Trail

Monday & Today

Avery and I spent all day yesterday at home.  Sick rules were implemented for Avery - unlimited screen time & as much milk as she wanted - and we made it through the day easily.  We both napped a bit, needed for me because Avery's been coming into our room at night.  This is not new, but what is new is that she's keeping me awake.  She lies there whispering to herself, or asks for water in the middle of the night, or just kicks me a lot.  We're going to have to go back to the no-Avery-in-the-bed rule soon.  I just can't be woken up constantly through the night and be able to operate the next day.

Today, Avery's at school and I spent the morning reading the book I started last night, The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag.  It's a good read so far - I'm about 45% done. 

In a bit I'm off to take Turtle on her first trail walk in a long time.  I have got to get back in the habit of doing it!  I feel guilty, it's not healthy for either of us to not do it, and it's the right thing to do. 

Avery's angelic streak continues

I don't know what's gotten into her, but I like it!  She's been so good lately.  She still has moments of pouting, but they're nothing.  Like such a minor blip that I find it hard to even note them.  I ask her to do a "sippy cup roundup" and off she goes to grab all sippy cups laying around the house to put them by the sink.  I ask her to please do something and she almost always replies, "OK, Mommy!" When I say no to things recently, most of the time she just accepts it.  Occasionally she'll ask why, but accept the explanation I give.  This is the greatest phase ever.

She did have a bit of a pout this morning, but even the way she handled it was more mature and easier for me to handle.  After showing me the dress she wanted to wear to school, I said that was fine, but she had to wear a long-sleeved t-shirt & leggings underneath since it is a summer dress.   She did not like that answer and sat on her floor thinking about the situation for a good long time.  I left her to think about her choices.  When I came back, she renegotiated and said she'd wear a short-sleeved t-shirt.  I appreciate polite negotiations, so I said, OK, that was a good compromise.  Of course, once I showed her a new t-shirt I bought several months ago and had forgotten about, she just wanted to wear that with no dress, which worked for me.  The t-shirt has a picture of a stethoscope as if it's draped around her neck. Avery said, "It has a stethoscope on it! I'm Dr. Avery Smith!"  She loves to play doctor.

Eye patch update

The drama with getting Avery's eye patch on and off has subsided quite a bit. Getting off can still be challenging, but I often take the approach of telling her to let me know when she's ready to take it off once she's had it on for the minimum amount of required time.  Typically, she wants to leave it on all day.

To lessen the pain when taking it off, I put a tiny bit of lotion on her face before I put the patch on.  This reduces the stickiness just enough to make the removal tolerable.