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Backs and Bands
It’s time to play everyone’s favorite game…Who is Sick This Week?
I win this week. I did something to my back on Wednesday, so that it was very painful all the next day. I think it’s probably mostly due to a new trending game my youngest two like to play. They like to stand on the couch and hold onto my hands, then they jump off of the couch and I swing them around like trapeze artists. Merritt and Hakan will play that for as long as I can stand it, and Hakan is getting especially heavy as he gets bigger (weird to put those together), so it has certainly taken a toll on my aging body. It probably doesn’t help that I have terrible posture also. To add to the perfect storm, I also carry around a backpack to, at, and from work.
After barely making it through Thursday, when it was at its worst, I came home with a sore throat and the feeling that a cold was invading my weakened flesh. I awoke to find my fears realized, but at least I don’t teach on Fridays. In any case, after much stretching and agony, my back is to the point where I am not in constant pain, and my cold never got unbearable. Thankfully, it seems that the children have mostly been spared from it, too.
Aside from all of the old man’s nonsense, it has been a fairly quiet week. Avey had a little band concert at school, and then a pizza party afterward. I was glad to have the chance to attend, as I do not teach on Mondays. It was a crowded and hectic scene, but it was good to see what they were working on. Avey has been doing much better at practicing at home, too.
Avey went to a little Easter egg hunt on Friday night that the city put together for tweens. She had some fun and got a lot of candy.
Carver’s eye is healing up nicely. He struggles more than any child I’ve ever known in sitting and eating his food. He gets so bored with just sitting and taking bite after bite. I think it has more to do with his extroversion than any attention issues. He needs to keep his mind stimulated, it seems. It helps some to play games with him while he eats, but with other people needing food at the same time, it’s challenging to keep him entertained. Then, bizarrely, some meals he will sit and plow through his meal like it’s no big deal. Maybe he’s maturing or maybe he just happens to be in just the right state balance of energy and boredom?
Hakan went through a stage months ago where he was defiant at every turn. We’re glad to report that he’s been much more amicable in the last several weeks. We wonder if the change was because he was still in that awkward stage of transition from an afternoon nap to no nap, and maybe he finally officially moved on. He’s been remarkably pleasant and polite (most of the time).
Merritt is still slowly working on language. Almost everything is still “Ah-DEE,” but he is making good progress. He now calls dogs, “oof” to mimic barking. He has found ways to signal to us most of what he wants to communicate, so apparently that’s working well enough for him for now that he’s not too motivated to try new words. Still, he is seeing the rewards of language. He has a favorite book where photos of puppies are in hidden panels, which we call “Puppy Boo!” He calls it “Puh Puh Bo,” which is close enough.
This week is the kids’ spring break. They’ve got plans to go visit their cousins from Arkansas, who are coming to Indiana to visit other family. I’ll be at work, but we’ll find some other fun things to do, too.