Last Sunday the girls and I made gingerbread cookies, and I marveled over how little they need my help with it anymore. I still put the trays in the oven and take them out, but that is largely because Sarah and Amy are busy rolling, cutting, and decorating their dough. Amy mostly used cookie cutters but she did go beyond that when she made a scoliosis brace cookie. Sarah mostly made musical whole notes with a circular cookie cutter, but she also made some notes just by rolling and pressing the dough in her hands. I made the large cookies that comprise the walls and roof for a gingerbread house, which they decorated on Tuesday. The house is so large that it needs a day or two for the frosting to dry so that the pieces are stable and can withstand the application of many pieces of candy.
Amy had another follow-up appointment regarding her surgery. While it is absolutely the best case scenario to be told all is well, it did feel frustrating for her to miss some school to go sit and wait for a long time and be seen for all of five minutes, being told exactly what we heard in the follow-up with a different doctor the week before. She then missed the same class at school the next day for her Schroth appointment. It’s been a year of appointments and missed science classes, which is the most terrible thing to miss since it is the one class she has with her bestie.
Sarah went on a field trip with her Resource Room classmates on Thursday. They went to Walmart and a mall and the Olive Garden, with each kid bringing money to pay for their meals and any gifts they purchased for family. When Sarah came home I asked her what she had for lunch and she replied, “Too much.” I think most of us can relate to that feeling after dining at a restaurant! Sarah also told me that she and one other girl watched buses while they were at the Olive Garden. I love knowing she had a bus-watching buddy.
We went swimming as usual on Thursday but Sarah’s teacher unexpectedly didn’t come. Amy offered to hang out with Sarah while I swam, and she coached Sarah on kicking, getting kickboards for both of them to use. When we traded so Amy could swim, Sarah practiced a bit of kicking at the wall with me. The main challenge is to help her keep her knees straight while kicking.
Yesterday we had a small first Christmas to open gifts that had come from Mom-Mom. The girls were quite surprised and love their new things. Sarah got a musical note watch, which she says she will never take off, and a handful of Sandra Boyton board books. She tells us that now she has eight books with pictures of Blue Hat Green Hat on the back cover! I love that that is why she likes getting more board books. Amy is in love with her new stuffed animals and is rapidly reading Deenie by Judy Blume, about a girl who gets diagnosed with scoliosis.
One of my adventures this week has been trying to come up with alternative titles for my book, along with subtitles that would give a bit more explanation about the content. It’s tricky to get out of my mental groove after calling it Sarah-Rise forever, but I do have a handful of ideas. I’m waiting for my publisher to respond with feedback so we can finalize whatever the new title will be.
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