And then:
They've grown so much!
Showing posts with label piano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label piano. Show all posts
Monday, October 25, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Paradise
Rose decorated our front step with chalk on Tuesday after dinner.
Welcome to a house filled with fun!
Paradise at home
When I saw it, my first reaction was to think "Girl-child, have you forgotten how you and I were yanging at each other this morning over piano practice and homework?" You-just-don't-GET-it(sigh/eyeroll) vs. that-is-not-a-respectful-way-to-talk-to-your-mother, etc. Pre-teen fulminations from an 8-year-old mouth, impatient mama, eventually near-tears on both sides, this was not Garden of Eden stuff.
Then I realized -- she hadn't forgotten in the slightest. The sidewalk decoration was an oblique kiss-and-make-up.
I love you too, sweetheart!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Emerging
It feels like spring. The snow is mostly melted off the garden, and soon we'll take the mulch off our strawberry plants. Snowdrops are blooming on the south side of the house; tulip leaves are poking through in the front flowerbed.
And for the past two weeks, new/renewed vocalizations have been sprouting for Joy like shoots from subterranean bulbs. There've been so many, it's hard to keep track. Some of them are Elvis Sightings: she said "buh-buh" for bye-bye, just once! She said "muh" together with her "more" sign at just one snack time, two requests in succession! She said "bay" for her bagel, just once! Others are more durable: a big explosive "pah!" that might mean "play". A lovely "chew" noise that is associated with her chewy toy (and also with a tickle game).
Rose and I have been attuned for noticing signs of spring. We saw the first robin of the season on Friday morning near Joy's daycare. We saw an animal in the backyard that first looked like a rabbit, but then turned out to be a squirrel with a white tuft on the end of its tail.
I remember one of the concerns I had when I first meet with the Birth-to-Three case manager who came to our house for an intake interview. I told him about how, when I would be on for childcare with Rose and Joy and Joy's daycare buddy, I'd point to a squirrel out the front window. Rose and Buddy would be fascinated. I could not get Joy to look. "Maybe it doesn't mean anything," I said self-deprecatingly. The case manager wouldn't commit to what meant what, but told me to keep paying attention.
This morning Joy was looking out the front window, watching a squirrel. Later in the morning we went for a run, with her in the stroller. She tracked a bird that flew over. She giggled at an airplane. And every time a car went past, she'd turn her head around to follow it, with a great big giggle.
Did I mention we went for a run? I am picking myself back up after falling off the wagon with running during the long dark iciness of January and February. It feels so good to re-emerge onto ice-free sidewalks and sunshine pouring down.
Rose is making great strides on piano these days. The material in her class is getting more and more challenging, and she's keeping right up. She's got the ear... when she makes a mistake, she hears and works to correct it. And it helps a lot to have me play through a song just once when the rhythms get too difficult.
Joy's speech therapist was all set to write up a present-level for Joy's upcoming IEP that said something to the effect that imitation was not something that has moved very far forward this year. All of a sudden, the occasional imitations are popping forth all over, from animal noises to word-approximations. At school during her kindergarten practice the other day, she was playing Row Your Boat on one of those wooden rocking-boat kinds of toys, with a couple of other kids. "If you see a lion, don't forget to roar!" went the music. The kids roared, Joy roared. And then she roared again, to get more roars going. Not just imitation, but initiation too!
There are other things -- more occasional potty successes, getting her coat on and off by herself, making attempts to blow bubbles. The list is getting too long to remember. I've been a little bit hesitant to even write about it, for fear of jinxing the whole thing. But I think it's time to start celebrating, at least just a little.
Happy spring!
And for the past two weeks, new/renewed vocalizations have been sprouting for Joy like shoots from subterranean bulbs. There've been so many, it's hard to keep track. Some of them are Elvis Sightings: she said "buh-buh" for bye-bye, just once! She said "muh" together with her "more" sign at just one snack time, two requests in succession! She said "bay" for her bagel, just once! Others are more durable: a big explosive "pah!" that might mean "play". A lovely "chew" noise that is associated with her chewy toy (and also with a tickle game).
Rose and I have been attuned for noticing signs of spring. We saw the first robin of the season on Friday morning near Joy's daycare. We saw an animal in the backyard that first looked like a rabbit, but then turned out to be a squirrel with a white tuft on the end of its tail.
I remember one of the concerns I had when I first meet with the Birth-to-Three case manager who came to our house for an intake interview. I told him about how, when I would be on for childcare with Rose and Joy and Joy's daycare buddy, I'd point to a squirrel out the front window. Rose and Buddy would be fascinated. I could not get Joy to look. "Maybe it doesn't mean anything," I said self-deprecatingly. The case manager wouldn't commit to what meant what, but told me to keep paying attention.
This morning Joy was looking out the front window, watching a squirrel. Later in the morning we went for a run, with her in the stroller. She tracked a bird that flew over. She giggled at an airplane. And every time a car went past, she'd turn her head around to follow it, with a great big giggle.
Did I mention we went for a run? I am picking myself back up after falling off the wagon with running during the long dark iciness of January and February. It feels so good to re-emerge onto ice-free sidewalks and sunshine pouring down.
Rose is making great strides on piano these days. The material in her class is getting more and more challenging, and she's keeping right up. She's got the ear... when she makes a mistake, she hears and works to correct it. And it helps a lot to have me play through a song just once when the rhythms get too difficult.
Joy's speech therapist was all set to write up a present-level for Joy's upcoming IEP that said something to the effect that imitation was not something that has moved very far forward this year. All of a sudden, the occasional imitations are popping forth all over, from animal noises to word-approximations. At school during her kindergarten practice the other day, she was playing Row Your Boat on one of those wooden rocking-boat kinds of toys, with a couple of other kids. "If you see a lion, don't forget to roar!" went the music. The kids roared, Joy roared. And then she roared again, to get more roars going. Not just imitation, but initiation too!
There are other things -- more occasional potty successes, getting her coat on and off by herself, making attempts to blow bubbles. The list is getting too long to remember. I've been a little bit hesitant to even write about it, for fear of jinxing the whole thing. But I think it's time to start celebrating, at least just a little.
Happy spring!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Schedule
So anyone who follows my blog knows that scheduling is a big part of my plate-spinning. Joy's got 24 hours of House Blend intensive autism therapy a week, plus three therapists from the school district who each see her twice a week; I've got work, bells, church, volunteer; Rose has school, piano, etc.
Usually it all clicks together somehow.
And then we schedule a JoyDad foot surgery into the mix.
The originally-scheduled surgery time was for noon yesterday (Tuesday), and we were to get out at 3pm if all went well. Tuesday's not a paid-work day for me, so we had to find Joy-care. Fortunately Lynda stepped up to the plate, offered to take Joy for an extra day. Whew, problem solved -- so all I had to do was figure out which therapists to cancel (because the House Blend therapists can't go to Lynda's anymore).
Then on Monday JoyDad got a call from the scheduler. "Sir, your surgery has been re-scheduled to 3pm on Tuesday. We'd now like you to arrive at 1:30 instead of 10am. No, you still can't eat anything after midnight, sorry sir."
Total fruit-basket upset.
First off, Joy couldn't stay with Lynda anymore, because things were likely to go past the end of the workday and we couldn't impose that on Lynda. Even if she'd've been willing to be imposed on, she had Tuesday evening commitments anyway. So now we had to find childcare willing to come to our home, and stay open-ended into the evening. Oh, and we'd likely miss Rose's piano class party & recital at 6:30.
This sent me into a pretty wild emotional tail-spin, I'm afraid. While it was only a couple of hours in between the time I blasted an e-mail to the church listserv and the time I got an affirmative answer, I spent that time mentally running around in a little hamster wheel, not having a very soothing prayer experience either.
I should have trusted, though. That first blessed "yes, I can take at least the first part of the afternoon" was enough to set the rest in motion. When I got home from work (where I'd had no phone numbers to be in touch with the people I needed), I was able to call all the therapists I'd cancelled, and all three of them were still able to make their sessions. Plus call the friend who was to bring Rose home from school, who then proved willing to be the sitter for the second shift. Plus figure out who was going to help pick up Joy from daycare while JoyDad was on crutches...
On Tuesday everyone showed up as planned. Joy was having a really good day, despite waking up at 3am. JoyDad, alas, also woke at 3am and had lots of time to overthink things plus get a mighty hunger on by the time he'd missed breakfast and lunch both. The sitter had arrived just before 1pm and we were getting set to go out the door when the phone rang.
"Can you come in for the surgery RIGHT NOW? We're running ahead of schedule and are ready for you as soon as you can possibly make it."
Zoom, out the door we went. The surgery-clinic experience was an efficient whirlwind. JoyDad was under sedation and a knee-down nerve-block (NOT general anesthesia, so better than we'd hoped) and under the knife within an hour after we'd left the house! The surgery went smoothly, so did recovery from the sedation. Another thing that went better than we'd been told -- originally they said no weight-bearing till the follow-up appointment. But instead, they put a velcro-ed foot-boot over his dressing and ankle-wrap, and told him he could use the foot for balance with his crutches as long as there's not too much pain.
We were home by 4:30.
The sitter said that Joy had done well, but napped hard and woke cranky, looking for "ma-ma-ma." (Yes, in those very words she was looking for me. Whoa. Now we just need her to say it TO me again!)
I got to take Rose to her party & recital after all. She did great.
JoyDad's still learning to use the crutches, and what it means to have both hands full of crutches to move around. (Can't carry an open cup of coffee, for example.) He'll be home today, on pain meds. I've got to run now and make my own lunch, plus a sandwich for him, usually a part of the routine that he does. I'll have a lot of extra responsibilities here, which will remind me how much we share the housework load!
But it does seem as if things went well. We'll know more about how successful the surgery was as time goes on.
Schedule. Augggh, look at the time!!!!
Usually it all clicks together somehow.
And then we schedule a JoyDad foot surgery into the mix.
The originally-scheduled surgery time was for noon yesterday (Tuesday), and we were to get out at 3pm if all went well. Tuesday's not a paid-work day for me, so we had to find Joy-care. Fortunately Lynda stepped up to the plate, offered to take Joy for an extra day. Whew, problem solved -- so all I had to do was figure out which therapists to cancel (because the House Blend therapists can't go to Lynda's anymore).
Then on Monday JoyDad got a call from the scheduler. "Sir, your surgery has been re-scheduled to 3pm on Tuesday. We'd now like you to arrive at 1:30 instead of 10am. No, you still can't eat anything after midnight, sorry sir."
Total fruit-basket upset.
First off, Joy couldn't stay with Lynda anymore, because things were likely to go past the end of the workday and we couldn't impose that on Lynda. Even if she'd've been willing to be imposed on, she had Tuesday evening commitments anyway. So now we had to find childcare willing to come to our home, and stay open-ended into the evening. Oh, and we'd likely miss Rose's piano class party & recital at 6:30.
This sent me into a pretty wild emotional tail-spin, I'm afraid. While it was only a couple of hours in between the time I blasted an e-mail to the church listserv and the time I got an affirmative answer, I spent that time mentally running around in a little hamster wheel, not having a very soothing prayer experience either.
I should have trusted, though. That first blessed "yes, I can take at least the first part of the afternoon" was enough to set the rest in motion. When I got home from work (where I'd had no phone numbers to be in touch with the people I needed), I was able to call all the therapists I'd cancelled, and all three of them were still able to make their sessions. Plus call the friend who was to bring Rose home from school, who then proved willing to be the sitter for the second shift. Plus figure out who was going to help pick up Joy from daycare while JoyDad was on crutches...
On Tuesday everyone showed up as planned. Joy was having a really good day, despite waking up at 3am. JoyDad, alas, also woke at 3am and had lots of time to overthink things plus get a mighty hunger on by the time he'd missed breakfast and lunch both. The sitter had arrived just before 1pm and we were getting set to go out the door when the phone rang.
"Can you come in for the surgery RIGHT NOW? We're running ahead of schedule and are ready for you as soon as you can possibly make it."
Zoom, out the door we went. The surgery-clinic experience was an efficient whirlwind. JoyDad was under sedation and a knee-down nerve-block (NOT general anesthesia, so better than we'd hoped) and under the knife within an hour after we'd left the house! The surgery went smoothly, so did recovery from the sedation. Another thing that went better than we'd been told -- originally they said no weight-bearing till the follow-up appointment. But instead, they put a velcro-ed foot-boot over his dressing and ankle-wrap, and told him he could use the foot for balance with his crutches as long as there's not too much pain.
We were home by 4:30.
The sitter said that Joy had done well, but napped hard and woke cranky, looking for "ma-ma-ma." (Yes, in those very words she was looking for me. Whoa. Now we just need her to say it TO me again!)
I got to take Rose to her party & recital after all. She did great.
JoyDad's still learning to use the crutches, and what it means to have both hands full of crutches to move around. (Can't carry an open cup of coffee, for example.) He'll be home today, on pain meds. I've got to run now and make my own lunch, plus a sandwich for him, usually a part of the routine that he does. I'll have a lot of extra responsibilities here, which will remind me how much we share the housework load!
But it does seem as if things went well. We'll know more about how successful the surgery was as time goes on.
Schedule. Augggh, look at the time!!!!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Wordless Wednesday (photo time!)
How wonderful and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in harmony!
when brothers live together in harmony!
-- Psalm 133:1, New Living Translation
(Yes, and sisters too!)
Note for relatives, etc. who haven't encountered Wordless Wednesdays before: the theme of posting photos on Wednesday is a tradition that quite a few bloggers are using to give some structure to their week. Wordless Wednesdays run the gamut from captioned in the header, like this one from Opposite Kids, to extensively captioned, like this one from Therextras.
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