I'm Starving to Death!

     Did you ever have one of those days where you had the best of intentions about getting things accomplished but only achieved 5% of what you actually planned to do?   I think that is a good description of my entire life lately.    
     This morning I had appointments with five clients, two of whom, cancelled.  I understand that things happen sometimes, but honestly,  I hate cancellations.  I do a lot of preparation not only for the family or child with whom I am going to work,  but I also have to find daycare for my own children.   That in itself used to be a nightmare, but since my mother retired it has thankfully become much less of a challenge. Yes, my mom is  more than willing to watch my kids for me, as long as I agree to be at her beck and call with say, the random, spare of the moment , mattress flipping or attending the ladies church group social with her. I'm all in. 
    "Grammy," as the kids refer to her, is the best babysitter.  She is loving, giving, accepting, and supportive.  Oh, and she has a pool in her backyard so that makes it an even better place to be in July.  Grammy has a special and different relationship with both the girls. Sarah and Grammy enjoy long talks about family and life, and Sarah thoroughly loves the physical stroking Grammy is happy to sit and give for hours.  Grammy finds Brooke's antics entertaining,  and marvels at the progress she has seen her make in the last few years. Grammy  remembers vividly a few years ago when Brooke was a screaming child who would have little to do with her.  Now she sees  a child who is sassy and confident, even when she shouldn't be, and who is becoming more and more independent each day. There is much to be thankful for.  We are most thankful for God's grace and early intervention.
     Some things about the girls are the same, and that is nice too.  Both girls can swim like fish and if they had their way during the summer, their days would be spent in the water.   This is how I found them when I arrived at my mother’s house today:

Still not fully recovered from her pneumonia, Sarah was relaxing in the sun with her 110 SPF sunscreen, while Brooke was on the pool saddle.

     The pool saddle is something Grammy got  at Academy Sports store and my kids love it.  It requires some balancing and is great for vestibular input for children with sensory processing difficulties.   It is sort of weird looking though, right?

                                                          

     Even weirder looking than the pool saddle was how I found my mom when I arrived, who has her own unique style of babysitting.....

     After catching Grammy in the act and rousing her (she said she was just resting her eyes),  Brooke yelled out from the pool, "I'm starving to death!"  Now most mothers would probably consider rushing back inside to the kitchen to fix a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for their little one, but not me.  Why?  Because it was shortly after lunch time, and because Brooke is ALWAYS starving to death.  It is a common expression in her vocabulary.  One time,  I decided to sit down with her and actually show her pictures of children who truly were starving to death in an attempt to quel this statement from her, but sadly it had no impact.  Because the children in the pictures had distended stomachs, Brooke insisted they WERE NOT starving. I gave up. 

     Yes, Brooke's meals are very important to her and she has made her own meal time schedule which must be strictly adhered to,  including the meal time she made up called linner (between lunch and dinner).  Anytime she is off schedule,  she will inform you she is  STARVING TO DEATH. 

This is Brooke preparing one of her own linners.  Hey, life skills are important. 

  



   This time, I ignored her comment and rushed the kids out of the pool so I could bring them with me to run some errands before a late afternoon dentist appointment.  I needed to go to the mall to pick up a couple gifts which I am overdue in giving, and I figured the girls would enjoy tagging along. 

I had them towel off, throw their clothes on and hop in the car with me.  The car ride getting to  the mall ended up taking twice as long as it usually does, because the road construction was horrible on the way there and the exit I normally take was closed.  I was sent on a lovely long detour where I passed this sign:

When I saw it  I couldn't help but wonder why  I am buying so much bottled water if our water is so SUPERIOR. 

     Finally, we arrived at the mall and hunted forever to find a spot to park without having to walk a mile.  When we found one and Brooke saw we had parked near the food court, we were finished.  Again, she let us know, she was starving to death. Sarah rolled her eyes and we looked at each other and laughed.  By this time, I too was a bit hungry for lunch, so we all enjoyed a quick meal.  I couldn't help but to people watch a little bit while we ate and I noticed this nice dad sitting next to me:

At first glance, it was just a typical dad having lunch with his family, but my, how times have changed.  My dad NEVER wore a backpack to the mall,  did yours?

After eating, we headed to pick up those gifts, until......  I saw the massage chairs in the middle of the mall.  What could it hurt, a quick mini massage, I thought. Twelve bucks for a fifteen minute chair massage seemed hard to beat.  Yes! I quickly handed over the technological babysitter (iphone) to the kids, told them to stay next to me,  and I  climbed onto that massage chair, hoping I was hopping onto a little bit of summer heaven.  Instead,  I got the most vigorous massage a human could possibly receive,  in fact it was so hard I wanted to scream out, "OH MY GODDDDDD, THIS MAN IS KILLING ME!"

Sarah snapped this picture of me during the pain session.

 You can totally see the pain on my face, and I swear, my nose is not this big.  I think it was swollen from the guy pushing it into the head rest so hard.   

  I kept thinking it would get better, but it never did.  Another example of you pay for what you get. 

After the massage, I started moving slower and slower.   I was too sore to shop and I ended up leaving the mall without getting either of the gifts I needed!   My back literally felt bruised!

As we headed towards home,  in addition to the construction, the afternoon Fort Worth traffic had started, and we mostly just sat or went 10 miles per hour,  making me way too late for my dentist appointment, which I had to reschedule. 

What should have been a 15 minute trip home, ended up taking nearly an hour.  And by this time, I was now having back spasms!!!  Sarah, realizing I was sincerely in pain, sweetly helped me into the house.  Brooke came in the house, threw her purse down, let the dog out, came back in, closed the back door way too hard and yelled out, "I'M STARVING TO DEATH!"