June 23

Please send socks! I have none left. Throughout the day last Sunday, the girls knocked my socks off repeatedly. It was just the girls and me all day, but they hardly interacted with me at all, and there was rarely a need to intervene. 

I bought a lined dry-erase board for Sarah, just like the one her piano teacher uses. Sarah loves her staff, and since it was new last Sunday she was particularly keen on playing with it. Amy enjoyed assuming the role of teacher. They probably played “piano lesson” for two hours! Part of this involved Amy writing “FACE” on the staff to correspond to actual notes. Then she wrote other four letter words, such as CATS and DOGS. 

As the day continued, they played games and cleaned up from games without my saying a thing. At one point I thought it was mighty quiet so I assumed they might be sneaking time with their iPods. Nope. They were in the Sarah-Rise room reading. I had informed them that at some point they needed to take baths and get their hair washed. Amy orchestrated this after their reading, insisting that they didn’t need me! All I did was put the shower sprayer within reach, get the music started, open the shampoo, and lower their towels. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Later in the week they again took care of baths and hair without me! I was banished from the premises, but allowed to stay nearby in case I was needed. I mean!!!!! Can you believe this?!!!!!!! Then they put on pajamas and watched “Peter Pan.”  Normally Sarah doesn’t sit quietly for a whole movie. She didn’t this time either, but Amy only had to pause it a couple of times to ask that Sarah be quiet. 

Sarah loved her first week of camp. This is the same camp she has attended the past two summers, but this year it is from 9-12 instead of 9-2. It is a 30 minute drive each way, so two hours of driving so she can have three hours of camp. Amy was really not having it to be part of all of that time in the car so I arranged for extra time with a sitter for a couple of the days. Next year I hope the powers that be extend the hours again. I have already said that I’m happy to contribute funds and another parent agreed. Right now it is part of what we pay for her school tuition rather than a separate expense. Even if the hours stay short, I’ll still take her because she loves it so much. 

I also found another camp for Sarah to attend for one week in July, so I will have one week when the girls are in camp at the same time. Sarah’s next camp is new, closer, with longer hours, and run by a music therapist. It is just for kids who need a little extra help. 

One last amazing thing...Sarah is no longer allergic to dairy!!! A few months ago we realized that she could have baked dairy. Recently, I made lactose-free cow-milk yogurt and gave her a couple of bites one day. When that seemed fine, I let her have a few more bites the next day. Then she had a whole serving. This week she had cow-milk ice cream twice and some store-bought cow-milk yogurt. All seems well. No hives or any other reaction that I know of. While I don’t want to go overboard so I still do lots of non-dairy things for her, this really opens up our options, especially when traveling. Holy cow!!

May you too need new socks!