Jennifer Briggs

When I wrote a week ago I didn’t mention that we had just had a harrowing morning moment with Sarah. We were in Florida for vacation and our first day and a half went quite smoothly, in part because we were exceedingly flexible with our timing and the kids didn’t even need to agree on… Read more »

Amy was much better from her cough by the time her school’s winter concert came around on Wednesday night. Carl and I also had tickets to see Straight No Chaser so we had a double header of an evening. Our sitter A. came to Amy’s concert to be ready to take the girls home afterward while Carl and… Read more »

Last Sunday the girls decorated our large gingerbread house. Once they were allowed to sample it, the roof was broached. This was a new experience for me to eat the actual gingerbread so early. Normally the house sits so long (with just candy being eaten) that the gingerbread gets stale and hard. Then if you… Read more »

I can’t remember if I have written of this before, so it is possibly a repetition. Whenever we pass a Dairy Queen Sarah will whisper, “Dairy Queen.” For some reason this is hilarious. She often then whispers whatever she says next, which becomes equally hilarious because of being whispered. This past week Sarah told me… Read more »

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful, bountiful day. Grandma made songbooks that included some of the girls’ favorite songs. Amy belted out “Let it Go” with gusto. (Some day I want to name a pet Gusto so I can say that I do everything with Gusto.) Amy and I did a duet of the Vampirina… Read more »

I love to read, but often I don’t immerse myself in a book because then I don’t want to do anything else except read. It is a tricky balance. I just started Where The Crawdads Sing and I really don’t want to put it down. I’ve been thinking often about the relationship between Sarah and me, especially… Read more »

Sarah and I have had more of our massively hard times together. I feel so weary of it all, as if I’m trying to drive but I have only fumes left in the tank. I am refilling it, but slowly. A couple of days ago it felt like we were having emotional wrestling matches and… Read more »

The week with no iPod for Sarah went beautifully. She easily found other things to do. This has reminded me to keep turns short because then the upset at the end of a turn is much less than if a turn is long. Sometimes I have let turns be long because it seems like I… Read more »

Sarah and I have had some really rough moments with each other. Really rough. As in, some of the worst ever. There were two dinners in a row where I served things she normally eats with no difficulty and yet this week she shoved them away with loud protest. I didn’t handle it calmly. Her… Read more »

Sarah has now changed her energy/mode at least two more times since that first tiny enormous miraculous moment. I think it helps me stay calmer to know there is a possibility of a quick shift. My staying calmer probably helps the quick shift. I can now reference the times when she has shifted successfully. We… Read more »