Wednesday, January 27, 2021Day Three Hundred Thirteen
I realize that time has lost all meaning in this the year 2020 Volume 2, but there's still this weird thing where this simultaneously feels like yesterday and about 1000 years ago.
It's been just shy of 15 years, by the way.
Take that in for a moment, internet. Alexis was 3 weeks old in that photo and now she will turn 15 years old on January 27.
Alexis is exactly who she has always been. Kind, smart, thoughtful ... as I said to someone earlier this week, the kid is annoyingly perfect.
I say "annoyingly" with love, of course. Alexis knows it. She knows she has amazing curls that tons of people (including me) envy. She knows that she's incredibly fortunate to have school stuff come naturally to her. And she's definitely living a privileged life.
But while she was gifted a lot of things, she also has an incredible work ethic and will do pretty much anything for anyone, especially her baby sister.
Basically, she's great kid and always has been.
Happy birthday, Alexis. I hope your 15th year is a great one.
Day Three Hundred Twelve
There is a 1000% chance that Mila is going to destroy me before this whole global pandemic thing ends. She is a hurricane of energy dipped in a storm of joy and she has entirely too much time on her hands.
So, yeah. That's a thing. It turns out that when you take away classmates and waiting and taking turns, first grade is not all that time-consuming. Mila is doing just fine in cyber school, she's ahead even, but she's done every day before it's time to eat lunch. It's truly astounding, if you ask me. She has no focus whatsoever, but she can get through all of her lessons and homework and tests in just a few hours each day. She has straight A's right now, so I can't even tell her to revisit what she has done.
She's even doing well on her spelling tests. The kid who continues to refuse to read (she can, she just ... won't), can spell just dandy. It's super fun when she decides to spell out entire conversations. SUPER fun.
(OMG. So painful.)
I mention all of this because I reached a point of frustration in the past few weeks. I can't fuss at the kid to go outside since the weather hasn't exactly been cooperating. I also can't keep telling her to go stare at her Kindle because HOOBOY WILL SHE DO THAT FOR HOURS AND HOURS. I needed to interrupt the cycle.
And then I found Flexable. I do not remember how the link first sauntered into my circle of attention, but I figured that $15 for a half-hour group session wasn't much of a risk. I signed Mila up for "Public Speaking" with the assumption that she would pay attention for about 3 minutes, but hahahahaha jokes on me. She was focused the entire time and immediately asked to do it again after the session ended. So I signed her up for a few more group sessions. So far, every one has been a winner. Since I'm not paying for after-school care, I am going to set her up with a half-hour four days per week. It's not a lot, but it's something that seems to be helping with her need to interact with other humans. And! And! I'm totally going to pay for a one-on-one session for her the next time I have a meeting when it would be best if she didn't bust in and scream, "I can't find my underwear!"
And this is how we all know that I've lost my mind. I'm now willing to pay for childcare delivered via Zoom. But ... it seems to work.
Desperate times, y'all. Desperate times.
(Clearly, this is not a sponsored post. I found a little bit of sanity-delivering magic and wanted to share.)
