November 4

Sarah seems increasingly attached to Amy as a playmate and companion. Earlier in the week she was so intent on getting extra time with Amy to play hotel or sleepover that Sarah got ready for school the fastest she ever has. While she often plays with (or fights with) Amy, and while she often asks grownups to play certain games with her, this seemed new and significant. 

For my Tuesday night teaching I was excited to wear my skeleton dress. I have been waiting to teach on a day close to Halloween for years! The last time I dressed up for a Halloween at massage school was about 19 years ago when I was a student. I went as a mussel.

Amy adores our cat Olivia. This week, for the first time ever, Olivia curled up in Amy’s lap.

Our Sarah-Rise volunteers and sitters continue to amaze me as much as ever with their creativity. Sc made a pretend fire with Sarah by making a pile of wooden marble run pieces with a cut-out paper flame in the middle. 

For Halloween, Sarah’s school doesn’t have fourth graders get in costume. (What?! Why?! They are not too old to dress up!!) They do have a party where kids exchange treats with their classmates. Sarah came home with the biggest haul ever. The bag was laughably heavy. I spent many minutes swapping in things that she could eat and adding what she couldn’t to a bag for Amy or our bucket of candy to hand out to trick or treaters. Unfortunately, Sarah was feeling sick. She stayed home instead of going trick or treating. She wasn’t even sad about missing it, which shows how sick she was. She stayed home on Thursday, in bed most of the day. Thursday was also the start of a new neuromuscular class for me to teach so I was extremely grateful that my father-in-law was able to babysit. Asking someone to hang out with your sick kid is a big deal, and for them to accept is an even bigger deal. Wednesday night I was anxious about Sarah’s sickness, worrying that it might be something dire and that in some way I had failed as a parent in my decisions about her health. Our cat also has something going on health-wise (probably an allergy of some sort) and I was anxious about that, concerned about how intensely heartbroken Amy will be if she dies. I really didn’t sleep well on Wednesday night, so when I came home from teaching on Thursday morning I was exhausted. I napped and then felt ready to work that night. Friday, Sarah needed to stay home again, even though she was notably improved. I spent half of the day in bed too and that helped me feel much better. 

When any of us are sick I tend to let technology use be unlimited. Yesterday it was limited because all of us are well (except the cat). By the end of the day there was much more of a mess throughout the house. At first I was grumpy, but then I realized that having toys spread all over is a wonderful sign that the girls have been playing and feeling good.