We are still waiting to hear from the neurologist about Sarah’s EEG. It has been almost two weeks and that is the time frame I was told to expect. Her sleep this past week has been better overall with fewer times of waking with a start. Most nights she still comes into my room around midnight and asks to switch beds with me. In the past I used to resist this some of the time, but lately I just want to sleep no matter how it happens. Plus, when I am in her bed it is the bed frame that was mine when I was younger so there is something nice about that.
Overall I know this past week went quite well, but it felt stressful. Amy only had three days of school due to Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah. On Tuesday Amy and I made a cake following a recipe from one of the books she recently read and loved. It was a Delicious Orange Cake. That was the title of the recipe and the result was true to the claim. It was also really easy to make, unlike petit fours. Since Amy is an amazing Playdoh cake maker, creating multiple layers and covering her creations with rolled Playdoh that looks like fondant, I thought maybe we could make petit fours. Ha! I will certainly appreciate them more when I eat them elsewhere but I’m not going to make something that takes so much time, requires such precision, and involves 3 sticks of butter just in the cake batter! Anyway, after we made the cake, Amy had a playdate with her BFF and then had her usual time with Sc. She had such a fun day that she was not looking forward to school on Wednesday, which is quite unlike her. She normally loves school. But it wasn’t a normal day ahead of her. It was PSSAs. This was her first time taking them, even though normally she would have done so in 3rd and 4th grade, but Covid-19 interfered with that. She was nervous about the testing.
The days with PSSAs were fine, especially after the slight chaos of the first day was smoothed. However, my mama-bear grumble is that on the test days her class didn’t get lunch until 1pm!!!! She has breakfast at 6:30am!! For Thursday and Friday I gave her a second breakfast at 7:30, but still. That is a very long time to go without food. And the school wants them fed and rested to be their smartest!
Meanwhile, some of you may be aware of the shortage of bus drivers in Pennsylvania. It is causing massive problems. From what I have read, the difficulties we had with Sarah’s bus pale in comparison to what some have experienced, but still. Our experiences have been stressful. I don’t like my morning and evening plans to feel like a roll of the dice as to what happens. If there is no bus driver for Sarah’s route, that is ok! If they will be late, that is ok. But the bus company needs to tell me that so I can plan accordingly. Not that I don’t super love standing by my front door for half an hour every morning with my eyes glued to the street while Sarah gets impatient and anxious, but I could do other things with my time! Like drive Sarah to school so she will be on time.
One morning when the bus was late, the mother of the kid who gets picked up before Sarah called the company and was told the driver was 20 minutes late. But by that point it was already 20 minutes late to get Sarah and we live 15 minutes from the first kid, so the bus was way more than 20 minutes late. When I called 10 minutes later I was told there was no driver for that route! I just don’t understand the lack of communication. I understand the lack of resources and that that will just suck sometimes, but if I am not told what is going on then I can’t make accommodations. If parents are told different things, then how do we trust anything we are told? So far we have had afternoons when Sarah was returned home one or two hours late. We have had mornings with pickup half an hour late or not at all. Friday morning the bus was half an hour late and when I called the company I was told they were trying to reach the driver but couldn’t. When the driver did arrive (and note that it is a new driver every day or two), she said she got lost. I asked if she had GPS. She said her phone was too old for GPS and she was following printed Mapquest directions!!!!! Why do all the buses not have GPS as part of the bus equipment?! If it is a lack of funds, then tell the parents and create a gofundme and I will pay for GPS!
I will give this company another couple of weeks to get their communication $*^T together and after that I think for my own sanity I will have to drive her all the time. Sarah loves riding on the bus and I love not driving 40-50 minutes round trip twice a day. But I need something reliable.
Meanwhile, on Thursday and Friday there was no crossing guard at the one big intersection Amy walks through going to and from school. In the mornings Carl or I walk her to the intersection so if there is no crossing guard we can help, but until these two days, there has always been a crossing guard. I didn’t realize that a lack of a guard in the morning meant no one in the afternoon either. Now I know. Amy was totally stressed on Friday when she got home. She said it took three rotations of the light for her to feel safe to cross on the all-way walk because cars were sometimes still going through the intersection when it was her turn!!!!!! I am glad she did such a careful job. I know there is no way for the crossing guard company to communicate with parents when there won’t be someone there, but I wish there was. As with the bus situation, if I know what is happening then I can make changes accordingly!!
Yesterday morning it was clear that the girls had feelings built up from their weeks of school because they started the day at odds with each other from moment one. After getting some feelings out in various ways, and after a trip to a new bakery with Carl, they had a better day. At the bakery they saw a friend who was wearing a shirt with cats and musical notes. Sarah really really really wants that shirt. Carl was able to find it and order it for both girls since it speaks to both of their loves, but now Sarah is really really really impatient for it to arrive. Amy secretly made a drawing of a mouse wearing a shirt with cats and musical notes that Sarah could color. Then she made a treasure hunt with clues for Sarah to find and follow that would lead to the coloring page. I’m always amazed when Amy can switch from hating Sarah to creating something so full of love and thoughtfulness for her. After a fun outdoor playdate with a friend, Sarah followed the clues and found the treasure.
Overall my feelings for this past week can be summed up by a series of !!!!!!!! There was some unexpected kerfluffle at work to be resolved and I did so quickly. I felt stuck and overwhelmed with writing my book and with every change I made I worried that I was ruining it instead of improving it. So that was (is) stressful too. At least I had the bright spot of receiving my Tiny Chef doll in the mail. But still. !!!!
So, love and !!!!. I hope any of your !!!! moments have been exciting rather than stressful.
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