Last Sunday we got our Christmas tree and decorated it. This process was less stressful than it has been in some years. I gave myself more time to get organized before the kids came to help, and I set up a card table with hooks and ornaments. This made for a more controlled process instead of a free-for-all during which I usually scramble to keep up with their pace.
Sarah had a rough Monday because she had two grown-up teeth extracted that morning to help with overcrowding in her jaw. She took a pill to help her be relaxed and the oral surgeon also used laughing gas. Carl reported that in the middle of the procedure the surgeon said, “Sarah you are amazing.” She responded in her best drawled sing-song voice, “I am?” She had a low-key day after that, skipping her swim lesson because exercise isn’t allowed within 24 hours of an extraction because it could raise blood pressure and break clots. She didn’t seem upset about missing swimming, which tells you that she wasn’t feeling the best. She did go to her piano lesson because she really wanted to do so, and I figured that would be ok. Tuesday she stayed home from school. At first I wasn’t sure if that was the right decision because she woke easily and was acting like she felt well. But at the mention of school she screamed and protested vehemently. It is easy for me to have a substitute teacher on Tuesdays while I have teachers-in-training, so I stayed home with Sarah. She slept all morning and wanted me snuggled by her side the whole time.
The rest of the week was a bit challenging in terms of meals and mornings. Sarah could only eat very soft food but didn’t want many options that I thought might work. Thank goodness for yogurt and ice cream. As for mornings, even when no one has any teeth removed, Sarah’s mornings are always a bit of a gamble as to how they will go. Some days she gets ready for school easily, and other days she protests a lot and complains of a host of ailments even when the rest of her behavior indicates that she feels fine. She also pretends to be her teacher calling me to tell me Sarah isn’t feeling well. This gets me doubting myself in sending her to school. She can feel that doubt like a dog smells fear, so she ups her game of protest. Luckily, Carl is skilled at connecting with her about something non-school related and using that to get her moving in whatever direction is needed.
Sarah’s latest favorite thing is to make exit signs and tape them around the house. I write the outline of the letters and she does the coloring. She is doing a much better job coloring the whole shape and staying in the lines than ever before. She also makes some signs independently. We now have exit signs above almost every door leading into a room as well as on walls. Amy likes to take such wall signs literally and walks gently but directly into a wall while laughing.
I wanted to get Playdoh advent calendars for the kids, so Sarah and I went to Target. As soon as we entered the store I felt like maybe I had made a mistake in not going alone. Sarah repeatedly ran to items that we passed while saying, “oooh!” and describing the thing and saying that she wanted it. This made for slow progress. At one point when I asked her to come with me she said, “I want to find more stuff to say ooh about.” I cracked up. Maybe we should all have more of that perspective in life. We eventually found the last two Playdoh advent calendars and returned home. Amy is beyond thrilled to have more Playdoh and molds to go with it. I’m glad that this year we aren’t navigating making them share and take turns with one advent calendar. In this house there is no such thing as too much Playdoh. Amy is prolific with her artistic creations, and she lets them dry to preserve them. So we don’t get the brown mush of all colors mixed together that has been reused repeatedly. We just run out of dough and get more.
May you have something to run and say “ooh” about.
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