December 25: Brrr!

Merry Christmas! Sarah’s favorite present is a shirt that says “off to the zoo” and has many zoo animals printed on the front. Amy’s favorite item is a stuffed animal black-footed cat. She was also excited to give Carl her creation of a book of pictures of Star Wars characters. On our Christmas Eve, she told me what she was most excited about was giving that gift. We all enjoyed a game that Carl found involving planting bamboo and having a panda eat it. Sarah has been especially into pandas lately so it is perfect. 

We had our present-opening morning on December 23 before heading to Florida. It isn’t quite the balmy warm atmosphere we were dreaming of, but we are appreciating that it is warmer than Pittsburgh. But, it is 30 here once you factor in the wind. We wear our winter coats and have adjusted our plans to include more indoor activities. So far we haven’t actually done much of anything, which is also great for a vacation. Tomorrow we plan to go to the Tampa zoo. You know what shirt Sarah will wear! 

Yesterday we put on our swimsuits, winter coats, and flip flops to get down to the outdoor hot tub. Carl, Sarah, and Amy did get their feet wet in the ocean. Carl and Amy braved the heated outdoor swimming pool, and all of us enjoyed the hot tub. At least for a little while. I had decided to stay in the water until one child wanted to go back to our condo but after many minutes with the cold spray blowing from the top of the water into my face, Carl suggested I could go inside if I wanted. My face was clearly not having a good time. I’m not sure if I will go in the water today, though my counterparts may. 

Sarah likes to go on short expeditions from our rental to the exit sign down the hall. The hall is outside so her ventures are quick. 

Today will be full of watching tv shows and movies, snuggling, reading, playing the panda board game, eating, and doing crosswords. 

I hope you are all snug and warm. 

December 18: Five Golden Watches!... And a Tennis Practice in the Snow

Yesterday I woke Amy earlier than she gets up for school because she had an appointment with an oral surgeon to remove two teeth. She and Sarah have both had issues with overcrowding and with baby teeth that have no grown-up tooth behind them to push them out of the way. The surgery was quick and easy, thanks in part to a pill to help Amy relax ahead of time, laughing gas, and novocaine. We were home before 8am and she was even allowed to eat right away. She was hardly sore at all. I gave her one dose of Motrin but that was it. 

I knew that Amy can wrap a present by herself, but yesterday I learned that Sarah can too. Completely of her own accord, she retrieved wrapping paper from the basement and sat down with scissors, tape, a marker for labeling her gifts, and went to town with wrapping. While there is room for refinement, the same could be said of anyone looking at my wrapping presentations. 

On Tuesday when Sarah got home from school, she seemed her usual happy self. I was therefore surprised to read the note from her OT saying that the session that day had been a real struggle. Sarah had been distracted by her watch and then seemingly wasn’t feeling well. When G came for his time with Sarah, Sarah launched into describing the tough part of her day. She had big feelings and was stomping, yelling, and crying. G did a beautiful job of witnessing and listening. I love it when the people who come to my home to be with Sarah respond as I would on my best days. What was puzzling was when I spoke with Sarah’s main teacher the next day. I had been led to believe by Sarah that the OT had taken Sarah’s watch away, so I was sure that was the reason for her big feelings and claiming to feel unwell. It turns out that Sarah gave her watch to the OT! She did so to try to help herself focus. She may have regretted it and wanted it back. Also, it turns out that if ever another kid is sick, then Sarah manifests the same thing for herself. Her teacher initially framed this as seeking attention, but I reframed it as Sarah being empathetic and having strong mirror neurons and a vivid imagination. 

There were multiple moments during the week, usually when I was trying to fix dinner, when Sarah suddenly desperately wanted a watch other than what she already has. She already has two watches and wears one on each wrist daily. One evening she found the old bands for the kid Fitbits (or some similar product) Carl got the girls years ago, that they never wore, and that eventually died from lack of use. But she found the band and really really really really wanted a Fitbit RIGHT NOWˆ!!! I did not handle that moment calmly. The one moment of levity was when I sternly demanded, “How many watches are you going to wear?!” Sarah paused in her upset and calmly answered, “Five.” Amy and I cracked up. Impressively, Sarah’s math was spot on because she knows I put two watches on her wishlist. I have no idea if she will get those watches. I hope so! The next day when Amy came home from school she made the grievous error of removing her own watch and putting it on the coffee table. Egad!! Sarah saw it and immediately wanted to put it on, which Amy did not want. I suggested Amy could put it out of sight, which she did, but still. Sarah was determined to have a watch just like Amy’s. This time as Sarah screamed I just washed dishes and sang a pleasant song and that helped me stay calm. It helped that I didn’t have a time deadline regarding dinner the way I did the first night. 

Friday night we watched the livestream Straight No Chaser concert. That is one of the best things to have come from the pandemic because Sarah loves their concerts, but would be overwhelmed if we were actually at the concert venue. Also, I now know that if they do a livestream again next year we actually have a full 24 hours in which to watch it, so we don’t have to stay up past Sarah’s bedtime to watch it. The best part of the concert was when SNC did a mash-up of “Thriller" and "Uptown Funk". "Uptown Funk" is Sarah’s current favorite song. It is what she wants to listen to as she has breakfast or takes her bath. My playlist goes on to other good dance songs which she also loves, but "Uptown Funk" is where it all begins. As soon as SNC started singing it Sarah was on her feet, imaginary microphone in hand, doing her dance moves and running all around with great glee. And then she was done and wanted to be done with the whole thing and go to bed. Amy stayed up for her favorite song which is the SNC "12 Days of Christmas", a wonderfully messed up, mashed up version of the song that brings in many other songs as the singers fumble their way through the original lyrics.

Because of Sarah’s love of zoos, when I made her bed I added a blanket one of my grandmothers made for me. It has a jungle print with lions and monkeys and other animals, but not some of Sarah’s favorites. Sarah was still thrilled, and pulled it up to her chin so she could pretend it was her hospital gown. Amy then grabbed a small crocodile, a small panda slipper, and a small tiger, adding them to the blanket so those animals could be present. She put the crocodile in the panda slipper and sang “Jingle Bells” except it was “Jingle Croc” and it chomped all the way.

I’m not sure why, but somehow for Sarah snow has become linked to the idea of walking to tennis practice. Keep in mind she has never played tennis in her life. Yesterday as the flurries fell, Sarah donned a winter hat, her musical note scarf, her sunglasses (of course), and her piano bag, heading out the door, ostensibly to go to tennis practice. She repeated this scenario often, leaving the house and then returning to tell us where she had been or where she was going. 

Wherever you are going, may you go with the same style and joy of Sarah attending pretend tennis practice in the snow.

December 11: Social Schedules and Practice Calls

We had a good week, culminating in the holiday party for the St Anthony School Program. Last year, Sarah’s Resource Room (includes multiple grades, but all kids that need a little extra help) performed Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer song, but this year it was a Resource Room from a different school who got to perform a song. Sarah’s friend performed and a good time was had by all. 

Amy had a busy day yesterday with a birthday party in the morning and a Girl Scout outing to see The Nutcracker in the afternoon. 

I’m away for the weekend so it has been Carl navigating all of the social activities and making sure everyone is where they need to be. Because sometimes one of both kids are on their own at home, Carl had the idea to practice having them call him from our home phone. He and Sarah practiced while Amy was out. Sarah is good at imagining so the scenario felt quite real to her. She called Carl to tell him she had hurt her knee. She was all teary calling. He then felt as if it was real and felt anxious as he hurried downstairs to her. They both needed some snuggles to calm their adrenaline that had spiked with the pretend. Amy and Olivia practiced making calls today. 

Soon Sarah will participate in auditions for her school musical. She’s been asking about the musical since Peter Pan ended so I’m thrilled that this is getting going for the year. 

I’ve been feeling appreciative of how playful and creative both kids are and how often that can work well for fun times together or as our whole family. 

December 4: Christmas Trees and Ball Pits

Sarah continues her love of zoos, often wearing her zoo shirt that she made in kindergarten. She recently found a picture of herself wearing the shirt 7 years ago. It looked like a dress! Now it fits her perfectly. She also likes to refer to herself as Baby Zoo.

Last weekend Carl had work to do and Sarah didn’t want to go out, so Amy and I got our Christmas tree. While I got help loading the tree on top of my car, I did the rest myself. For the first time in my life! I felt very proud of myself for getting it in the stand and in the house independently. In hindsight, part of my capability may be due to it being a smallish tree! Yesterday we decorated it and it looks earnest, if a bit scraggly. This was probably the most relaxing and least stressful decorating I can remember since before having kids. In past years I have wanted to control the unpacking of ornaments because I was worried about fragile ornaments breaking. This year I let the kids unpack everything and they did a wonderful job. They also didn’t need any help with hanging ornaments, whereas in past years Sarah needed some guidance. Nothing broke! We also couldn’t use all of our ornaments because of the small size of the tree. Also, how did Amy get so tall that she can nearly reach the top of the tree without help?!

It took me all morning to get the family room clear and tidy so that we had space for decorating the tree and spreading out the ornaments. As soon as the tree was done, Sarah asked for the ball pit to be brought up from the basement! So much for my clear room. And yet, what is a clear room for except to encourage playing with toys? Carl had the idea to use the large cardboard box that Sarah has been using as her boat. It is much bigger than the original frame and tarp that we used to use for the ball pit. The only hitch is that now Sarah doesn’t have her boat available for eating breakfast. Or we will just have to be extra creative for how to balance a plate and cup when in a ball pit. Then again, doesn't everyone have to figure out how to eat breakfast in a boat ball pit??

We all had dentist appointments and that went easily. Carl’s appointment was in the morning and the kids and I went in the afternoon. I love having the kids be grown up enough that I can leave them in the waiting room while I get my teeth cleaned without any concern about what they will get into. I suppose it has been that way with Amy for a while, but it is newer this year for me to relax my grip on anxiety about leaving Sarah on her own in various situations. On Tuesday we went to get some bloodwork done for Sarah and while I checked her in, she stayed near the elevators. I felt a tiny bit worried that she would decide to ride an elevator and then I might have a serious issue with finding her. I needn’t have worried. She loved watching the people coming and going. She especially loved watching the nurse who was there to help patients know where to go. She likes to pretend that she is Nurse House or Nurse Panda, directing people about where to go. 

Friday night, Carl and I went to an album release party for The Beautiful Mistakes. Not only was that a wonderful night out for us, but the kids had a special play night with Sc, who used to come regularly for Sarah-Rise sessions. They decorated gingerbread houses and Sarah has a new picture of a sad panda wearing musical notes. I love having sitters who are artists so I never know what creations we will come home to.