Thursday, September 20, 2012

What starts with "T"

Last night I came home from work and the husband announced that Sofie had her first homework assignment ever - she needed to bring a picture of something that started with the letter "t". He was freaking out because he thought we would need to take a picture and get it developed. My first thought was "what is something that starts with "t"... I definitely had blank mommy brain at that moment. Right before I went to bed, it occurred to me that we still hadn't resolved the issue, so I suggested that I draw a picture (duh). I grabbed her markers, a piece of paper, and decided a good word would be tree.  I drew the best tree ever... And then I put in flowers too because I couldn't resist.  I left it in the counter and went to bed.

Fast forward to mid morning.  The hubby called me to tell me that Sofie found the Picture when she woke up this morning,and she was delighted with it.  She held it during bottle, getting dressed, riding it the car, and refused to give it up when she got to school (to put it in her cubby) because mommy made it.  He thought it was charming.  Other parents pulled pictures out of books (desecration) or developed photos (huh? Overachievers?)... Sofie had the only hand drawn one in the class.

The funniest thing is that this afternoon when Sofie came home, her daily report card had her first (and only) sticker on it with a "good work, mommy" message.  Lol. I haven't gotten a gold star from a teacher in years!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sick days

Sofie caught a bug from someone at school and was running a fever a couple days ago.  Then the cough started, and it went downhill.  When she is sick, she has a much shorter fuse & almost higher energy than when she isn't.  She went to the doctor friday, and she confirmed it was a virus.

Yesterday, her dad went to play golf with friends all day, and we hung out.  I hoped she would be low key since she kept us up all night coughing and crying, but she had lots of energy and my vision of a slow tv-day evaporated by 9 am.  We did do a bunch of low key activities - playing barbie, legos, puzzles, blocks, coloring, and then I brought out some craft surprises...  I am not really that crafty by nature, but I want to give her those opportunities to express herself in all ways so she can figure herself out later in life... Halloween is coming up, and I am sure they are covering the upcoming holiday in school, so building some masks were our task of the morning.  We had markers, feathers, and a glue stick as well as paper mask cutouts.  I could have sworn I bought sequin/jewels at the same time, but I sure couldn't find them.  Sofie's favorite movie at the moment is "Rio" and she loves birds, so I figured we could make some neat bird/carnival-like masks (it is carnival in the movie).  We started by coloring the masks, and then played with glue sticks - not the ideal stick medium apparently - but by applying a lot of glue we made the feathers stick.  All in all it was a good morning.

We tried napping in the afternoon, and there were a lot of tears.  She ended up not going to bed until late because we didn't do enough physical stuff with her.  Her nose was running, she was feverish, and there was a lot of coughing going on so I figured a slow day would be good for her.  The joke was on me.

I started feeling like I was coming down with the cold by 2:30 and have been fighting it off.  We had a playdate scheduled today, but we needed to cancel ... it is a big bummer.  It is American football season, and I am going to have to be the distractor this afternoon.  Hopefully I will come up with something else fun to do with Sofie to keep her occupied but happy.

This morning was a winy morning.  I think she still doesn't feel great.

How do you keep your kids entertained when they are sick but not sick enough to want to lie there/snuggle?  I have great hopes that someday, Sofie will be a snuggler...


Friday, September 7, 2012

Night terrors

For all of you out there who don't know much about night terrors, it is an uncommon problem for most kids that starts when they are 2-3 and can last as long as until they are 5.

They are characterized by your child seeming to be awake and having them walk around the house, screaming, crying, calling out, hitting, punching, slapping, spiting, scratching, etc. They can't hear you. You can't wake them up.  They seem like they are awake, but they aren't.  My daughter has absolutely no recollection of them when she wakes up in the morning, even if we have been up all night with her... Her eyes are wide open.  She follows the light.  She seems awake, but she really isn't.  It is real hard to calm her down.  She doesn't hear what we say.  Usually, it takes about 20-90 minutes to get her back to sleep.  On bad nights, she will have them back to back all night.  Last night was a killer.

The doctors say that having an irregular bedtime routine contributes to them (being overtired).  What I have found is that if our daughter is going through a period of change (new teacher at school, mommy traveling,  new people in/out of house, missing cat, slightly different routine), she feels the change more profoundly than most kids and she reacts by having night terrors.  The other thing that used to make a difference, but doesn't seem to now based on last night, is that when she slept in our room, she didn't have them.  For the first time, she had them in our room which totally blew my mind.  Our room has been our safe place, and I don't know what the impetus was for her to feel uncomfortable.

Sure, some nights she is restless and "fighting" all night.  I didn't really characterize them as night terrors because she wasn't running around the house.

I am not giving up hope that she will work these things out.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Rosey glasses

We had the best long weekend. Sofie was attached to my arm in a death grip the whole time, but we managed to get around town alright. Her development has come so far - we were playing with the magnetic etch a sketch yesterday and she wanted me to make a eh-eh-min ... I couldn't figure it out. It sounded like vitamin to me... She laughed at me, dug around in her toy chest and out came the spiderman  flashlight.  She pointed and said eh-eh-min, and then I laughed, delighted we figured tur how to communicate.

We also went to the jumpa jumpa place (activity place for kids <7) and she made instantaneous friends with another pretty little girl in a pink skirt. They were both jumping on an airpad and tossing little balls/chasing them off the pad like maniacs. Anywhere Sofie went, the little girl followed.  I have one charismatic kid! I was so proud of her for making friends so fast with an older girl and handling the situation so well.  Also, they have this kiddie sized train that is arm propelled and she loves it.  She flies down the tracks so fast and has the best time. I want to remember.  When she reallysmiles, I hear birds singing and my heart laughs with her.  God I love that kid.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Homecoming

It was wonderful to be picked up at the airport by my husband and Sofie.  This weekend is a holiday in the US, and Sofie's school was off yesterday.  My plane was early from Newark, and the family had just pulled into the passenger pickup area when I made it out the door since I didn't check bags.  I got a great hug and kiss from my husband, and tossed my carry-on's in the back of the car.  I walked over to Sofie's door, opened it, and got the best hug and kiss.  As a little surprise for her, I walked over to the other side of the car and sat in the back seat with her the entire way back home.  She didn't say a word to me and was just staring at me with a shy smile on her face.

She got a haircut while I was out of town, and she really looks very China doll-like with her blunt bangs and shoulder length bob. I did get her to smile for real and talk a little bit in the car as we soared towards home.  At one point, I looked at the speedometer and we were going more than 80... it really was soaring!   When we got home, she was as happy as a clam.

It is good to be home with the family.  I was pretty jetlagged. The hubby took Sofie to the zoo while I napped after lunch and we had some good dancing sessions before dinner.  She crashed in about 10 minutes after 9:10... The hubby doesn't know what I do to get her to sleep so fast.  I just sing songs.  We have been singing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" and "On the Loose" and she just relaxes when she hears them.

Anyway, she had a rough night.  Something chases her in her dreams, and I don't think she hears us trying to help her/reassure her when she is where she goes at night.  It breaks my heart.  I am not sure what we can do for her environment so she knows she is safe.  I wish I could create a protective barrier for her so she has sweet dreams.  In the morning, she has no recollection and says she is happy.  I wish I could be as reassured in the morning when I have been rocking her screams and tears away for so many hours.  She is constantly kicking and slapping away her tormentor.  I wonder if teaching her karate during the day would help strengthen her defense at night.  I don't know.  Suggestions are welcome.

Anyway, today I have been a wreck since I didn't sleep last night, and I had a hard time waking up this morning. They let me sleep in and went swimming/noodling/shopping.  The jet lag still has his grips on me for sure.  I need to get my stuff together and am glad I have a long weekend to do it.

Have a good one.