February 16

This week we got 26 hours and 15 min. I love that that amount now seems low to me. As I think I mentioned, Sonia is away for most of Feb. A week ago my mom was here to help and this past week I had C., our most wonderful sitter, helping A LOT. Help is a wonderful thing. When things feel easy, I don't always remember how hard it can sometimes feel. And when things feel hard, it can be difficult to remember it is temporary. I am so blessed to have as much help as I do and I still can stress myself out with how much there is still to do and how much I'm never getting to, etc. This week I did gently remind myself that the only person carrying a whip was myself (a mental one, just to be clear). I am the one wanting to make sure there are zucchini chips made (these take over 12 hours, not much prep but I need to plan ahead adequately) and yogurt in the fridge (yogurt takes roughly 30 hours from start to edible finish) and multiple meat options and stock freshly made or defrosted, plenty of eggs for the day, squash cooked, squash pie made, juice veggies cut for the next day and fresh fruits/veggies in boxes for Carl and me for the next day, Carl's lunch ready for the next work day, and the kitchen clean enough for the next round of use. I am the one wanting the high SR totals. I am the one wanting to be caught up on email, mail, bills, taxes, scheduling various things, etc (this part isn't happening so much!). I have been struggling a bit with my oomph in the SR room and I'm thinking that has to be ok and enough right now when I'm putting so much energy and thinking into food and still dealing with headaches some (short in duration but I tend to feel drained for most of the day), and when I don't have quite as much help as usual (in addition to Sonia being gone this is one of those pockets of time when multiple volunteers are gone for multiple weeks) and because maybe it is just ok. I think I've also been judging myself for not being more creative with expanding things into games (judging myself is a real oomph-stealer). My aim is to have her favorite books expand into activities and interactions, but when she spends sometimes half of our time eating, I spend a lot of time reading with minimal interaction from her beyond speaking/looking because I don't want to interrupt the eating. (Yes, I do realize how awesome it is that she does so much speaking and that I don't want to interfere with her constant eating!)

Sarah is almost back to her pre-GAPS-intro weight. At first she wasn't wanting any meat but now she is eating it again and not spitting it out. She is also drinking stock again. Today she seemed to be eating almost all day long. She sat at the table eating for at least 90 minutes for breakfast. To give you an idea of her current eating, today she consumed...

1/4 cup carrot/chard/celery GAPS shake (blended with 1 tbsp coconut oil and 1 raw egg yolk)

1 small homemade turkey sausage (just ground turkey with salt and pepper)

2 oz chicken stock with 1/2 tsp sauerkraut juice

1 hard boiled egg with pepper

1 avocado with a little lemon juice (blended and frozen, she calls it frozen avocado ice cream)

2 1/2 scrambled eggs (with coconut oil)

18 oz plain yogurt

1 drop gutpro probiotic

a few bites butternut squash/beef/eggs/stock/coconut oil pie

20 small bites roasted chicken

1 or more zucchini-worth of zucchini chips

3 oz butternut squash/chicken/stock/eggs/coconut oil pie

5 bites pork chop

One of Sarah's favorite games of late is a marble game where you build structures through which marbles travel. Sarah can build the towers all by herself, though she likes our help to make them more complex.  

Some of her favorite books these days: 

Press Here (a book with dots)

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs (how much do I adore Mo Willems? let me count the ways)

Old Bear

What Color Should I Be?

Not a Stick

Mommy's Special Day

Sarah recently had her 6 year well-visit at the pediatrician. They have a small door in the waiting room which she loves and she happily went in and out several times. She would get her excited jaw a little but then seemed to notice and calm the movement. She also paused often to look at me and tell me what she was doing. Then she wanted zucchini chips and sat happily munching away and looking around the waiting room. She told me "call you name," remembering from past doctor's visits when I had informed her that we were waiting for them to call her name. When they did call her name she easily went to get weighed and measured. She needed a bit of prompting to get undressed, which I then found ridiculous because she is a skinny chicken of a girl and waiting in just undies for an unknown period of time seems unnecessarily chilly (I wrapped her in my sweater). Still, through all of this she seemed attentive and mostly focused and interactive. And then the shoes came in (attached to the doctor). Black, patent leather, shiny clogs. There was no competing. So except for the last couple minutes of our time with the doctor, it was all my verbal report about how well Sarah has been progressing, but I think for the doctor there was no notable change. It is so interesting to notice the difference between how well Sarah flourishes and sparkles with presence and communication when she is at home and in the SR room compared with how ismy/excited jaw/hands/uncommunicative/unresponsive/no-eye-contacty she is when she is around other kids outside or when there is a totally amazing pair of shoes. This whole SR program is sort of like social skills weight training. If you are weak physically, you don't start with super heavy weights. You start with light ones and work your way up. The Son-Rise program is starting with light, adaptive, loving weights. She is so much stronger now, but it is clear that it is a good idea to continue with the program. 

In Amy news, Amy's language is expanding all over the place. She is saying new words all the time and saying her words more clearly and fully than before. Her whole development has seemed to go at warp speed. She loves to help with anything and everything. She unloads the utensils from the dishwasher (handing them to me) and she helps hold the play tunnel closed so I can tie it up for storage. She also seems to constantly request that I "ree book" (read book). She comes running to say hello, a dandelion puff of shrieking delight, squeaking "mom" as she throws herself joyfully into my arms. She now calls Sarah "Ra-ra" and adores her more deeply than ever.  She often wants Sarah to sing songs or participate in ring-around-the-rosey. Sometimes Sarah does and sometimes not. 

Seeing the girls snuggled together in their double wide bed warms the cockles of my heart.