Carl had Veteran’s day off, which was fortunate since Sarah had a half day, but I was teaching and wouldn’t be home in time to meet her bus. Carl met her bus and later picked Amy up from her after-school activity. He also took Sarah to the park to ride her bike. She is getting better at using it as a balance bike and even used the pedals some when he held the bike to help stabilize it. Given that she has done her stationary Zwift biking for 2900 miles (over 200 hours) over the past year and a half-ish, she certainly knows how to pedal. So once the balance is there for her, she will absolutely be able to bike in a non-stationary pedaling way. To put her biking distances and time in context, she has biked only slightly less than Carl has in the same time period. His biking has been outside on trails and in races for much of that, which is harder than Zwift, but still! The amount she has biked is notable.
Sarah’s mouth has some overcrowding of teeth on the bottom, so her orthodontist wants two removed. Several months ago she had 5 removed and had to be completely sedated. Given that she did well when her EEG leads were placed with the aid of laughing gas, I asked the oral surgeon at our consultation if we could try this surgery with just laughing gas and a pill to help her relax. He said that would be fine. So she is scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving, which is a day she has off from school anyway.
Grandma made new pajamas and pants for Sarah out of multicolored musical note flannel. Sarah loves them. It is really wonderful to have someone who can custom make clothes to make dreams come true. We also had a nice dinner with Grandma and Grandpa on Friday night.
In general I’ve been starting play relaxing music in the background while we have dinner. I’m aiming to expand the scope of what we all listen to and recognize, especially regarding classical music. Sarah usually balks a little because she would rather listen to her new favorite song, Josh Ritter’s “Girl in the War.” Otherwise it is going well, despite Carl and Amy insisting that all Enya songs sound the same.
Carl and I are enjoying an overnight date thanks to Sonia and her boyfriend who arrived yesterday at 1 and are staying with the girls until today at 1. Carl and I went out to dinner for the first time since the summer and this morning we will have brunch at a place that has tree-house dining areas. Unfortunately those specific areas are booked waaaaay ahead but we will still appreciate being surrounded by trees in the regular dining area.
Yesterday Sarah and I had some clashing moments of discord. I don’t know why some things always catch me by surprise when they are as predictable as the sunrise. Almost every weekend day just as I am about to fix lunch, Sarah asks to me to do “sincere my dear.” That means she wants to snuggle in my bed and trade favorite phrases or take a nap. And every time she asks I feel frustrated because I’m hungry and want to fix lunch! Going forward my plan is to put her Sincere My Dear times in my calendar and plan around them. Maybe an earlier lunch or a mid-morning snack and a later lunch. Anything so I’m not thrown off balance and feeling grumpy.
May you all be prepared for what you know to expect and may you find your balance easily.
Leave a Reply