying she wasn’t feeling well and that the teacher would give her Advil and see if it would help. I knew I might get another call. I went to feed a friend’s cats. When I came home I heard Amy crying hard and ran up to find out what was the matter. One of her besties tested positive for covid. Out came a covid test for Amy. Negative. Amy got her sad out and left to get her bus (her new extra early bus!). I hopped in the shower for a quick rinse off before going to meet a friend. While in the shower, my phone rang. I assumed it would be Sarah’s teacher again. Nope! It was a robo-call from Amy’s school saying that the power was unexpectedly out at the middle school and to please pick up my child from school immediately. I knew she hadn’t even yet arrived at her school! Within a minute, with me still wrapped in a towel, I got the anticipated call from Sarah’s teacher saying she wasn’t bouncing back into feeling good and I should come get her. Huh. Keep in mind Carl is still away. Sarah and Amy’s schools are each 20 minutes away from home, but in opposite directions. Luckily, as I hastily threw on some pants, I got a text from a friend whose kid also goes to Amy’s school, offering to get her. Phew. One problem solved. Except Amy doesn’t have a phone, so how to tell her? I asked the friend to tell her kid to tell Amy what was happening. I didn’t realize that message would be conveyed across seats in a loud bus, so Amy didn’t actually know what was going on. Anyway, back at home, as I called Amy’s school to tell them how she would be collected, I started to head towards the stairs so I could be on my way to get Sarah. Then I realized I was only half dressed and had forgotten a shirt! Details, details. So, back to get a shirt. Then out the door to get Sarah. As I was driving, a call came from a name and number I didn’t recognize. Luckily I decided to pick up.
After a slight pause I heard Amy’s slightly quavery voice say, “Mom?… There is no power here so parents have to come pick us up.”
“Sweetheart! You will be going home with ____. I have to go get Sarah from school because she’s really feeling sick. You might get home a few minutes before we do.”
Amy evidently was then taken down to be with the seventh graders, since that is where the friend she was going home with was. She felt out of place with all of the bigger kids, only one of whom she knew. Her morning all felt a bit scary and overwhelming. I can only imagine the chaos of needing to manage sending home all of the kids as soon as they arrived. Luckily the wait was short and Amy and her friend had a good ride home together. Sarah and I got home just a little after Amy did. Sarah then slept until 1pm before she bounced back to health, asking for lunch and seeming like her bubbly self.
Thursday was picture day for Sarah and she started to feel a little off again as she was about to get on the bus. F#(&Y*! What to do? I asked if she wanted to stay home, and she said yes and then said no in rapid succession. A common and confusing moment of dual answers. She got on the bus. I worried that I had made the wrong decision, but I did have my father-in-law (newly back in town) on call so I could still go to work even if Sarah needed to come home. I heard a little later from Sarah’s teacher that she was happy and well. You can see how different the two days were and yet how similar at the start and thus how hard to make a decision about an appropriate course of action regarding school. Amy’s school still had no power, but she was going to a friend’s house for the day. I could still see my clients later in the day. We went together to check the friend’s cats that I’ve been caring for. On the way home I noticed Amy seemed a little snerfly. We did another covid test and this one was positive. Darn it all! So… no more going to a friend’s house. And now I had to see what my clients wanted to do. I tested negative and since I had covid within the past 90 days I’m clear to still be out and about if masked. One client opted to reschedule and the other to come in, which was fine because Amy is ok on her own for a bit and she didn’t feel sick aside from the runny nose. She also had a muscle (probably gluteus medius or TFL) hurting her a lot so I had worked on her some but she was lying low compared to her normal cartwheeling handstanding self. Anywho, I also now had to inform Sarah’s teacher about Amy’s covid status and see what she wanted me to do. It being picture day complicated matters because, although there is a backup picture day, I didn’t want to gamble that Sarah would be well on that day. By the time Sarah’s teacher called me I was about to leave to go see my one client, so we decided Sarah would just come home as usual on the bus but would stay home Friday to be on the safe side. Friday was also when the other 8th graders would be on a field trip Sarah wouldn’t be joining anyway because it was to a school that doesn’t have the St. Anthony School program, which is her program. Sarah has continued to test negative for covid.
So. Now what? I was supposed to teach a 4 hour continuing education class on the Alexander Technique on Friday morning!! But with Amy having covid I didn’t feel like I could ask anyone to babysit. I could have asked another AT teacher to cover for me, but this class is my class. It’s not the same as regular classes at the massage school where any of the AT teachers on staff can swap in when needed and the class format is already determined. This one is my baby and I wanted to teach it! Amy said she and Sarah would be ok on their own. I had my doubts because sometimes even when I leave for 15 minutes they get into a fight. But, Sarah has wanted to be quite solitary when at home lately… And she does love technology…. And Amy agreed to do all she could to keep the peace between them, even if that meant not doing what she wanted to do and giving Sarah preference in all things. I told her I would pay her for such accommodation. Thus it was that on Friday morning, with some trepidation, I left my children alone for 5 hours!! That was a first. Amy has been on her own for a couple of hours and Sarah on her own for maybe an hour tops. Together I’ve left them for maybe 30 minutes at most. And yet, it all went well. They watched their shows. Sarah napped. They ate the lunches I packed and left in the fridge. All was peaceful and well. And my class went wonderfully!!
Sarah often asks me to leave and wants to eat meals on her own and be alone in her room with her books or technology. She even often wants to nap on her own. Oh why did I ever resent it when she used to frequently want to snuggle and do “chirp chirp, crocodile, crocodile” exchanges?! Now I feel rather bereft that it seems like she doesn’t want to spend time with me. That is hard on my heart. I have cried a lot. And yet I also am trying to appreciate that maybe this is an appropriate growing up stage for a 15 year old. She didn’t even spend time with Anna on Wednesday during the 3 hours Anna was babysitting! That was highly unusual. She is also seeming more tired than usual and I’ve been working to get her to drink more water. Some days she barely has anything to drink. She used to like gatorade but even that doesn’t seem to do it anymore. So I’ve started taking water with me whenever it is a moment to transition away from technology or I’m just checking in. I ask her to take a few sips. Yesterday I happened to say, “Yeah-ya” in a dramatic way after one of her sips and she cracked up laughing. So now I say that every time she takes a drink. Today she is drinking a bit more water each time with a bit less complaining.
Sarah has been reviving signs that she used to know when she communicated primarily in sign language. Yesterday she kept asking me to make the sign for “all done” but today she tells me she doesn’t like that sign and doesn’t want to do it, and that is without my signing or saying it. Puzzling.
Amy still seems to be feeling fine and her muscle isn’t bothering her anymore. We have been watching many episodes of the Great British Baking show and are thoroughly addicted. It is really lovely snuggling on the couch even while masked, and watching the show together. One afternoon Amy was inspired to bake and made delicious cake pops almost entirely by herself. She will be home Monday and Tuesday, but is cleared by the school nurse to go back on Wednesday. She would have been home anyway on Monday because her school is closed for Rosh Hashanah.
I have rounded the bend on my book about Sarah-Rise and have started working on the 3rd draft! Making all of the changes from the first draft into the second draft felt like turning a truck without power steering. This time the changes should be smaller, but it still feels like serious work. But oh my goodness! What an exciting place to be. I am torn between an impatience to get it finished and out in the world, dreaming of it being a best seller, and absolutely terrified that this is a terrible idea to publish it at all and what am I thinking?!
Carl finished the BC Bike Race (British Columbia Bike Race). It was an immense undertaking and a huge physical effort and he made it, with heart strings hurting for his friend in whose honor he rode. At the end he received an extra finishing award because the race people knew that he was really riding for two.
And to cap things off for this full week, yesterday a deer accidentally leaped into a giant sink hole that is under repair on the street next to ours. Oh dear. Luckily someone saw it jump in and notified the authorities. Many people came to help and got it out safely.
I sincerely hope your weeks were a bit more under control and that putting on a shirt was never an afterthought as you headed out the door.
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