Last weekend Sarah had many screamy moments. It seemed like she didn’t have her usual capacity to handle being told “no,” whether it was us telling her to stop doing something or that we weren’t going to a bakery. If it had been later in the month I would have assumed her period was about to start. I was uncertain about sending her to school on Monday, but she really wanted to go. Monday morning at 9:30 her teacher called to say she had a big screaming meltdown and it would be best if I could come get her. Things mostly were back to normal after that, but normal does include screamies. It is just how often they happen that marks a difference.
Wednesday evening she had a big screamy time when Amy used the bathroom. This is unfortunately a common occurrence and is accompanied by pounding on the bathroom door. We have tried many things to shift this dynamic, to no avail. The confusing thing is that Sarah doesn’t do it a hundred percent of the time that Amy uses the bathroom. Sometimes she is calm and says she will go downstairs. But often she screams and insists that she needs the bathroom that instant, refusing to use the other two in the house, and then not actually needing to use it when it becomes available. On Wednesday, Carl tried covering his ears and saying she was really hurting his ears. Sarah proceeded to be upset for a long time afterwards, feeling sad that she had hurt Carl’s ears and trying to do things to take care of him. She hasn’t had such a big screamy time since then, and Thursday morning she seemed extra clear and focused on getting ready for school. She didn’t ask to look at pictures on my phone and she got out of bed and came downstairs completely on her own. She also hasn’t pounded or screamed about Amy’s bathroom use. I don’t expect this to have solved it permanently but any respite is welcome.
We had a routine checkup with Sarah’s neurologist and learned that one medication, that she has always had as a liquid via syringe, comes as a tablet!! We are on our last bottle of the liquid and then our lives will get easier in that tiny way, which actually feels huge. No more possible hitch when going through airport security due to carrying a large bottle of liquid! No more worrying about the glass bottle breaking! No more syringes!
When I arrived to teach at the massage school Thursday morning I thought I must be in a dream. . . There were kittens! Walking around!! I could hold them! They spent the morning mostly in their cage so we didn’t worry about stepping on them, but on every break we cuddled kittens. Two of my students have been fostering them and apparently they have been at school every day for weeks, just not in my classroom. I felt my whole body chemistry shift towards calmness in a way I didn’t know I was missing. I don’t get that from having my cat on my lap. It must be something about kittens for me, but maybe that calm is what Amy gets from any cat.
Sarah was home on Friday because school was closed due to the Prom. What?! In my day… Anyway, Carl worked from home since I was teaching. That was a convenient arrangement to have in place given that Amy wasn’t feeling well and needed to stay home too. Yesterday morning she still didn’t feel great so we had her checked by her doctor. Nothing to do except rest and hydrate and take ibuprofen. Those remedies can be powerful though.
Yesterday we drove to Virginia because today we are celebrating the wedding of a family member. Amy recovered rapidly as the miles passed, napping most of the time. Since the only thing on our agenda was the drive, we had the flexibility to stop at Berkeley Springs, WV when we saw a faerie festival in the main square. Amy walked in as a human being and emerged as a fairy, seemingly fully restored to her usual vivacity. The festival had a Fairy Clothes Closet where clothing donated by thrift stores was available for people to purchase for whatever amount worked for them. I found a sparkly blue top and Amy put together a remarkably perfect outfit comprised of a green dress, a sparkly black mess over-dress, and a scaly shiny green jacket. After that we went to the face painting area and Amy completed her transformation with green leaves and gems around her forehead and eyes. Meanwhile, Sarah added to her sunglass collection with a pair of purple-tinted butterfly sunglasses.
We capped off that uplifting experience by stopping at our favorite Virginia Farm Market. Sarah loves the sand area and the flags, and we all love the cider donuts. We may need to stop there on our way home later today.
Lots of love and fairy magic to all of you.
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