Yesterday I woke Amy earlier than she gets up for school because she had an appointment with an oral surgeon to remove two teeth. She and Sarah have both had issues with overcrowding and with baby teeth that have no grown-up tooth behind them to push them out of the way. The surgery was quick and easy, thanks in part to a pill to help Amy relax ahead of time, laughing gas, and novocaine. We were home before 8am and she was even allowed to eat right away. She was hardly sore at all. I gave her one dose of Motrin but that was it.
I knew that Amy can wrap a present by herself, but yesterday I learned that Sarah can too. Completely of her own accord, she retrieved wrapping paper from the basement and sat down with scissors, tape, a marker for labeling her gifts, and went to town with wrapping. While there is room for refinement, the same could be said of anyone looking at my wrapping presentations.
On Tuesday when Sarah got home from school, she seemed her usual happy self. I was therefore surprised to read the note from her OT saying that the session that day had been a real struggle. Sarah had been distracted by her watch and then seemingly wasn’t feeling well. When G came for his time with Sarah, Sarah launched into describing the tough part of her day. She had big feelings and was stomping, yelling, and crying. G did a beautiful job of witnessing and listening. I love it when the people who come to my home to be with Sarah respond as I would on my best days. What was puzzling was when I spoke with Sarah’s main teacher the next day. I had been led to believe by Sarah that the OT had taken Sarah’s watch away, so I was sure that was the reason for her big feelings and claiming to feel unwell. It turns out that Sarah gave her watch to the OT! She did so to try to help herself focus. She may have regretted it and wanted it back. Also, it turns out that if ever another kid is sick, then Sarah manifests the same thing for herself. Her teacher initially framed this as seeking attention, but I reframed it as Sarah being empathetic and having strong mirror neurons and a vivid imagination.
There were multiple moments during the week, usually when I was trying to fix dinner, when Sarah suddenly desperately wanted a watch other than what she already has. She already has two watches and wears one on each wrist daily. One evening she found the old bands for the kid Fitbits (or some similar product) Carl got the girls years ago, that they never wore, and that eventually died from lack of use. But she found the band and really really really really wanted a Fitbit RIGHT NOWˆ!!! I did not handle that moment calmly. The one moment of levity was when I sternly demanded, “How many watches are you going to wear?!” Sarah paused in her upset and calmly answered, “Five.” Amy and I cracked up. Impressively, Sarah’s math was spot on because she knows I put two watches on her wishlist. I have no idea if she will get those watches. I hope so! The next day when Amy came home from school she made the grievous error of removing her own watch and putting it on the coffee table. Egad!! Sarah saw it and immediately wanted to put it on, which Amy did not want. I suggested Amy could put it out of sight, which she did, but still. Sarah was determined to have a watch just like Amy’s. This time as Sarah screamed I just washed dishes and sang a pleasant song and that helped me stay calm. It helped that I didn’t have a time deadline regarding dinner the way I did the first night.
Friday night we watched the livestream Straight No Chaser concert. That is one of the best things to have come from the pandemic because Sarah loves their concerts, but would be overwhelmed if we were actually at the concert venue. Also, I now know that if they do a livestream again next year we actually have a full 24 hours in which to watch it, so we don’t have to stay up past Sarah’s bedtime to watch it. The best part of the concert was when SNC did a mash-up of “Thriller" and "Uptown Funk". "Uptown Funk" is Sarah’s current favorite song. It is what she wants to listen to as she has breakfast or takes her bath. My playlist goes on to other good dance songs which she also loves, but "Uptown Funk" is where it all begins. As soon as SNC started singing it Sarah was on her feet, imaginary microphone in hand, doing her dance moves and running all around with great glee. And then she was done and wanted to be done with the whole thing and go to bed. Amy stayed up for her favorite song which is the SNC "12 Days of Christmas", a wonderfully messed up, mashed up version of the song that brings in many other songs as the singers fumble their way through the original lyrics.
Because of Sarah’s love of zoos, when I made her bed I added a blanket one of my grandmothers made for me. It has a jungle print with lions and monkeys and other animals, but not some of Sarah’s favorites. Sarah was still thrilled, and pulled it up to her chin so she could pretend it was her hospital gown. Amy then grabbed a small crocodile, a small panda slipper, and a small tiger, adding them to the blanket so those animals could be present. She put the crocodile in the panda slipper and sang “Jingle Bells” except it was “Jingle Croc” and it chomped all the way.
I’m not sure why, but somehow for Sarah snow has become linked to the idea of walking to tennis practice. Keep in mind she has never played tennis in her life. Yesterday as the flurries fell, Sarah donned a winter hat, her musical note scarf, her sunglasses (of course), and her piano bag, heading out the door, ostensibly to go to tennis practice. She repeated this scenario often, leaving the house and then returning to tell us where she had been or where she was going.
Wherever you are going, may you go with the same style and joy of Sarah attending pretend tennis practice in the snow.
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