Alright everyone, please wear your best musical notes and stripes!
Anticipating her upcoming adventure with her aunt and uncle to see a performance of Goodnight Moon, Sarah eagerly instructed an imaginary group of people about how to dress for the show. It occurred to me that no one ever is normally given the instruction to wear their best musical notes and stripes, but what a fun theme that would be. For the show itself, which was yesterday, Sarah wanted to wear one of her Goodnight Moon shirts, which doesn’t have musical notes, but probably has some stripes. She loved the show.
On Monday, Sarah had her well-visit with her pediatrician, and then I took her to school. Half an hour later I was picking her up again due to a massive upset about her new sunglasses. She got wonderfully ostentatious new pink sunglasses with pearls around the eye pieces for her birthday. I knew the school probably would want her to change out of them, so I packed her regular glasses and talked to her about the possibility of needing to change. She seemed ok with that, but when that moment happened she was not ok with it. After 20 minutes of Sarah screaming and crying, her teacher called me to come get her. Luckily I hadn’t actually gone far because I had been catching up on some email before I left the parking lot the first time. I waned to give Sarah the opportunity to sit with me for a bit and maybe regroup and go back to school because she had been so eager to go to school in the first place, but Sarah was insistent that she wanted to go home. I had an errand to do first so by the time we got home it was time for lunch. Then Sarah wanted a nap, with my immediate company, and I wanted two minutes to finish my crossword puzzle. Two minutes was intolerable from her perspective so more screaming and crying and throwing of slippers ensued. What I learned from both of these moments was that I should push Sarah at home to divest herself of something I think the school won’t allow, rather than hoping the request will go over better when delivered by another person. I would rather have the upset happen at home. A lot of my choices are made in the hope of avoiding her upset, but it is time to steer lovingly towards the upset if it will help her handle things more easily in the world at large.
Aside from the Monday upsets, the rest of the week went smoothly. Sarah had appointments Thursday morning to see her audiologist and an ENT to get the process underway for hearing aids. She has had some hearing loss in her left ear for years, but her right ear has always been strong enough to compensate. I have wondered though if she would benefit from hearing aids, the way people benefit from glasses even if they have been managing without them. When I asked her if she wanted hearing aids she immediately said yes. Because modern technology allows people to express their personality through their assistive device decor, Sarah was able to pick what her hearing aids would look like: red with black musical notes!
A few weeks ago Amy submitted her online application to CAPA, the Creative And Performing Arts school she hopes to attend for high school. We waited to find out if she would get an audition. She did! The audition was Friday, requiring her to miss her regular school day. I made her practice a week ago, asking her the questions she might get asked and having her spread her portfolio contents out on our dining room table. While she didn’t want to do the practice, it did help her feel more comfortable and prepared for the audition. The audition went well and she felt good about it, and somehow she seems more grown up than she did before.
It has been about a year since I closed my massage practice. At the time I had a vision of days that would be less packed and more relaxed. As the days passed, I kept wondering when I would have those more relaxed and open days. I think I have finally arrived at that time! It only took a year! Certainly there are still things to do, but I have time to sit and read a book for a while too, which is delicious. I love that it doesn’t throw everything off balance if I need to get Sarah from school or if she has appointments that will last for who knows how long. I am not as worried about snow days. However, that doesn’t mean the weather doesn’t mess up my plans.
The plan was to do a book event last night at Main Point Books in Philadelphia, but then the forecast was for freezing rain. The bookstore felt it would be safer to reschedule. The new date is March 29 at 6:30, when I was going to be in town again anyway in for a follow-up Whisper brace appointment for Amy. So it will all work out. I have enjoyed cozy visits with my brother and both sets of my parents, and the girls are having a good Dad Weekend with Carl. Dad Weekends almost always involve the girls doing more for themselves than usual so I feel like I should go away more often. Carl is better at encouraging independence, and the girls and I have routines involving my participation and care so it is harder to change when I am around.
Last night I tried to sort out why I was disappointed and uncomfortable about the event last night getting postponed. I think it was tied to not wanting to disappoint people and not liking to change plans in general. I don’t like feeling like I haven’t gotten done what I was supposed to get done. Just as Sarah has room to work on flexibility, so do I. Anyway, I do understand this was all for the best and for safety, and I’m still a tiny bit disappointed. If you live in Philadelphia, please tell me how dire and icy the conditions were last night in the range of 6-8:30pm!
If you would like to see my most recent podcast appearances, here are links to Everyday Supermoms, Leta’s Tap Styles and Books and Brews. I love how many different people I have been meeting through podcasts. There are so many people doing good work in the world.
May we all wear our best musical notes and flexibility!
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