December 31

We had a wonderful trip to Philly and Delaware to visit lots of family. Here are some other highlights of our time…

For part of our time we were in a hotel and the girls loved the pool and the elevators. This was a much larger hotel than we have ever been in, with more opportunities to get lost on the way to one’s room (especially if the signs when exiting the elevator conflicted and one of them was wrong!). This was an excellent way to allow them to practice their growing independence. Carl used post-its to fix the erroneous sign.

During some playtime with Mom-Mom, Sarah said, “I’m doctor Sarah. You must be Mom-Mom.” 

We went for a walk and Amy brought her drawing materials so she could document what she saw, pausing every two minutes to create a new picture.

Mom-Mom served turkey soup for one of our meals. Amy declared she wouldn’t eat it and that she didn’t like turkey soup. She drew a picture of soup with a big x through it. Then she ate the soup and loved it. She crumpled the picture and drew a new picture for Mom-Mom that said she loved soup.

Amy sang a song to Mom-Mom’s big lion stuffed animal. She sang about being friends forever, even when they are teenagers and when they die.

Both girls said “thank you” and “please” easily and often of their own volition.

Sarah told Mom-Mom that she liked the painting in Mom-Mom’s room and that she especially liked the trees in the painting.

Amy started learning multiplication with Mom-Mom.

The girls had many Conversations with Mom-Mom, which means hanging out in Mom-Mom’s room and playing and talking. This time they also expanded to having Conversations with Pop-Pop.

Carl and Mom-Mom played some duets. Amy danced and Sarah sang along as best she could. 

We listened to a ton of Boynton music on our drives and Sarah sang along or attempted to do so with many more songs than usual.

Carl helped Amy do an experiment with the water pipes in our hotel room so she could understand why the temperature might not always match the handle that was turned.

Carl and the girls spent hours assembling a lego robot cat that can be programmed to purr, wiggle whiskers, hiss, and fart.

Amy adopted two new stuffed animal cats. Sarah received three stuffed animal pandas!

Sarah added to her sad creature repertoire after reading The Day the Crayons Quit. She now pretends to be a sad crayon.

We attempted to go to a playground on a very cold day. I told the girls to wear their snow pants and super snow mittens. There were protests. My suggestions were not followed. After one minute at the playground Sarah was crying to go home. I took her to the car to put on snow gear. By the time she was ready, Amy was wanting to go home. I got her snow gear on her. Then both girls were crying to go home. I maintain that my first suggestion was right and that if they had listened to me they might have lasted for a good ten minutes on the playground! 

Granddad made a train table and the girls loved watching it and finding the different people and animals spread throughout. 

Grammy made seek-and-find lists regarding the train table and the tree. Amy loved them and did them all so quickly that Grammy had to make more!

On our last morning, it snowed! The girls bundled appropriately and had a wonderful time playing. Since Grammy and Granddad live on a cul-de-sac, that gave the girls a huge area for play. Amy pretended to be a snow plow, snaking on her belly across the street and on the sidewalks.

We celebrated the birthdays of Granddad and great-uncle B. Sarah expanded her well-wishes to her other uncle B. whose birthday was in November. It was noted by the uncles that Sarah was much more talkative and connected than they had previously witnessed. Sometimes big jumps in Sarah’s abilities are more easily observed by those who don’t see her often.

Sarah has been pining for a pair of overalls that Grandma made for her when she was much younger. Grandma is going to make a new pair but the fabric will be different because the original is no longer available. We took the girls to a fabric store and Sarah picked red fabric with white dots and Snoopy. We got extra fabric so while I mailed some to Grandma, Granddad and Carl used the rest to make Sarah a very basic pair of pants. She loves them and this buys us time while Grandma makes the overalls. 

I got a baby monitor so we can keep an ear on Sarah when she is in bed and we are still awake. 

There were still many times when I flew out of bed with my heart racing if Sarah made the slightest sound in her sleep. Carl and I talked for a long time about parenting and fears. It helps that he is not panicked in the same way. I realized that I have been terrified that a seizure would equal death but that isn’t likely to be the case. I still don’t want it to happen again and the thought that it might still scares me, but I am more at ease. We talked through the different moments when each of us has been scared for Sarah’s life. They are different moments. That was interesting to realize. While we did stay up quite late with this conversation, it has helped me get much better sleep overall.

Naps. Naps for all.

I hope you all had a wonderful week.