My cast has now been officially off for a week, but I still have a splint I need to wear. I'm probably enjoying showers more than I ever have now. It's hard to leave all that warm water falling on my poor arm. It's getting more pampering than usual. My second visit to occupational therapy was with Liz, and she is delightful. First thing, I dipped my hand and arm into paraffin five times and then wrapped it in a towel. Joy! I do want one of those machines at home but will just save that pleasure for the weekly visits, as long as that goes on. My hand was swollen, so Liz did a hand massage which felt great and then added some new exercises. I still have a little problem with range of motion, and it does hurt if I go too far one way or the other, but it doesn't hinder me much. Opening jars and cutting with a knife are two things that I try not to have to do. The girls wanted some of their Dad's homemade bread after school, and that took a bit of sawing. Graysen offered to cut it herself but was met with a horrified Mimi look and just had to wait for it.
It's a good thing I was in a good mood when I picked them up, because both girls were in a special whiny zone. First Katherine had jumped up on Graysen's back on the way out of school and "just about broke my finger." Then they found out we would be going to their house to clean their room. Oh, my. G: It was a boring day, and now it's raining, and I hurt my finger. K: And I picked the wrong box for lunch today and got nothing, and my tummy hurts. G: AND now we don't get to do to your house and have to clean our room AND the beads AND the playroom. -Tears and wails. K: I'm SUPER hungry and wet.
It worked out though with my Mary Poppins attitude. First eat, then clean beads, then do some math, then Adorable Home on my phone for 5 minutes, then back to cleaning room. Bread, butter, and strawberry jam - two servings - was enough to give them energy for the job ahead. The focus for GG is hard, and she realizes it, but we managed to stay on task. Katherine volunteered to clean their room if I would fold the sleeping bags "because I'm good at organizing." She even organized Graysen's bunk. K's bunk: One blanket spread neatly across the bed, Mama's shirt to snuggle with, maybe one special stuffy. G's: I should have taken a picture. It's the top one so hard to straighten, but I folded four blankets and counted at least 20 stuffies, 6 books, and a meditation guideline for sleep. She was not as appreciative as I thought she would be because that's exactly how she likes to sleep - totally surrounded by things she loves.
The beads got put up, and Graysen was eager to do some extra math pages. They were learning to round up, and she totally understood the process and didn't need any help. At one point, she was supposed to pick out two extra things to measure and round off, but there was no ruler or tape measure nearby. She showed me a neat way to measure centimeters using her fingertips.
I didn't check the accuracy of it, but she seemed confident, so I let it go. I saw first hand one example of her getting distracted and not finishing her pages. There was a picture of a zookeeper weighing a chimp, and once she answered the questions quickly, she spent a lot of time drawing a shadow of the chimp underneath and shading it. She realizes it's not always necessary to decorate her work in school, and she's working through some of the ways to combat that urge to be creative when she should be on a new project!
Emily got home and was pleased at the progress, everyone was happy, and I headed home. I was so glad I had driven because the rain was coming down pretty hard.
Today we can come to the apartment and enjoy a little extra time and maybe play with Carly.
I know I forget some of the thing the girls say, but I have to remember this and the way she said it. Katherine never misses a chance to ask for one last snack before she has to be picked up. It's always too close to dinner time, but Monday she said, "Why don't you just send me home with a couple of blueberry bagels for a snack." I told her the blueberry bagels would be waiting there on Wednesday. Yesterday, she asked if they were still there!
This is a text from Emily: G called me upstairs to tell me that what they wanted for next Christmas was to spend time with their family. K chimed in and said “no toys. Just family.” I said that was the sweetest thing I’d ever heard, G came over to hug me and accept the praise. Then k leaned in behind her and said “NEXT christmas, mama…next. Because this year I want a pop it, a drone…” and counted off multiple toys on her fingers. I laughed and looked at Graysen, thinking she’d give me the “oh, kaffrin” look, and instead she replied “yeah, next. Not this year.”
Sometimes when I hear of things the girls like, I will go ahead and put them in my cart on Amazon to think about it a little more or see if the price goes down. The girls have learned what that means, to see a list of things on the right side of my computer. "Mimi, what's that? Huh? What's that?" So I have to be careful if I want surprises. Right now, Graysen reminds me every day of the two things she's told me so I don't get it wrong. That's nearly two whole months of hearing exactly what it is I've already bought and wrapped!
They get one gift from Santa Claus, and that's okay, because they're still scared of him and don't want him in their house any longer than he has to be. They've asked for some kind of watch that will be way too complicated for me to ever figure out!
I'm having trouble sleeping lately and will wake up about 3:00 a.m., probably from arm discomfort or the family upstairs getting up with the baby or deciding to wash clothes in the middle of the night. That chugga-chugga sound is oddly comforting and usually sends me right back to sleep.
I had a loud awakening this morning, though, and heard a crash somewhere in the apartment. The cats are trying my patience lately, especially Bowie who has had a taste of the outdoors and wants to look out the window and try to escape. He's already pushed a plant off the window ledge and broken a little glass pumpkin. I would like to say I jumped up and ran down the hall, but I mainly just sat up groggily in bed and said, "What happened?" I got no answer so wandered out into the kitchen area, dreading what I could find. I saw Layla crouched on the living room floor and nothing out of place. I then heard another crash from the second bathroom, and Bowie came barreling around the corner soaking wet. Elise had been here and taken a shower, and I just was not in the mood to check it out. I closed the door softly and will let her deal with it when she comes back. I doubt there is anything else in there, but I didn't want to be the one to find any type of creature. So far, all is quiet, so maybe I'll sleep again.
The weather has been brutal all week with pouring rain most of the day and high winds. With the luck I've been having, I really don't want to get out and walk down a tree-lined street and get hit by a falling branch. I already have a cough and sore throat and lots of sneezing. I should have already gotten my flu shot, but I haven't, and I haven't even gotten my Covid booster. I'll try to do that this week.
Here are a few Halloween pictures. The weather was so bad there wasn't a lot of trick-or-treating. They went downtown North Bend on Saturday to get some treats and then just up and down a few streets in their neighborhood on Sunday evening. And, of course, my house.
Graysen wanted to dress as Hermione from Harry Potter, and there were many, many kids dressed in the Hogwart School uniforms at school. Graysen even had Emily pouf up her hair a little to mimic Hermione's. Katherine will just be a cat every time and meowed instead of saying trick-or-treat.
October pictures.
Last weekend the whole family went to the new ice arena just a few blocks from here. They had a ball, and it seems that Graysen was able to take right off without the supports.
With friends Everly and Chloe after school.
The girls went to a one-day cheer camp one Saturday and got to be a part of the Homecoming halftime the next week. I don't think it's going to be a thing, but they did have a good time.
Maybe November won't be packed with things to do. I have to confess I didn't do many of these things but just enjoyed hearing about them. We'll plan Thanksgiving and have vegetarian instead of vegan. That way we can fit dressing in. Turkey is not my favorite part of the meal anyway. I guess I'd better concentrate of getting myself physically back to normal and not falling again. That means I have to do to the doctor, and I don't really want to, but I also don't like being so tired all the time either!
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