Sarah continues her love of zoos, often wearing her zoo shirt that she made in kindergarten. She recently found a picture of herself wearing the shirt 7 years ago. It looked like a dress! Now it fits her perfectly. She also likes to refer to herself as Baby Zoo.
Last weekend Carl had work to do and Sarah didn’t want to go out, so Amy and I got our Christmas tree. While I got help loading the tree on top of my car, I did the rest myself. For the first time in my life! I felt very proud of myself for getting it in the stand and in the house independently. In hindsight, part of my capability may be due to it being a smallish tree! Yesterday we decorated it and it looks earnest, if a bit scraggly. This was probably the most relaxing and least stressful decorating I can remember since before having kids. In past years I have wanted to control the unpacking of ornaments because I was worried about fragile ornaments breaking. This year I let the kids unpack everything and they did a wonderful job. They also didn’t need any help with hanging ornaments, whereas in past years Sarah needed some guidance. Nothing broke! We also couldn’t use all of our ornaments because of the small size of the tree. Also, how did Amy get so tall that she can nearly reach the top of the tree without help?!
It took me all morning to get the family room clear and tidy so that we had space for decorating the tree and spreading out the ornaments. As soon as the tree was done, Sarah asked for the ball pit to be brought up from the basement! So much for my clear room. And yet, what is a clear room for except to encourage playing with toys? Carl had the idea to use the large cardboard box that Sarah has been using as her boat. It is much bigger than the original frame and tarp that we used to use for the ball pit. The only hitch is that now Sarah doesn’t have her boat available for eating breakfast. Or we will just have to be extra creative for how to balance a plate and cup when in a ball pit. Then again, doesn’t everyone have to figure out how to eat breakfast in a boat ball pit??
We all had dentist appointments and that went easily. Carl’s appointment was in the morning and the kids and I went in the afternoon. I love having the kids be grown up enough that I can leave them in the waiting room while I get my teeth cleaned without any concern about what they will get into. I suppose it has been that way with Amy for a while, but it is newer this year for me to relax my grip on anxiety about leaving Sarah on her own in various situations. On Tuesday we went to get some bloodwork done for Sarah and while I checked her in, she stayed near the elevators. I felt a tiny bit worried that she would decide to ride an elevator and then I might have a serious issue with finding her. I needn’t have worried. She loved watching the people coming and going. She especially loved watching the nurse who was there to help patients know where to go. She likes to pretend that she is Nurse House or Nurse Panda, directing people about where to go.
Friday night, Carl and I went to an album release party for The Beautiful Mistakes. Not only was that a wonderful night out for us, but the kids had a special play night with Sc, who used to come regularly for Sarah-Rise sessions. They decorated gingerbread houses and Sarah has a new picture of a sad panda wearing musical notes. I love having sitters who are artists so I never know what creations we will come home to.
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