July 8

We were away for most of the week visiting both sets of my parents. Overall the trip went wonderfully, but was not without challenges. I realized that the last time we made this trip we would use the family bathrooms when we stopped at rest stops. Now the girls are independent enough that they just came with me into the women’s room and I didn’t think anything of it. There was a lot of screaming and resistance to leaving rest stops at first but for the ride home we made it clear that to play with doors at the next rest stop they had to leave easily from the current rest stop. That worked beautifully.

We were at a hotel for some of the time and these grown up little girls rode the elevator by themselves and let themselves into our room using the key! We were of course only a minute behind them but still!

Due to weeks of being out and about or at camp for much of the day and thus not using her special soap, Sarah’s hands were in really rough shape due to her dyshidrotic eczema. I started carrying a bar of her Vanicream soap in a travel soap dish in a ziploc bag everywhere. Her hands aren’t fully recovered but they are much better.

Sarah has started wearing a ring again. When she was in her first preschool she wore a ring that belonged to her great great grandmother. When it accidentally fell down the sink, Carl opened up the pipes to find it. Now Sarah has grown into a larger ring that has no family connection, but we have still had ring adventures. A couple of weeks ago she took it off and put it away in her room. Miraculously, I found it in her sock drawer in the dark at 2:30am, the time at which she felt it was imperative to be wearing it again. On our trip she lost it while we were driving. We knew it was somewhere in the car. Again, miraculously, I found it balanced on the rails that move the front seat backwards and forwards.

Both girls are now in booster seats with backs. This means they can unbuckle themselves. Amy can also buckle her seatbelt without help. Sarah isn’t able to quite yet. Still, it makes getting in and out of the car feel faster and easier.

There were a couple of moments when Sarah was screaming for dog music, which is what she calls her favorite album of Disney music that has a picture of Pluto. In the midst of her screaming she started laughing.

We have discovered that we can go to frozen yogurt places and Sarah can actually have something! They seem to all have a vegan option. This is one of those small but big things.

Last night I was about to give Sarah a new supplement recommended by her naturopath. Luckily I read the ingredients first. Months ago I gave her something that had a dairy product derivative in it that the naturopath said she would probably be ok with. Nope. Hives for weeks. This time I keep feeling relieved in hindsight that I caught the ingredient of black walnut powder before giving it to her. ACK! That would have probably meant using the epi-pen and heading to the ER. Doctors are only human and it is a good reminder that I am the last line of defense for Sarah in such a situation. I also feel a bit grumpy that this is twice that the supplement recommended has not been a good idea at all. 

Swimming yesterday was again amazing. Sarah let the teacher hold her head while she floated, instead of leaning her head on his shoulder. AMAZING. Amy did 3 or 5 new things, depending on how you count, and felt like it was too hard to be in her new level. I hope next week feels easier for her.

Yesterday felt like my first real full summer day with the girls. We had a lazy morning at home. I read a Ramona book to Amy. We went to a carousel and rode it about 10 or 15 times. We went home and relaxed. We got frozen yogurt. We went to their swim lesson. We had plenty of time and didn’t rush for anything. It was a beautiful day.