This weekend Amy had her first in-person birthday party since 2019 (her actual bday is yet to come). Two years ago we had to cancel her party because everything was just shutting down for Covid. We kept the party small with just 7 kids, two of whom were our own. Sarah didn’t actually participate in much of it. She helped Carl get the pizza and joined everyone for the food. Then she and I went up to my room to snuggle and nap, which was fine by me. Amy and her friends had a riotously good time and were extremely loud and energetic. They played hide and seek, played a cat murder mystery game, and made cat puppets. This was all inside (masked) because it was cold and snowy outside. Amy had been looking forward to this party intensely for weeks so was understandably a little sad when it was over. We have assured her that this is just the start of more indoor playdates, and that she can even have the same people all together again. (Although we wouldn’t mind if it was warm enough to be outside!)
For Amy’s weekend homework, it has worked well the past two weekends to have her do her work near me. We set a timer and both of us do something that isn’t our favorite thing to do. I usually clean something or put away laundry. Then we set a timer for doing something fun together. Yesterday I didn’t have the timer going and I was reading a book for fun, but it still felt nice to be together and I could nudge her along with the math in between our times of talking.
Sarah’s newest love is pretending to be the bear who sings “One Shoe Blues” in Sandra Boynton’s Blue Moo book. She most enjoys wearing one sneaker while looking at the page in the book while the song plays in the background. One evening after dinner, both kids had a ball pretending to be the bear. Sarah had one sneaker and kept brandishing her one shod limb in front of me. Amy put on headphones and then asked us where her headphones were. Then she put on one leg of her snow pants, one flipflop, a mask on one ear, and pushed a walking duck toy while holding an empty pizza box, asking us where all of the items were. You see, in the song, the bear is lamenting his inability to find one of his shoes, and then at the end realizes that he was wearing it all along.
Amy drew a clock while looking at a school-timer clock but not looking at her paper. She doesn’t think much of her achievement because to her it doesn’t look like a very accurate depiction of a clock. Meanwhile, many grownups feel a deep resonance between her work and their experience of time.
This is the last update prior to my hip replacement on Wednesday. I’m less scared than I have been at some moments, but it also continues to feel surreal. Any good thoughts and prayers are most welcome. I have no idea how soon I will feel up to doing anything beyond the bare minimum. Possibly right away or possibly it will be a while. This is all to say, if I don’t send out an update next Sunday, don’t worry. But I hope I’m feeling good enough to do so. Also, if you live nearby and want to receive the link to the Mealtrain that Sonia created for me, just let me know.
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